On an unusually warm date late in November I came upon a Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) fishing at my local marshland park. In similar situations I will often stop and wait for a little while to see if I can capture a shot of the heron catching a fish, but generally the heron is more patient that I am and I leave empty-handed.
This time, however, I felt unusually patient and I set up my tripod and waited. The sun was bright and was coming from the left, the direction in which the heron was initially facing. It is tough for me to remain continuously alert when waiting for an extended period of time and I did not react quickly enough to get a shot of the heron pulling the fish out of the water. I recovered rapidly and got some interesting shots of the heron with the fish that it had just caught.
Not seeing eye-to-eye
Expelling a drop of water
One of the biggest challenges for the heron is manipulating the fish so that it can be swallowed in a single gulp. Each time that the heron shakes and jiggles the fish, it runs the risk of dropping it. In this case, the heron turned away from the sun and began its maneuvers. It took some time to get the fish into position. In the last two shots, you can see the final steps of the process as the heron dips the fish in the water, presumably to make it slide down the throat more easily, and them flips the fish into the air a final time.
Initial adjustments
Moving into position
Dipping the fish
Final flip
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 
Fantastic shots. I have only ever seen a heron catch a fish once. Normally I only see them standing in the water. That final shot of the heron flipping the fish is brilliant.
Thanks. I thought that I had missed the final flip and it was only today, when I was working on the shots for this posting, that I realized that I had captured it. Herons will sometimes stand motionless for a long time and it’s hard to be willing to wait–I was patient, but also really lucky.
Sensational series!
Thanks, Victor. I happened to be there at the right time and was able to capture the action. The lighting proved to be pretty interesting. In several of the shots, for example, the light is shining thought the fish’s fins from behind.
Sweet! Of all my Heron shots I’ve never got one in mid meal. Excellent series..:-)
Great series Mike.
What incredible captures – right place, right time – particularly LOVE that last one!
The pictures are so amazing! I once saw a heron that had swallowed a fish about at long as its neck. I watched and watched as it tried to swallow it. Was afraid I’d have to give mouth-to-mouth. Luckily, if finally got it down
Incredible! Beautiful shots, Mike.
Good golden hour light equals good color! Nice time series, Mike. I’m fairly certain the prey is a sunfish.
Cool! I, too, usually have less patience than the GBH – they can stand there forever!
Very nice action series Mike. You have a lot more patience than me. Setting up a tripod, then waiting for it to actually move. They are so still, then really quick – so quick even the naked eye misses it often. I am glad you waited to catch the action.
I think that is what they call an “action” shot. Excellent! Amelia
What a fantastic series of shots. Congratulations Mike! That heron is really quite deep in the water! Chris
Thanks, Chris. I too noticed the depth of the water when I was processing the shots. Normally the herons tend to choose more shallow water, but for some reason this heron was willing to brave the deeper water–and was rewarded for his efforts.
It is amazing to watch them fish, their patience does seem to be almost infinite.
Their patience is almost unlimited. Alas, mine is not, so I don’t often see one pull a fish out of the water.
Those are excellent shots. I’ve heard of herons choking on fish and wondered if it was because they tried to swallow them with the fins facing the wrong way.
Great reward for being more patient. I might have to try that! For a minute there, I thot I was on Phil’s blog!
I definitely drew inspiration from Phil Lanoue for the post–though, alas, I have no alligators lurking in the background, nor bald eagles in the trees ready to zoom down and steal the fish in mid-air.
An amazing series of photos. Patience rewarded.
Thanks. Fortunately I am pretty patient and persistent and sometimes it is rewarded, as was the case here.
That last one is an absolutely amazing shot! They all are, really.
Thanks. The last shot was awfully lucky. I was able to take quite a number of shots of the fish impaled on the bill, but it was an all-or-nothing shot catching the fish in mid-air when the heron flipped it up.