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Friday, April 25, 2014

"Lunch" - Photograph

 © All Rights Reserved
 © All Rights Reserved
© All Rights Reserved
(Click on image to enlarge)
I took these photographs of a Great Egret at Southport Beach in Fairfield, CT this past week.

When the Great Egret first caught this mouse like animal, it walked on shore with it. It seemed to be chewing on it for a short time, then it walked back to the water and repeatedly dunked the creature, and chewed some more. I finally figured out it was crushing and/or flattening the creature, so that it could ultimately swallow it whole.

I've seen them catch prey before, and usually they just swallowed it immediately, so the "chewing" action was perplexing, and the dunking in the water was even more so, until the process, which took several minutes, was completed.

All of these photos were taken during the dunking process.

The first photo is my entry for:

I'd Rather Be Birding
Saturday's Critters
Weekly Top Shot #132

16 comments:

johanna said...

i totally can understand how hooked you are on these egrets! they are such elegant birds. awesome pictures!

Amy Burzese said...

Interesting. I'm sure they are fun to watch. Great shots!

orchid0324 said...

Dearest Anne;
Wonderful photographs of egret♡♡♡
They are very beautiful; haha, having lunch (mouse like animal)!

Sending you Lots of Love and Hugs from Japan, xoxo Miyako*

Maude Lynn said...

Beautiful pictures!

Karen said...

Such beautiful birds. I had no idea they ate mammals!

Unknown said...

Neat capture Anne. I bet is was fun to sit and watch the egret.

Rajesh said...

Great series of images of egret in action.

eileeninmd said...

Great shots of the egret with its catch! Thank you for sharing your post with my critter party.. Have a happy Sunday!

Anni said...

How very interesting. I would not have known they would do this without you showing/telling about the ritual. Thank you for that.

Roan said...

Egrets are beautiful birds. I don't know what I thought they served up for dinner, but never thought it would be a mouse. Nice capture!

Anonymous said...

beautiful bird, I'm sure it enjoyed its lunch

Unknown said...

Very interesting photos!

Phil Slade said...

Great pictures Anne. I guess that mose was a bit hard to swallow so aliitle water softened it up a little? Gruesome, but hey that's life sometimes.

NatureFootstep said...

great shots Anne, loved to see them. :)

Anonymous said...

Amazing photo! Love the egrets contrast with the background! #weeklystopshot

Anonymous said...

Great series. Beautiful bird.