Saturday, November 16, 2013

Great Blue Heron

Great Blue Heron Ardea herodias
Waterloo, ON
16 November 2013

    Great Blue Heron is a hardy species, with many birds remaining with us right up until the water freezes and they can no longer find food. They are opportunistic feeders too. While they prey primarily on fish, frogs and other vertebrate wetland species, they will take pretty much anything, given the chance. I have seen herons capture and eat snakes, and I once saw one seize a chipmunk. Curiously it then vigorously swished the chipmunk around in the water, possibly to wet it down for ease of eating, and swallowed it in one gulp.






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David M. Gascoigne,
David M. Gascoigne,

I'm a life long birder. My interests are birds, nature, reading, books, outdoors, travel, food and wine.

2 comments:

  1. Carole M.16 November 2013 at 21:26

    Hi David; a lovely heron you have there

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  2. Richard Pegler17 November 2013 at 12:48

    Great shots of the Heron, David. That blue bill is fabulous. I'm amazed at snake and chipmunk in the diet!

    Would be delighted to attempt to show you Little Owl next time you're in UK. It seems you have a strong Osprey connection, and if it's in the summer I'll show you our Ospreys here too (I'm a volunteer on the Rutland Osprey Project)!

    All the best - Richard

    ReplyDelete

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