Stumble It!Great Blue Herons will eat things as large as rats. Here is an excerpt from a note (posted Jan 22, 2008 5:14 PM) on the “Tweeters” birding list that describes such an encounter:
“My wife and I were at Nisqually on Monday midday. We came upon a GB Heron about 20 feet off the path on dry land staring at the ground. It struck with its bill, pulled and pulled until it came out with a very large rat. It had at least a 7 inch body not counting the tail (naked). As there were several other people stopping to watch it walked off a few feet with the rat twitching in its beak. It then tossed the rat up and swallowed it whole head first. That was a first for me.”
Tags: Biology, Birding, Birds, death, Ecology, Great Blue Heron, Mammals, Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge, rats, Washington, wildlife
