Herons/pelicans swallowing live prey

[Fallenfox]

Here's a beautiful clear view of an egret swallowing a fish, with japanese narration from the cameraman. The fish obviously went down alive but doesn't struggle too much.

[Fallenfox]

Here's a nice satisfying clip - a backyard video of a heron swallowing a good size frog alive. Notice the heron trying to sip water to aid in swallowing, but it's iced over - not a problem for the bird, who makes quick work of his slippery meal.

[Fallenfox]

OK, once in a while a very good, very LONG video which is exactly the kind of thing I love to see gets uploaded. Sometimes these videos are captured by cameramen in other countries, and thus are harder to find if searching only in english. The following video was taken in Germany, and is a compilation of WELL OVER AN HOUR of Greedy Gray Herons Gulping Gulletfuls of Gigantic Goldfish!

Actually, they are supposedly golden trout - farmed, and easy - if massive - prey for the insatiable birds. This compilation is amazing, but needs stabilizing especially during the swallows. The music is fittingly dramatic, and I absolutely love, Love, LOVE that the cameraman takes the time to focus on the distended throats of the herons after the swallow - sometimes focusing on them for several minutes as the birds stretch out and stand tall, waiting for gravity to help the enormous fish to slide into their bellies.

There are 3 versions of this clip, but I'll link the one with the least filler - it's 32 minutes of amazing and vorish HD nature footage! I hope the bird lovers here enjoy it as much as I did.

[Purrloin]

OK, once in a while a very good, very LONG video which is exactly the kind of thing I love to see gets uploaded. Sometimes these videos are captured by cameramen in other countries, and thus are harder to find if searching only in english. The following video was taken in Germany, and is a compilation of WELL OVER AN HOUR of Greedy Gray Herons Gulping Gulletfuls of Gigantic Goldfish!

Actually, they are supposedly golden trout - farmed, and easy - if massive - prey for the insatiable birds. This compilation is amazing, but needs stabilizing especially during the swallows. The music is fittingly dramatic, and I absolutely love, Love, LOVE that the cameraman takes the time to focus on the distended throats of the herons after the swallow - sometimes focusing on them for several minutes as the birds stretch out and stand tall, waiting for gravity to help the enormous fish to slide into their bellies.

There are 3 versions of this clip, but I'll link the one with the least filler - it's 32 minutes of amazing and vorish HD nature footage! I hope the bird lovers here enjoy it as much as I did.

I saw that about a month or two ago and it's been sitting on my youtube recommendations ever since. Kept forgetting to add it here. Great video indeed.

[Fallenfox]

Another compilation from WildIrishSwan. He only leaves these up for a month or so and then deletes them.

This one is especially noteworthy for the footage from 5 minutes until the end - a GBH consuming a large, live duckling. The throat bulges are awesome, and the heron doesn't seem to want to wash the kicking prey down with water despite being standing ankle deep in it. Amazing footage!

ETA: he deleted it and reposted a longer version!
ETA2: Aaaand it's gone.
ETA3:Aaaand it's back, renamed and re-edited.

[Fallenfox]

Here's a quick video of an Anhinga (?) making a meal out of what looks like a bluegill. I love the way these guys shake their throats to get their prey down.

[Fallenfox]

These cormorants are swallowing huge live fish, huge enough so that it is quite a challenge to get them fully down their gullets. On some of them you have to look closely, but on many the wriggling throat bulge is quite obvious - the giveaway of course is the persistent gulping by the cormorant with a particularly energetic and resistant fish in his throat.

[GBBG]

Those last two are fun. I love the way birds toss their heads and throw their whole bodies into eating.

[Fallenfox]

FYV (FrontYardVideo) delivers again with another great video of a heron eating a fat juicy goldfish out of his pond. This is a relaxing and satisfying feeding; the caption says he has 9 more large goldfish, and I hope we get 9 more videos of them wriggling down heron throats!

[HappyCore]

Thank you so much for these! I try and find vids like this from time to time, but I've never been able to find very good ones. I love birds like these, such lovely underrated preds these beauties are. <3

[Fallenfox]

The Portal is back online! Here's a new video to celebrate - a heron swallows a large live frog despite its valiant efforts to escape.

[Fallenfox]

A GBH takes a large live trout from a creek that the cameraman was trying to stock with fish. He isn't too happy, but the heron is



Here's one for GBBG - a heron takes a fish from a backyard pond; the video has had music and SFX added during the swallow!

[Fallenfox]

I love watching herons pluck gophers from the grass and scarf them down alive. Yum!

[Fallenfox]

Another gopher gets gulped down, this time in front of a famous landmark. I wish the heron would have stuck around a bit longer, as the prey was bolted down quite obviously alive.

[blergle]

Just found this one showing a heron swallowing a live chipmunk after giving it a good soaking. Awesome throat bulge action.

[Fallenfox]

Thanks for the contribution to this thread, blergle! Great video.

Here's another good shot of a GBH swallowing a small gopher, with a nice descending throat bulge.

[Fallenfox]

Here's an aptly named video of a slender white egret swallowing a good sized fish. Pretty intense wriggling throat bulge action in this one; he fought all the way down, which just let the bird swallow him faster!

[RuffledFerret]

http://imgur.com/gallery/TQqUg2u

Nice Imgur find. Some type of bird swallowing a large catfish whole.

[GBBG]

I've gotten behind on this thread, so many new videos! The last one looks like an Anhinga. They're great at swallowing stuff.

The sound effects in an earlier video are kind of humorous.

[Fallenfox]

Another satisfying HD video of a heron downing a live fish.