A Large Pellet

Our resident great blue heron left an interesting object on the railing of the deck at the Main Wetlands Overlook. It was a pellet. As you may know, pellets are undigested pieces of what a bird eats like bones, fur, exoskeletons, feathers and other indigestibles. The bird regurgitates these objects in the form of a pellet ranging from perhaps a quarter inch to many times that, depending on the size of the bird doing the regurgitating and the material contained in the pellet.

A bird pellet on the railing of Wetlands Overlook.
A bird pellet on the railing of Wetlands Overlook.

The local heron must have been standing on the rail when it cast out this pellet and the pellet must have been very soft and wet. When it hit the railing it formed around the edge of the railing and remained in place. I usually see these heron pellets on the pavement or the boardwalk in the form of a large spattering of material. It’s usually dropped from far above as the bird perches high up in a loblolly pine and splatters as it hits the deck.

I often observe the heron catch and eat golden sinners, tadpoles and frogs from the wetlands, but this pellet seems to contain more crayfish parts than anything else. There are also a couple of what look to be small quartz stones (two white objects in pellet).

Crayfish parts and a few stones.
Crayfish parts and a few stones.

Later in the day the heron was seen relaxing on one of its favorite perches along with a few yellow-bellied sliders.

Sharing the afternoon sun with a few turtles.
Sharing the afternoon sun with a few turtles.
Back to hunting.
Reflected in the water, the heron returns to the hunt.

And that’s the way it was.

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.