The Scent of a Heron

Nothing is more memorable than a smell. One scent can be unexpected, momentary and fleeting, yet conjure up a childhood summer beside a lake in the mountains; another, a moonlit beach; a third, a family dinner of pot roast and sweet potatoes during a myrtle-mad August in a Midwestern town.

Diane Asckerman
A Natural History of the Senses

Great blue heron fledgling about to land on wall.

I can imagine few things a great blue heron loves more than a large, tasty fresh fish, especially if the catching is easy.

Great blue heron fledgling has landed on the wall.

That day, I had been watching the fledgling heron make a circuit around the eastern shoreline, when suddenly the heron stiffened and stood erect. It turned its head toward the concrete wall leading to the tunnel entrance, and swooped upwards, landing gracefully.
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If you look closely at the bottom left-hand corner of the first photo in this post, along the ledge of the wall, there are a few objects, a couple of light colored items and one in front that is darker brown.

Aha! I thought I smelled fish.

That brown object is actually a fish. A dead Northern Pike, probably discarded by one of the fishermen who sometimes dangle their lines from the grasses next to the tunnel. I’ll let the following photos tell you the story of what happened that day.
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Oh boy, a fish I didn’t have to catch myself!

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It’s supposed to be wriggling! Why’s it so stiff?

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‘E’s passed on! This fish is no more! He has ceased to be! ‘E’s expired… THIS IS AN EX-FISH!!

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Catch and release it’s supposed to be. Not catch and leave on the wall! Guess I’ll release it, myself.

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If you love something, set it free.
Boy, I sure love pike.

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All levity aside, I’m not aware of much empirical evidence around whether great blue herons have a sense of smell, or if they do, how acute it is.

From my perspective, the above anecdote is enough for me to believe that they do indeed have a sense of smell. The heron appeared to have scaled the wall after getting a whiff of the dead fish. I had watched this heron on other occasions when it was foraging that area of the lake, and had never before seen it show any interest in the area at the top of the tunnel wall. The grassy area there has no food for the herons, whereas the adjacent shoreline offers up fish, frogs, turtles, eels, crawfish and more.

So, great blue herons do have a sense of smell; that’s my story theory and I’m sticking to it.

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Thanks again to Ed Prescott for the Sunday Stills: Birds challenge.

Thanks also to Ese for her Ese’s Weekly Shoot & Quote Challenge – Scent prompt.

Thanks again to Prairiebirder Charlotte for her Feathers on Friday challenge.

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(This took place September 2011)

© 2013 Babsje. (https://babsjeheron.wordpress.com)