Down at Brick Pond earlier this week. The water level is pretty low, just the way I like it. The birds are a bit more concentrated around the remaining pools of water, and it makes for some interesting interaction.
Dawn brings the Green Herons out for the day. They’re very similar in some ways to humans; some are slow to wake up and start moving and feeding, and others are a ball of fire from the get-go. The guy below took forever to get going, but once he did he was very good at his craft! Click on the images to enlarge…
Morning stretch. He needs a cup of coffee to get going!!!
First fish of the day!
While I was there, this little one came and kept me company for a bit, never coming out of the thick brush. I haven’t ID’d it yet, but it looks like a young Catbird to me.
Back to fishing. This guy (and I call him a guy because I had to pick one) turned out to be a very competent fisherman, catching several fish in a short period of time.
This guy is good!
But what he did next is the reason for this post. As he was sitting on the log fishing, he suddenly looked to his left and flew off. I thought maybe one of his siblings was about pounce on him and start a fight, but as fast as he flew off he came back to the log and he had a passenger….
We deliver!
Somehow he managed to see that frog 30 feet away from his perch on the log, flew over and caught him, and brought him back to his original spot. All within 20 seconds! And if you look closely at the pic you can see that the frog still has a tail! This was a first for me! The really bad thing about it is that there was a branch right in his flight path. I have a whole series of images as he came back across the water, and all of them have this damn branch in it!
It’s not a good day for the frog…
A couple times he almost dropped the frog back into the water!
Now he’s turning the frog around to start the beginning of the end for the frog…
And of course we all know how it ends. And I didn’t show the in between pics that show the heron viciously slamming the frog on the log to tenderize him a little. Not that I am squeamish about it, but it doesn’t add much to the story.
My question to all of you is; Were you rooting for the frog or the bird? If the frog gets away does the heron starve? One of them has to lose in this deal. As wildlife photographers we are confronted with this on a regular basis, and I think about it often. With very mixed feelings.
Once again, thank you all for looking!
