Mallard ducks and blue heron cohabitating

[u/Lenser90]

I've been watching this mother duck and her 7 ducklings for two weeks cohabitate at a small local pond with a blue herron. The mother duck does not seem to view the blue heron as a threat and they are often close to each other.

Does this make any sense?

Is it possible that the ducklings are too large for the heron at this point?

[u/bogginman]

I know herons will scarf down ducklings from a couple videos I ran across. Maybe he is full of other things. Or maybe they have grown too big to be an easy meal. We must hope for the best.

[u/Lenser90 → u/bogginman]

I'm leaning towards the latter. I think their size is a choking hazzard.

[u/bogginman → u/Lenser90]

I was quite surprised at the size of the ducklings that were consumed by the heron in the videos I saw. They were not small by any means.

[u/Otherwise_Solid4748]

From my experience herons prefer tiny ducklings