Great Blue Heron trying to act like a Hawk!

I have watched and followed Great Blue Herons during the late summer for years, and known them to be primarily fish eaters, but this latest experience with a mouse was fun to watch! The bird has it's usual hunting style, but in a field, I am sure it is not as easy as in a pond.

After watching and shooting for about an hour, it finally succeeded, and caught the breakfast and flew off. the light was not great, but the fun experience was worth the effort!

I spent most of my time in the truck, as this bird seemed pretty comfortable as a slow approach worked well. Slow movements inside the truck, and using my arm as a rest on the window frame gave the camera kit some stability.

Unfortunately, the bird was facing away from the sun while taking in the mouse., it was some fun shooting as the mouse must have put up a good fight, so about 20 frames later, we had our catch!

Be sure to click on the images for a larger view... and also check out NIOM for some really fine recent articles.

take care, Ray Barlow