Great Blue Heron

I was walking the Stu Visser Trail (aka Pine Creek). It was late afternoon with a lot of heavy slushy snow underfoot but still lovely out there along the alder-lined open water. There weren't many birds but I did see chickadees, mallards and a noisy belted kingfisher. Then, near the Horseshoe Pond, I watched a pair of golden-crowned kinglets, flitting and jittering as they do, quite tame, and very easily identified. In fact, they were exceptionally well seen as there was no foliage to hide them as they flew about, never stopping for more than 3 seconds. They would often fly to the base of trees and rummage a second or two in the snow.

I had flushed a heron earlier and was walking along the far western part of the trail near Ottawa Beach road. All at once I realized I was looking at a Great Blue Heron on the thin ice at the edge of open water, standing perfectly still on one leg. It didn't fly off even though I was close. As I watched through the binoculars, I could see incredible detail, like the navy color of the head feathers and numerous grayish plumes which were very obvious as they moved in the slight breeze. As I watched, entranced once again by this bird and once again noticing its formidable bill and yellow eye, it very slowly lowered its other leg and stood briefly with toes splayed. Then it moved very slowly but deliberately to the edge of the ice, hesitated a second and suddenly dipped its head in the water and came up with a silvery fish sideways in its bill. The fish was about 5 inches and was flapping its tail violently but within 5 seconds, the heron gulped it down. This was incredible to see. I could actually hear the heron gulp a couple of times, as I was that close. Jeepers....how long does a fish survive in the gullet of a heron? I watched a few minutes longer and the bird moved in a totally zen-like way placing its 3 long toes precisely and perfectly as it turned in a slow circle. Even as I walked away, it stayed in the same spot.