Night Heron Stalks a Ghost Crab...

Meet the juvenile night heron (Nyctanassa violacea). Normally, he's not my favorite bird as they are known to eat sea turtle hatchlings. Anyone who knows me knows how I feel about that!



As I watched from the north shore, my nemesis met another foe -- the ghost crab, Ocypode quadrata. If you click the image, you can see the crab better...



Ghosts crabs also eat sea turtle hatchlings. They snip the ligaments in the hatchlings shoulders and drag them into their borrows for later snacking.



I've often wondered what species would win in a battle of endangered species. What's the preferred outcome in the battle between predators of endangered species?



Of course, we are still the ultimate predator. I wonder what this person was doing walking all over my sea turtle nest... At least they didn't dig for eggs! (I roped off the area now to more clearly define the closed area).