Lately in our area there are quite a few White-necked Herons Ardea pacifica to be seen in paddocks where they are likely to be feeding on insect larvae, insects and frogs that are becoming active. However today I noticed one flying in to check out the feeding possibilities at our dam.
It quietly worked around the edge and looking for any movement that promised a tasty meal.
We stocked the dam some years ago with Yabbies Cherax destuctor, a small native freshwater crayfish that are nice eating albeit a bit fiddly as they are not particularly large.
We have seen Cormorants spend time hunting them and getting mainly the young ones so I was interested to see what success the heron would have.
A sudden lunge into the shallow edge and I waited to see if there was a catch and if so what was the victim.
Success and it was a Yabbie which can be seen firmly held on the tip of the beak and
in the 15min or so that I watched, it managed to catch three before flying off to look for another feeding ground.
White-necked Herons are one or the larger Herons at about 1m and are found throughout Australia.
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