Great Blue Heron with Frog in Flight #2
by J McCombie
Title
Great Blue Heron with Frog in Flight #2
Artist
J McCombie
Medium
Photograph - Untouched
Description
This piece has been featured in the FAA Group, "All Natural Beauty of this World".
This Great Blue Heron has caught a frog for lunch in the local pond not too far from the water's edge. He found it too busy in the corner to enjoy his catch in peace, so decided to fly the frog over to the other side of the pond on the north side, crossing over very blue, slightly rippled waters.
Whether poised at a river bend or cruising the coastline, the Great Blue Heron is a majestic sight. The great blue heron (Ardea herodias) is a large wading bird in the heron family Ardeidae, common near the shores of open water and in wetlands over most of North America and Central America as well as the Caribbean and the Galgos Islands. It is a rare vagrant to Europe, with records from Spain, the Azores, England and the Netherlands. An all-white population found only in the Caribbean and coastal southern Florida was once treated as a separate species and known as the great white heron.
Largest of the North American herons with long legs, a sinuous neck, and thick, daggerlike bill. Head, chest, and wing plumes give a shaggy appearance. It has head-to-tail length of 91137 cm (3654 in), a wingspan of 167201 cm (6679 in), a height of 115138 cm (4554 in), and a weight of 2.13.6 kg (4.67.9 lb). Great Blue Herons appear blue-gray from a distance, with a wide black stripe over the eye. Notable features of great blue herons include slaty flight feathers, red-brown thighs, and a paired red-brown and black stripe up the flanks; the neck is rusty-gray, with black and white streaking down the front; the head is paler, with a nearly white face, and a pair of black plumes running from just above the eye to the back of the head. The feathers on the lower neck are long and plume-like; it also has plumes on the lower back at the start of the breeding season. The bill is dull yellowish, becoming orange briefly at the start of the breeding season, and the lower legs gray, also becoming orangey at the start of the breeding season. Males tend to be slightly larger than females. Immature birds are overall darker and duller in color, with a dull blackish-gray crown and many dark gray streaks on their neck, and the flank pattern only weakly defined; they have no plumes on their heads or shaggy neck feathers like adults have, and the bill is dull gray-yellow. Among standard measurements, the wing chord is 4349.2 cm (16.919.4 in), the tail is 15.219.5 cm (6.07.7 in), the culmen is 12.315.2 cm (4.86.0 in) and the tarsus is 15.721 cm (6.28.3 in).
In flight, the upper side of the wing is two-toned: pale on the forewing and darker on the flight feathers. In the air, the Great Blue Heron curls its neck into a tight S shape; its wings are broad and rounded and its legs trail well beyond the tail. Their very slow and deep wingbeats, tucked-in neck and trailing legs create an unmistakable image in flight.
Look for Great Blue Herons in saltwater and freshwater habitats, from open coasts, marshes, sloughs, riverbanks, and lakes to backyard goldfish ponds. They also forage in grasslands and agricultural fields. Hunting Great Blue Herons wade belly deep with long deliberate steps or stand statue-like, stalking fish and other prey in shallow water or open fields. They move slowly, but watch for the lightning-fast thrust of the neck and head as they stab or grap a fish or snap up a gopher with their strong bills.
The primary food for great blue heron is small fish, though it is also known to opportunistically feed on a wide range of shrimp, crabs, aquatic insects, rodents and other small mammals, amphibians, reptiles, and small birds. Primary prey is variable based on availability and abundance. In Nova Scotia, 98% of the diet was flounders. In British Columbia, the primary prey species are sticklebacks, gunnels, sculpins and perch. Californian herons were found to live mostly on sculpin, bass, perch, flounder and top smelt . Non-piscivore prey is rarely quantitatively important, though one study in Idaho showed that from 24 to 40% of the diet was made up of voles.Herons locate their food by sight and usually swallow it whole. Herons have been known to choke on prey that is too large. Great blue herons obtain water by scooping up water with their bills and tipping their heads back to drink. Great blue herons live in aquatic habitats and are surrounded by water for nearly their entire lives.
Great blue herons generally have one mate per breeding season. Males will perform courtship displays to attract a female. A male will perch at his nest, stretch his neck and fluff his plume of neck feathers. He may also fly in a circle around his nest or shake twigs to impress a female. Once he gets the attention of a potential mate, she perches next to the male and they will both raise their crest feathers and clatter their beaks together. Pairs may repeat these behaviors throughout the breeding season. Great blue herons use large nests mainly of bare sticks and branches. These herons prefer to nest in tall trees and most nests are built 9 to 21 m off the ground. Great blue herons often nest in large groups, breeding in colonies, rookeries, or "heronries" with other herons.
Both great blue heron parents care for the young. Males and females build a stick nest, high in a tree. Parents take turns incubating the eggs, and after the eggs have hatched they will take turns caring for the chicks. The young herons are born helpless and rely on their parents for warmth, protection, and food. Chicks are fed mostly fish.
Uploaded
February 1st, 2017
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