In August and September, I often visit the Kokanee spawning channel in an attempt to photograph black bears catching and eating the Kokanee salmon. Yet, on only one previous occasion, have I seen a Great Blue Heron participate in this bonanza. This year was different in a few ways: the fish were fewer, but the few were larger and there were a number of herons around the channel. Last Thursday, I watched a heron catch and eat a Kokanee.
Below is the single good picture I captured.
A Great Blue Heron grabs and hoists a Kokanee salmon from the creek to eat.
The event gave me an opportunity to think about the differences between the bear and the heron.
The bear seems to roam around while splashing and grabbing at a fish, whereas the heron waits quietly, and moves slowly until it spots what it wants, and then takes the fish with a lightning grab.
But, the biggest difference occurred after the fish was caught. The bear uses its claws and teeth to tear the fish apart and eat the bits. The whole thing is over in perhaps fifteen minutes, and the bear then looks for another fish.
The heron is incapable of this. It lacks both teeth and hands. It can only swallow the fish whole, and for a large fish, this requires a careful setup. While this heron caught the fish from behind by the back of the head, it then had to flip the fish around in its beak to enable it to be swallowed head-first.
The heron first killed the Kokanee, and then placed it back in the stream, where upon it attempted to pick it up appropriately. It took two tries before it managed to get it aligned. The swallowing was fairly quick. But, given the size of the meal, the heron may now have to digest it for a few days before fishing again.
This picture taken in 2015 shows another Great Blue Heron swallowing a large Kokanee.
