The Kill Shot (Great Blue Heron)

This is my first time posting in the WF section

I caught this guy hunting down prey in front of the California Academy of Sciences yesterday and I managed to capture the moment he caught this poor mouse.

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com …s/bikeboynate/7​099340373/

great detail/color and a very good capture of that moment

rick_reno wrote in post #14303864
great detail/color and a very good capture of that moment

Thanks Rick!

welcome to the best group here, Nice shot, lets see some more!

Nice close up of a beautiful bird. Can't say I've ever had an encounter like that before.

Does one have to wait a good deal of time for this opportunity to present itself?

I'm asking as a photog that has never, ever shot wildlife.

BGgraphy wrote in post #14304893
welcome to the best group here, Nice shot, lets see some more!

Thank's for the warm welcome! I'll process more in a bit.

Pearlallica wrote in post #14304906
Nice close up of a beautiful bird. Can't say I've ever had an encounter like that before.

Does one have to wait a good deal of time for this opportunity to present itself?

I'm asking as a photog that has never, ever shot wildlife.

Thank you! I think I just got REALLY REALLY lucky this time. I was literally about to give up and just head to the Academy of Sciences but when I saw it crouch into position I knew something was up. Luckily since I had kind of followed it onto the Music Concourse green I was able to get up closer to it and get this shot.

Cool shot, I live next to an estuary and see them fishing all the time...I've NEVER seen one catch a mouse before! What a great shot to capture that right then and at that moment!

It looks like it even got the mouse held right behind it's neck. Did it bash the poor bugger on the ground to kill it before it ate it?

fotoworx wrote in post #14316909
Cool shot, I live next to an estuary and see them fishing all the time...I've NEVER seen one catch a mouse before! What a great shot to capture that right then and at that moment!

It looks like it even got the mouse held right behind it's neck. Did it bash the poor bugger on the ground to kill it before it ate it?

Thanks! Yeah I was looking up the Great Blue Heron on wikipedia and noticed that it usually eats fish and the like, so it surprised me too! Yeah, I got pretty lucky that day

It definitely had it by the neck, so I think it was dead or paralyzed right after the catch. It did throw it around in his beak for a while though. Poor mouse.

It's pretty unique, I don't think that there'd be to many photos of a Great Blue Heron with a mouse JUST caught in it's beak.

Never seen a heron catch a mouse. Must have been an opportunistic kill. You/we will ,most likely never see that again.

fotoworx wrote in post #14316948
It's pretty unique, I don't think that there'd be to many photos of a Great Blue Heron with a mouse JUST caught in it's beak.

Yeah now I know I was REALLY luck that day!

Crimzon wrote in post #14317265
Never seen a heron catch a mouse. Must have been an opportunistic kill. You/we will ,most likely never see that again.

Yeah, that's pretty crazy isn't it!

Here's a shot of it after it swallowed the poor mouse.

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com …s/bikeboynate/7​108629311/

nicely captured Nate

kmunroe wrote in post #14317848
nicely captured Nate

Thanks!

Two fine shots. I didn't know they'd eat non fish meals until a few weeks back when there was a post on here showing one catching a rat and swallowing it. Didn't look dead either!

Very nice shots!
Well done.