Several years ago down at Nisqually NWR, I watched a GBH swallowing a 3 foot
snake. Not that unusual, but this snake did not give up easily. As he
dangled from the heron's beak, he tied himself in not one, but two knots.
Didn't work. It just took the heron a little longer to get him down. An
amazing sight!

Christy Anderson
Bellevue, WA

_____

From: tweeters-bounces at mailman2.u.washington.edu
[mailto:tweeters-bounces at mailman2.u.washington.edu] On Behalf Of Dennis
Rockwell
Sent: Tuesday, October 27, 2009 4:48 PM
To: travelGirl; Vicki Biltz; tweeters
Subject: Re: [Tweeters] Link to Great Blue Heron swallowing a Common Moorhen


Some years ago Birdwatcher's Digest published a set of photos of a GBHE
subduing & swallowing a 12 inch alligator.

Dennis Rockwell
Kennewick, WA
dennisrockwell at dwwireless.net


----- Original Message -----
From: travelGirl <mailto:travelgirl.fics at gmail.com>
To: Vicki Biltz <mailto:vickibiltz at msn.com> ; tweeters
<mailto:tweeters at u.washington.edu>
Sent: Tuesday, October 27, 2009 12:54 PM
Subject: Re: [Tweeters] Link to Great Blue Heron swallowing a Common Moorhen

i have to say that's about as strange as anything i've seen entering a
GBHE's mouth, though the photo here has to come close:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/parkgallery/3862874420/in/set-72157618183848099
/ ... I did watch the end of this battle, and while the salmon lost its
life, the heron simply lost the meal...

00 caren
http://RealistAtLarge.blogspot.com
http://www.flickr.com/photos/parkgallery/sets/72157617749881047/show/
George Davis Creek, North Fork

----- Original Message -----
From: Vicki Biltz <mailto:vickibiltz at msn.com>
To: tweeters <mailto:tweeters at u.washington.edu>
Sent: 2009 October 27, Tuesday 13:09
Subject: [Tweeters] Link to Great Blue Heron swallowing a Common Moorhen

Hi,
My digiscoping buddy Tara, in Florida sent me this posting that she took
this summer. The Moorhen was sucessful in raising her brood, but she came to
a rather odd end to her breeding season......she is done for!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/37995564 at N05/4047832081/in/set-7215762252471927
9/

It is amazing to me, the ways of the natural world. I remember the time I
watched a Great Blue spend 30 minutes trying to make a Bullhead Catfish
(that is what we call them in Kansas, there are several different kinds of
catfish there) dead enough to swallow. Its fins were locked upright and
straight out; and the fish did not relent to death in that time period. The
Great Blue kept whacking the poor fish on a large rock! Over and over, and
would try to swallow in a different position.
My dad grew weary of waiting for me to watch the end of the story, so I
had to leave. If the Great Blue swallowed this thing too soon, it would have
been the end of both of them. I can only guess how that situation ended.

Vicki Biltz
Bonney Lake, Wa
<mailto:vickibiltz at msn.com> vickibiltz at msn.com
<http://www.sawwhetsnew.blogspot.com/> http://www.sawwhetsnew.blogspot.com/

<http://www.flickr.com/photos/saw-whets_new/>
http://www.flickr.com/photos/saw-whets_new/






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