Great Blue Heron catches ginormous gopher in dramatic fashion

My favorite Great Blue Heron strikes again and catches a very large juicy gopher for breakfast.

[@WaynesAdventure]

Heron had to dip that one in her sauce 🤣

[@mythbuster4880]

​@@tonypaterson5723I think it makes the big ones slide down easier 🤷‍♀️

[@nickdouglas736]

it's so cool to see how seems to move her head and body independent from each other while 'targeting'.

[@DMBall]

Gophers must be pretty near-sighted, to expose themselves repeatedly in the face of a mortal enemy.

[@motherlandbot6837]

Like most burrowing mammals that only venture above ground for short dashes, they have small to tiny eyes that see mainly movement, large objects, and changes in light intensity.

[@user-tq4ep9nc8m]

There is no doubt that the gopher recognized the enormous size of the heron that stood in front of him and thus the danger that lay in wait for him, On the other hand, he would not have stayed like that without any movement, and even compulsively exposing himself to her in this way again and again, instead of digging back in, if it were not for his inherent masochistic tendency to do so, which overcame his fear and forced him to be captured by her. In any case, his intention was most likely to amuse himself in his fantasy with it every time and without ending up with it in her stomach. אין ספק שהגופר זיהה את גודלה העצום של האנפה שעמדה מולו ובכך את הסכנה שציפתה לו, מצד שני, הוא לא היה נשאר כך בלי שום תנועה, ואפילו חושף את עצמו בפניה באופן כפייתי שוב ושוב, במקום לחפור בחזרה, אלמלא נטייתו המזוכיסטית המובנית לעשות זאת, אשר התגבר על הפחד שלו ואילץ אותו להיתפס על ידה. בכל מקרה, כוונתו הייתה ככל הנראה לשעשע את עצמו בפנטזיה שלו בכל פעם ומבלי לגמור עם זה בבטן.

[@ivansalazar5448]

It feels like the gopher did not last long...

[@ivansalazar5448]

Herons are magnificent predatory birds!

[@jimzenor9148]

Yeah they are. They really learn a lot so old herons like the one in this video, are really smart.

[@uncertainzee]

Great seeing you work in the park today! Love your videos, excellent captures.

[@jimzenor9148]

Thanks Rod, it was great talking to you. I had a bit to do this afternoon but I should have the heron video today but these 4k videos do take an enormous amount of processing so my computer may run out of time

[@bayarbuyan84]

First time I have seen a bird hunt rodent in non flight

[@annpollak]

Amazing. Fabulous video quality. Thank you.

[@p47koji]

Marvelous footage as the GBH took off to her pond. Congrats.

[@GarrisIiari]

Pretty amazing how they hunt. Such patience, even as it's looking right at him he waits for a better moment. And he doesn't grab it, he spears and impales the gopher. Of course you need the lubricating dunk in the water. And most importantly make sure it's dead. You don't want to swallow a digging mammal alive. Look for the KZbin video of the stork chick that swallowed a live mole whole. Didn't end well...

[@jimzenor9148]

Yeah she really timed it perfectly. She struck when gopher was moving forward. I have seen those gophers escape plenty of times and they can be really quick

[@aboeAimen]

You cal the hunting that Heron ate to Manny sick ratts he had Brain damage. He literally went in for a quick bite.

[@RaselKhan-nh5kq]

😮😮😮😮

[@lastcommodore9651]

Patience is key .. Excellent videography.

[@ghostriderx916]

The video quality is fantastic

[@alanamaclauchlan554]

Now how in the world is that heron going to swallow a gopher that big without choking

[@jimzenor9148]

I rewatched that video and it was a good memory of a heron that I had a very special relationship with in her last months. That heron really got me interested in learning more about them. She was very intelligent. This particular gopher was near the place in the cattails where she slept at night. For three weeks (when I was there) she’d come out of the cattails about a half hour before dawn and she would walk over to this gopher mound and try to catch this gopher. She was recovering from a limp and I remember being very happy for her when she caught it. It was one of the biggest gophers I seen her catch and eat but she brought it to the water to help swallow it.

[@mythbuster4880]

Dipping makes slippier, right? That was a monster of a gopher!😋

[@jimzenor9148]

@@mythbuster4880 yeah that’s what I assumed. I’ve seen many different heron’s dipping gophers. I even saw a much smaller black capped night heron doing that once to a gopher.

[@michaelmcgarrity6987]

It looks like the Gopher was pleasingly Tasty and Satisfying.

[@NorbertoMelech]

There's a reason the Egyptian pharaohs had the head of the ibis.

[@aboeAimen]

You see the mob boss loin collecting at the End. The Liones forgot who's the boss.

[@chrisconger3057]

Au revior, gopher!

[@user-uj2qj3oc1o]

Cool vid !

[@mythbuster4880]

Big one, required dunking!😮

[@condor5635]

Excellent work! Wouldn’t it be interesting if a gator came up and ambushed the heron. Great video!

[@Randy1337]

looks like a small Raptor hunting :)

[@jimzenor9148]

Yep, that’s how I typically see them, a velociraptor with a dagger.

[@MichalNachlanis-ik2xj]

Nice

[@moniquerichier9212]

✨️✨️✨️✨️

[@InsectsVD]

Wow

[@ramonmateo5428]

Son bien expertas cazando con ese pico esa aves 😮

[@jimzenor9148]

Yes I agree. These birds really humble me with how much better they are at hunting. They nearly always see or hear the gopher before I do.

[@rupeskumar100]

Humans wash hands before eating Heron wash your food before swallowing it.

[@mrknotthall]

Gulp!

[@user-se2mh7qx5o]

Interesting 😊

[@jimzenor9148]

I was just thinking about this video today. Another very large gopher mound was there today. When this video was made, I would sit and wait about 30 minutes before sunrise and this heron would walk out of the cattails and I would follow her to this particular mound. The gopher was very close to where the bird spent the night. The bird would try for this gopher first and it was gratifying when it finally caught it after about 10 days consecutively. It was my favorite heron.

[@dannidell]

Do you know how long the heron watched the gopher before he got him?

[@jimzenor9148]

@@dannidell yes I remember this one quite well. This old heron was by far my favorite and I spent a lot of time with her. I would go sit by a park bench about 30 minutes before sunrise. The bird would walk out of the cattails and walk towards me and stand for a while. For three weeks she would then go and stand near this mound. I think because this gopher was so close she was a little obsessed with it. Anyway on this day, there were three mounds, one near me and one near her. I saw the gopher come out in the mound by me but she ignored it and then she took off toward the third mound and the gopher appeared in less than five minutes. I edited out some of the back and forth that the gopher was doing I think it was about 2 minutes with the gopher exposed when the bird finally caught the gopher. She wasn’t doing well before that so I was very happy she finally caught a good meal and it was a gopher she was trying for a long time. Also I remember the next day she didn’t go to that mound presumably understanding she already caught that gopher.

[@jalanswargo]

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[@jimzenor9148]

Thanks. I hope you like the next one.

[@tintindaiou]

食われる動物は食われる時に痛いだろうね、この鳥さんは半殺しにしてから食ってるし。

[@jimzenor9148]

Yes, the bird was old and she had a hurt leg that was healing.