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Welcome to Brazos Bend State Park. That's me on the trail, some years ago.
With so many animals in Brazos Bend State Park there are many interactions between predator and prey. With luck, we get to witness some of them.  In my experience, most
visitors to BBSP think of Alligators when they think of predators there.  But we have so many others, and I would suggest we have more than one "apex" predator in the 
park--and I really enjoy pointing that out to visitors.
Besides Alligators, we have Otters, Bobcats, and Coyotes.  Rat snakes might count in that list.  In the air, we have Bald Eagles, Northern Harriers, Red-Shouldered Hawks, 
Red Tailed Hawks, Great Horned Owls, Barred Owls (to name just a few).
And, I would add Great Blue Herons to the list.  In their environment (which can be anywhere, because they can fly and then walk on all terrain with those amazing legs), they 
can kill and eat almost anything, and swallow prey of surprising size.  The GB Herons fascinate me because they are so large, yet move with such leisurely grace and control; 
only to stop, stalk, and then-with a movement that seems effortless-stab prey. If the prey is large, it is rendered helpless within a few seconds; although it can take a few
minutes more to make the prey totally inert. They are apex predators in their environment, and will eat almost anything.... Click here for Great Blue Herons Page 2. 

    
        
    
        
  

When the heron had finished, I went back to look at the gator by nest#5 and talk to more visitors. Some alligators talked to each other, shown on this page.
 I remained in the area until 11 or so, when I left to go visit Live Oak trail to check on Apple Snail incursion (more on that, at another time, or check this page).

03/12/2017  The morning was a bit cool at BBSP today. I was up on the Observation Tower at 40 Acre Lake when I started watching a Great Blue Heron that was down in Pilant Lake. I saw the
heron catch a Lesser Siren, and I tried for some long-distance shots with the camera. I also shot some video. Then I hurried down to the ground, and I was able to get closer to the heron as it 
subdued and ate the siren. I've seen events like this on other occasions, and a few of these other examples show on this page. Below are some images that I shot as photos and some 
frame-grabs from the video I filmed. The small front legs of the siren show well in some of the images.  The video can be found by following this link(mp4).  

       

9/18/2016  I was watching a Great Blue Heron as it squatted on the concrete casing of the floodgate between 40 Acre Lake and Pilant Lake. It would "squat"-intently watching the water-then 
stand as whatever it wanted to catch moved away. Finally, it squatted, stabbed, and....came up with a Plecostomus!  These are one of many species of "armored catfish".  I caught some 
high-speed video as it snatched the fish, and watched the Heron for 25 minutes as it worked at getting the fish into a position to eat.I filmed and took photos during that time--until a park visitor 
on a bicycle scared off the heron.  The images below are photos that I took between video clips. The edited version of those clips can be seen here(mp4). I have photos and video of a Great 
Blue Heron eating a plecostomus at an earlier time further down this page.   This time, I watched as the Heron worked around the challenge of eating this armored prey.  The video shows how 
the Heron seemed to test the hardness of the pleco, and also manipulated the fish to expose its softer belly. In other video clips on this page , Herons demonstrate the usual technique of swiftly
ramming the massive, sharp beak into the prey until it stops moving. With the Plecostomus, I only saw one such stab. The Heron did a lot of "probing" with the tips of its bill, and then made short,
powerful thrusts. The Heron did finally succeed in impaling the pleco.

   

   

The first few times I searched the internet for information on Plecostomus and their environmental impact, I hadn't found much. Since then, I found some more information.
First, I have found that armored catfish can get oxygen directly from the air, but they don't use a lung, or swim bladder. Instead, it appears that they can extract oxygen from air gulped into their
stomach!  Here's one study (at least the abstract):  
"Morphology of the air-breathing stomach of the catfish Hypostomus plecostomus." Podkowa D1, Goniakowska-Witalińska L.  (link is here)
Arrmored Catfish are interesting and amazing. Unfortunately, they are invaders in the Texas ecosystem, and can cause damage. They are pushing out native species of fish, and are also 
causing physical changes to the environment by their nesting habits.  This article published 9/15/2016 in the Houston Chronicle describes damage done by plecos and other invasive species
(tilapia, grass carp) click this link.  So, cheer for this determined Heron; because he's helping save our environment!

01/31/2016  Oh no...another invader at the park.
Through the entire month of June, in 2015, a large part of Brazos Bend State park was under water. This water came from the Brazos River and Big Creek. Animal and plant life from the rivers also 
entered the park.  For example, tilapia were seen in the park right after the water receded. During the months of August, September and October of the same year (2015) I noticed many fish hitting the
surface of the water-mostly along the Spillway Trail.  The surfacing fish were numerous, but so quick that I could not tell what they were. So I spent a few weekends trying to shoot high-frame rate video so
that I could slow the action down.  When I went through my samples, I found mostly what I expected. Most of the fish were bowfin or gar (short-nose or spotted gar). But...in a few of the video clips I saw a 
different fish-and it appeared to be a type of plecostomus. I've got more details with links to the video clips on my web page here.  It was a bit frustrating then because the video wasn't very clear. I talked
with David about this during that summer, and he recalled seeing carcasses of plecostomus after one of our park dry spells in the past. And then....
Last Sunday, I witnessed more proof that Plecostomus are certainly in the park, but this time I caught much better imagery. At about 9am I was on the Spillway Trail, just East of the Observation Tower, 
when I noticed a Great Blue Heron about 50 yards away on Pilant Lake. It was eating something dark, and at first I thought it was a Lesser Siren. But when I looked through binoculars I saw that it was 
eating a large Plecostomus!  So I started shooting, and watched as the Heron finally swallowed the armored fish. So, here are some images...some are photos, and some are frame grabs from the video
clips. I've edited the clips together into this film(mp4).

 
Later that day, I talked to David about this, and he had also seen proof of plecos...he told me he'd recently seen the heads of 2 carcasses on the Elm Lake trail.  And now I wonder which of predators could
have caught the 2 fish and left the heads behind. Herons would not have left anything. Alligators probably wouldn't have left *2* heads either. Could Otters be the culprit?  According to various web sources
"plecostomus" has become a sort of generic term for a few similar species of fish. They are invasive in Texas. Common Names include "Armored Catfish", "Suckermouth Catfish", and Algae Eaters.
Information on their Texas status is here:
http://texasinvasives.org/animal_database/detail.php?symbol=9 
and here: 
http://www.nature.org/ourinitiatives/regions/northamerica/unitedstates/texas/newsroom/texas-by-nature-armored-catfish.xml

 02/07/2010 Across Pilant Lake from the Observation Tower (actually near the center of the lake), Great Blue Herons built nests in the trees. From time to time, the Herons will hunt
for food near enough to see what they're doing. This morning, one of them landed close enough for me to get a good view it with my camera. I caught a series of nice clips (shot at 
210 fps) of it landing, eating, and taking off. I've edited some of this together into a short movie clip. Below are some image captures from the footage.  And here's a link to the
video clip shot at high speed (mp4)

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                 COMING IN FOR A LANDING                             WRESTLING WITH A SIREN                                   WRESTLING WITH A SIREN                                       TAKING OFF WITH STICK

 The animal the Heron caught is not an eel, and not a snake. It is an amphibian. This is a Lesser Siren (Siren intermedia). Sirens are in the order Caudata--the Salamanders.  Sirens 
are nocturnal. They eat small fish, tadpoles, insects, and other invertebrates. They range in size from 7 inches to 27 inches long. Sirens are distinctive when seen closely. They have
two short legs with feet that have 4 toes (So, could one could say that they are a two-foot animal with two feet?).  Sirens also have external, branched gills. They are nocturnal and live
in water. However, if that water dries, they can secret a mucus covering which will allow them to survive while buried in the dried mud. This "suspended animation" is called "estivation".
I can't find out how long a siren can estivate and still survive. Sirens feed by sucking food into their mouth. They don't have wide jaws like a frog or most salamnders; but a narrow 
mouth that can extend quickly and form a suction. I've seen this in action, and the movement is very fast.  The food is there, just in front of the Siren's nose, and then there's a quick 
movement, and the Siren is chewing something.  Below are two images cropped from the same photograph showing the Siren a little better.

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                 DIFFICULT WITH NO HANDS                                            THE SIREN                                                            RICKUBISCAM SHOT                    

Here's the taxonomic rank of the Lesser Siren:
                                       Kingdom Animalia
                                       Phylum  Chordata
                                      Subphylum  Vertebrata
                                      Class  Amphibia
                                      Order  Caudata
                                      Family  Sirenidae
                                      Genus   Siren
                                      Species   Siren intermedia

- -
                                       ONE                                                                     TWO                                                                             THREE                                                             FOUR
The Great Blue Heron dropped the bowfin, and to my amazement, the bowfin was still very much alive!  I was trying to take still photos while the camcorder was filming, so the fish flopped 
almost out of view. The Heron stabbed it again, and then neatly swallowed the fish.  The video clip is here(mp4). (see THREE and FOUR above, and FIVE through SEVEN, below).
-- -
                                        FIVE                                                                      SIX                                                                            SEVEN                                                            EIGHT                                    

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                             SUCCESSFUL HUNT                                                                        BETTER CLOSEUP VIEW

3/05/2006--(update added 01/08/2017) I was on the West loop of Elm Lake trail when I saw a Great Blue Heron on one of the islands. It appeared to be stalking something, so I set up the video camera I had at the time. 
When the heron caught its prey, I started filming. I thought it had caught a fish. But when I zoomed in with the video camera, I could see that the Heron had caught a baby alligator! While I was filming, I noticed an adult 
alligator moving towards the Heron, which flew off long before the alligator could reach it. In the 10 years since I shot this video clip, I've never had a chance to witness another Great Blue Heron with a baby alligator--although
others have. Alligator nests at Brazos Bend State park average about 33 eggs per nest.  If all those eggs hatch, only one will possibly survive the 3 years after it hatched. Most of the losses are probably due to predation by
the many wading birds at the park; like this Great Blue Heron. The two images below are frames from the video clip I shot, and the clip can be seen at this link(wmv). 
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                 BLUE HERON WITH BABY ALLIGATOR  1                                            BLUE HERON WITH BABY ALLIGATOR  2

January 18, 2004  Okay, so we got a little cool weather today.  No big deal. Not when compared to the below-zero (F!) temperatures that have been reported in the Northeast US this week! So, the temperature stayed under 
45 degrees, or at least it felt that way at Brazos Bend State Park. We'd gotten about 3 inches of rain recently, so water was high, and it was flowing nicely over the spillway between Pilant Lake and Pilant Slough. If the weather
had been a bit warmer (perhaps mid-sixties with lots of sun), alligators would have been there, looking for fish being swept through the spillway. The alligators didn't show, but quite a few of our wading birds did.  The last 
image below (GREAT BLUE) is a nice close-up shot of a Great Blue Heron.  When I first saw this heron, it was perched on the rail of the Spillway Bridge (see TOLL, ONE FISH, below)
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                PAY TOLL--ONE FISH                                                  WATER'S FINE!                                                         GREAT BLUE
The person in the picture is quite a bit further down the trail, and is only that small in perspective. It's a Great Blue Heron, not a Humongous Blue Heron, after all. Then, it jumped into the water, and walked under the bridge 
and I used the opportunity to sneak up closer and catch it standing (see WATER'S FINE!, above).  It's always impressive to see these birds take flight from nearby. They are BIG.  See a bird of this size perched on the bridge
handrail was an arresting sight by itself, but seeing it open its wings and flap from about thirty feet away can make you hold your breath for a second.  It just seems so odd to see a bird so large standing on anything but the 
ground. Visitor attendance at the park was slow, and it was a pleasure to be outside at the silent park watching the wading birds fishing (a lot of them seemed to be eating crawfish).  

Click here for Great Blue Herons Page 2. 

If you'd like to know more about the park follow these links:

Brazos Bend State Park   The main page.

Brazos Bend State Park Volunteer's Page  The volunteer's main page.
 

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