Grassy Waters Preserve, West Palm Beach, Florida

While visiting my hometown of West Palm Beach, Florida I went to Grassy Waters Preserve and saw a Great Blue Heron not far away obviously stalking some prey. After about five minutes of stalking, he finally struck and grabbed a large water snake. I knew the heron would not swallow this snake alive. I anticipated that he would fly out of there with the snake and go where he could kill it first. So I backed up from the edge of the pond trying to get far enough away to capture all of the heron as he flew to the other side of the pond. When shooting wildlife, it is important to know your subjects.

Most often we see this largest heron serenely standing at water'e edge looking for fish, but Great Blues are ferocious predators of everything that lives in and around water. I have seen a Great Blue spear a large catfish, take it to shore and shake the catfish off its bill, then spear it several more times to make sure the catfish was dead before picking it up and swallowing it whole. They definitely are kings of the wading birds.