Random Ramblings

while i only have personal experience with the green heron, these two species are very closely related, and yeah they're just Like That. the actual evolutionary reason is probably related to the ability to shoot their head pretty far out to have more area available to fish, especially when they're perched on a branch or stump just outside of the water, which they do a lot.

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they have some interesting muscle and tendon structure in their necks that lets them dart their necks out and back in extremely fast so that they have the element of surprise. they also use their long necks to appear larger/more intimidating when scaring off predators or competitors, and to see over the tops of aquatic plants.

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fun fact, when their neck is tucked in it's not getting pulled into the body or anything, it's still just as long but bent into a tight S curve that looks like a continuation of the body because of the way the feathers sit! (you can see it well in the above picture - the reddish neck feathers look like part of the body in the first part.) also, their trachea (throat) can move around in funny ways so that they can bend their necks so sharply without cutting off breathing.

(tags by @sabrestupid)

yep!! this behavior is called baiting, and while it's been observed in multiple heron species, it's most commonly seen in green herons. here's an excerpt from birds of the world about it (emphasis mine):

Green Herons bait for fish (Figure 2) with variety of baits and lures, e.g., crusts of bread (Lovell 1958), mayflies (Keenan III 1981), and feathers (by an immature bird; Norris 1975). For B. striatus in Japan, Higuchi (Higuchi 1986, Higuchi 1988) reported that they bait fish more frequently in open water with few suitable perches. Three of these Japanese birds used lure bait (twigs, leaves, berries) 80% of time, live bait (flies and other insects) 20%. One bird spent 84% of foraging time baiting for fish; other birds used feathers and plastic foam for bait. Success rate highest when live bait used; juvenile birds did poorly baiting. One bird dug earthworms from mud and used them as bait, and twice birds broke pieces of stick to make bait, an example of tool-making. Baiting behavior rare among other herons.

this behavior has also been documented in striated herons, though less extensively. here's a video of one using some bits of foam(?) to successfully lure in and catch a fish!

and here's a few videos of baiting behavior in green herons

the duck at the beginning: Muscovy duck, Cairina moschata. could be escaped domestic or wild depending on the location.

other bird at the end: Ardea sp., likely great egret, Ardea alba

unfortunately i can't identify the bird that flies off the shore in the background at the start of the video or the one that called in the background audio :(