Great Blue Heron Identification, All About Birds, Cornell Lab of Ornithology

Pretty cool footage of a Great Blue Heron and some fascinating behavior with its next meal. Why do these apex predators drop or otherwise immerse their prey in water before eating? The prevailing theory holds that this is a cleaning ritual, so the bird avoids swallowing debris while it slides the whole thing down its gullet. And that certainly seems feasible. But there's another train of thought that suggests herons might do this for the practice, to keep its lightning-quick beak spear (in both

Great Blue Heron Sounds, All About Birds, Cornell Lab of Ornithology