"CHASING MONSTERS"

Great Blue Heron - 9 Photos

The blog title is also a title of a television series starring Cyril Chauquet, who travels around the world seeking colossal underwater creatures.

Now this White Sucker is not the biggest fish in the world, by far, but it certainly is massive and somewhat, alarming and fished out by this heron from a small stream fed by a storm pond (Photo #1). It is, however, a native fish species to Alberta.

And yes, the fish was really that big and not a fish tale (i.e. not an exaggeration of size). According to research, a Great Blue Heron's head including its bill is between 36 and 54 inches in length so that should give a measurement from which to gauge the fish's size (Photo #2 through Photo #4).

And it was caught in shallow water in an area, where my view was obscured by tall grasses and reeds. It wasn't until the heron walked across to dry land and turned that I could see what the big dive had been about. And then it was a bit of a heart stopper when the heron tried to manoeuver the fish into a better eating position and dropped it onto the muddy sand. 

It took a few tries for re-capture but a lesson learned. Rather than trying to down it by holding the fish, head high, the heron changed tactics by placing it tail end next to the ground, scooping it up and pushing it into his/her mouth (Photo #5 through Photo #7). 

It took some time but eventually the whole fish went down the heron's throat and eventually esophagus. A lot of water drinking followed by a few minutes of standing (Photo #8). Then it was up on a small beaver dam and preparation for take-off (Photo #9). 

I guess there is no rule about not flying for at least 30 minutes after a large meal. :) :) 

PHOTO #1

PHOTO #2

PHOTO #3

PHOTO #4

PHOTO #5

PHOTO #6

PHOTO #7

PHOTO #8

PHOTO #9