Great Blues are quite opportunistic. I once saw one snag a Horned Grebe that
was sailing by and try to get it down head-first. The grebe kept its wings out
and was still flapping when I had to leave the scene.
Alan Contreras
Eugene, Oregon
acontrer56@xxxxxxxxx
On Jul 11, 2016, at 8:15 AM, 5hats@xxxxxxxx wrote:
Well, the Green Heron is back. It is at this moment sitting on my feeder,
and has been there for the past ten minutes. Yesterday I assumed its
appearance there was just happenstance. The fact it returned suggested it had
a particular agenda, so I watched it for a while, and it soon became obvious
it had every intention of catching a bird. It carefully watched every bird
which flew by, and on occasion moved into a strike position if it thought one
was going to come closer. There is no question is actions were predatory. The
other birds recognized them as such. They wouldn't come near the heron. The
only birds I saw actually land on the feeder while the heron was present were
a couple of Black-capped Chickadees which landed behind it long enough take
one seed and fly away. Other birds flew back and forth in the foliage a few
feet above the heron, but never dared to approach the feeder. I have always
considered Great Blue Herons to be the consummate predator, capable and
willing to capture and eat almost any kind of prey, and have seen videos of
Green Herons baiting fish, but it still surprised me to see one of them
hunting other birds.
Darrel
