# A crane and a mouse in my backyard



## Shiva (Sep 26, 2011)

I think this is a crane. I spotted it in my backyard this afternoon and ran upstairs to grab my camera. I had about 5 seconds to take three pictures before it flew off and this is the best one. I'm no Clark for sure! And why is the grass so long in my backyard? The mower that goes under my tractor is broken and it's taking weeks to get the part to fix it.


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## likespaphs (Sep 26, 2011)

picture won't open for me


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## Shiva (Sep 26, 2011)

likespaphs said:


> picture won't open for me



I reposted it. Does it work now?


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## likespaphs (Sep 26, 2011)

yes!
neato!


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## Clark (Sep 26, 2011)

Blue Heron.
Might of seen images of them eating muskrats and/or rabbits.
These birds are very skittish by me.

My Toro starts on the first pull.oke:


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## Shiva (Sep 26, 2011)

Clark said:


> Blue Heron.
> Might of seen images of them eating muskrats and/or rabbits.
> These birds are very skittish by me.
> 
> My Toro starts on the first pull.oke:



So will mine, when it has a new pull-ey.


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## NYEric (Sep 26, 2011)

I didn't know they were so predatory! I'll be more careful around them from now on!


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## Heather (Sep 26, 2011)

I love these guys - look very prehistoric when they fly. Where's the mouse though?


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## Shiva (Sep 26, 2011)

At the end of its beak.


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## Lanmark (Sep 26, 2011)

Poor mouse... :sob:

but I still love the heron or crane or whatever it is 

I rescued a common snapping turtle hatchling from the middle of the freeway the other day...I set it free in the marshes on the edge of the nearby lake toward which it was headed. It may well have become a snack for the local herons by now. Then again, it may live for the next 50 years.


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## Shiva (Sep 26, 2011)

Lanmark said:


> Poor mouse... :sob:
> 
> but I still love the heron or crane or whatever it is
> 
> I rescued a common snapping turtle hatchling from the middle of the freeway the other day...I set it free in the marshes on the edge of the nearby lake toward which it was headed. It may well have become a snack for the local herons by now. Then again, it may live for the next 50 years.



Or it may have turned back into the freeway and got squashed by another car. These critters are not very smart.

As for the Blue heron, it was probably attracted by the thousands of frogs that are making their way to the river beside my propriety and the mouse just happened to stroll by...


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## Clark (Sep 26, 2011)

The last Blue Heron I watched was last Saturday evening.
We were on Cemetery Rd., off Rt. 201(Moose Alley). About 2 miles from Canada border.
No moose. Frogs everywhere.
Weird. The temps were 18F. above norm.


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## Eric Muehlbauer (Sep 26, 2011)

Definitely a great blue heron. Strictly fish feeders...well, frogs also when they are in freshwater.


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## gonewild (Sep 26, 2011)

They feed on mice and voles a lot in the fall in the Rockies. We filmed one in a meadow in Yellowstone years ago that caught and ate 20 voles one morning. He repeated the process in the same place for a week and then flew away never to return that season but was back in the same place the next year. We named him Killer.


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## SlipperFan (Sep 26, 2011)

I think the mouse looks more like a turtle, and more in keeping with what they eat. We have them here (Great Blue Herons), since we have a pond and a small river in back of our property. But even though they are majestic birds, they have devistated our frog population and killed at least one koi, and so have made themselves unwelcome here.


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## gonewild (Sep 26, 2011)

I don't have any digital photos of the heron eating voles (film back then). But check out this link........
http://racphoto.com/Birds/Waders/GreatBlueHeron2.html


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## Shiva (Sep 27, 2011)

SlipperFan said:


> I think the mouse looks more like a turtle, and more in keeping with what they eat.



I've never seen a turtle here in 12 years, but there are lots and lots of frogs. And we also have lots of voles. So it could be eating a vole.


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## Marc (Sep 27, 2011)

I've heard of plenty reports of herons preying on small mamals as well.


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## tocarmar (Sep 27, 2011)

I have a nature preserve near my house and always see the Herons there. Sometimes we will see an ocassional White Crane there too..


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## biothanasis (Sep 28, 2011)

Neat!


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## NYEric (Sep 29, 2011)

Shiva said:


> I've never seen a turtle here in 12 years, but there are lots and lots of frogs. And we also have lots of voles. So it could be eating a vole.



No turtles in the Arctic circle! oke:


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## Shiva (Sep 29, 2011)

C'mon, I'm not that far North.


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## Leo Schordje (Sep 29, 2011)

the Great Blue Heron is an oportunistic feeders, any small creature will do, though fish, frogs, and other aquatic critters are what their body plan is optimized for. Love to watch them.


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## Heather (Sep 29, 2011)

Huh, I had no idea they ate anything other than fish!


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