Great Blue Heron

[csziggy]

5. Cool - I wish I'd known how to use the video function on my Nikon

The day I saw the great blue with the greater siren.

The bird I saw wasn't lucky enough to stab and kill the siren. He caught it, then tried to swallow it alive. The siren kept fighting and the heron had to cough it up two or three times before he finally managed to beat it to death and get it down.

Here is his second attempt to swallow the siren:

You can see the tail thrashing around. But here it comes back out:


After I thought the action was over and I stopped taking pictures, the great blue heron took off and flew over the path I was on. He was flying so low I could feel the breeze from his wings as he tried to gain altitude.