Shari and I were coming home for a great winter ride, Ellen was accompanying us on foot. We were nearly to our river crossing, when we saw a Great Blue Heron wading in the center of the river. The trail is very close to the river, so we had a terrific view of him.
We see herons on the river most every time we ride. I wouldn't be surprised if we just keep seeing the same one over and over--and it is probably this one. Most of the time, we see them perched on the far side of the shore of the river. It was very unusual to see one in the middle of the river like this.
Of course, we had to stop. As he was walking upriver, Shari asked Ellen to take a picture of him with her phone; which she did. Then she gave the phone back to Shari.
The heron continued to walk upstream. Soon, he paused and lowered his head. He looked like a cat ready to pounce. Turns out, he was a bird ready to pounce. He lunged his head into the water, opened his wings and stayed down there for what seemed to be the longest time. It was probably about 5 seconds.
He came up with a a huge fish! We were in awe! I have seen herons catch little fish before, but this was a first. Shari handed Ellen back her phone. We were really regretting that she had given it back to Shari.
The heron certainly seemed to be please with himself as he strutted over to the far shore. We watched as he held the fish in his jaw for the longest time before it stopped flapping.
It was only then that I realized we were lucky that the horses weren't startled when the heron made his big lunge--since we weren't paying one iota of attention to them. All eyes were on the drama in the river.
We see some interesting things out on our rides, but this one is one that will stay in our memories for a long time.
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