Can you spot the predator stalking the great blue heron?
A photographer in Texas has unwittingly captured an extraordinary two-image sequence showing a great blue heron immediately before and after it was ambushed by a stealthy predator.
Can you spot and identify the predator in the image posted above and immediately below? (Answers will become evident as viewers read and scroll.)
Great blue heron takes final flight. Photo: ©Jacob Hall
Jacob Hall took the photos recently while exploring Canada Ranch near the Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge with his grandfather, Bobby Hall, and Canada Ranch owner Leroy Ezer.
He told FTW Outdoors that he didn’t realize that such a raw scene had played out until later, while he inspected his images.
Predator strikes. Photo: ©Jacob Hall
“The three of us were driving around, and then all of a sudden I noticed this great blue heron in the distance flying and quickly snapped two photos,” Hall said. “It wasn’t until after that I realized what I had just captured. “
The images were picked up by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which also quizzed followers and tweeted: “It can be hard for some of us to witness wildlife interactions like the one this photographer captured in coastal Texas, but it’s a key part of the way that our ecosystems work.”
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The USFWS identified the predator in the same thread:
“The great blue heron eats small fish, frogs or mammals; the bobcat eats the great blue heron; and scavengers like black vultures clean up anything the bobcat leaves behind.”
Bobcat ready to pounce. Photo: ©Jacob Hall
Said Hall: “I didn’t know that the bobcat was there until after I took both photos. The second photo (bobcat attacking the heron) was taken within seconds of the first photo. I was just in the right place at the right time.”
