Beautiful Great Blue Heron and One Special Feather
Great Blue Heron Fishes with Feather – babsjeheron
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Great Blue Heron shaking a seagull feather – babsjeheron
Doesn’t this Great Blue Heron holding a seagull feather bring to mind a friendly dog playfully carrying his favorite toy back to you, wagging his tail?
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At the time, I wanted to say to her, “Who’s a good girl? You are! You are a good girl!” because the way she pranced the length of the submerged log seemed so playful – at first.
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At first, it looked playful, but then I realized the seagull feather was not a mere toy to this Great Blue Heron – it was a tool, a fishing lure she repeatedly dipped into the water to entice fishes up to the surface, making it easier for her to spear them with her stiletto beak.
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Great Blue Heron Fishes with Feather Nbr 2 babsjeheron
For some birds, it is dinnertime more often than not.
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Searching for their next meal, or that of their offspring, is a full-time job.
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A few Great Blue Herons at the lake have adapted tools to make fishing much easier, and dinner more of a sure thing.
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Great Blue Heron Fishes with Feather Nbr 4 babsjeheron
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She would pluck the feather from the water’s surface, and shake loose the droplets…
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…And then carefully drop the feather back down into the water…
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Great Blue Heron Fishes with Feather Nbr 5 babsjeheron
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After a few moments, she retrieved it with that stiletto beak again, shook it dry, and then dropped it into the water once more.
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Transfixed, I watched her repeat this for more than ten minutes.
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It looked almost ritualistic – totemic or shamanic even.
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Great Blue Heron Fishes with Feather Nbr 6 babsjeheron
To see a feathered creature brandishing a feather from a different bird in such repetitive behavior.
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And then it dawned on me.
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Before she first picked up the feather, she had been fishing, staring intently into the water as though tracking a fish, from the half-submerged pine trunk.
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Great Blue Heron Fishes with Feather Nbr 8 babsjeheron
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And once she picked up the feather, she continued her fishing – using the feather as bait to attract her prey, the fish.
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How smart a bird and how alluring a lure she chose.
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Crows are the master tool users of the bird world, but as this experience shows, herons are smart birds, too.
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Great Blue Heron Fishes with Feather Nbr 10 babsjeheron
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I’ve observed herons using tools for fishing on other occasions, but there’s something magical and special about her choice of a feather.
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After all, don’t human fishermen – especially fly casters – often fashion their lures with feathers?
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Great Blue Heron Fishes with Feather Nbr 11 babsjeheron
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Why should a Great Blue Heron choose any differently?
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Ingenious heron!
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Great Blue Heron Fishes with Feather Nbr 13 babsjeheron
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That day, I took more than 925 photographs at the lake.
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The Great Blue Heron you see here is one of only three I’ve named: Juliette.
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Great Blue Heron Fishes with Feather Nbr 14 babsjeheron
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While Juliette and I were in the middle cove, her suitor Romeo was just over the ridge in the long slender cove, oblivious to the mysterious joys of fly casting with a feather.
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Romeo missed all the fun that day.
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Last Wednesday I had a successful eye surgery, but apparently it hasn’t cured my dyslexia, and I posted my photo backwards accidentally. I think this is right now?
Babsje With Clear Eye Patch – babsjeheron
The eye patch is only temporary, but I sure could use a more fetching one!
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This post is prompted by Cee Neuner and the creative and inspiring Lens Artists Tina, Amy, Patti, and Leya, all of whom encourage the community of photographers and writers. The focus for this week’s LAPC is Going Wide. Isn’t Go Wide something the Coach calls as a football play? Or wasn’t there a saying Go Big or Go Home? I don’t have a wide-angle camera lens any more, so I can’t Go Wide. Maybe I should just Go Home. Unless the big, wide sky encompassing Comet Hale-Bopp and the Pleiades counts:
Comet Hale-Bopp at top right, the Pleiades mid-frame above the trees – babsjeheron.
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Thanks to Cee for her CMMC: Dark Greens. Green foliage abounds at the lake.
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From Patti Lens Artists Weekly Photo Challenge 165: Going Wide .
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From Tina Lens Artists Weekly Photo Challenge 165: Going Wide .
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From Amy Lens Artists Weekly Photo Challenge 165: Going Wide .
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From Leya Lens Artists Weekly Photo Challenge 164: Looking Up, Looking Down .
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Folks, now that some areas are opening back up, please consider supporting your local Arts communities – whether music, theater, crafts, visual arts venues, and others. All have been impacted over the past year and they need your love.
My brick & mortar presence in Massachusetts dates back to 2009 in several local venues/galleries.
TCAN – The Center for Arts Natick
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Natick Town Hall
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Five Crows Gallery in Natick
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Audubon Sanctuary
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Be a fly on the wall! You can CLICK HERE to see the gallery walls with Herons .
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Remember: Walk softly and carry a long lens.™
May the Muse be with you.™
The Tao of Feathers™
© 2003-2021 Babsje. (https://babsjeheron.wordpress.com)
Great Blue Heron, Kayaking, TCAN, Five Crows, Natick
Posted on September 14, 2021, in # Lens-Artists, ardea herodias, Astrophotography, Birds, Heron, Mindfulness, Nature, Photo Essay, Wildlife Photography and tagged #fivecrows, #LAPC, CMMC, Lens-Artists Photo Challenge, TCAN. Bookmark the permalink. 59 Comments.
Babsje Heron 
It’s interesting to see a Great Blue Heron use a feather as a fishing tool. These herons are a lot smarter than we think.
I totally agree with you – Herons and many birds are so smart. Thanks for your kind comment. Best, Babsje
The heron looks like he is going to write a sonnet with the feather and hope your eye heals quickly.
I love that imagery – a Heron writing a sonnet with a feather. And thanks for your well wishes – I can see a big improvement already. – pun intended. Best, Babsje
Dear Babsje,
great pictures and great explanation 👍 Thank you very much 🙏🙏
It’s amazing how clever birds are.
We like the picture of Hale-Bopp as well.
All the best to your eye
The Fab Four of Cley
🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
Many thanks and my best wishes to all The Fab Four or Cley. I’m pleased that you like the Heron with feather sequence and appreciate your well wishes for my eye. Reading and typing are immensely easier today than just one week who. Best, Babsje 😊 😊 😊 😊
Holy Moley babsje, 925 shots?!?!? Good heavens, what must your archives look like?!??! Loved your creative bird – Juliette indeed!!
Thanks Tina, you have me giggling. archives are on 4 external drives and at the moment this laptop has less than 3gb free on the volume that has my photos. It’s smoking from the seams. Glad you enjoyed Juliette! Many thanks for your great comment. Best, Babsje
What a wonderful moment to witness Babsje, I’ve never seen herons use a tool the way Juliette so beautifully does! Thank you so much for sharing and I wish you a speedy recovery from your eye surgery 💜🙏
Many thanks for your kind comment. I have seen Herons use twigs as lures but this was the only feather in use that I saw. And thanks also for your well wishes. Getting better by the day. Best, Babsje
Very interesting that a Heron would do this Babsje! So to get a fish it attracted it would have to drop the feather suddenly and grab the fish quickly? Did you see it get a fish?
It so similar to fly-casting. The feather lure tickles the water surface and tricks the fish into thinking there’s a food source and so the fish rises up. In this case, the Heron did not catch a fish with the feather. Eight minutes after the last feather photo, she moved a little bit along that log and…and she picked up a twig and resumed fishing with the twig. I swear I am not making this up. Unbelievable isn’t it? I ran out of time and steam to add any more photos to this post at 3am. Thanks for the great comment Wayne. You always ask good questions. Best, Babsje
Wow – I am so glad you captured this activity!
Many thanks for your kind words. I’m glad you enjoyed these photos. It was an amazing thing to behold. Best, Babsje
Interesting post, Babsje. Lovely images and info on how clever the herons are! Feel better, too!
Thanks so much Patti. I’m happy that you like this Heron. And relieved that I found something for Going Wide – the Pleiades. Best, Babsje
Wow… what a series of heron! Thank you for the post. Hope you are doing well.
Hi Amy – so glad you like Juliette the Heron with her feather. And thanks for your well wishes – good progress and healing so far! The color blue is much more vivid now. Best, Babsje
The dark green back is beautiful with the GBHs. 😀 😀
Hi Cee. Thanks so much! I just realized I forgot to put a comment in your wonderful challenge page. Oops. I’m abashed. Best Babsje
925 photos … sounds like a fashion photographer at work, (LOL) .., at least that’s how imagine them when they work. The most I shot at one time was around 80-90. Go big, go wide, it doesn’t get any bigger or wider with the sky.
Fishing with flies, that’s tried and true. At least the GBH didn’t need to worry about how she cast her “fly.” 🙂
Elizabeth did a re-send on her email with your continuing issues on receiving as a just in case.
Thanks David! You’re right – the Heron didn’t have to worry about casting her fly – but she didn’t feel in anything using that feather – and so she switched to using a twig!
I can’t imagine being a fashion photographer. The thoughts of lots of strobe flashing seems like such a very different world. But so exciting for them.
I found Elizabeth’s resend – thanks for letting me know. Will follow up in the morning. Best, Babsje
Great study in heron fishing, and yeah, what they said. Only 925 photos? You’re slipping!! (Hope your eye heals well too.)
Many thanks John. Yes, guess I slacked off that day. 😊 there are worse ways to spend 6 or 7 hours than on the water with Juliette and Romeo the Herons. Thanks for the well wishes. Best, Babsje
Wonderful captures!! Hope you heal quickly and get back to clicking.
Hi Cindy. Thanks very much for the kind well wishes. My shutter button finger is itching to get back out there. Loved your latest Hummingbirds, btw! Best, Babsje
Just beautiful 🤩
Hi Drexel. Many thanks for your kind compliment. What I think is also beautiful was the Pleiades animation you posted on your site a few weeks ago. So professionally done, just lovely! Best, Babsje
Very much appreciated 😊 🙏🏾.
I couldn’t find your link or I would have posted it! 😊
https://drexelglasgowastrophotography.blog/2021/08/18/one-year-of-pleiades-m45/
I used my phone to do the video 🙈
Yes that’s the one. You really used your phone? No kidding? It’s perfect. Thanks for posting your link!
😊 yes iMovie on phone
That’s brilliant! Wow.
Wish you a speedy recovery! And thank you for the Juliette story! A good one!
Hi Leya. Thanks so much. I’m glad you enjoyed Juliette fishing and thanks for the well-wishes. I had posted this before your Going Wide post went up and so I need to update and add your link! Also we had been talking about astro photography earlier. Here’s one that a fellow blogger – Drexel Glasgow – created using iMovie on iPhone: https://drexelglasgowastrophotography.blog/2021/08/18/one-year-of-pleiades-m45/ Best, Babsje
Now you have me wondering what ‘our’ GBH in a recent post was doing by dipping a wing tip in the water. Any ideas? The shots were taken by the trail cam so we didn’t get a chance to watch the action more closely. https://gunta.photos/2021/09/05/great-blue/
Thanks for your comment and your link. That’s not fishing behavior, it’s just normal wing stretching they do all the time. If they are perched close to the water, the tips of their wings can get wet. Here’s one photographed from behind where he’s above the water level https://babsjeheron.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/great-blue-heron-extending-wing-babsjeheron.jpg Best, Babsje
P.S. you’ve come a long way from the days of trying to photograph a Great Blue from your car door when the car noise would spook the Blue!!
Change of location was a huge improvement for me…. we see the GBHs flying up and down the creek in front of and below the house. It’s an amazing experience. My partner (the resident bird expert) seems to think we may have a pair.
They can have such predictable flight paths – almost like commuters going to and from the office daily!
That’s really interesting, Babsje. I had no idea about the heron’s “feather fishing”. Gets me wondering how many other little things they are doing that we don’t notice as smart moves. And I always wonder about birds in general, “What are they thinking about, when they are not thinking about survival?”
Best,
Julie
Thanks for your thoughtful comment, Julie. I’m not aware of any other instances where a Heron has used a feather as a fishing lure, although I have observed two different Great Blues fishing using a stick. I have seen videos of small Herons using bread to attract fish. As far as what they are thinking? Even with Humans, short of the Vulcan Mind Meld, do we know what anyone is really thinking? It’s fascinating to think about birds thinking! Thanks for commenting. Best, Babsje
Beautiful portraits and possibly a good topic for a scientific paper. Smart bird! 😁
Thank you very much for your kind comment. IMO the expression bird-brain should mean being smart instead of the opposite. I’ve seen this same Heron and a different one using sticks to attract fish, too. Glad you like this one. Best, Babsje
Thx for this post; it offers more evidence that a) birds are smart, and b) crows and humans are NOT the only tool users . . .
You’re welcome and thanks for your kind comment. Eight minutes after that Heron stopped fishing with the feather, she picked up a slender stick and started using that as another tool to try to stir fish up to the surface. I think the expression “bird brain” should imply being intelligent rather than the opposite! Best, Babsje
Superb
Thank you very much for your kind comment. I’m pleased that you like this Heron. Best, Babsje
This is amazing. Thank you for observing and recording this fishing with a feather behavior. Jane Goodall award goes to you. : ) Hope your eye has mended fully.
Hi Rebecca. Thanks so much for your generous compliment! That’s high praise. I’m pleased that you appreciate this one. Best, Babsje
Thanks for sharing this wonderful explanation of the feather in mouth, Babsje. Did you put a link on your post and I just missed it? You should if you didn’t because this is such a unique read. I never imagined that birds would use tools to help them catch their prey.
I’m glad your eye surgery came out well. I’ve had eye surgery in the past, and I’m still dyslexic, a bad speller, and horrible typist. 🙂
Hi Marsha. You’re welcome. I’m so glad you liked that story explaining about the Heron using the feather as a tool. Birds are so intelligent. That old expression about calling someone a “bird brain” should be a high compliment rather than a put down. If you feel like seeing more birds using tools you can see a Green Heron using bread as fishing bait if you do an internet search on green heron fishing with bread. And thanks for your well wishes about my eye surgeries – the most recent was 7 weeks ago, hoping it is the last. And i, too, am dyslexic, a bad speller and typist, myself.
And yet, here we are blogging like crazy! I think the expression to eat like a bird is a misrepresentation, too. They eat tons.
Good point about eating like a bird, Marsha! That hadn’t occurred to me at all.
There are probably many things about birds that the average person doesn’t know. 🙂
Absolutely. It’s a joy to learn new and surprising things!
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