Thank you. Just saw one today on shores of La Jolla. Thought it might be this bird as a juvenile. Took photos of it. Had to go slow to approach because I didn't have a zoom lens.
Incredible eye and beak coordination with lightening speed. The way it soaks the gophers in water before gulping it down reminds me oh how my grandmother will dip pieces of bread in to hot chocolate drink before eating them.
Untrue. Phorusrhacids were endurance hunters, were capable of taking bites instead of swallowing whole, and had curved beaks with a sharp point, much like modern raptorial birds, that would have been used in a hatchet-like fashion. Herons are ambush hunters that utilize a straight, spear-like beak and swallow their prey whole. They have prehistoric analogies, but phorusrhacids, or indeed any other terror birds, are definitely not among them. An example of convergent traits could be found in the Azdarchid pterosaurs (Which, notedly, are neither birds nor any other kind of dinosaurs.)
They stalk and pounce like cats. Those beaks are weapons. You can see blood dripping from one of the gophers, probably dead from shock within seconds most of them I'd guess.
I never knew gophers were the main source of a herons diet. Well shit, the more you know. Then again, I did see a huge pelican eat a pigeon at the beach once. That was crazy.
Terrifying bird. Strong neck, sharp and sturdy beak. No chance ground hog. Imagine if they start using their claws. should cross breed a eagle with heron. And then cross breed that outcome with a bat.
