I have always thought herons are beautiful, elegant birds. I love the way they stand completely still for what seems like hours on end. It is always special to see one flying silently over our rice fields or standing quietly at some of the ponds in tourist areas. However, after seeing this particular heron at work in Dazaifu City I now look at them in a different light!
It was quite amazing to watch it standing perfectly still on a rock just in front of us, eyeing the huge carp swimming around its feet and then.... watch it dive straight in and pick out the smallest one (which was still pretty big), fly off to a rock in the middle of the pond then slowly juggle it around till it was in the right position to swallow whole. I'm guessing it didn't need to eat for a few days afterwards....
Jo,
ReplyDeleteAt our home in California, we built a huge koi pond. We imported koi from Japan at $400 each. A Great Blue Heron decided it wanted to have some expensive sashimi. The heron managed to catch 2 koi before we netted the pond. It's amazing to see up close how tall they are. The heron wasn't afraid of me when I approached it. I think it wanted me to find another fishing hole. Anyway, I read that the Great Blue Heron regurgitates food into the water to attract fish. Kinda like fishing.