Heron swallows wriggling Moorhen chick whole! (1 Viewer)

[peter hayes]

While filming at the London Wetlands Centre in Barnes today with Dr Richard Taylor, Parliament's only Independent MP (a serious birdwatcher), we stopped at the first bridge overlooking a narrow stretch of water. A rather mangy looking Heron was rooted to a horizontal branch in typically statuesque fashion.

Passing behind were some Mallards and their young, who seemed a little agitated. A little further away was a family of Moorhens, the parents guarding their chicks. The Heron seemed totally disinterested in what was going on around him. Disdainful, even.

Suddenly, there was the most almighty kerfuffle. The Mallards went crazy, the Heron flew off a short distance, and then swooped. He gobbled up a Moorhen chick in one movement.

The wriggling, petrified youngster tried frantically to escape, as its parents demonstrated their alarm but could do nothing. The heron shook its prey. The chick’s neck went limp. Dr Taylor said: "I think he’s broken its neck.” But there was still some life in the chick, which was by no means small. It was a fair size, and you might have thought it would be safe from such a predator.

The Heron kept shaking its catch, occasionally dropping its head to dip the Moorhen in the water in order to adjust its grip. Gradually, as they do with fish, it managed to manoeuvre the poor chick length ways in its bill and swallowed the wriggling breakfast whole.

We caught almost all this on camera (all except the final moment – the cameraman felt sick!) and it is remarkable footage. The Marketing Manager of the Wetlands Centre commented that it was a good job there were no school children present!

I had no idea that herons could eat something as large as a Moorhen chick. I felt horrified, yet privileged, to witness this awesome event.

 

[walwyn]

Just like our experience the other week at Slimbridge, only in that case it was a duckling.

 

[peter hayes]

Yes, thanks for reminding me. They are clearly capable of eating almost anything!

 

[walwyn]

It is the nonchalant manner by which they do it that is amazing. In our case it was standing on the edge of the Island and took the duckling like it would have a fish.

 

[Tony]

Herons can often be watched catching and eating (whole) adult Water Rails on Parkgate Marshes (Wirral). They take up to 90 mins. to completely swallow the rails, which can take up to an hour before they stop struggling.

Tony Usher

 

[peter hayes]

Nonchalant is the word Walwyn. They seem completely disinterested in the havoc they cause or the success they have achieved.

Tony: since you describe Herons eating Water Rails; I wonder how their digestive systems cope with a complete bird and whether they really take any pleasure in what they do?

 

[ArnelGuanlao]

Sounds like a gruesome event you witnessed, Peter. It's amazing how much
those herons and egrets can get down there throats in one gulp! Earlier this
year, when I was birding the Merced National Wildlife Refuge here in California,
I watched a Great Egret devour one of the largest ground squirrels I have ever
seen - tooth, nail, and all. The animal was probably the size of an American
football and took no pleasure in getting consumed at all. But the heron didn't
even bother to break its neck; it just upended its bill and swallowed the entire
ground squirrel in one deft maneuver. As I watched the large lump slide
down the egret's throat, I thought: that poor rodent's got to be having the
ultimate bad day!

- Arnel Guanlao

 

[Edward]

Tony, I remember you telling me this once about the Water Rail. Some people here think there is a connection between the decline of the Water Rail in Iceland and the increasing numbers of wintering Grey Heron over here!

E

 

[steve_nova]

As hard as it is to watch, I suppose it is "Just Nature" and an opportunity is an opportunity. I must admit that watching that must have been quite disturbing for all adults never mind children.

This grusome image however reminds me of another from several years ago. There was an account of an Anaconda snake from tropical Central America that had attacked a man in a boat. Now these snakes can reach over thirty feet in length with a trunk diametre of three feet. Predominantly amphibious by nature, they often use the sneak approach on animals coming to the river bank to drink. The man was punting near the bank when attacked by this Jules Vernesque monster but ended up unside the beasts belly. Observers on the bank managed to shoot the snake dead and frantically gutted it, but alas too late of course for the poor man inside.

 

[Edward]

What about the story in British Birds a while back about a moribund Skua sp. found in South Africa with an unusual white protusion coming out of its neck. When the bird died they cut it open and found a squid which the skua had swallowed whole but not killed. The squid was trying to eat its way out, killing the skua in the process and eventually dying itself. Lovely.

 

[alanhill]

Even though this thread is getting more and more lurid, I'd still like to know the answer to the question Peter Hayes posed earlier: how does the Heron's digestive system cope? Do all the indigestible parts get regurgitated, as owls do with their pellets?

Alan Hill

 

[Karl J]

Haven't seen anyhing quite like that - closest was a Heron who caught a fish which wouldn't play ball and be eaten. So the Heron stabbed it a few times, threw it about a bit, dunked it a couple of times in the water then stabbed it some more ..... and eventually gave up and threw it away.

 

[peter hayes]

Thanks Kevin - that is a very useful link and explains a lot.

 

[walwyn]

http://www.biology.eku.edu/RITCHISO/birddigestion.html

 

[peter hayes]

Thanks Walwyn. That is a superb link crammed with info and diagrams.

 

[alanhill]

Thanks Kevin and Walwyn. There's obviously a lot to swallow in the matter of bird digestion! A much more complicated topic than I thought. In the second site the interesting bit was:

"wastes are voided as quickly as possible
waste materials are sometimes voided in other, faster ways, such as owls regurgitating non-digestible materials as pellets (check out a Snowy Owl regurgitating a big pellet!) and fruit-eaters regurgitating fruit seeds or pits".

I had thought that it was only raptors that regurgitated indigestible stuff. It seems like it might be more widespread than that.

Alan Hill

 

[stevo]

Hi Peter.

Sorry to come onto this thread late,on Monday I witnessed a Moorhen chasing something through the water,on closer inspection I could see it was a Grass snake.After seeing off this snake the Moorhen quickly swam over to a Grey heron which was swallowing a well grown chick head first,despite distraction techniques of feigning a broken wing all was lost.

Regards Stevo.

 

[peter hayes]

Thanks for that Stevo - it is endlessly fascinating, isn't it?

 

[cuddy]

Hi Peter lost an entire brood of 7 Shoveler chicks to a Grey heron on my patch last year.
And i think its accounted for the brood of 4 this year.

Still its nature in the raw

 

[Michael Frankis]

Hi Cuddy,

Guess that confirms the general assumption . . . ducks are STUPID!

You'd think they'd learn not to go close to herons!!

Michael