The big catch

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The big catch

October 9, 2013 by Mike Powell

This Great Blue Heron, which I think was a juvenile, was clearly not experienced at hunting for food. Unlike his more patient elders, he seemed unable to stay in one spot for more than a few minutes and his success rate when he made a strike was not very high. He was persistent, however, and I kept hoping that he would pull a frog or some other tasty morsel out of the waters of the beaver pond.

I readied myself as he prepared for another strike and fired away as he triumphantly pulled his catch out of the water. The photo confirmed my initial impression—the big catch was just a leaf that had been floating on the surface of the water.

With more practice, this heron’s fishing skills are sure to improve or it is going to be a long, cold autumn and winter for him.

Posted in Art, Birds, Humor, Nature, Photography, Winter | Tagged Alexandria VA, Ardea herodias, blue heron, Canon 50D, canon 70-300mm telephoto zoom, fishing, Great Blue Heron, Huntley Meadows Park, inexperienced | 9 Comments

9 Responses

on October 9, 2013 at 9:36 am | Reply Sue

Practice makes perfect…?
- on October 9, 2013 at 9:41 am | Reply Mike Powell
  
  For me or for the heron?
on October 9, 2013 at 11:09 am | Reply brendaryanphotography

This is great! lol
on October 9, 2013 at 3:43 pm | Reply dianaed2013

The trials of photography but a great image nevertheless
on October 9, 2013 at 4:02 pm | Reply babsje

Nice shot, Mike, and good observations in your text. The heron is a fledgling, born this summer. Most gbh mortality is between August and December, from starvation., so I hope he frequents areas where he has solitude and can beef up his feeding skills between now and migration time, assuming they migrate there. (Here, some do and some do not. Here, some survive winter and some do not.) Best thing people can do for fledgling herons is to leave the area very quickly and quietly whenever one is found, so their feeding attempts aren’t disturbed. Again, nice post.
- on October 10, 2013 at 4:53 am | Reply Mike Powell
  
  Thanks for the additional information. This heron seems to hang around three areas of a county-run marshland park near boardwalks that are heavily used by groups of school children, mothers with strollers, walkers, photographers, and birders. Essentially the little heron has little solitude (and little fear of people). The limited rain that we have had until this week may have caused the heron to stick to these areas. I am hoping that the rain this week will provide him with an increased area for potential feeding. Here in Virginia, we seem to have some blue herons that stay around most of the year–I don’t know if this one will migrate.
  - on October 10, 2013 at 10:23 am babsje
    
    You’re welcome, Mike. The fledglings have to learn fear, they start out essentially fearless and it takes a while for that instinct to kick in. Until that happens, they can seem very tame and let people get too close. Its sort of the same with human kids – if not for grownups scolding them, I think they’d all run out in the street to play. Hoping the rain helps and that this guy will be around for you next spring.
on October 9, 2013 at 4:31 pm | Reply Lyle Krahn

I love it! It must take a lot of skill and patience to get a GBH catching a leaf since I’ve never seen it before!
on October 10, 2013 at 6:40 am | Reply New Hampshire Gardener

Now that is funny. I hope he gets better at catching dinner.