Great Blue Heron Overseeing His Lake

Not far from the Green Herons, I met this Great Blue Heron intently scanning the water from its throne [1], a tree branch protruding from the water. I'm not sure if these 2 species consider themselves competitors though they're after similar food [2]. Nor have I witnessed fights or squabbles between herons even when they're both within line of sight of 1 another. While their much larger size would seem to guarantee the Great Blue Heron a victory in an altercation, fights do have consequences:

  1. Even a smaller foe could wound a bigger rival, leading to infection or impaired hunting ability.
  2. The effort/energy of fighting is effort/energy that won't be used to find food or find a mate. Especially if fish are abundant, bird calculus might indicate that peaceful coexistence is superior to conflict.

May 25, 2023 at Duke Farms
Photo 292818451, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)

[1] Maybe the throne should be for a Belted Kingfisher, because of that whole "king" thing in the name.

[2] Their preferred meals may be identical except for size. I'm sure there are fish too big for a Green Heron to handle that a Great Blue Heron can swallow. And there might be some fish small enough that a Great Blue Heron wouldn't consider worth the effort of eating while a Green Heron would happily snack on it. Still, if you were treating these 2 species to lunch, there's probably a lot that they'd both appreciate.

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