This guy had a lot of nerve. He came right up to the deck at the pond at Sholom Park where a family was throwing pieces of bread to the Koi, which would then thrash about, fighting madly for a bread crumb at the top of the water. The heron watched carefully. When it saw a Koi taking too long at the surface, he lunged and had that Koi down his throat in a matter of seconds. Then, he'd return and wait for another victim to take too long going deep. I've found herons to be very skittish, but I could have reached out and touched this guy1 This reminded me of a video I saw recently where a heron would actually take a piece of bread in its beak, drop it in the water, and wait for a fish to take the bait and then, of course, the fish was history. Obviously, the heron had a functioning brain, for it had carefully planned its fishing procedure. And that fishing procedure was much more successful than just "sit and wait."
30 comments:
Did that heron go to business school I wonder? ;-)
It all goes to show that you have to adapt and be creative...
Magnifique portrait , il est vraiment tres beau
Wonderful capture Lowell. Right place at the right time...and probably no zoom either!!
Wow! Absolutely stunning captures, Lowell! I love these!
did the family notice they were contributing to the herons dinner?
Beautiful shots!
I've only seen herons fish naturally, without the help of humans. . .who shouldn't be feeding the animals anyhow. (Is bread part of a natural koi diet? I think not.) There's a reason for "Please don't feed the animals" signs. Really.
Those pictures are just the best I have ever seen of a heron. The top one is so great. How fun to get to see this little slice of nature unfold.
Hey, the heron was definitely thinking here. Someone else was throwing bread into the water getting those expensive koi to come up to the surface...then ZAP!
I didn't know that birds were that intelligent. Nice series.
Wow...stunning!
And he looks like he's very serious about it too.
Maybe 'birdbrain' shouldn't be an insult! He's quite a handsome guy as well as smart.
Nice photos, Lowell. Today I watched a bunch of geese and ducks and one heron. Folks were throwing a lot of bread for the ducks and geese, but the heron just stood there. We got the one who flunked B-school.
Autocorrect changed geese to geezer. How does Apple know?
These are beautiful!!! The color is amazing...herons are my most favorite birds because of their incredible eyes...them and the cormorant. I'll have to take a trip by the park again soon ;)
I love herons. Glad to see you're back! I hope to have more time to blog in the coming days. :)
If he just wolfed down a koi, I wouldn't touch him, with that beak...ouch, my eye.
Great shots.
Magnificent!
Great photos.
I love your comment about your mother's Burma Shave lyrics on the Prescott, Arizona Daily Photo site today.
Wow, these are great shots. His hunger must have been stronger than his sense of caution.
By the way, loved that Burma Shave story you posted on my sister's site.
The first photo is stunning!
Wonderful portrait!!!
These photos are just gorgeous! I love the story, you are right, they must be highly intelligent feeders.
He is gorgeous! I'm not brave to try to touch this gorgeous bird, but I would stay there for hours appreciating his beauty!
Léia
Beautiful! Especially the close up :)
Wonderful shots. And what a clever bird! I've never seen one do that before.
What stunning photos!
What stunning photos!
Fantastic shots, Lowell, and what a story! Animals never cease to amaze me, well, nature in general.
Lovely photos of a cool bird!
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