Once in a while, I will be posting a retro post of my "Jo's morning walk" e-mail to share with you on
this blog site. This retro post is one of my favorites entitled "Food Fight",
originally sent out on Dec. 26, 2013.
Grabbing my camera, I headed for the first lookout past
the Visitor Center at the San Elijo Lagoon. What happened next was almost dreamlike... I just looked
through my camera to make sure all the settings were correct and
focused my camera on a Cormorant nearby just
hoping that he would catch a little fish to get the day started. Well... he dove and came up to the surface with a fish in his beak, a great big
one!
The lively fish is thrashing and the Cormorant is
not alone!!!
This big bird is trying to hold on to his beautiful big
fish and it's looking like the fish has wiggled out of the vice-like grip of his
beak...
At the same time as the fish is struggling free... the Intruder Cormorant comes charging... hoping to "grab and go for a steal"... Our boy with the fish gives him "the wing -in -the face" tactic.
Our boy with the fish is struggling to keep his prize
but the Intruder Cormorant goes for the "slam the beak on the
back of the neck" tactic and also wraps his wings around the shoulder for good
measure hoping to make a steal...
Now the Intruder Cormorant is digging his feet to the back
of Our boy and chomping down on the neck... what a food
fight!!! Our boy has lost his grip on his fish... now it is a pure "scramble for the
fish"!
The Intruder Cormorant goes for the loose fish in a
"over the shoulder move"!!
While Our boy is trying to get a grip on the escaping
fish...
It's all out war... a food fight worthy of
WWF... wings, feet, and beaks everywhere!!
This is happening so fast... I need to keep a lookout for
where they might surface. Wings flail and there is much turbulence
on the water surface as the fight
is taken underwater.
Ooops... I see someone's back... maybe a beak and lots of
turbulence!!
The winner surfaces with the prize...
As I snap this shot... the Cormorant is positioning the fish
so he can quickly force it down his throat. If he wants to
keep it, the fish will need to be swallowed as quickly as possible or Our boy will get attacked again... this fish is quite the
prize!
No waiting to kill this thrashing fish... he just has to
get it swallowed before the Intruder Cormorant surfaces and realizes Our boy has the prize...
Forcing his beak open as wide as possible, the fish is gulped
down his throat...
Halfway down his throat and just in time...
The Intruder surfaces just as Our boy forces the fish down
the hatch.
The look on the face of the Intruder Cormorant says it
all... Pure disappointment!
Have a peaceful Thursday everyone...
What an amazing sequence you've recorded for all to witness!!,
ReplyDeleteThank you Kisti for your comment.
DeleteWow this is quite an amazing series here as well! I have never witnessed such an event before.
ReplyDeleteSo it looks like some 3-way battle between both hungry birds and a formidable-looking (do you know what kind?) fish not wanting to end up as lunch! Still, in the end the victorious cormorant really managed to gulp that huge thing down it's long/skinny neck entirely okay??
You said the bird had to race and swallow down the potential prey quickly (The unlucky fish was eaten alive?!) in order to beat out the other bird?? I'm also guessing the other cormorant didn't have the intention of saving the fish's life from such a fate!
I wonder, wouldn't a fish that size be scrambling to turn around in the cormorant's elastic gullet/stomach if eaten in that condition? I would think the sizable fish would be quite frantic to escape rather then end up entombed inside the hungry bird?!
You have some other great posts, I'm mostly curious about this events and how/if the cormorant makes out with a full belly. have a nice week! ;)
Thanks for stopping by. Yes, it sometimes looks like the prey is too big to be consumed whole. The fish are still struggling to get away we wonder if it would cause problems inside the bird but they seem to handle it just fine. In a few minutes, they are out looking for another fish to catch and swallow.
ReplyDeleteIt is intriguing to me, I may write a report on fish eating birds for a school paper. I just wonder that the cormorant here was forced to gulp the whole thing down thrashing about that it isn't an ideal situation for the bird to consume it. You say they can go back for more too soon after?
DeleteI am a little bewildered too haha! Does that pretty much mean once the fish is swallowed here, it basically has no chance of escaping the stomach/insides?? The cormorant must be hungry, but wouldn't this big fish be pretty determined not to remain trapped down inside?
Just wondering how the fight is (possibly) won both outside and inside? You have some other neat blogs as well, keep it up! ;)
DeleteThanks Kyle for your comments! It is all about survival! Hope you visit our blog often :)
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