Unlike my post yesterday of a Great Blue Heron on a casual lunch stroll, this GBH was on a serious mission. Likely providing for chicks at a nearby nest, he needed to secure a more substantial meal.

The  greenery he is standing on is not solid ground, but a floating patch of thatched weeds and cat tails with who knows what crawling around in it.

With great precision the GBH found a mudpuppy, probably in search of his own lunch.

The Heron threw him down onto the thatch a couple of times, perhaps to rinse off toxins as well as helping incapacitate the amphibian.

This wrestling went on for quite awhile and there were a couple of stabs involved. Suffice it to say the Heron won and I skipped the gory pictures.

A few gulps and the whole thing went down the Heron’s throat. I didn’t see where he went after he took off but I have seen the adults land in the nest and regurgitate food that looked like it could have been from a similar acquisition.