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  • October Sun
    By Mike Lohre
    December 16, 2021

wisconaturalist

Ornithologist and Naturalist exploring and photographing the wilderness of Wisconsin and beyond. All subjects are wild, all photos are my own.

And what do we have here? A Great Blue Heron yodel And what do we have here? A Great Blue Heron yodeling?

This was a first for me! After a little research, I learned that a Great Blue Heron’s tongue is multi-functional. While they often use this "tongue wagging" behavior (called gular fluttering) to cool down on hot days, I filmed this on a chilly morning.

Because of the cool weather, I think this was actually a tactic to help swallow a massive meal! The bird kept up the performance for about 15 minutes straight without a break. Just as I was starting to worry about its well-being, it finished up and went right back to fishing along the riverbank.
Have any of you ever seen this behavior before? 
Wisconsin River — Mazomanie, Wisconsin
July 26, 2026
#GreatBlueHeron #BirdWatching #WisconsinWildlife #NaturePhotography #GularFluttering #WisconsinRiver
Which photo was your favorite? Which photo was your favorite?
How do you think the Snowy-bellied Hummingbird com How do you think the Snowy-bellied Hummingbird compares to it's more brightly colored kin?
 
He's not the biggest, nor the brightest, but I find the Snowy-bellied as striking as any of the tropic's hummingbirds. 

I became acquainted with this bird when visiting the little mountain village of San Gerardo De Rivas in Costa Rica. The town is the starting point for those climbing Cerro Chirripo, which is Costa Rica's tallest mountain. The village and the climb up the mountain offered some of the best birding I have had in my life. The biodiversity is incredible and it is much easier to see and photograph birds here compared to the dense tropical rain forest found at lower elevations. 

Snowy-bellied Hummingbird (Saucerottia edward). San Gerardo De Rivas, Costa Rica. 15-July 2025
Pound for pound (or gram for gram) is there a more Pound for pound (or gram for gram) is there a more tenacious bird? 

The Ruby-throated Hummingbird weighs as much as a penny but identifies as a Wolverine! 

This guy here has claimed for his own my feeders and the flowers surrounding them. Additionally, I have watched him relentlessly dive bomb the robin that also shares the oak in which they both nest.
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I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.

Henry David Thoreau
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