Unusual Green Heron - Robin Interaction, NY (1 Viewer)

[gsimonel]

I saw an interesting interaction yesterday in a deep deciduous forest in the Lower Hudson Valley of New York. A pair of robins were attempting to chase a green heron out of their (I assume) nesting area. I stood around and watched this for around 15 minutes, taking over 150 photos in the process. The conflict was still going on as I left. It took me a while to figure out the behavior of the heron. Turns out there was a regular routine that the heron repeated over and over again.

In the first photo, the heron is watching the two robins warily, trying to keep an eye on both of them even though they are on opposite sides of it. When it notices that a robin is about to attack, the heron stretches its neck up, ruffles its feathers and opens its beak (2nd photo). My guess is that it's trying to present a high target for the dive-bombing robin. As the robin approaches (3rd photo, right above the heron) the heron quickly crouches down (4th photo). Then it stands up again, a gives the robins the green-heron-equivalent of: "Nyah, nyah, you missed me" (5th photo).

Do green herons eat robins' eggs? And what was the heron doing it the middle of a forest, anyway? All and all, it was a very cool experience, and I'm glad that I was able to capture some of it on film.

 

[Stonefaction]

Herons will eat pretty much anything, I think. Have seen Grey Herons over here eat fish, rodents, frogs, newts, ducklings and leftovers from a buffet! Heron may just have been looking for a cool, shady place to roost for a while.