One morning last week I documented a Great Blue Heron catching fish with ease.
All the fish were tiny and I never got any photos that were very good but the heron’s fishing prowess was impressive.
Every time he tried, which was often, he came up with a small piscivorous morsel.
Each one of the fish in these first three photos was a different fish and ‘he’ caught at least one other fish that I didn’t get photos of. It was a good thing that he was so successful since it would take a bunch of them to make a meal.
But one time was different.
He was walking forward in search of more fish when an ugly old sign post came between me and the spot the heron was approaching. I just knew he’d make a stab at a fish while the sign was obstructing him and I was right.
I made the instinctive decision to stop taking photos while the sign was between us, which was a mistake because…
at that moment he caught two fish with one stab! This is the first shot I got when I decided to start taking photos again.
Here’s a slightly better look at both fish. I know he only made one stab to catch both fish because I watched him do it.
Catching two tiny slippery fish with one stab is a pretty neat trick. It’s the first time I’ve ever seen it and almost certainly the last.
Now my curiosity is killing me to know if he was able to swallow both fish without dropping at least one of them back into the water. I’ll never know because at the time I didn’t realize he had two fish in his bill so, because of the ugly sign post between us, I stopped taking photos.
Just another one of my many photographic regrets.
Ron
I feel like I snuck out of the house and caught a bit of the magic of nature through you. Thanks
Very good report. 2 fish swallowed at the same time? Now we will never know. Great pix!
Thanks, Judy.
Decades ago watched a heron chum and catch fish. Not 100% sure if small pieces of previous fish or pebbles and sticks. Very effective. Does this count as tool use?
Was smaller than Great Blue Heron. In Galápagos Islands.
I only had point and shoot camera then.
Are Great Blues known to chum?
“Does this count as tool use?”
It does as far as I’m concerned, David.
I’m unaware of any known instance of Great Blue Herons chumming. However, Green Herons are well known for chumming, as you may know.
The look in his eye as he’s approaching the pole – those fish never had a chance! And the 2nd photo from the top, with that tiny fish at the very tip of that huge bill – what a wonderful shot! Thank you so much for documenting his fishing prowess, even with the less-than-ideal ugly pole.
Thanks for appreciating my less-than-ideal photos, Carolyn.
Argh! That damn post! 🤬 I wonder if the bird was surprised to come up with a two-fer. In my mind’s eye, he tossed his piscatorial prizes into the air like a couple of peanuts and — gulp! — down the hatch! 😉
Also wondering if there’s a way to crop the last shot to be rid of the offending post and still have an image you like, even if part of the GBH is sacrificed in the process.
” I wonder if the bird was surprised to come up with a two-fer.”
I wonder the same thing, Marty. Was it luck or skill?
I don’t think that shot is quite sharp enough to crop that much and have it still look acceptably good.
Brings to mind the poem Night Heron by Mary Oliver. Lovely.
Thanks, Ron.
Cathryn, now I’ll have to check out that poem. I could always use a little culture…
I understand the disappointment of missing the two-fish stab, but I hope the nice photos of the talented heron and a fun story make up for it. It certainly did for me.
“I hope the nice photos of the talented heron and a fun story make up for it”
Thanks, Bill. It helped.
What I regret most is not taking photos while the heron was trying to swallow both fish without dropping one. Or both.
Nice shots all Ron. Always interesting watching them get fish
into their gullet and down without hands. I watched one once years back at one of our lakes who had caught a huge Catfish. I left after about 40 plus minutes of watching his in vain efforts. I assume he eventually got it up and in, but it was painful to watch. I wanted to wade in and hold it for him. 🙂
“it was painful to watch.”
I know what you mean, Everett. I once watched a heron try to swallow a carp that was so huge I thought it was going to tear his mouth open. Or choke him to death.
I’ve also seen something very similar with pelicans.
“Horderves” 😉 Lot of work for those! Of course, the light pole did have to interfere……. 🙂 Nice captures none the less! 🙂 Trading the cold and snow for high winds and back again in a couple of days – nothing new about that…….
Judy, my sister Sheila and her husband Randy recently moved to Helena. It’s been many years since Sheila has been acclimated to Montana winter weather and it’s completely new to Randy, so time will tell how well they adapt.
As for me, I’m too damn old to adapt back to that kind of weather. I thought it was going to kill me when I was young and tough. More than once it almost did.
To paraphrase the old saying, “Two fish in the beak are worth two hundred in the pond.”
Loosely paraphrased of course. 🙂
2 fish in one stab –that’s also a first for me. Well done Ron.
Thanks, Ricardo. I’m quite sure it’s something I’ll never see again.
Piscivorous! Never heard that word spoken or seen it used in a sentence before. So many firsts when one follows FP.
Catching two at once – luck or skill? Heck, just catching that shot was something special. Like you, I would have liked to have seen how this fellow managed to swallow two fish at once.
“Never heard that word spoken or seen it used in a sentence before.”
Michael, pisces is Latin for fish. It isn’t an official part of binomial nomenclature (and I’m a zodiac sign skeptic) so I don’t get to use that word often. In this context I couldn’t resist.
Count me in as zodiac skeptic as well.
“Piscivorous”–now THERE’S a ten dollar word–worthy of a heron
who can stab two fish simultaneously in his long, thin bill ! Glad you
could capture those images– I would have thought it an unlikely
feat……I’m glad you’re still “out there”, finding beauty and interest in
the winter world, and bringing it back to your indoor posse–thanks !
“I would have thought it an unlikely feat.”
Me too, Kris – highly unlikely. After all, he’s not a puffin… 🙂