It was suppose to be sunny and 50 degrees yestereday.....it wasn't! We drove to the Blue Grass Fish and Wildlife Area to see what was happening there in the winter. This was my favorite event of the day.
It started with a gull in some open water. We were suprised by how much ice there was on these lakes. I thought they were deeper. He was eating on something.
He did a lot of flapping and dipping and pecking at whatever it was. Several other gulls were in the area, but he had the "prize".
He didn't seem to be accomplishing much.......
.....so "help" arrived! This Great Blue Heron landed on the nearby ice. He had been lurking along the edge of the lake in the grasses.
Flatfoot landing
I call this his "snowshoe" walk! I've never seen a heron on ice before!
He was watching the gull closely....knowing it had a "prize" of some sort.....food!
Sniffing for clues? Pretending to be uninterested?
He made the leap and chased the gull away.....poor gull! The prize was apparently a very large dead fish. I guess with all the ice it should be pretty "fresh"....do they care?
Good to the last fin! I don't think he felt at all guilty....the fish was too big for the gull anyway.
Gulp! ......last swallow. 
Back to the lake edge......
......the unrepentant thief!
It started with a gull in some open water. We were suprised by how much ice there was on these lakes. I thought they were deeper. He was eating on something.
He did a lot of flapping and dipping and pecking at whatever it was. Several other gulls were in the area, but he had the "prize".
He didn't seem to be accomplishing much.......
.....so "help" arrived! This Great Blue Heron landed on the nearby ice. He had been lurking along the edge of the lake in the grasses.
Flatfoot landing
I call this his "snowshoe" walk! I've never seen a heron on ice before!
He was watching the gull closely....knowing it had a "prize" of some sort.....food!
Sniffing for clues? Pretending to be uninterested?
He made the leap and chased the gull away.....poor gull! The prize was apparently a very large dead fish. I guess with all the ice it should be pretty "fresh"....do they care?
Good to the last fin! I don't think he felt at all guilty....the fish was too big for the gull anyway.
Gulp! ......last swallow. I've never seen a Heron sit on water like this either. It was a day for learning new things about herons.
Back to the lake edge......
......the unrepentant thief!I got a real kick out of watching this, but I doubt the gull was quite so happy about having been "gulled" by a heron out of his dinner!
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19 comments:
The survival of the fittest was it? Not fair!! The heron is bigger than the gull! :)
Thes is a wonderful sequence Mary!!
Great shots Mary, I have only seen the Heron do that once myself, it is unusual.
I love it Mary! Way to catch nature in the wild! I've never seen a heron sit in the water either. Now I have! Thanks!
What an awesome nature docudrama! You captured every moment with your fine storytelling through word and image.
Joan: Maybe survival of the "biggest" in this case! It was fun to watch the heron on ice.
Roy: Isn't great when we see something new and different for the first time? Nature has plenty to teach.
Eve: He looked like a funny colored swan sitting there :-)
CountryDreaming: I love being in the right place at the right time...and getting the camera to focus :-)
Fun and interesting post Mary ... a good shots of the culprit.
Great pictures and a great story, Mary.. Poor Gull didn't have much chance, did he???? But the Heron knew there was something waiting JUST for him...
Thanks for this one. Marvelous!
Hugs,
Betsy
What a great photo sequence. I'm glad you could capture this action and share it with us.
The gulls eyes where bigger than its belly. and of course there was no way the gull could have tackled such a large fish. it was tried but?
thanks for braving the cold to show us your neck of the woods.
or is that birds.
Poor gull - hope he found something else for his lunch.
What a great thing to watch! I guess the Gull was only able to take little pecks, but that Heron just gobbled it up no problem! Glad you got it on camera Mary!
Great, Mary! I bet that was so much fun to see and shoot. I loved the "snowshoe walk" That's exactly what it looked like. So now we've all learned a few more things, thanks to you and your ready camera.
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Beautiful pictures, Mary! You always come up with something interesting.
What a thing to witness! I did not know herons sat on water either, so you taught me something, too.
Oh,that is so fascinating. Glad you were able to capture these images.The Heron on the ice is comical.
Blessings,Ruth
Excellent shots of the Heron it's a common resident here too
Looks like my kind of place, never seen a heron in so deep before. Mike.
Mary: Neat series on the heron.
I love this series Mary. It must be so good to see birds year round in your area. Things are just about all frozen here, although I did see a flock of ducks fly up the creek yesterday morning. There is a small bit of open water yet.
B.
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