Black-crowned Heron is Hunting

It was my lucky summer morning when at dawn I came across five Black-crowned Night Herons fishing in a very unusual open area.  After spending almost two hours with herons, I learned a thing or two about their behavior and how patient they are when hunting.  

Generally, life is good.

Black-crowned Night Heron During Sunrise

 

Early morning. The sun lazily rises from behind the mountains. A small backwater that emanates such calm that you are afraid to disturb it with an awkward movement.

And the light, soft and golden. The Black-crowned Night heron bathes in this light. He is so funny and somewhat reminiscent of a bent old man.  He is in no hurry, because the day is just beginning and it belongs to  him.

This bird has extraordinary patience; it freezes in one position for a long time, peering into the water  while preparing to catch prey.

Generally, life is good.

Fishing Is Not Always Successful

 

The Black-crowned Night Heron landed with such strength and determination that I was sure that something unexpected would follow after that.  

The Heron plunged its head into the water and probably waited for prey to brush against its beak.  

Unfortunately, there was no catch at that time.  Sometimes fishing ends without a catch.  Did the Black-crowned Night Heron dive at the wrong angle or was it shallow there and the Heron missed the fish?  It hard to say what happened.

Generally, life it good.

Black-crowned Night Heron is Fishing

 

Like all Herons, Black-crowned Herons use the same fishing techniques.

They stand still in shallow water for a long time, waiting for fish to approach and then throw their head and neck forward, like the Heron in the photo above, into the water to catch prey. 

The Heron I photographed recently during fishing seems to have caught a crayfish. Apparently, crayfish is popular on the heron menu.

The Heron also have pulled silt out of the water. I was sure that it would swallow it along with a prey, but I was mistaken.

 

The Herons swallow fish whole. They are using their forward-facing eyes to determine which end of the fish is the head and which is the tail.  They also swallow the fish head first, so that the fish slide smoothly down their throats.  

Fish is swalled but silt left outside.

Black-crowned Herons tend to hunt on their own and usually during night or early morning.  

But during the day they will nest together in the colonies.  I read that colonies have up to twelve nests in the single tree but I have never seen them.

Life goes on.