Telegraph: mother duck and heron

bbbbb

Interesting series in today's telegraph of a duck trying to save a duckling from a heron
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2008/06/26/eaheron126.xml

taken in Bray Harbour in County Wicklow, doesn't say who the photographer is?

Great forum BTW, learning lots!

Ricky91t

i'm gonna hunt that heron down and shoot it

The poor little duckiling

Overdraft

ricky91t wrote: »

i'm gonna hunt that heron down and shoot it

Can I join your shooting party? Jesus, I'm in tears here

Einstein

awful...saw it in the star today aswell...so sad me thinks!

Dundhoone

Terrible.

Now, dinner time, Im not sure if I'll go for the lamb or the veal this evening!!

deRanged

ricky91t wrote: »

i'm gonna hunt that heron down and shoot it

you better stock up on ammunition. What do you think all herons spend their time doing?
Take this uninspiring picture I took in Fota gardens last year.



it's very hard to see (if you click I added a note to show it) but the heron is standing over a moorhen nest, but that time the nesting pair fought him off. that's what happens in nature. it's brutal.

I've been watching the interaction between a couple of nesting pairs of mallard and another heron near me over the last few weeks. the numbers of ducklings have steadily declined ...

Roen

Herons do eat smaller birds as well as frogs and fish too.
And considering the number of ducks we have in this country compared to herons I wouldn't begrudge a 'cute little fluffy' snack to one. Boo Hoo.

RuggieBear

Neil Michael is the photographer seemingly

AnimalRights

ricky91t wrote: »

i'm gonna hunt that heron down and shoot it

The poor little duckiling

Couldn't have put it any better, quite sad especially as I've spent a lot of time photographing and being close to Ducks and Ducklings the last few months.

sheesh

ricky91t wrote: »

i'm gonna hunt that heron down and shoot it

The poor little duckiling

herons should only eat non cute animals like frogs eels and mice (but not field mice they have cute Furry tails)

in short if it can appear in icanhascheezburger.com then don't eat it

AnimalRights

Think the point is it's pretty savage a member of the Bird family eating another.

YogiBear

Aw no... I was replying to this & then I went back to look again...
and scrolled down to the see the second photo!
I don't like herons anymore. That is the saddest thing!!!
:(:(

NoNose

I always thought they just ate fish:o

RuggieBear

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJnSxVS-hwQ

it happens

bernard0368

Those herons can be cheeky buggers alright, I had one rob a fish I had hooked on the liffey.

Dundhoone

Pike have been know to eat adult ducks also. Its not fun being a duck , your on a lot of menus.

sheesh

AnimalRights wrote: »

Think the point is it's pretty savage a member of the Bird family eating another.

come on I know ducklings are really cute and its sad seeing it happen but its part of nature. The herons got to eat too.

that is why ducks have so many ducklings, most of them die.

maybe you thought I was being a bit in sensitive there but i know Ricky91t in real life.

gerky

It may not be nice but animals eat animals, the heron isn't doing it for fun, its just trying to survive.
It also begs the question, how many of you have ate lamb because their just as cute as those poor ducklings.

gerky

NoNose wrote: »

I always thought they just ate fish:o

A heron's diet consists mainly of fish, amphibians, molluscs, insects and small rodents and birds.

AnimalRights

Of course I know a Herons got to eat what I said was it's still pretty freaky when a member of the Bird family eats another member of the Bird family, I also don't eat Lamb, I'm a Veggie.

thefizz

Herons rock :pac:

Paulw

AnimalRights wrote: »

Of course I know a Herons got to eat what I said was it's still pretty freaky when a member of the Bird family eats another member of the Bird family.

So, should you also then kill all birds of prey since many of them also kill other birds?

Please show a bit of common sense. It's nature, it happens. It's survival of the fittest.

What about fish eating fish, insects eating insects, mammals eating mammals?

I've never seen such an immature response to the natural world.

Back on the original topic - some brilliant photos.

Thirdfox

AnimalRights wrote: »

Of course I know a Herons got to eat what I said was it's still pretty freaky when a member of the Bird family eats another member of the Bird family, I also don't eat Lamb, I'm a Veggie.

Poor vegetables - what did they ever do to you? At least animals have a chance of running away, vegetables can't even move (quickly)... a lot crueller than eating meat I think (may have health benefits though).

Things eat things - and eating plant life is quite comparable to eating animal life in my eyes. We mammals eat plenty of mammals too, fish eat fish, insects eat insects...it's not unusual at all.

thefizz

Paulw wrote: »

Back on the original topic - some brilliant photos.

Yes the story is very well documented, well done to however took the photos.

Placebo

dof is nice at such a distance
zooooooooooooooom