As I was sitting eating breakfast this morning and looking out the kitchen window, I noticed a Great Blue Heron on a dock across the canal. He was looking intently at a group of turtles sunning themselves mere inches away. I quickly called Patty to watch with me. While most of the turtles were too big for him to eat, we felt sure he was waiting for a youngster to show up. And sure enough, one did. As you watch the slide show, I think you’re going to be surprised at the ending.
Kudos to Patty for patiently recording this extraordinary event of nature.
The Cvillean 
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I can’t see it 😦
We are visiting friends who live on (well beside, really) a man made lake. The community had a real problem with fish predation from herons and cormorants, and they had way too many ducks too. The community added a deep blue dye to the water, and the birds have all pretty much moved away. No one misses the bird poop, that is for sure, and the fish are flourishing.
That was a brilliant set of photos 🙂 Well done Patty! At one point i was wondering if the heron was upset by the turtle trying to play piggy back rather than fishing!
Very glad the heron went for the fish in the end rather than the baby turtle. My tortoise spends time in the garden in summer & i’d worry if she was going to be stalked by herons too, although she is getting a bit big to be picked up by anything less than a great eagle now. Even Wilson stays away!
Big bird, big appetite. Great shots.
Hi John. Glad you enjoyed it. We have a veritable aviary right here in our back yard.
That is a really big gulp there at the end. Great shots, Patty! We may need to do some collaborative posts, we four :-).
Would love to have you and John here with your cameras sometime to do this area up right!
Fascinating. And I’m referring to the urinal-looking things hooked to the side of that dock as well as that big bird doing what comes naturally. 🙂
Well, even turtles gotta go.
Good get for both Patty and the Heron. What a fun place to live.
Never a dull moment out in the back yard. It fun when we let out the dogs and the squirrels and ducks scatter.
Good capture, both Patty and the heron! It sure cleared the rock of turtles in a hurry. We watched a Great Egret doing the same thing when we were in SC a couple years ago. It’s tough to eat a fish with no hands!
Showed this to Linn, and realized that wasn’t a rock the turtles were on–it moved!
It’s some kind of float but I don’t know what. I loved the way those turtles were staring down the heron.
I’ve never really liked herons, and now I remember why. Very unfair of me I’m sure
They are a magnificent birds but quite a predator. The little creatures living around here don’t stand a chance. They will eat just about anything they can swallow. I don’t think your animosity is totally unfounded. I sometimes wonder if they were hungry enough, would they carry me off?
And it wiggled and squiggled inside her. I let those turtles go in your backyard last year. I am glad she went for the main course and not turtle treats!
From the looks on those turtle faces, I believe they were thinking “bring it on, beak face!”
Very nice. Did the turtles rat out the fish?
I don’t know, but I’m sure they were thinking “thank goodness for Darwinism.”
Oh I love this and I am so envious of you with your outstanding observation perch. Perhaps you should by your beautiful wife one of those motion activated cam corders such as the one in ‘Enemy of the State’? Of course, you don’t want to record any assinations or other shabby political doings. Hopefully, your dock-owing neighbor is innocuous. Dianne
Good idea Dianne, but I think I’ll just wait until the price of drones is more affordable.