Elegant, yet a touch prehistoric.
A Great Blue Heron lifts off a log to search for a better fishing spot.
Common to fresh water and salt water marshes alike, they prefer to hunt alone.
Although he'll eat almost anything including mammals, grasshoppers and amphibians, fishing is where you'll most likely find a Great Blue Heron.
Fishing fills his days, followed by grooming, resting and roosting in trees.
Hunting the shallow waters at the edges of lakes, streams or ponds, the Great Blue Heron either grasps its prey or spears it through and through with a dagger sharp bill. The headfirst lunge throws him off balance, but a few quick backbeats of six foot wings pull him upright again.
Speared through the belly, the fight is out of this northern pike. The long thin fish will slide down smoothly.
(Click any picture to enlarge.)
A little 'panfish snack' is plucked from the Greenfield Park Lagoon as sunshine frames the capture. This is early morning theater for the early morning crowd. This happens daily near nearly everyone. Search out a Great Blue Heron where you live. They are widespread and common throughout North America.
Allan
Credit: Cornell Lab of Ornithology, All About Birds
