Great Blue Heron Hunting at Night: Video
Great blue heron hunting at night.
Great blue herons are able to hunt day and night, thanks to their excellent vision. It’s sometimes said that they need bright moonlight for nocturnal hunting, but the high density of rod type receptors in their eyes give them excellent night vision. They can and do hunt successfully on moonless nights.
One of my trail cameras captured a great blue heron hunting at night on two occasions. On one of those nights, there was only a sliver of a moon. Check out the video below. The info strip at the bottom of the video shows the moon phase for each night.
This camera was not stationed for heron activity, so it was a nice surprise to capture this and learn about its nocturnal hunting habits. I had actually hoped to capture the activity of a muskrat, which I had noticed was using the base of the snag (at left in the photo) as a feeding platform. The muskrat never showed, and it remains on my capture list.
Sources:
Black, B. B. and M. W. Collopy. “Nocturnal Activity of Great Blue Herons in a North Florida Salt Marsh.” Journal of Field Ornithology. 53 (1982): 403-406.
Who would have known? Thank You for Sharing 🙂
You’re very welcome!
Thanks so much.
We have a blue heron that spends time in our creek and in our pine trees. I didn’t realize it was nesting near here until tonight when I saw an immature heron hunting after dark, which confused the heck out of me because owls are the only birds I knew hunt at night.
At first I was trying to convince myself that a bird hunting at night must be an owl, despite the fact that it was wading and not even a tiny bit owl-shaped. Fortunately he let me get a food look and was clearly a heron, but without the mature coloring. I had no idea they could hunt at night.
I’m glad this was useful! To be perfectly honest, I too was unaware of the GBH’s nocturnal hunting habits…until I downloaded the videos from this camera.
Just saw one outside in the lake at night, thanks for the info
Glad it was useful!
You answered SO many questions and have convinced my son and I to set up a watch station. Awesome when he comes around the tree with the fish in his mouth! Are the whirring sounds from the bird or the camera?
I think the sounds are a combination of camera static and insects in the background. I’m so glad this has inspired you!