I live at Maravilla Senior Living Community in Goleta. One of the many regular activities we have is bird watching every Wednesday morning. A resident who is a very experienced and knowledgeable birder leads the group. A frequent destination is the Goleta Beach Slough where on July 23, 2025, around 8:30 a.m. this catch took place.
This particular morning, we were standing on the high bank in the back west-end parking lot looking down at this great blue heron standing in shallow water near to the shore. It was very close to us and standing dead still. It suddenly leaped to the left and came up with the enormous lingcod in its beak.
For at least five minutes it tossed it around, speared it several times, and repeatedly dunked it in the water to see if it was still alive as it put up quite a fight. When the fish was finally dead, the heron got it in position head first, and then down the hatch it went in a blazing split second. Amazing!
I have a Canon EOS R100, and I used the 55-210 mm zoom lens. The heron was quite close, but I am glad I brought the camera that morning; it got a workout. I love going to this particular birding place as there are usually so many big birds to see.
It was a pretty exciting morning!
You must be logged in to post a comment.