11 April, 2013

Heron vs Frog

A slightly more graphic blog post than usual today, and if you're at all sensitive to the sight of defenseless frogs getting pulled out of the water by a bird with no moral values, then you might not want to carry on reading.

Whilst in Bushy Park yesterday, I came across this sneaky Grey Heron that had inconsiderately plonked itself right in the middle of a frog spawning area on a small pond in the Woodland Gardens. Rather than hunting fish, this particular bird had chosen to tackle the local amphibian population, much to the inconvenience, not to mention annoyance, of the local frogs...








This heron definitely has a frog in his throat *ha ha ha ha*... I know, so predictable. I'm sorry.


Despite adopting the most unswallowable of postures by instinctively stiffening it's limbs, the frog was sadly only delaying the inevitable, and whilst the end result wasn't exactly very nice to watch, it was interesting to see just how stealthily the Heron hunted up close. Nothing was rushed. Every single footstep was placed with absolute precision as to ensure no potentially distracting ripple was created in the water, and patience and subtlety were demonstrated to perfection.

That's nature for you.

3 comments:

Lee Dingain said...

Nice series of heron/frog pics!

Billy Dykes said...

Cheers Lee.

Kyle said...

Nice blog and amazing capture! That looks like decent-sized frog putting up some fight here! But in the end the bird was able to win the battle and gulp that whole thing down okay really?? It seems like it would have trouble fitting down that long/skinny neck. Also, if actually eaten, does the unlucky prey get swallowed kicking all the way as well?!

-Kyle