Created 6-Nov-11
Modified 2-Aug-12
An opportune sequence of shots of a Grey Heron trying to swallow an adult Little Grebe it had just caught.
I missed the initial "take" of the Grebe but having watched the dynamics of the Qurum Park lake over the past 3 years I feel certain the Heron didn't mount a direct attack on the Grebe.
I startled the Heron as I walked around the lake and it flew off with the already dead Grebe some 50 meters or so from where it was originally. Although I didn't witness the original strike I'm fairly confident that the Heron struck the Grebe as it swam underwater in search of fish quite possibly not realising what it was it had attacked.
Due to The lens configuration I was using and the fact that I was constrained by the concrete balustrade which surrounds Qurum Park lake I have had to use some rather unconventional cropping on some of these pictures.
The Heron finally decided I was to close for comfort and took its prey to one of the two small islands in the centre of the lake. Despite trying for at least thirty minutes the Heron was unable to swallow the Grebe, finally just dumping it on the island and wading back into the shallows of the lake.
© ARA Photography