Great Blue Herron
In Flight
Posted on 02/24/2019 5:03:20 AM PST by PJ-Comix
Is that a Blue Heron in my backyard? Yeah, I know that at first I thought it was a Stork in the video but finally figured out that it was probably a Heron of some type. But is this a Blue Heron even though it seems mostly gray? As you can tell, I am no ornithologist.
:)
Probably to differentiate it from the smaller but very similar gray heron of Europe, Asia and Africa.
There was a DFW area resident who tried to free a crane from a trotline on Lewisville a few years ago.....
Global warming? Er, ah, sorry, Climate Change?
I’ve had blue birds at my nesting boxes for the past two weeks.
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The birds at my feeder in Minneapolis are wearing hats and gloves.
It most certainly does strongly resemble a Great Blue Heron.
I see them quite often through the summer and fall, there is at least one pair that nests within a mile of my home.
The grey has strong blue undertones, and in the right light *IS* blue.
Th European grey herons were considered a delicacy... some king served up about 400 in one feast to nobility present. Maybe he figured was protecting his trout supply in the process.
That skinny neck expands like a snake’s to accommodate rather large fish. They also eat mice, rats, snakes, and frogs.
Here’s one eating a very fat rat [after the initial glance at a family of Sandhill cranes ] :
https://youtu.be/94j77eDqef4
And another https://youtu.be/LdH6HA1QcJM
It could be a blue himon
Have seen them more gray too.
The fat rat might b a pocket gopher
They stay year round at Lake of the Ozarks.
Plenty of shad to eat...
I’ve seen blue herons along creeks in the middle of Atlanta.
I have a little cabin at the Lake of the Ozarks back in a small cove. I have a Blue that lives in the cove and is on my dock or nearby during the course of the day as it goes in and out of the cove.
I also get occasionally a Green Heron, much shorter and normally not extending its neck except to feed. More colorful for certain.
Had a couple acres on Bainbridge Island, ferry ride from Seattle, years ago. Had a small spring area that I had an excavator dig a pretty large pond in. Once it filled up I drove down to Tacoma and bought Rainbow Trout from a hatchery. I bought hundreds of both 6” and 12” trout and stocked the pond with them.
I’d come home from work and a Heron would be out there fishing in my pond. BB rifle worked for awhile but the bird figured out it was a pretty harmless deterrent from 50 yds away.
Not many trout left 4 years later when I sold the place. Beautiful birds and damn good fishermen.
What? No truth in avian marketing??
We see ‘em every spring and fall in the Hudson valley as they commute to their summer homes up north. They stop by our lake for a snack on their trip each way.
Ni, it’s a heron, but not a blue. Blue Herons are larger, and bluer. Blue-gray, yes, but bluer then that. Regular herons are whitish-gray, to varying degrees, and a bit thinner in the body as well as smaller than a blue. Both beautiful, but the Blue is almost ghostly, nearly silent, and makes you wonder if you’re really seeing it, or if it’s a flashback to prehistoric times. It’s a very magical feeling. Definitely a regular heron, though, not a Blue. Keep looking.
Now THAT’S a Blue Heron.
Are you sure about it not being a Blue Heron? Others here have identified it as such.
We also had a stork fish for koi at our pond. The worst time was winter because with the leaves down the storks could see the pond as they flew over head. We had to shoo one away on Christmas day. It was so persistent we had to put strands of fishing line crossing the pond to make it stop. Our koi are ~20 years old now.
https://www.thepondguy.com/product/the-pond-guy-blue-heron-decoy/water-gardens-fish-ponds-predator-control
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