The San Francisco Citizen

This didn’t end well for the gopher.

The parent bird, the tallest one, just hunted and killed a pocket gopher to bring back to the nest high above Stow Lake in Golden Gate Park. The middle chick (fledgling now?) scooped up the undigested rodent to the chagrin of its siblings.

You can see the outline of the gopher slowly sliding down the neck of the aptly named Great Blue Heron.

Canon 600mm 4.0 IS with Canon 2x II extender.

It’s that time of year again when giant herons return to their home island on Stow Lake in Golden Gate Park.

This particular domestic partnership is shown high atop a Monterey Cypress changing shifts as they take turns guarding their nest and hunting for seafood and pocket gophers. Mmmm, pocket gophers.

Come and watch them on Saturdays per this schedule from San Francisco Nature Education when people like naturalist Nancy DeStefanis can hep you to what’s going on and offer you a free close-up view of the avian activities.

See you there!