A day out exploring nature in coastal Texas with his grandfather turned into a once-in-a-lifetime moment for Jacob Hall. The wildlife photographer was visiting Canada Ranch, which is located close to Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge, when he spotted a blue heron in the sky. Hall quickly got out his camera to take a few pictures but wondered why the bird disappeared from the sky after a few shots. It wasn't until he looked at his viewfinder that he understood the incredible reason.
Hall hadn't realized it when he snapped his photographs, but a bobcat was stalking the blue heron. In Hall's first photo, the bobcat is visible in the lower right-hand side behind some vegetation. The feline stares intently at the heron, likely calculating its next move.
The second shot that Hall managed to snap before the heron disappeared shows the bobcat leaping into the sky to snatch the bird. Its legs fly out nearly parallel to the water in a stunning show of athleticism. Once Hall looked at the photographs that he'd taken, he realized the heron's fate and his incredible luck at capturing the moment.
“I was completely in shock and couldn’t believe what I had just done,” he tells My Modern Met. “Capturing both of those photos is something that I will never forget. I basically didn’t know the bobcat was there until afterward. I was just in the right place at the right time.”
Hall's photograph was even published by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services, which pointed out how interactions like this are a fundamental part of how the ecosystem works.
“It can be hard for some of us to witness wildlife interactions like the one this photographer captured in coastal Texas, but it's a key part of the way that our ecosystems work,” the agency wrote. “The great blue heron eats small fish, frogs or mammals; the bobcat eats the great blue heron; and scavengers like black vultures clean up anything the bobcat leaves behind.”
Unbeknownst to Jacob Hall, a bobcat was waiting in the wings to take down this blue heron.
Don't see the feline? We'll help you out.
The bobcat then made an incredible leap and snatched its prey out of the sky.
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Jacob Hall: Instagram
My Modern Met granted permission to feature photos by Jacob Hall.
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