Fishing Drama (Great Blue Heron) - Birds of Beaufort NC

On the morning of December 31, I came upon a Great Blue Heron (Ardea Herodias) standing on a post in Gallants Channel. The neck of this statuesque female was stretched to an extreme as she stood very still, patiently waiting to catch sight of her next meal swimming by. Flying toward the shore, she landed in the shallow water. Coiling her neck into an S-shape, she suddenly sprang forward and snatched something.

That’s a big fish! Too large for her to gulp down right away. I couldn’t help thinking, “your eyes are bigger than your stomach!”

Upon closer examination I realized she hadn’t exactly caught a live fish. It seemed to be just the head of a dead fish, neatly sliced from the body.

It’s probably a Sheepshead . No doubt, a fisherman caught a big one, gutted it at the nearby marina, and threw the head off the dock into the water, where it was then carried away by the current. And snatched…

I was afraid that the heron was going to choke to death trying to swallow her large catch. Normally, a Great Blue Heron would catch live fish of a smaller size, such as this one to the right caught on another day …

But this hungry heron was not ready to give up on her meal. How did she plan to swallow that fish head?

She is not equipped to tear the fish into small pieces like an osprey would, since she lacks the hooked beak and strong talons to pull against. She was only able to work the fish head in her mandible, using her tongue to push it toward the back of her throat.

*Great Blue Heron using her tongue to move her catch.*

She dunked her catch repeatedly into the water, then grabbed hold of it to lift it, giving it a shake. She’d try again to shift it back to where she could swallow. Maybe the saltwater was a sort of dipping sauce or more likely it was a lubricant to make the fish head slippery.

Note the water dripping off the fish head as it’s being retrieved…

Meanwhile, a group of hungry gulls started closing in, hoping to get lucky and grab the unswallowed catch. This is a common tactic among birds that are foraging in the same place. One species intimidates another with the aim of stealing its meal. This juvenile was especially persistent…

The heron reacted. She started on a leisurely walk, gripping the fish in her beak and putting some distance between herself and the annoying gull.

The gull swam away and the heron returned to the task of swallowing her meal. Dunking again, she tried rotating the fish…

After about 20 minutes of struggling with the fish head, the heron was approached by another intruder eyeing her catch. A curious white bird (probably immature Little Blue Heron) came flying too close for comfort…

Keeping an eye on the intruders, the heron continued the attempts to eat her meal. By this time, I gave up hope of seeing her actually swallow the fish, and began watching a group of Great Black-backed Gulls who were feeding nearby.