One of the most fascinating birds to watch in nature is, without any question, the great blue heron.
Over the years, I have spent hundreds of hours or more on the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge auto tour route solely watching and photographing this unique bird in every season possible, from the scorching dog days of summer to the relentless dreads of old man winter.
Despite being considered a waterbird of sorts and one very adept at stalking fish in the shallows, the great blue heron does, however, have its limitations around water.
Even though it spends much of its life around waterways and wetland habitats, the great blue heron is a very poor swimmer at best, mostly due to the lack of webbing between its toes.
But this lack of mobility in deeper water doesn’t keep the great blue heron from diving into the water in order to steal a fish from another bird, not by a longshot.
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In fact, throughout the winter on the Bear River Bird Refuge, great blue herons are often found standing on the ice near the water’s edge in order to do just that, steal fish from unsuspecting goldeye ducks, for example.
During winter, the Bear River itself freezes but oftentimes leaving small pockets of open water up and down the slowly moving waterway, attracting great blue herons, pied-billed grebes, gulls, and numerous other winter birds.
Many times these small pools of open water are over deep sections of the river, thus greatly limiting the great blue heron’s ability to catch fish during this time of year.
Here in Utah, many great blue herons don’t migrate during winter but rather search far and wide for small pockets of open water in order to hunt or even more so, steal fish from coots, goldeneye ducks, pied-billed grebes, and other birds which are perfectly suited to dive deep under the icy surface in search of fish near the river bottom.
Sometimes during these brazen efforts to steal fish, the great blue herons end up jumping into the icy water, only afterward finding itself not being able to swim very well.
It doesn’t stop the great blue heron from attempting to steal fish but it does make for a very slow, awkward swim back to the ice.
But it’s not uncommon for the great blue heron to actually lift off from the water and fly back to the water’s edge.
I have personally seen this more times than not when a great blue heron attempts to steal a fish in deeper water. Instead of attempting to swim, most of the time great blue herons will fly back to their icy perch.
It’s a fascinating behavior if you think about it.
During winter, great blue herons hang around pockets of open water but are not very skilled swimmers themselves so, in turn, they have learned to adapt and steal fish from other birds, sometimes causing them to dive into the icy water themselves.
Being not very good swimmers, the great blue heron still fearlessly dives into the icy water for what they hope is a quick meal.
It’s an incredible sight to behold and one that plays out each and every winter on the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge.
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Great Blue Heron Canvas Print
We are offering a 30×20 great blue heron canvas wrap print made from one of our great blue heron images taken on Farmington Bay WMA this past winter.
A great gift for the bird watcher on your shopping list this year. Visit our online store for more details.
