Heron Eats Frog and Then Viciously Attacks Trail Camera
A grumpy heron was captured eating a frog before turning its attention to the trail camera recording and attacking it.
In the amusing clip, the great blue heron picks up a frog and swallows it, then apparently noticing the camera recording takes umbrage and starts viciously attacking the device before casually walking off
The clip was filmed in St. George, Maine and the trail cam belongs to Kirk Gentalen who tells PetaPixel that the heron has seen the camera before and never taken issue with it.
“The camera had been up for weeks and the heron had walked by it many times before the incident,” he explains.
“I had the camera facing the vernal pool across the road from my house in St. George hoping to get videos of frogs and salamanders being eaten — and I got plenty of those!”
Gentalen was not expecting to capture a video of a heron attacking his camera, but he has a theory as to what might have triggered the bird.
“The camera was originally placed low right along the shore of the pool but as the pool’s water level lowered over time the camera ended up a foot or more away,” he says.
“The more important part of the water levels dropping is that when the heron would walk by in the water the camera was getting more and more ‘eye level’ for the bird,” he continues.
“I’m guessing with the different angle and perspective of the camera the heron must have caught a quick flash reflection of its movements from the surface of the camera and then went in for the poke.”
Despite the vicious attack, Gentalen, who is a land steward and naturalist for the Maine Coast Heritage Trust, says the camera is still functioning.
“As far as I can tell the camera still works fine, it was pretty comical to see when I processed the videos.”
Image credits: Images courtesy of Kirk Gentalen.
