Have You Watched a Heron Eat a Live Snake?
Black-Crowned Night Heron catches Garter Snake, Idaho. By Kris Cochran
On summer evenings, I pack my camera gear and hike a wetland preserve near my Idaho home. Ducks and geese, shorebirds and swans, herons and ibises, and many cousins gather to share the bounty of the water.
When the wind is still, capturing a bird reflected in the water is as good as it gets for a nature photographer.
One evening led me to a deeper understanding of Rumi’s quote, “We are the mirror – As well as the face in it.”
Western Grebe, Idaho. By Kris Cochran
I was on a footbridge over a waterway with a plan to capture a close-up of a Western Grebe. I had noticed a pattern in her evening feeding. She would float downstream to the bridge, diving along the way for tasty crustaceans, then fly back upstream for a repeat run at the buffet.
I had a few good shots and was waiting for the Grebe’s next approach when I sensed activity behind me. I couldn’t believe what I saw. A Black-Crowned Night Heron held a live snake in his beak only a few feet from me. What surprised me was the heron’s appearance well before sunset. They typically hunt alone in the dark.
I knew what would happen next. The heron would devour the live snake in a few gulps.
Black-Crowned Night Heron catches Garter Snake, Idaho. By Kris Cochran
Nature regenerates as one organism
Watching an animal eat another gives me pause even though I know nature renews life as one organism. Just as cells in our body die to make space for new, one animal is sacrificed for another to sustain the balance of life.
The heron appeared to watch his reflection in the water as the snake struggled. I wondered if the heron was aware of the snake’s sacrifice. I wasn’t sure I could watch, so I set the camera to record and looked away, unsure whose side I was on—the Night Heron or the Garter Snake.
Are animals self-aware?
Since Darwin, biologists have debated whether an animal has the intelligence to recognize its reflection. When a “mirror test” was developed in 1970, several animals identified themselves and, therefore, were considered self-aware.
Great Blue Heron, Idaho. By Kris Cochran
Here’s how the test works. First, the animal is sedated and marked with a spot of bright paint on its face. Then, when the animal is awake and presented with a mirror, it will either ignore the mark or try to clean it off.
Not all scientists agree the test is valid since the results are hit and miss. Those in disagreement claim when an animal sees its reflection, it believes it sees another animal.
Juvenile American Coot, Idaho. By Kris Cochran
Biologists who use the “mirror test” believe animals that try to wipe off the bright spots display the intelligence to be self-aware.
But what if animals aren’t at all concerned with their appearance? What if they’re reaching out to groom one another?
Willet, Idaho. By Kris Cochran
Are humans self-aware?
Photographing wildlife has taught me animals are more intelligent than humans in many ways, whether they are annoyed by paint on their faces or not.
My sense is animals are in tune with the ripple of universal energy connecting each life to the whole. There is no avarice between the mirror and the face in it.
I wonder. Is there a “mirror test” for human animals?
Would I pass as self-aware?
Thanks for walking with me,
Kris
