Great Blue Herons (Ardea herodias) at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge were really busy yesterday now that much of the ice has broken up and is melting. This heron caught a fish so big that it really seemed to be struggling to gain altitude as it flew away.
Temperatures in our area have been below freezing for almost a month and I was starting to get worried that the Great Blue Herons would starve. Somehow, though, they manage to survive. I did not actually see this heron catch the large fish. I first caught sight of the heron when it flew with the fish to a section of floating ice in the distance and tried to manipulate the fish into position.
Eventually it seemed to have decided to head for solid ground and I captured this shot just after the heron had taken off from the ice. I tracked it in the air as it flew to a little island in the middle of the bay, where I hope it was able to finally swallow the fish.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Great capture, Mike.
Wow! What a great catch! For you AND the blue heron!! 👍😉
Thanks, Jodi.
What a fantastic photo! I love how the upturned tips of the wings have been captured in this shot. This is probably a silly question…will that fish be swallowed whole? Benjamin will be amazed by this magnificent photo on Monday. Thank-you!
Thanks, Ellen. Herons swallow their catches whole, which is pretty amazing, considering some of them are pretty big. They kind of jiggle around the fish to position it and then tip back their heads and down the harch it goes. Occasionally they drop the fish during the process, and I think one of the reasons why the heron flew to the land was to make sure the fish could not swim away if he dropped it.