Picture of the week

Great Blue Heron downing a full length chinook salmon carcass

While doing some bird photography along the American River Parkway during the winter salmon run, I watched with amazement a great blue heron fly in, muscle some turkey vultures and gulls out of the way, and then proceed to consume the carcass of this full length salmon.  At first it tried to eat it tail first, but that was not working out due to the direction of the salmon's bone pattern.  So it grabbed it from the head and slowly started choking it down over the course of about 15 minutes.  It seemed to be having difficulty getting the last of the tail down its throat, as it seemed to have run out of room in its stomach.  But given the angle of the salmon's bones, it seems like a one-way ticket to get the rest down or die trying.  Unfortunately I don't know how the story ends as someone with a loose dog showed up and scared the GBH away.

Below are some other birds captured from a few of my favorite locations in this area during this ideal time of the year, including a bald eagle that landed on a nearby ecalyptus tree.  Some of these images were captured by making use of a simple blind using a sheet of camoflage material (see the insert photo).  This tends to require more patience, but enables better close-ups and surprises that one may not normally encounter when exposed out in the open.