Breakfast With a Green Heron

I arrived at Mead Garden and quickly discovered some of the Usual Suspects were already there staring up at the trees. A Pine Warbler was recently seen. That is new for this month. We moved on in search of more birds and soon found the Barred Owl the group had seen earlier. It was still perched and posed for some photos before flying off.



Minutes later, a juvenile Cooper's Hawk began calling excitedly. As shadows emerged from the trees we could see that the hawk was chasing the owl. Following them along the creek we eventually got to the far end of the trail where the hawk landed. I moved around the tree for a better look and discovered that there was a nest up in the palms. Was the hawk hatched there? A new spot to watch next season.



I wanted to check on the muck removal and the bag is way full. To recap, they are dredging the muck from the pond and it flows to a big bag up the hill in the pines and will drain the water back and leave the muck in the bag. Here is the before shot that I posted last week.



Here is where it is today. Totally engorged!



Moving off on my own, I headed down the path that leads behind the pond and toward the cement bridge. Along the way, I spotted a Green Heron out on the debris boom in the pond. I just wanted an ID kinda shot since I got great shots the other day.



Then, something amazing happened. The Green Heron flew to me! These birds are very skittish and I am used to them flying away from any humans. It landed 8 feet in front of me. Much closer and I wouldn't even be able to get in focus with the zoom lens.



What happened next was even more amazing. I have never seen a Green Heron catch dragonflies but this youngster was already a pro. It snapped up this one about a minute after landing.



A few more dragonflies later and it finally nabbed the more typical tiny fish. I did not even know I got this shot since I was just rapid firing for another bug capture shot.



Like this one just a couple seconds later. It swallowed the fish and quickly grabbed a damselfly.



The heron resumes the hunt in a new, nearby spot.



Yet another dragonfly is snatched from the air.



Have to get the dragonfly in just the right position...



Chomp. Crunch.



!!GULP!!



Ahhhhhhhhhhh!



Nearly 20 minutes later, the Green Heron moved off to a stump and then back to the boom and I finally took a breath.



I would bet I will never have that chance again. Experiences like this makes me almost forget I was here looking for migrants. Almost.