The Great Blue Heron is a beautiful bird and has exceptional fishing abilities. They will stand very still for hours if needed to wait and locate their prey. Their long legs and long necks make catching prey in shallow waters easy.
With a lightning fast thrust of the neck and head it dives in with prey in sight using its sharp bill. They will grab on with their bill or in some cases actually spear the fish. It is very entertaining to watch them hunt for food. The thrust into the water is very fast with a lot of water splash.
Once they have hold of their catch they will work on positioning it for swallowing it whole. This for the most part happens very quickly so they can move on to the next catch.
The look on this Heron’s face says it all!
Sometimes the art of swallowing the catch does not go as smoothly as expected considering that the swallowing of a live moving fish can create a challenge.
It took some time for that fish to make it into the Heron’s stomach. I’m not really sure if it was going head first, tail first or maybe even sideways.
This Heron did a lot of neck stretching and water drinking!
