Endless waves normally provide most of the daily entertainment along the Maui shoreline, assuming it isn't time for yet another dramatic sunset.

But a black-crowned night heron was the featured shoreline attraction for nearly a week. It assiduously worked a volcanic rock tidal pond between surging waves. It stood, patient and nearly immobile, long claws gripping lava outcrops. It struck infrequently and went into the water a few times, perhaps in pursuit.  It held two small fish in its bill at one point. It dismembered one, ate the other apparently by swallowing it whole, probably head first. It then ate the remaining halves of the first fish.  

It was not clear whether it caught both fish with one strike, or caught one and then added another, possibly while still holding the first in its bill. An extensive series of photographs don't explain how two fish wound up side by side in the heron's bill.  No photos suggested that it caught one, put it on the rocks for safekeeping while continuing to hunt, caught another, and then added the cached fish to its bill. There was no initial photo of one fish in the heron's bill or on the rocks, and a later photo of two caught fish.  In an Olympic year, you would like to think the heron had mastered the skill of taking two fish with one strike, a medal-worthy performance.    It would seem to be a tricky business either way: whether catching two darting little fish with one strike so they are sideways in the bill, or catching one, and then with a second strike opening the bill enough to take a second little fish without losing the first.

Other birds nearby allowed useful experiments with the focusing system of a new camera. It was not much of a challenge, since a well-stocked bird feeder attracted a variety of species.  But the results were colorful.

The black-crowned night heron:

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This was a rare display, more yawn than strike.  131A1955

The heron shook off after emerging from deeper water.  131A2015

It strode across the rocks between pools and sometimes flew off. 131A2058 131A2364

The hunts were ultimately successful. untitled-2223-2

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After dismembering one fish (its head is in a shadowed fissure in the rock perhaps twelve inches ahead of the heron's right foot), the heron held the remaining fish before suddenly swallowing it.
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A sampling of other nearby birds:

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