Great Blue Herons

It is no random choice that I have an image of a heron in flight as my profile picture. For whatever reason Great Blue Herons have always resonated deeply with me. I would like to go so far as to say I consider them my 'totem spirit', but some part of me feels like it is new-agey cultural appropriation to use that term...

Today as I looked up from my work, a heron flew directly overhead and landed on the top of one of the tall trees nearby that is next to a koi pond. This is a common occurrence. Today, as soon as she(?) landed, she was aggressively dive bombed by a very pissed off crow. This crow swooped back and forth like a pendulum for a good ten minutes aiming at the heron's head. The heron took little notice, only ducking when necessary. The crow eventually got tired and gave up.

Which got me to wondering: Why was the crow so upset? I had presumed the heron was after koi, and the crow was just being territorial about the treetop. But do herons eat bird eggs and nestlings? Or adult birds? They eat snakes, frogs and of course fish, so birds didn't seem too out of the question, but I had never heard of it. So I turned to the internet for help. It turns out the answer is yes, but not often. This video I stumbled on may give the answer why: they aren't very good at it!
:-)

Grey Heron versus Starling from BirdGuides.com on Vimeo.

My favorite bird attacking my least favorite. And yet somehow, I am rooting for the starling...