gopher: ok you got me. just do it quick. heron: i promise i will do it as speedily as i can. 10min later gopher: surely you can't be serious? heron: i am and don't call me shirly.
Yeah it was. I felt sorry for that gopher but I also felt happy for the bird. This particular bird, unlike most night herons, goes after prey that provides massive calories but big prey is hard to dispatch quickly. It seems to be this heron’s expertise.
"How could birds have possibly anything to do with dinosaurs? They are so small and cute and fragile..." Actual birds: cold, unblinking monster that snaps your neck, waits for you to suffocate, then swallows you whole.
This has been going on a long time 😊 I went and looked how long. Morganucodon is usually considered the first mammal but its oldest fossils, only represented by isolated teeth, date from around 205 million years ago. Based on the age of the specimens that we do have, that first dinosaur may well have lived in the early Triassic Period. The earliest dinosaurs for which we do have well-documented fossils are found in Late Triassic Ischigualasto Formation in northern Argentina. Skeletons discovered in these rock layers include the meat-eating dinosaurs Herrerasaurus and Eoraptor, as well as the plant-eating dinosaur Pisanosaurus. Some rock layers from this formation are composed of ancient volcanic ash, which has yielded a radioisotopic age of 228 million years ago. So it looks 205 million years of mammal-dinosaur warfare.
I mean better than Pelican death I guess. I've seen instances where those just swallow squirrels and whatever else can fit in its mouth whole while they are still very much alive. That would be like getting swallowed by a Titan in Attack on Titan.
Yes they do. I love how they stalk gophers. I have a couple videos where they stalk fish too. They use similar tactics for different prey but they smart and adaptable if they need to be.
Thanks. Honestly I think the best secret for photography is finding a subject that lets you get close and lets you move around for the best angle. This bird lets me be its paparazzi.
Thanks. I think this heron’s level of big game hunting is unusual for his species. I saw this particular heron hunting gophers a couple years ago. Also I saw one with all its toes trying to catch gophers but it wasn’t until this week did I actually document one catching one.
Here in California they primarily hunt Botta’s Pocket Gophers. The vast majority of my videos are Great Blue Herons hunting gophers. They are really good at it.
Nice Footage. Good written (silent) commentary as well. Much appreciated. We have Night Herons here in Hawaii. I live on Maui and on occasion have tried to approach them to observe. They are very wary. Gophers... that's amazing. I'm sure the Night Heron would be a welcomed guest on many people's yard. 😉
Yes it is interesting how the very different preys have similar strategies to hunt. I have videos of this type of heron hunting fish and in both cases they are very stealthy and use similar techniques.
There is no such animal, I’m not sure what you’re even talking about? Do you mean terror birds? Because the largest known species reached 10-11 ft tall max, and they were extinct before humans ever made it to the Americas
It's almost supernatural, the way the bird can weld its head in space, so that its body moves but its head suddenly appears to be painted in 3-D on a background. I note that this heron does not spear the gopher like the Great Blue does. What gorgeous video you've taken. That bird looks incredible.
They really are adapted to short gass habitat. When I watch GB herons in PNW, the height allows an advantage, but the distance does not (and speed) always cooperate.
Yeah I agree. Great Blue Herons are better at taller grass. I found the ones around here are reluctant to go into tall grass maybe because predators might hide there.
@@jimzenor9148 We had a couple of dozen chickens, not little ones, Chochins, BIG fighting chickens. Mice and inexperienced rats would come to take the spilled grain. Never twice. Them girls could move faster than you could see, literally so fast that you had to work out what they had done after the fact. And they would RACE each other for the mouse, and just VICIOUSLY peck and peck and then fight to be the one who swallowed it whole. Half grown rats were too big for them to swallow whole, so they would crowd around it, and grab a part each and just pull it apart, "pop". And two of them even would try to take sparrows out, I didn't see them ever succeed because the sparrows knew the story too, and would be SUPER on edge once they were in the pen trying to steal grains.
@@uncletiggermclaren7592wow cool story. I’ll bet your chicken eggs are really good compared to what we can get here in the store. I have watched turkeys being really predatorial eating large snakes and rodents. Some birds are so fast.
@@jimzenor9148 Oh, yeah the eggs were pretty good. We used to have a sign on the gate "Pick your own eggs !" :) Lots of people in the neighbourhood sold their eggs to a company that supplied vegetarian restaurants, and we did that too on occasion, but we ate so many of them, they would ring up and we would say "Yeah, we have a couple dozen" and they would flag driving down our long road, wasn't worth their time..
Super common in Venezuela, we call them "chicuaco" because of the sound they produce at night. I've seen red tiger herons doing this exact same thing but while hunting blue tanagers.
As painful and suffering it is for the gopher, the heron is also struggling a lot in this hunt. The need to keep the prey in a choke hold, maintain that choke strength with its beak, and constantly keep the beak firmly on the neck is a lot of commitment and energy. That is energy that the heron can not waste, so when it drops the gopher, it only does so to maintain a quick break to regain some energy and redo the process all over again. If this were a more inexperience or younger heron, I can imagine the gopher slipping away by catching enough air to make a quick sprint. Unlucky for the gopher, this heron was experience enough to not allow the gopher to gain that breath of air when it drop it.
Have you noticed? They become more active at dusk, flying out to feeding sites, calling 'pan' as they pass overhead in the darkness. Next time you're out at dusk, listen for their distinctive call!
amazing that it would continue to hunt after such a large meal. Does the night heron ever impale the gopher's head like the other herons or does it have to grab by the neck every time?
I think it generally does a grab but I took another video the next day (yesterday) where the bird did seem to impale a gigantic gopher. I’m not sure when I’ll have time to process it but I hope to post early next week. It quickly dropped it and then did the neck grab and shake for nearly a half hour.
You guys know that old American saying? “It was grizzly” it stems from the fact that a grizzly bear, neither have the skills, nor the need to kill you swiftly. Unlike a mountain Lion who’ll go for throat, after mauling you, a grizzly bear goes straight for your fat, then your liver, that’s it. It’s big enough that it doesn’t need you to be dead, to eat your liver. This bird neither have the mean, or need to end it early.
Terrific! Such a beautiful bird caught in action perfectly - bit of a shitty death for the poor lil gopher tho and I'm not at all squeamish - really well captured/framed
Thanks. This one kind of surprised me when I watched it for the first time. I thought the light was too dim but it turned out well. I love how dramatically this bird moves sometimes.
Could you imagine their dinosaur ancestors doing the same thing birds and other reptiles of now days are the closest thing to them we are ever gonna see in our live time.. who knows maybe scientists will find a way to bring dinosaurs back
Thanks. I’ve tried narration but that seems to distract too much. Honestly the video quality surprised me when I saw it on the 4K monitor. I knew the light was good but it was really good.
Thanks. I agree. I tend to keep my videos under two minutes because that’s about a gigabyte of data and I seem to have issues with my computer if the files are too large. I was having some difficulties with the focus staying locked on the eyes. For some reason it seemed to have a hard time identifying these giant eyes so it would go out of focus and I ended up removing most of that. It seems to be low light that causes this but the camera does a good job with low lights. I could go to manual focus but I just can’t see it that well.
Great photography. Just great.
Thank you 😀
gopher: ok you got me. just do it quick.
heron: i promise i will do it as speedily as i can.
10min later
gopher: surely you can't be serious?
heron: i am and don't call me shirly.
That's a long agonizing death
Yeah it was. I felt sorry for that gopher but I also felt happy for the bird. This particular bird, unlike most night herons, goes after prey that provides massive calories but big prey is hard to dispatch quickly. It seems to be this heron’s expertise.
Welcome to the reality of nature. Must see how young lions kill their old father lions. Truly painful
Very similar to what we humans go through here on the flat earth realm!
it is still sad tho 😔 nature is metal
Well as said it cant kill as fast as its larger relatives. However agonizing it is thats how it is.
"How could birds have possibly anything to do with dinosaurs? They are so small and cute and fragile..."
Actual birds: cold, unblinking monster that snaps your neck, waits for you to suffocate, then swallows you whole.
Just what I was thinking!
Dinosaur eats mammal.
Next, mammal eats dinosaur.
This has been going on a long time 😊 I went and looked how long.
Morganucodon is usually considered the first mammal but its oldest fossils, only represented by isolated teeth, date from around 205 million years ago.
Based on the age of the specimens that we do have, that first dinosaur may well have lived in the early Triassic Period. The earliest dinosaurs for which we do have well-documented fossils are found in Late Triassic Ischigualasto Formation in northern Argentina. Skeletons discovered in these rock layers include the meat-eating dinosaurs Herrerasaurus and Eoraptor, as well as the plant-eating dinosaur Pisanosaurus. Some rock layers from this formation are composed of ancient volcanic ash, which has yielded a radioisotopic age of 228 million years ago.
So it looks 205 million years of mammal-dinosaur warfare.
I mean better than Pelican death I guess. I've seen instances where those just swallow squirrels and whatever else can fit in its mouth whole while they are still very much alive. That would be like getting swallowed by a Titan in Attack on Titan.
They don’t
Gopher had a few chances to escape but was too stunned to move. Bird was stalking like a leopard and ate like a snake.
Yeah it surprised me when it put it down but it seemed the gopher hadn’t made a good plan to escape.
@@jimzenor9148 I mean by then he was probably too exhausted to make a break for it.
There was a ancient heron during the reign of the early Egyptians that was higher than a human. Imagine that bird impaling you.
It's called the Bennu heron with a height of 2 m / 6.6 ft. Would be interesting to watch. Not to be watched... 😅
And the storks were so big that kidnapped human childrens
What kind of ransom did the heron demand
they didint hunt humans....if anything they venerated them
There’s storks in Brazil taller than people! Biggest flying bird I believe
Really cool video...a bird that moves like a cat!
Yes they do. I love how they stalk gophers. I have a couple videos where they stalk fish too. They use similar tactics for different prey but they smart and adaptable if they need to be.
I've posted a similar comment about your work on a previous video, but this is spectacular photography! Brilliant!
Thanks. Honestly I think the best secret for photography is finding a subject that lets you get close and lets you move around for the best angle. This bird lets me be its paparazzi.
I had known they ate Pocket Gophers I would have bought a flock of them for my old house.
👍Amazing footage! Seen a bit of this in the wild but never knew how they subdue gophers.
Thanks. I think this heron’s level of big game hunting is unusual for his species. I saw this particular heron hunting gophers a couple years ago. Also I saw one with all its toes trying to catch gophers but it wasn’t until this week did I actually document one catching one.
So mesmerizing and intriguing. Thank you!
Grew up in NW Arkansas loved watching these guys fish by forming shade with their wings
These guys are clever. I watched one carry a beef rib into the water to use as bait.
Literally watching a theropod dinosaur hunting.
I have watched the Great Blue Herons hunting for, and catching, voles in fields here in Maine. Fascinating! (Glad I'm not a vole!)
Here in California they primarily hunt Botta’s Pocket Gophers. The vast majority of my videos are Great Blue Herons hunting gophers. They are really good at it.
Wow, that is one stealthy, strong, and focused bird! Thanks for sharing this!
Good videography, hard work appreciated
Thanks. Honestly this bird was interesting enough for me to make following it easier.
Well done
Thank you for sharing
Dang, he one-throated that gopher lol! Awesome video!
Nice Footage. Good written (silent) commentary as well. Much appreciated.
We have Night Herons here in Hawaii. I live on Maui and on occasion have tried to approach them to observe. They are very wary. Gophers... that's amazing. I'm sure the Night Heron would be a welcomed guest on many people's yard.
😉
Such a pretty bird is capable of such scary things
Uma ave pescadora, aperfeiçoando sua técnica de pesca para ser uma caçadora furtiva no meio do mato, uma evolução impressionante
Yes it is interesting how the very different preys have similar strategies to hunt. I have videos of this type of heron hunting fish and in both cases they are very stealthy and use similar techniques.
That gopher was not easy to kill. He couldn't break its neck though he tried hard. Eventually it looked as though he strangled it.
Yeah that’s what I thought too.
Imagine that thing 15ft tall, 1000lbs and it can run 60 miles an hr. No wonder why humans didn't have a chance till recently.
Rubbish.
Imagine you would have a few Braincells more..
Imagine you have a 50 cal
@HanginInSF I think fire was only thing that worked back then. Once we mastered fire, we took control. Great tool.
There is no such animal, I’m not sure what you’re even talking about? Do you mean terror birds? Because the largest known species reached 10-11 ft tall max, and they were extinct before humans ever made it to the Americas
Really amazing close up footage! Nice work, sir!
It's almost supernatural, the way the bird can weld its head in space, so that its body moves but its head suddenly appears to be painted in 3-D on a background. I note that this heron does not spear the gopher like the Great Blue does. What gorgeous video you've taken. That bird looks incredible.
They really are adapted to short gass habitat. When I watch GB herons in PNW, the height allows an advantage, but the distance does not (and speed) always cooperate.
Yeah I agree. Great Blue Herons are better at taller grass. I found the ones around here are reluctant to go into tall grass maybe because predators might hide there.
Nice photography !. Imagine how difficult life would be, if we had dinosaurs sneaking about like that.
Thanks. Yeah I’m glad I’m not a gopher.
@@jimzenor9148 We had a couple of dozen chickens, not little ones, Chochins, BIG fighting chickens. Mice and inexperienced rats would come to take the spilled grain.
Never twice. Them girls could move faster than you could see, literally so fast that you had to work out what they had done after the fact.
And they would RACE each other for the mouse, and just VICIOUSLY peck and peck and then fight to be the one who swallowed it whole.
Half grown rats were too big for them to swallow whole, so they would crowd around it, and grab a part each and just pull it apart, "pop".
And two of them even would try to take sparrows out, I didn't see them ever succeed because the sparrows knew the story too, and would be SUPER on edge once they were in the pen trying to steal grains.
@@uncletiggermclaren7592wow cool story. I’ll bet your chicken eggs are really good compared to what we can get here in the store. I have watched turkeys being really predatorial eating large snakes and rodents. Some birds are so fast.
@@jimzenor9148 Oh, yeah the eggs were pretty good. We used to have a sign on the gate "Pick your own eggs !" :)
Lots of people in the neighbourhood sold their eggs to a company that supplied vegetarian restaurants, and we did that too on occasion, but we ate so many of them, they would ring up and we would say "Yeah, we have a couple dozen" and they would flag driving down our long road, wasn't worth their time..
ЕГО ОХОТА --ЗАВОРАЖИВАЕТ!!...КАКАЯ ВЫДЕРЖКА...!НАМ УЧИТЬСЯ И УЧИТЬСЯ!!!ЖЕНЯ ГРОЗНЕНСКИЙ!!
The way it can retract and stretch out it's neck like that creeps me out
It is amazing. I was just talking with my brother about that. They look so different with the long and short necks.
Aw.....wow... amazing video, thanks for sharing, I like birds and nature.
Thanks. I’m glad you enjoyed it.
beautiful animal, beautiful shot, beautiful display.
Amazing video! Thank you!
Thanks and you’re welcome.
Herons are insanely good hunters........never get tired of watching em in action
Super common in Venezuela, we call them "chicuaco" because of the sound they produce at night. I've seen red tiger herons doing this exact same thing but while hunting blue tanagers.
Amazing video great work 👏🏻
Thanks
Raptor
Tak to sú perfektné zábery lovu. Podarilo sa Ti nafilmovať úžasné video. Blahoželám...
Fantastic video thank you.
Thanks. Glad you enjoyed it!
Awesome video
Great footage! Well done!
Thanks
Amazing video and bird!!!
Thanks Joanna. That really is an exceptional bird. It is so easy to video and it really is an exceptional hunter.
My town needs this bird😅😅😅
Good hunting and damned good potography!
Thank you. That is very nice of you to say.
A great warrior & hunter 😊
That was relaxing .
Queria vê tu de frente de aves gigantes do mioceno seria relaxante.
Outstanding video
Thanks
Nicely done my young padawan
As painful and suffering it is for the gopher, the heron is also struggling a lot in this hunt. The need to keep the prey in a choke hold, maintain that choke strength with its beak, and constantly keep the beak firmly on the neck is a lot of commitment and energy. That is energy that the heron can not waste, so when it drops the gopher, it only does so to maintain a quick break to regain some energy and redo the process all over again. If this were a more inexperience or younger heron, I can imagine the gopher slipping away by catching enough air to make a quick sprint. Unlucky for the gopher, this heron was experience enough to not allow the gopher to gain that breath of air when it drop it.
Well done! Excelent sharing!
Beautiful bird
Amazing video 👏👍❤️
You know, it's hard to feel bad for the gopher given the multiple chances he had to flee.
Little dude was in shock
Amazing video!
Thanks!
Have you noticed? They become more active at dusk, flying out to feeding sites, calling 'pan' as they pass overhead in the darkness. Next time you're out at dusk, listen for their distinctive call!
Yeah I often run at 4:00 am and I’ve seen them hunting in the dark. They are called night herons for good reasons.
Какая прекрасная птица охотница, не знал что такая есть, поразительно скоььео Господь создал животных, и каких удивительных.
amazing that it would continue to hunt after such a large meal. Does the night heron ever impale the gopher's head like the other herons or does it have to grab by the neck every time?
I think it generally does a grab but I took another video the next day (yesterday) where the bird did seem to impale a gigantic gopher. I’m not sure when I’ll have time to process it but I hope to post early next week. It quickly dropped it and then did the neck grab and shake for nearly a half hour.
Impressive footage 🎉. So clear and CLOSE! Humans are pathetic compared to wild creatures.
Thanks
😍Wow😍
Wild stuff there
This is metal af.
O almoço tá garantido. Tá no papo!
Great foto graphics
Pobre raton , sufrio antes de morir!😢
Gophers! It’s what’s for dinner.
I would need a guinness to wash it down !! lol !
great footage of nature.
Who all sees Dino's hunting skill!
Yeah and the Dinos win the mammals this match.
Dude, that was some Morgan Freeman narration-worthy nature footage you got
Thanks
Awesome bird..
Wish I could get a couple of these birds to live in my yard and get rid of all the gophers.
Ini sangat baagus bagi pertanian padi di indonesia
I LOVE HERONS ❤❤❤
That was brutal.
Damn @3:49 😢😢😢😢
Great
De natuur is hard zeker voor zo een klein Fluffy diertje
Oh man that's one slow death
Beautiful bird!❤👍in an awful world 👎😟
The first thing the bird does is to get the gopher away from its hole. If he loses his grip, he'd at least have a shot at recapturing it.
That was painful
only 2 second is enough to swallow the whole prey
This poor little mouse has no solution to escape.
Yes being a gopher is hard. So many things want to eat them.
…with some fava beans and a nice Chianti.
I made a video once that I titled Silence of the Gophers.
True meaning to "death from above."
You guys know that old American saying? “It was grizzly” it stems from the fact that a grizzly bear, neither have the skills, nor the need to kill you swiftly. Unlike a mountain Lion who’ll go for throat, after mauling you, a grizzly bear goes straight for your fat, then your liver, that’s it. It’s big enough that it doesn’t need you to be dead, to eat your liver. This bird neither have the mean, or need to end it early.
Quá hay bạn ỏi👍👏🔔🔔
Thank you
Nice video.
Thanks!
Terrific! Such a beautiful bird caught in action perfectly - bit of a shitty death for the poor lil gopher tho and I'm not at all squeamish - really well captured/framed
Thanks. This one kind of surprised me when I watched it for the first time. I thought the light was too dim but it turned out well. I love how dramatically this bird moves sometimes.
Could you imagine their dinosaur ancestors doing the same thing birds and other reptiles of now days are the closest thing to them we are ever gonna see in our live time.. who knows maybe scientists will find a way to bring dinosaurs back
Nice hunting, bird!
Great video. Oh, by the way Jim,
I can hear you breathing
Yeah I think my adrenaline shot up on that one. I’ve sounded like Darth Vader a couple times when I had to run after a heron flying to the river.
@@jimzenor9148
Balance of nature. Herons eat moles, coyotes eat rabbits, and we eat - - pretty much anything we want.
wow, i't expect it to use the beak to ipale its prey, and not to swallow it whole afte the kill.
When Ratatouille gets served itself
Oh la la une longue mise à mort avec une longue agonie. Il n’est pas bien doué pour ce genre proie. Mais très jolie vidéo. Bien filmée
Thanks. Yeah this bird is hunting very large prey for its size.
Really nice video quality capturing this. Also useful subs. That tit tak shit subtitles gets old
Thanks. I’ve tried narration but that seems to distract too much. Honestly the video quality surprised me when I saw it on the 4K monitor. I knew the light was good but it was really good.
Thats Nature
It sure shows it is persistent!!
I think the bird wont need another meal for 3-4 days
Without the constant cuts the video would have been close to perfect.
Thanks. I agree. I tend to keep my videos under two minutes because that’s about a gigabyte of data and I seem to have issues with my computer if the files are too large. I was having some difficulties with the focus staying locked on the eyes. For some reason it seemed to have a hard time identifying these giant eyes so it would go out of focus and I ended up removing most of that. It seems to be low light that causes this but the camera does a good job with low lights. I could go to manual focus but I just can’t see it that well.