Dear Dan and Tweeters,

A Green Heron eating a bird would indeed be an
interesting sight, but I suspect it happens now and
again.

Great Blue Herons eat birds. Point Reyes Bird
Observatory once published a photo of a GBH capturing
a small bird in flight at the Corte Madera Marsh. The
small bird was, of all things, a Black Rail. Wish I'd
been there!

In the Middle East, I once observed a Cattle Egret
struggling with a small stint (probably a Little
Stint) in its beak. The egret was having a very hard
time getting its prey down the hatch.

Just yesterday I was driving past a spot near Lyman
(Skagit County) where a Great Egret has shown up
several times over the years. It is a very wet,
fenced-in pasture, with what looks like sedge growing
in it. I was wondering what it was the egret was
catching in there. Pacific tree-frogs (or whatever
they are called now) might be one possibility--but
maybe a sparrow might have found itself within range
of that dagger-like bill now and then?

It might be safe to say that herons in general eat
small vertebrates; that many, if not most, tend to
prey on fish, amphibians, and reptiles; and that many
species take small mammals and the odd, hapless bird,
when occasion arises or hunger demands.







=====

Yours truly,

Gary Bletsch

near Lyman (Skagit County), Washington

garybletsch at yahoo.com




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