Tweeters:

Could someone please direct me to specific information about the digestive
process of great blue herons (GBHE)? A couple questions I have (but have
not located the answers to) are:

* When a GBHE swallows live prey, how long does it take for the prey
to die?

* How long does it generally take for prey to be digested? (I do
realize that is probably contingent upon the prey species.)

* Does the food (live prey) go directly to the gizzard, where
presumably it is crushed?

* How large is the gizzard of a GBHE? Does a GBHE ever swallow prey
too large for the gizzard to handle, and can it be regurgitated easily from
the area of the gizzard?

* How strong are the digestive juices - are they massively acidic?

* Is the throat ever damaged when the prey is being worked downward?

What precipitates these questions is that I once (in Florida) watched a GBHE
capture and swallow a baby alligator. Also, I have seen an adult GBHE
regurgitate a fish (presumably way too big for it to digest) into its nest,
where I watched the young try to figure out what to do with it.

Thanks for any answers or direction.

Jo Waldron

Edmonds, WA

Joaw9 at verizon.net