The high point of the day has to be when I managed to catch this hooded Merganser with a freshly caught frog in his mouth. Normally, I'll include 4-6 photos in a blog post so that your daily bite is modest and I don't bore you to death. I prefer to spread out the boredom and let it creep up on you over time.
However, today, you're getting a longer posting that forms a sort of slow motion rendering of this bird having lunch. Yes, I could have made a video, but since I really prefer the still image, this is what you get.
The first step in the process is to render lunch inert. In this case, it appears to mean that he's going to drown the frog. Taking it deftly by one leg, it is dumped head first in the water.
And then you just hold on for a bit. Presumably, this is done until the frog stops wiggling.
Got to be sure it is rinsed off really well also.
No one wants to eat dirty frogs.
Once lunch is dead and washed, a process begins of arranging.
When you don't have hands, this takes a few adjustments to get things in the right place to really start the process.
Once the frog is turned just right, the big flip happens. The merganser has to be careful here to not lose his lunch.
Now he has the frog more or less head first in his beak.
All that this left to do is get his lined up so he goes down head first.
And this happens pretty quickly. Whole. One gulp.
There is some effort required in getting the wide parts to move on down the throat.
But once you the shoulders and hips go down, there only feet left to reckon with.
And then, after a crunch and gulp or two, the frog is all but gone. A nice lunch.
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