ʻAukuʻu like a hardy meal. They are keen foragers and will hunt fish, insects, frogs, mice, and even young water bird chicks. Scientists have also observed ʻaukuʻu exhibit a clever form of "tool use"; if night herons are in busy areas where people feed ducks bread, they will often take pieces of bread and lure in the fish with the “bait.” Special thanks to the Macaulay Library at the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology.