"A Sand County Almanac"

"THERE ARE SOME WHO CAN LIVE WITHOUT WILD THINGS AND SOME WHO CANNOT."
"FOR US IN THE MINORITY THE OPPORTUNITY TO SEE GEESE IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN TELEVISION.".....Aldo Leopold




"LOOK DEEP INTO NATURE, AND THEN YOU WILL UNDERSTAND EVERYTHING BETTER".....Albert Einstein


“Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature’s peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves”.....John Muir


Friday, April 4, 2014

A Little Time With A Great Blue Heron

The LilyPons Water Garden hosts a rookery of Great Blue Herons.  The number of herons present sometimes creates excellent photo opportunities.  I watched this heron for several minutes while it fished in one of the many ponds on the property...


While wading through the water, the heron will sometimes spread its' wings to make its profile larger and frighten the prey against the bank where they can more easily be caught...



Even using this technique to get the prey in position, many attempts end in failure to capture a meal...


When a miss occurs the heron shakes itself off, looking a little ruffled, and tries again...



In the next photo it appears to be reading a menu board before making its selection...


Not all attempts end in failure...



The heron has selected a crayfish for the first course...


Now begins the process of positioning the crayfish to be swallowed...




 
Finally, down it goes in one swallow...



The search continues for a second course...




This time a sunfish is seized...


And the process of positioning the catch so that it can be swallowed is repeated...



 
Finally, it is swallowed whole, to join the crayfish eaten earlier...

 
 
And the hunt continues...
 














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