Here you see the beginning of an epic encounter that lasted about 20 minutes. This great blue heron hurls her spear-like head and neck deeply into the pond and comes up with an American (“yellow”) eel. These eels thrash wildly and can deliver nasty bites with their multiple rows of teeth.
The eel immediately coils around the heron’s beak, snapping and writhing. (See the image in the Comment space.) The heron repeatedly shakes the eel while slapping it against the water surface. This water torture goes on for about 15 minutes and the eel finally tires. Then, the heron swishes the dazed eel around in the water, apparently to make it more digestible.
After that rinsing, the bird tilts her beak and juggles the slowly-resisting eel around until the eel is pointed headfirst toward her throat. (Apparently, an objecting eel is more safely consumed headfirst, a concept that might not be of much use to humans.) The heron points her beak to the sky, gulps several times and the eel disappears inside the bird’s expanding neck, a southward-moving, slightly wriggling bulge.
After a minute or two, there’s no sign of the unfortunate fish. (Yes, eels are fish.) The heron takes a long sip of water and slowly wades away as if nothing has happened.
(Images taken in Brooklin, Maine, on May 29, 2026; sex assumed.)