Backyard and Beyond

Starting out from Brooklyn, an amateur naturalist explores our world.

As John Burroughs said, “The place to observe nature is where you are.”

Fishing With…

I recently spent nearly an hour shadowing this young Great Blue Heron around the edge of Sylvan Water.
Of darting thrusts of the bill into the water there were many. Most were unsuccessful. But the haul was still eight small fry and four dragonflies.
(Except for the first two fish images, these are otherwise different fish.)
A pair of mating Blue Dashers. Dragonfly and damselfly males clasp the female behind the head in mating.
This male didn’t let go…
So both went down the gullet. I’ve seen Green Herons pick off dragonflies before but this was the first time I’ve seen a Great Blue snarf them up. A smaller bird might knock away a dragonfly’s wings as unpalatable, but a heron, used to swallowing live fish, isn’t finicky.

mthew

2 responses to “Fishing With…”

  1. Chuck McAlexander

    would think a bird that size would prefer larger prey, but you make do with what there is. The speed is impressive.

    Reply
  2. Karl

    Great camera work, Matthew!

    Reply

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