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Sometimes You're The Rat, Sometimes You're The Great Blue Heron Swallowing The Rat Whole
By
Ben Yakas
Published Sep 7, 2021
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By
Ben Yakas
Published Sep 7, 2021
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Over the years, many have tried to combat New York City's rat problem—from David Lynch and his eerie PSA to Eric Adams and his revolting rat bucket method. But where man has failed, Mother Earth has succeeded.
Behold nature's rat bucket, the Great Blue Heron, devouring a meaty treat in Central Park over the weekend:
David Barrett, who runs the Manhattan Bird Alert Twitter account, was walking along the east side of Central Park Pond just before 10 a.m. on Sunday when he spotted a Great Blue Heron about to eat. "As I took the shot, I could see that the heron's victim was a large rat," he said.
Based on its dark crown, this bird is likely very young—possibly even just a year or so old—so it's probably not our old friend Charlize Heron. That may also explain its slightly undeveloped palate.
The Great Blue Heron just a few minutes after ingesting a rat, perhaps realizing it had made a huge mistake
Barrett said that seeing a heron snack on the city's most vile street meat was a new one for him: "Great Blue Herons eat mostly fish, and commonly also frogs, crayfish, and crabs." While he noted the birds "will eat whatever they can kill and swallow, [including] small birds and small mammals," he added that "it's unusual to see a Great Blue Heron eat a rat, and something that I had never seen before, despite watching nature most days for over ten years."
However, Great Blue Herons have certainly been spotted dining out on rodents before, both here in New York and overseas:
Sadly, the Great Blue Herons won't be on rat patrol for much longer in 2021. While Barrett says one might see 2 to 5 of them on a given day in the park at this time of year, but "the species is migratory, and many will be seen overhead flying south in coming months."
Perhaps this is the time for Mandarin Patinkin to make his triumphant return to the city and be the rat-ingesting hero we need.
As of last fall, there were over 12,000 rat reports in 2020 compared to just over 9,000 in 2019, and the latest estimates from spring 2021 showed that rat complaints have risen even more this year. However, millions of rats were potentially killed due to flooding when the remnants of Hurricane Ida hit NYC last week.
Tagged
wildlife
great blue heron
heron
rats
central park
Ben Yakas
Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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