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Author Title Folder Created
Dave Hamlin Great Blue Heron

This heron was in a small swamp in Kennebunk, Maine

 0- Maine, USA by Dave Hamlin 31-Jul-2009
Leon Plympton Great Blue Heron - 10

Up and into the prevailing wind. This GBH seems to be keeping its eye on me as it makes good its getaway ...

 Common area 21-Apr-2007
Leon Plympton Great Blue Heron - 11

Safely distancing itself from me this GBH still seems to be keep a close eye on the fellow with the camera in hand.

 Common area 21-Apr-2007
Leon Plympton Great Blue Heron - 12

I suppose this is a relaxing pose for the GBH, but I don't know ...

 Common area 09-May-2007
Leon Plympton Great Blue Heron - 13

Shot earlier today: This GBH was checking me out while I was checking it out. A moment or so later it took aim and grabbed its next meal.

 Common area 08-Jul-2007
Leon Plympton Great Blue Heron - 14

Shot earlier today: This GBH had just snatched this small gar from a canal in Paynes Prairie not far from where I was standing (see: GBH - 13). It then flew to the other side of the waterway where it must have felt a bit less threatened. Once the fish was relatively lifeless it took the long (one-way) slide down the gullet.

 Common area 08-Jul-2007
Leon Plympton Great Blue Heron - 15

This GBH was quite a ways from any water as it walked amids the tall grass searching for prey.

For the better part of an hour I watched this same bird as it stood nearly motionless at the water's edge waiting, waiting and waiting for some unsuspecting fish or frog to get just close enough for a late afternoon snack. So much for patience.

After its long wait next to the canal this GBH flew a short distance, landing surprisingly close to me where it began strolling through the high grass searching for prey, occasionally disappearing behind the foliage and then reappearing again.

I took this photo when the GBH stopped for an instant, opening its mouth, as if to say, "Ah-hah!" As this drama played out it reminded me that millions of years ago feathered dinosaurs stalked through similar terrain in much the same way.

 Common area 06-Aug-2007
Leon Plympton Great Blue Heron - 16

Safe Landing -

This GBH had been on the far side of a canal when I arrived on the prairie with my E-1 and a ZD 40-150mm. While I was preoccupied with an alligator the GBH silently launched itself, heading for a small floating island near the middle of the canal.

I was able to make this capture an instant after the GBH's feet made contact with the floating vegetation. I was about to find out that these floating islands are ideal for GBHs to stalk their prey.

 Common area 19-Aug-2007
Leon Plympton Great Blue Heron - 17

GOT-CHA!!!

Once the GBH visually locked onto its prey it moved ever so slowly, easing itself towards the water's edge, then: SPLASH!!! It was over before my eye-hand communication could accomplish anything - like take a photograph.

The best I could do was this shot as the GBH was almost in its upright position again, its wings not yet resting by its side, and only a small ring of disturbed water remaining in the duck weed.

It's a catfish - good eating, even by human standards. Note that the GBH's beak did not grab the catfish - a la chop sticks; both the upper and lower beak pierced the tough skin of the catfish (Note to self: I'm impressed!).

 Common area 19-Aug-2007
Leon Plympton Great Blue Heron - 18

Safe again on the far side of the canal. The GBH's upper and lower beaks are once again pierced into the catfish, this time the underside.

When it comes to scaled fish GBHs generally juggle the fish around in their mouths until the fish's head is pointing downward (read that: head-first down the GBH's gullet).

On the other hand, when it comes to catfish, once the GBH reels in a catfish and the GBH is on solid ground, the catfish gets tossed on the ground and pierced time and again with the the GBH's (both upper and lower) beak. Once the catfish is quite dead it gets a final wash in the shallow water before getting positioned for the head-first plunge into the digestive process that awaits.

It has always amazed me how a GBH can eat a catfish without suffering internal injuries from a jab from the sharp spines on the catfish's dorsal and pectoral fins.

As a young fisherman I learned the hard way that the spines of a catfish are extremely sharp, and that a wet, thrashing catfish can jab a person several times in no time, resulting in rather painful puncture wounds.

 Common area 19-Aug-2007