I have mixed feelings when I see a heron or kingfisher at one of our eight Southwest Florida ponds that I have set aside for fishing for the grandkids.
The birds deserve their share but I stocked and reared the green sunfish, pumpkinseeds and largemouth bass that live there.
So when a great blue heron stalked regally up to the pond recently I watched with anticipation and some trepidation.
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The great blue snares a green sunfish.
Great blues are usually quite shy in this area undoubtedly due to unfriendly acts by anglers. But this bird seems to have learned that we mean it no harm and proceeded to catch a large green sunfish from our pond and swallow it.
This apparently alerted the rather tame fish in the pond that something was amiss and the bird did not catch anything else while I watched. So I feel good to have contributed a little bit to the food web of this elegant predator, but hope it does not become too successful in the future.
William Dunson, Ph.d., professor emeritus of biology at Penn State University, splits time between Southwest Florida and his farm in Galax, Va. He can be reached at wdunson@comcast.net.
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William Dunson, Ph.d., professor emeritus of biology at Penn State University, splits time between Southwest Florida and his farm in Galax, Va. He can be reached at wdunson@comcast.net.
