The great blue heron is a tall bird, According to Sibley it is 54 inches long with a 6 foot wingspan and weighs about 6 pounds. They are pretty and I've posted photos of them here before.We've watched them hunting along the shoreline of our ponds and swales (when full of water). And, we've watched as one swallowed a 15 inch snake. All that seems to fit with the long bill and long slender neck. We also watched as one swallowed a small furry critter.
We have doves in the yard, and the doves don't seem to be very wary birds. They seem comfortable to be within a couple of yards of us when we're working in the yard. They seem more willing to walk away a few steps than to fly away. Twice recently we've observed great blue capture and swallow a dove.
Great blue's hunt in large part by standing statue still, observing, until there's something near enough to strike. This past week there was a great blue patrolling our front yard -- which is fun because I can watch from my office window. One afternoon the blue was playing statue for a long while, then started a stealthly, slow movement before it moved quickly to capture a dove.
It shook the dove, put it under water of the swale for a little while, and then took it out of the water and shook it more. Finally it got the dove in position to take it head first into it's mouth.The heron had a difficult time because all the shaking hadn't been enough to loosen up the wing so the dead dove's wings would fold back and fit into the mouth. It seems while the heron can open their bills vertically quite large, they can't create a wide opening too. You can see the dove's wing protruding from the side of the bill.
Time to start over. Disgorge the dove. Shake it a lot more. Put it in the water to ensure it's very wet. (I assume that helps it slide down the throat.) Of course the challenge always is picking up the bird with the bill so the dove is head first. That accomplished, head in the air, the dove disappears into the blue's mouth,
It takes a few minutes for the bulge in the throat to work it's way down that long neck to the body, The blue just stands still waiting for that to happen.
Meanwhile, today, out in the dunes there's a howling party going on. Generally we don't hear the coyote pups yapping until evening, but today it was before 10 am. Afterwards one of the coyote parents decided it was time for to relax, and so settled into a comfortable position watching out for opportunities. (I had the telephoto at full magnification for this shot.)
Great post.Sure you don't work for the Dept of Interior? We have herons here too, Great Blue..we watch them in the National Parks.We spent a lot of time in Southern Maryland and saw their videos about the Herons. That was at Blackwater National Refuge which is where lots of birds flyover..
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