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Great blue heron with prey

Ardea herodias

Photo by Brian38
Published on Project Noah
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44.8013, -123.064

Field Notes

Description:

This was a lucky encounter with a great blue heron which was struggling with a snake before finally swallowing it. I guess I shouldn't have been shocked it was able to swallow it. I've seen them eat large fish, bullfrogs, and moles before. The snake was a red-spotted garter snake (Thamnophis sirtalis concinnus).

Habitat:

Spotted at the Ankeny National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon.

Reference Links:

Great blue heron - Wikipedia

Species ID Suggestions

Comments (5)
Brian38
Thanks for the kind comments SukanyaDatta, armadeus.4, and jazz.mann.
jazz.mann
well done! a lot of skill and patience and effort went into that I am sure, as well as luck
Liana
Oh that is seriously awesome! Hella lucky spotting, congrats. Thank you for sharing 😃

Spotted for Missions

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Birds of the World
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Birds of the Pacific North West
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Pacific Northwest Wildlife

Tags

Photographed
PublishedNovember 7, 2021

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