Great Blue Heron catches a Painted Turtle

All things winged.

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chrisr
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Great Blue Heron catches a Painted Turtle

Post by chrisr »

Haven't checked this forum out much and enjoying it today. Thought I would kill 2 birds with one video as this forum is inside a herp forum. AT about the 6 minute mark this Great Blue caught a smallish Painted Turtle:
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Andy Avram
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Re: Great Blue Heron catches a Painted Turtle

Post by Andy Avram »

A bird forum within a herp forum for a herp within a bird.

I like it.

Surprised a Heron would eat that. I wonder if it would reguritate the shells, or do they poop on out?
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chrisr
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Re: Great Blue Heron catches a Painted Turtle

Post by chrisr »

I just found this reply to this video on facebook that I did not know existed:
Sudbury Valley Trustees SVT intern Celia Vuocolo explains turtle shell digestion:
When a bird ingests a piece of food, it first goes to the crop, where it is softened. It then passes into the two-part stomach. The first part, the proventriculus, is similar to our stomach and produces stomach acids that help break food down. The second part is the gizzard, which is very muscular and contains bits of sand and small rocks (that the bird ingests throughout its life) that grind up the food. Basically, this is what a bird uses to break up food because it does not have teeth.

Digesting a turtle shell is a pretty impressive feat. Predatory birds have very potent stomach acids because they need extra help digesting bone material. I know that turkey vultures have some of the most impressively strong stomach acids in the bird world due to their diet. I would imagine great blue herons would too!
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