Sinewsworn Loc: Port Orchard, WA

Note my earlier post of our dog-walking visit to Belfair State Park. Overcast to partly sunny to overcast day with a lite Southerly breeze, 59 f. While watching and photographing other activities I saw this guy actively jabbing his beak in the water. Came up with something of a good size. It may have been a larger fish than he had heretofore ever tried to eat. GBH Tries To Swallow shows the beak inside of the fish's head. So the thing is dead, why all the trouble getting it lined up for consumption?

I have not seen a Great Blue Heron do that with food.

I have 120 shots in this sequence of him holding the fish up, thinking about it for a bit, then moving the fish for a better look? He did that repeatedly. He was between 85 and 90 yards from the camera when the shots were taken.

D850, 500pF, 1/4000, f 8, ISO from 1100 to 1800, EC +2.0, no CPL-Handheld! Some pp and cropping did occur.

Download and enjoy!

GBH Got the fish

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GBH Got A Nice One

(Download)

GBH Fish On The Ground

(Download)

GBH Tries To Swallow

(Download)

GBH Back On The Ground

(Download)

GBH Still Trying

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GBH Fish On The Ground Yet Again

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GBH Finally!

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PAR4DCR Loc: A Sunny Place

Great series Tim.

Don

Sinewsworn Loc: Port Orchard, WA

Thanx for viewing!

UTMike Loc: South Jordan, UT

Excellent action sequence, Tim.

Sinewsworn Loc: Port Orchard, WA

Thanx for viewing!

Floyd Loc: Misplaced Texan in Florence, Alabama

Very nice pictures. You asked why the bird would go through this process. Respectfully, you have never fished or handled a fish. They are designed to go one way through the water and fins are designed to move only (in 98% of all fish) in one direction. If the bird had tried to swallow the fish in any other position, he would never gotten it past his beak and would have jammed sharp fins into his mouth with no way to get them removed.

Jeannie1 Loc: Sacramento,CA

Very nice.
Thanks for sharing.
Jeannie1

Sinewsworn Loc: Port Orchard, WA

[quote=Floyd]Very nice pictures. You asked why the bird would go through this process. Respectfully, you have never fished or handled a fish. They are designed to go one way through the water and fins are designed to move only (in 98% of all fish) in one direction. If the bird had tried to swallow the fish in any other position, he would never gotten it past his beak and would have jammed sharp fins into his mouth with no way to get them removed.[/quote

I was licensed to fish on three continents! My narrative included his need to line the fish up for consumption. Not sure why you feel the need to think I have never handled a fish.
The question is “Why the behavior?” Understand?

Sinewsworn Loc: Port Orchard, WA

Thanx for viewing!

angler Loc: StHelens England

Good set.

tcthome Loc: NJ

Manglesphoto Loc: 70 miles south of St.Louis

Fantastic images!!!! Timothy

bluezzzzz Loc: Stamping Ground, KY

I've watched many herons fishing and they will eat an incredible variety of food, including, at times, dead stuff.

Possibly this fish was already dead on the bottom, rigor mortis may have set in, and the heron was deciding whether it was possible to swallow it safely; and the jabbing and shaking was an attempt to loosen it up before going for it.

"Rigor in fish usually starts at the tail, and the muscles harden gradually along the body towards the head until the whole fish is quite stiff. The fish remains rigid for a period which can vary from an hour or so to three days, depending on a number of factors described later, and then the muscles soften again."


Marshall

kpmac Loc: Ragley, La

A fine sequence. He obviously was smart enough to know what was needed for a successful swallowing.

Floyd Loc: Misplaced Texan in Florence, Alabama

[quote=Sinewsworn][quote=Floyd]Very nice pictures. You asked why the bird would go through this process. Respectfully, you have never fished or handled a fish. They are designed to go one way through the water and fins are designed to move only (in 98% of all fish) in one direction. If the bird had tried to swallow the fish in any other position, he would never gotten it past his beak and would have jammed sharp fins into his mouth with no way to get them removed.[/quote

I was licensed to fish on three continents! My narrative included his need to line the fish up for consumption. Not sure why you feel the need to think I have never handled a fish.
The question is “Why the behavior?” Understand?[/quote]

I apologize for offending you. As one who has taken several hundred pictures of herons, egrets, cormorants (many consuming their catch-even snakes), bugs are about the only things that do not go down headfirst. The birds seem to have an idea of what can be swallowed, depending on the size of their neck, and will go through this process you captured so nicely when a certain size is reached. The exact "why" appears to be the way they are designed by the Lord God.