Doing some birding at Greenfield Park in Milwaukee I came across a juvenile Green Heron attempting to eat a bullfrog. As young as this heron is, being born a few months ago, it just could not get the bullfrog down its throat. In recent days I have watched some of these herons eat small minnows at the most, so this was no surprise. I beautiful morning out with a light breeze, some sun and mild temps early 0f 70 degrees. Images were taken on August 4, 2018.
After the catch, the juvenile Green Heron re-grabs the bull frog…
Picks it up…
Thinking how it is going to get this bullfrog in…
Re-grabbing to start the process of getting it down, head first…
In it goes…but the heron can not get it down so…
The heron wets the bullfrog…it is what they do to make it go down easier…
Another try here…
Another dip in the water…
Lets try this again…
Ok…
Getting in position again…
Spin it…
Working on it…
Still trying…
Almost…
More struggle…
Going in again…
Can’t happen…
The Green Heron never ate the bullfrog…….I missed the last shot of the bull frog falling into the water…not uncommon for a heron species to pick up something bigger than they can eat and try to get it down…
Oh,my!!!! Truly an amazing sequence of pics. Poor bull frog..hope it was “gone” during all of this!
Wonder what Adam and Eve did without a Piggly Wiggly?
Amazing photos – thanks – Hilary Ford
Interesting series of photos Jim. I’m always surprised at what herons (of all kinds), egrets and gulls can get down their gullet.
Incredible set of photos. Thoroughly enjoyed. Visited as I want to know whether or not Green Herons eat bullfrogs.