Last Sunday I came across this little story that is told by today’s photos. I just love to see nature taking its course and we as humans can only stand by and watch in awe.
I entered the scene in the Green Island Wetlands and witnessed what you can see in the picture below. A Great Blue Heron had just speared a bowfin, also known as a dogfish in our area, with its long bill. It took the bird some efforts to wade through the mud and weeds to carry the fish to shore. I spare you the pictures where the fish got tossed around and punctured some more, making sure there was no life in it anymore.
Suddenly a shadow entered the scene in my viewfinder. I looked up and saw this Bald Eagle circling a couple times overhead. Stealing a fish from another bird isn’t new for an eagle but it obviously had learned a lesson before and knew the heron wouldn’t let him have it. The eagle turned away.
So, how does a Great Blue Heron brag about its catch? Well, this one shook his feathers several times and gave me a great show while the bowfin was laying dead in the water.
Time to eat. The heron shook the fish a few more times and finally gobbled it down, head first.
A few seconds later the bird stood at the edge of the water like nothing had happened. I was just wondering how the heron’s ability to fly was affected with such a heavy meal in its belly…?
I shot all pictures with the Z600 / f6.3 with the Z1.4 teleconverter attached, giving me 840mm focal length. However, the distance between me and the bird was still too wide and so I cropped the photos a bit.