Відео

Thanks. Danke schoen. My brother in law showed the video at a large party. The women screamed when the gopher was swallowed. I would have thought they would scream at the capture or choking but no, only at the swallowing.

Thank you. I had a good bird.

Thank you very much!

Before I met this particular bird, I too underestimated herons. I followed this bird off and on for more than a year. She was quite old and was missing feathers on her crop and she had a crooked toe but this bird was very surprisingly clever and really so aware of her environment. She could detect gophers when we would be clueless of their presence and then devise a good strategy to catch them. I know it might seem like I’m exaggerating her abilities but I don’t think so. She always managed to impress me.

@@jimzenor9148 I believe you, they almost look like big cats when they hunt, it's impressive.

I’ve gained a lot of respect for herons in the last few years.

Yeah that’s how I always see them too, like a cat.

Yeah it seems to like some long grass but not too much. On the other section of the park, I see them hunting on short grass (hunting bugs) I haven’t seen this particular heron for a month or so but I’ll keep looking.

I think in this case this bird inadvertently pierced the gopher in the throat. It’s hard to see and I’m not sure but I did look at it multiple times and slowed way down. That is why I think the gopher was wiggling so much at the beginning. The bird then grabbed it by the neck and squeezed and shook it until it could be eaten.

Thanks

Yeah and the bird has a similar assassin job.

It was hunting again the next morning. When it eats a normal sized gopher, it will begin hunting again almost immediately, after just a few seconds. I seen it catch a gopher when it hadn’t finished swallowing the previous one.

I believe that was wind noise. There were a lot of background noises in the park that day.

@@jimzenor9148 Thank you! But its to evenly and it is in your other videos too :/

@@high-co2427 honestly I’m not sure. Gardeners are often around. There are drones and model airplanes. There is a shooting range. Cars drive by. Helicopters and planes fly over. Even the freeway is not too far.

@@jimzenor9148no problem! :) 1:49 to 1:51, think its a car on the road. Sounds like a soundeffect right out of Transformers :D

Yeah everything is feasting on them. Even the domesticated dogs catch them all the time. I know a guy that walks his yellow terrier and that dog is amazing at catching gophers. It likes to chase herons too.

That’s interesting. I bet they wouldn’t mind eating a rat or two.

Thanks

I followed these guys a lot and I finally saw one eat a gopher. I tried for a couple years to document one actually succeeding at catching one. Interestingly, this particular heron with the missing toes was the heron I consistently found hunting gophers. In El Dorado Park, night herons will spend most of their time sitting on garbage cans picking off bugs. This particular heron seemed to have a different agenda and hunted much more often. It is bigger and stockier than the other night herons in the park. I haven’t seen it for a month or so. It is a very unusual heron and seems to have acquired a special set of skills that most of the rest of the night herons have not learned.

I was planning to try and remove some fishing lines from the foot of one but I simply couldn’t catch it. I was very scared of that beak.

Thanks. I have a Canon R6. I almost always shoot at maximum 4K with my EF 400 mm DO lens.

@jimzenor9148 That's why it looks so good you have a really good tool, nice 👍

That would be a cool adventure. I’d love to encounter that and try to video it.

Yeah. There was a red tailed hawk that frequently landed on some nearby power lines. I have seen the stealing from the larger herons so I am pretty sure it would steal this bird’s food too.

I saw one do that with a big beef rib it took from the garbage. It ran the bone with some meat on it to the water and dropped it in and then waited watching over it. These birds are very clever.

Yeah literally they are. This time the dinosaurs outlived the mammals.

It was great seeing you too Rod. It has been a pretty slow year for finding herons but I’ll keep looking. Jim

Yeah they do. I saw a night heron flying with what I thought was a rat a couple years ago but in hindsight I’m pretty sure it was a gopher.