Saturday, March 14, 2015

Dockside Crab Dinner


This egret was stalking the shallows while my fellow science instructors and myself broke for lunch at Seahorse Key Marine Lab yesterday.

There was much flipping, scissoring, and crunching as the bird adjusted the large blue crab for a trip down that long neck.


I missed the final juxtapositioning of the crab, as he flew off across the water out of reach of my lens.
 He was still in view though and to his credit, he did swallow the whole spiky thing.




10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Such a great photo. I've never seen such a green color around an egret's eyes. Interesting and beautiful.

Lisa at Greenbow said...

I love to see action shots of birds. What a great capture. One (this One) rarely sees a Great Egret capture something so large to eat let alone get a fantastic picture of it.

Julie Zickefoose said...

This photo makes me want to sit down and have a nice bowl of Cream of Wheat.

@Robin Andrea, When they're in high breeding condition, the facial skin of herons and egrets, pelicans and cormorants turns all kinds of wonderful colors. A good reason to look closely at familiar birds!

Anonymous said...

@Julie, I thought it might have something to do with breeding season. Thank you for confirming that for me!

Julie Zickefoose said...

It occurs to me it would be pretty funny if that happened to people. "Have you seen Mike this morning? He's gone all chartreuse!"

Wally Jones said...

Great shots, FC! A little hot sauce and it would be perfect.

Julie, humans sorta go through something similar by changing their plumage to a more colorful outfit or displaying our head crests differently or exuding new and peculiar aromas all in the hopes of attracting a potential mate.

Although a chartreuse Mike would be far more effective! (And cheaper.)

Spirula said...

I am always amazed at how these and other birds are able to manipulate an dismantle prey with what appears to be crude tweezers. I don't whether this is innate or learned. Anyone know?

R.Powers said...

I get a little chartreuse around Kate Upton.

Ansley said...

What a wonderful photo. It is fascinating to watch the birds in Florida. This is an excellent capture.

Crystal Carson said...

Great photo shoot! I recently got a DSLR camera and attempted to photograph the geese at the lake near our home. It's hard to do when they are floating on water. Florida has beautiful birds and wildlife, especially along the coastal areas. I would love to travel there to take pictures of all the wildlife they have.

Crystal Carson @ Tacky Jacks