Rose Cottage Ltd

As the lake has gradually become more shallow, its “local” heron has been seen more often and closer to the house-end of the lake. I was able to watch his food processing fairly closely yesterday and found it of interest.

Once the heron has caught a fish from the lake – especially a larger fish as he caught yesterday, he follows the same routine.

First, he walks the fish back to the shoreline. He then throws it on the ground and stabs it once or twice with that long beak. If the fish doesn’t move while lying on the water’s edge, the heron picks it up again and “tempts” it with a touch of lake water. He’s doing this in the image above.

If the fish moves, he repeats the process outlined above. If not, then he begins to gradually and in this case, slowly swallow the fish. It took him nearly 5 minutes before the tail of the fish finally disappeared down that long neck – where it remained – at least temporarily.

Looking at the heron from another angle you can see how small his head and neck really are:

I’m surprised he not only catches, but manages to swallow what looked like about a 7″ long Blue Gill. Although I did feel some pity for the fish, the heron is a natural part of the lake, only “hunts” for food, and wastes nothing he kills. As a certified Natural Habitat, I think the lake is working pretty well for the heron.

And the fish? In a lake that’s lost nearly one-third of its water capacity due to this year’s drought, losing a few fish per day to this heron is probably a good thing for those that remain.