He must not have noticed the "witness" who was filming the whole damn event! Or maybe he just inherently knew that the guy wasn't going to upload the video to 'Animal RUclips', where it would've been seen by the bird's peers. So he had nothing to worry about, because animals don't watch Human RUclips! That sounded funnier in my mind than it looks after being typed out. Oh well, too lazy to delete it....
It's funny how they move so deliberately, carefully, as if they're trying to remain balanced while standing in a river and not alert fish, even while on land.
@@GoldFalcon027 Yeah, in other words, it's doing the same thing on land as it would do in a body of water, and for the same reasons, because land dwelling animals don't care to be caught and eaten alive any less than aquatic animals do! Lol
I live next to a lake. When a blue heron shows up, the chipmunks all go nuts with their alert calls. I never realized what voracious predators blue herons are. I figured they just ate frogs and minnows. They will eat any animal they can swallow.
It is rather brutal! People tend to have this idea that nature and wildlife are pure and beautiful, and don't often think of the genocides being committed (or, at least attempted) on a daily basis among animals. Or, that many of them are full of sickness and disease, and ticks and fleas (accidental rhyme - I've got 'the street' in my blood).
@@SexyFace I wasn't claiming it was impure. I was stating that people think it's this harmonious, clean and beautiful thing, when in reality it's death, starvation and disease. Sorry to suggest what you should do, but perhaps you should spend a little more time trying to understand someone before commenting like that.
The sound of the bird singing in the background is very beautiful! Gives an immersive feeling like this is placed in prehistoric time and the heron is a dinosaur hunting!
what species are you describing? truly sounds scary! With teeth? Must be a nonavian theropoda but 250 kilos??? trex was 20 ft tall but far heavier and def could not run that fast. Only phenomenal athlete species that comes to mind with those numbers is carnotaurus but it ran a little slower then that, was also half the height you mentioned and weighed a lot more then 250kilos
1:30 - fixed that timestamp for you These mimic birds learn the common sounds in their environment. There's a lyrebird in a zoo in South Australia which now makes the sounds of the construction equipment and tools used to build a new exhibit nearby including a chainsaw and the back up beep-beep of a truck ruclips.net/video/WeQjkQpeJwY/видео.html
@@fockwulf1 You are wrong, and I am correcting you. It's a Northern Mockingbird; starlings and catbirds are both mimics, but their songs are less repetitive. Gray Catbird notes vary in pitch and are interspersed with meows; European Starlings have a standard song that they use between renditions of other bird calls, which are repeated just a couple of times. In my experience, starlings are the best mimics of other birds, while catbirds only mimic sporadically. Mockingbirds are more likely to include non-bird sounds (like car alarms). The ranges of all 3 species overlap with Great Blue Heron over most of the lower 48 states.
At my community garden I have seen an egret do this-fascinating to watch them stalk up to the hole and stake it out. I have also seen a crow knock a gopher out of his burrow and then come back around and try to eat it and then have to fly off with his prey because the other crows were ganging up on him. Definitely the non-Disney side of nature.
great epi! I saw this happen in Golden Gate Park, too late to get camera out, so I know this is great work. Clear, stable, done very well I feel. what's great also is the way they hold it in the throat for awhile, till it's dead maybe.
Southern Brew yup, it’s beak is like a fishing spear! Herons are very good at catching and (as you can see in the video) “stabbing” struggling prey. They are outstanding predators!
Nothing like tendering it up bit with the old beak before eating it. Herons like, hey buddy can you put the camera down for a sec and pass me the HP sauce.
Fun Fact: The Azhdarchids Pterasaurs (think Quetzalcoatlus) are theorized to have hunted like this. Same long neck, same long sharp beak, just with skin covered wings that fold up so the hunter walks on all fours, and is as tall as a giraffe while doing so. And much larger prey.
The Blue Heron really doesn't spear the gopher; the beak is more like a pair of very fine and sharp tweezers. Spearing a gopher with the beak would most likely spell the death of the Heron, he would have no way to remove the gopher. Note how the gopher struggles; it is swallowed live.
It was struggling at first, then it stopped likely because it was dead after being repeatedly stabbed. The heron uses inertia to pull it off its beak and if for some reason that coudn't do it, I see no reason it wouldn't be able to use a foot for leverage to pull it off.
After seeing another video if a heron eating a rat, I have to say I think you are right about the heron not stabbing with its beak. It appears to choke out its prey and the apparent stabs are it just resetting for a better choke hold.
There are a lot of these birds in Florida. Whenever I see one creeping along slowly like this one was at the beginning of the video I have to stop and watch what happens next.
I was active duty in Southern California, I would see these Heron stalk and grab brown ground squirrels, the exact same way this one in the video stalked and grabbed the gopher, or mole.
Here in 2020. That gopher is long dead now, re-scattered atoms, as it was before it was born, then later eaten & pooped out. That heron is probably dead too now, 15 year lifespan average.
I once saw a heron down a HUGE rat near my house. No one believed me because they said "herons only eat fish"...well I thought the same thing until I saw one harpoon a rat, stab it half a dozen times with its beak, and swallow it hole!
I like the way he starts stepping backwards and looking around for possible witnesses he going to have to kill.
😁
He must not have noticed the "witness" who was filming the whole damn event! Or maybe he just inherently knew that the guy wasn't going to upload the video to 'Animal RUclips', where it would've been seen by the bird's peers. So he had nothing to worry about, because animals don't watch Human RUclips! That sounded funnier in my mind than it looks after being typed out. Oh well, too lazy to delete it....
😂😂
in the era of CCTV and smartphone, that is a really bad move 😁
He didn't want to lose his "stealth kill" bonus.
It's funny how they move so deliberately, carefully, as if they're trying to remain balanced while standing in a river and not alert fish, even while on land.
We can learn a lot from nature
If I had to guess, I'd say it moves like that on land so as to minimize vibrations on the ground so as to not alert the gopher.
@@GoldFalcon027 Yeah, in other words, it's doing the same thing on land as it would do in a body of water, and for the same reasons, because land dwelling animals don't care to be caught and eaten alive any less than aquatic animals do! Lol
can't say i'm sad to see this. broke my ankle stepping into a gopher hole once.
Should have watched were you were walking...ijs
@@jamesvickers9476 in my own yard? besides, those guys are MEAN! the gopher i mean
Now the gopher goes down a hole
Your ankle is still screwed, cause the gopher hole still gonna be there lol.
hahaha
I love how it engages stealth mode. Those things eat everything,
Yeah, they remind me of Pelicans.
I live next to a lake. When a blue heron shows up, the chipmunks all go nuts with their alert calls. I never realized what voracious predators blue herons are. I figured they just ate frogs and minnows. They will eat any animal they can swallow.
Pelican is the same, if it can eat it, it will
Crazy how it puts it down to stab it with its beak
It is rather brutal!
People tend to have this idea that nature and wildlife are pure and beautiful, and don't often think of the genocides being committed (or, at least attempted) on a daily basis among animals. Or, that many of them are full of sickness and disease, and ticks and fleas (accidental rhyme - I've got 'the street' in my blood).
Better then eating it alive. Saw some types of goose hawks doing it. Hated the whole thing this was a humane kill!
It probably didn't want to deal with scratches as it swallowed.
@@jeffjensen8 doesnt seem impure to me
@@SexyFace I wasn't claiming it was impure. I was stating that people think it's this harmonious, clean and beautiful thing, when in reality it's death, starvation and disease. Sorry to suggest what you should do, but perhaps you should spend a little more time trying to understand someone before commenting like that.
These birds truly have keen senses of eye sight and hearing! Amazing!
Love these. Had one fly low over our barge boat near london. Incredible graceful creatures. Whisper quiet in flight.
A blue heron eating a gopher? I find that hard to swallow!
Lololololol, well said
Because that’s not a gopher. Idiot doesn’t know difference of a gopher and a mole
Looked like a woodchuck because of the stripes on its backs
@@rockincoffee No way man, that's an adult beaver or capybara right there! It's much too small to be a mole... 😂
@Peg Leg or beer
The sound of the bird singing in the background is very beautiful! Gives an immersive feeling like this is placed in prehistoric time and the heron is a dinosaur hunting!
The car alarm bird at 1:29 ruins the immersion though.
@@AllHailNannerpuss LOL Wat a komment! 😂
I liked the construction sounds
All animals were created on the same day.
@@ReapingTheHarvestI've only read one book my entire like guy
The way it stalks the gopher at first was almost feline, catlike!
Watching this, it feels like we were naïve to have taken so long to come to the conclusion that birds are the descendants of dinosaurs.
Yes some people still don't believe it or are shocked when you tell them
Dinosaurs are a hoax
Your birth is a hoax as well.
Birds ARE dinosaurs.
God is cruel
Imagine it, 20ft tall and weighing 250 kilos, with teeth and with the capability to run 40mph...
what species are you describing? truly sounds scary! With teeth? Must be a nonavian theropoda but 250 kilos???
trex was 20 ft tall but far heavier and def could not run that fast. Only phenomenal athlete species that comes to mind with those numbers is carnotaurus but it ran a little slower then that, was also half the height you mentioned and weighed a lot more then 250kilos
that sharp beak is scarier than teeth imo, just look at the damage it does to those poor bastards, most of the gophers are impaled and die on the spot
probably hinted at phorusrhacidae known as terror bird.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phorusrhacidae
@@moxigen but they didn't have teeth xd
oh right... i missed that one.
These things are amazing to watch. Out standing predators
Paul nokio basically a small T-rex
Please Mr internet, can i have my life back please..it's late and I'm in work in the morning.
Be very very quiet, I'm hunting gophers.
You forgot the infamous "hahahahaha" at the end
Ha ha.. gold!
*vewy
...vewy, vewy qwiet...
1’30” mockingbird imitates car alarm.
1:30 - fixed that timestamp for you
These mimic birds learn the common sounds in their environment.
There's a lyrebird in a zoo in South Australia which now makes the sounds of the construction equipment and tools used to build a new exhibit nearby including a chainsaw and the back up beep-beep of a truck
ruclips.net/video/WeQjkQpeJwY/видео.html
someone correct me if im wrong. but if we're watching a blue heron, then the bird mimicking in the background is probably a starling or a cat bird
@@fockwulf1
You are wrong, and I am correcting you. It's a Northern Mockingbird; starlings and catbirds are both mimics, but their songs are less repetitive. Gray Catbird notes vary in pitch and are interspersed with meows; European Starlings have a standard song that they use between renditions of other bird calls, which are repeated just a couple of times. In my experience, starlings are the best mimics of other birds, while catbirds only mimic sporadically. Mockingbirds are more likely to include non-bird sounds (like car alarms).
The ranges of all 3 species overlap with Great Blue Heron over most of the lower 48 states.
As Capt. Quint said in Jaws, "A little shakin, a little tenderizin, and down ya go."
😂
Ah, is that where that quote comes from!
That Heron's stilt like legs and the way he is walking reminds me of those Martian tripods in that sci-fi movie "War of the Worlds" with Tom Cruise.
Terrible way to go.
On a side note, that Blue Heron is magnificently majestic!
They could have used that Heron in "Caddyshack"
His eyes was not cross enough to get the part.
Bill Murray's spirit animal.
It's a real-life version of Snack-A-Mole :)
Heron: Ima gonna stab ya.
Gopher: Gopher it
At my community garden I have seen an egret do this-fascinating to watch them stalk up to the hole and stake it out. I have also seen a crow knock a gopher out of his burrow and then come back around and try to eat it and then have to fly off with his prey because the other crows were ganging up on him. Definitely the non-Disney side of nature.
“Feathered dinosaurs aren’t sca-“
Herons like: "This is a weirdly solid swamp with its fury fish."
That Heron went to stealth mode. 🎶 I'm picking up good vibrations.🎶
Wow, I didn't know these things hunted away from the water.
I think it was a Vole, cool video btw it neat how graceful the Haron's foot steps are.
I think voles are a lot smaller
Mole
It's a pocket gopher
@@pierrecurie , exactly, Voles are much smaller.
great epi! I saw this happen in Golden Gate Park, too late to get camera out, so I know this is great work. Clear, stable, done very well I feel. what's great also is the way they hold it in the throat for awhile, till it's dead maybe.
I need this bird in my yard. Gopher holes everywhere.
2:03 "have a good day.. PYSCHE!"
How graceful the stalking of the prey was... Wow!
Wicked-cool! I would have never guessed they would have simply swallowed the little buggers whole. Nice catch with the video! Thanks.
Thus bird uses the technique of incredible swagger in order to make a kill.
The heron has a built-in switch blade.
Southern Brew yup, it’s beak is like a fishing spear! Herons are very good at catching and (as you can see in the video) “stabbing” struggling prey. They are outstanding predators!
When Heron said he didn't want his gopher well ya knew he was a no-good kiiiid
Nothing like tendering it up bit with the old beak before eating it. Herons like, hey buddy can you put the camera down for a sec and pass me the HP sauce.
'
very good heron bird...
bring many heron birds to the farmers and hunts many mouses / rats / rodents...
also citys and parks
I'm sorry but it's fucking horrifying to think of what the gopher is going through in there. He's ALIVE STILL.
That Mockingbird is out of control
the heron was like "stab stab stab" and gulps the gopher like it was a tender juicy meat bags
This bird is awesome! They must have a super stomach:)
I like how stealthy it's steps are.
I see them eat lizards in my backyard. Wish they'd go for the f'ing gophers too, lol 😂
Fun Fact: The Azhdarchids Pterasaurs (think Quetzalcoatlus) are theorized to have hunted like this. Same long neck, same long sharp beak, just with skin covered wings that fold up so the hunter walks on all fours, and is as tall as a giraffe while doing so. And much larger prey.
Blue heron thinking: Wait a minute where's the diping sauce 😣
It’s so cool how it uses it beak like a dagger O_o
"Check me if I'm wrong sandy, but if I kill all the golfers they are going to lock me up and throw away the key"
Bird just prison shanked that gopher
Caddyshack alternative ending.
Oh yeah!! They do that out here on the Central coast of California. Gophers, Ground squirrels and various other small wildlife.
The Blue Heron really doesn't spear the gopher; the beak is more like a pair of very fine and sharp tweezers. Spearing a gopher with the beak would most likely spell the death of the Heron, he would have no way to remove the gopher. Note how the gopher struggles; it is swallowed live.
It was struggling at first, then it stopped likely because it was dead after being repeatedly stabbed. The heron uses inertia to pull it off its beak and if for some reason that coudn't do it, I see no reason it wouldn't be able to use a foot for leverage to pull it off.
After seeing another video if a heron eating a rat, I have to say I think you are right about the heron not stabbing with its beak. It appears to choke out its prey and the apparent stabs are it just resetting for a better choke hold.
Skewered with great precision.
What a badass carnivore, clean meal, zero waste lol
Looks like it can hear the gopher underground. It listens, gets closer, and strikes.
Birds are definitely the last of dinosaurs. They are actually more carnivorous than most predators.
Wow... the power of that beak!
Never knew they ate gophers untill RUclips!
i know and I used to see them all the time on the golf course, but they were mostly going after small fish.
Wow! It’s big. Impressive dinner 😋 great filming
I need one of these in my backyard lol. I have a zillion gophers
Beautiful and fierce.
I’m probably the only one seeing the gopher struggling fir his life 😭😭😭
I know, circle of life and all that 🥵
That is a true ninja bird
Damn. That Heron is GANGSTA!
Holy crap, those things are serious predators. I need one in my basement to catch a couple of rats.
If you see one rodent, there are 20 or 40 more of them around. If you see a mouse in your house, it means there are dozens more.
It's true I saw one mouse in my house caught it but I kept leaving traps out caught 7 more
Man, they really do actually spear their prey, I thought it was just a metaphor. Very interesting video!
DeathbyPixels ممن نتعرف
I, ah... can’t read that. I’m sorry. زياد سلامه زياد
That was sick how he dropped it to get another shot in. Waits for him to get tried then nom nom
There are a lot of these birds in Florida. Whenever I see one creeping along slowly like this one was at the beginning of the video I have to stop and watch what happens next.
Need to get me a flock of blue heron at my house
lets face it we'd all rather a heron have a tasty meal than allow a gopher to live
I was active duty in Southern California, I would see these Heron stalk and grab brown ground squirrels, the exact same way this one in the video stalked and grabbed the gopher, or mole.
These birds are so utterly savage nothing is safe!
Mfin killer by all means.No kidding around.Way to go,survivor!!
Catches? More like spears the gopher.
"...98...99...100. Ready or not here we go..."
Stealthy footsteps like a cat.
Whose his agent? Does he get paid by the hour or by the mole?
Excellent camera work 👏🏽👏🏽
Bless his heart... he didn't stand a chance.
I need that bird, looks more effective than a trap.
welcome to another episode of where has quarantine taken you
im letting you go......NO IM NOT
im letting you go......NO IM NOT
im letting you go......NO IM NOT
Phewwww.... I thought it said "Golpher".
Raptors are insane !
Now I know where did chopsticks come from
It walks like an Egyptian.
It should have flown up high and dropped the gopher from a couple hundred feet to tenderize it a little.
Beautiful bird...
No more cats ... today cats dont cut it ...
I wish I could get a couple of Herons over to my house and catch these little moles or voles
That Heron sure chop-stick the shit out of that Gophers' head! .\ /.
That strut though.
Farmers destroy their nests and than they complain about having vermin destroying their crops...
Here in 2020. That gopher is long dead now, re-scattered atoms, as it was before it was born, then later eaten & pooped out. That heron is probably dead too now, 15 year lifespan average.
I guess we don't need gopher traps no more
I like how he checks to see if the coast is clear afterwards.
I'm here from the egret swallows mouse video.
Theropods forever, son.
Creepy how you can see it still moving in the heron's throat.
I once saw a heron down a HUGE rat near my house. No one believed me because they said "herons only eat fish"...well I thought the same thing until I saw one harpoon a rat, stab it half a dozen times with its beak, and swallow it hole!
That's exactly how I eat a kit Kat bar