Sunday, January 15, 2012

What's For Dinner?

The past few months I have written about bird behavior. I have decided to change it up a little and do a series on birds and what they choose for their diet.

I have a fascination in watching birds and their choices of food. It’s always interesting to see what they might return to the nest with and sometimes I find their choices quite bizarre.

My first photo shows a Great Blue Heron catching a crappie.

Now how in the world does this heron think he is going to swallow that big fish?

Herons live in and around freshwater and saltwater environments. So if you are interested in watching or photographing them, you should look around a water source.

Their diet includes fish, frogs, snakes, salamanders, small mammals and some land insects. However, the majority of their diet, over 70%, is fish.

Photographing birds, especially Herons, in their search for food, can be quite challenging. They are very skittish birds and very sensitive to humans.

Share your experiences with us. What have you seen birds bring back to the nest?

A Great Blue Heron With A Crappie

Post by Steve Creek

15 comments:

  1. Steve, this is a fun post. I can't imagine the heron getting that huge Crappie down. I once saw a Great Horned Owl bring a still wiggling 5-6 foot snake backto the nest, that was interesting to see.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I'd love to know 'the rest of the story'! Great photo.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I agress with Mia, a fun post. I once saw an eagle bring a complete deer leg up to the nest.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Great post and photo Steve. The heron would have to struggle to eat such a big fish.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Beautiful post, a amazing picture!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Thanks everyone! The above Heron flew off with that Crappie which was amazing to see.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Good information and great photos. Thanks.
    Gene
    birdwatching-birds.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  8. wow, that is a cool photo Steve. Maybe it has a knife back at the nest to cut it up

    ReplyDelete
  9. That is a beautiful shot. Such a serene background to save all the attention for the stunning detail and colours.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Wow, awesome capture! Gosh, I've never seen a heron with such a large catch before. Terrific post!

    ReplyDelete
  11. AWESOME photograph - I love how you can see the bill skewered through the fish and how the water looks deep! A friend of mine once witnessed a Great Blue gulping down an entire squirrel in Florida...bizarre.

    ReplyDelete
  12. I think the most interesting kill I've seen was a trio of Bald Eagles flying into a mixed flock of Mallards and Canada Geese, and after the flock had flushed, it appeared that all three had successfully picked off their prey. I wish I'd been closer to be able to capture it with my camera, but alas...

    ReplyDelete