Jan. 11, 2015 - Florida Birds and their food - Part 2

Here’s the second set of photos showing birds catching and eating their food. I took all of these photos on Sanibel Island which is just off the southwestern coast of Florida. This Double-crested Cormorant was fishing near the wildlife drive at Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge. It came up with a nice-sized fish.

CormorantDoublecrestedwithfishDingDarlingNWRSanibelIsland20141119

The Cormorant’s sharply-hooked bill was very helpful in keeping a good grip on a slippery, struggling fish.

CormorantDoublecrestedwithfishDingDarlingNWRSanibelIsland20141119

Here the fish has been turned around and is ready to be swallowed head first.

CormorantDoublecrestedwithfishDingDarlingNWRSanibelIsland20141119

This is a different Cormorant than the one in the first three photos but it shows how the fish gets turned around so it can be swallowed. The bird tosses the fish in the air and catches it with the head pointed in the right direction. I’m sure it takes a lot of practice to learn how to do that. I’m also sure that quite a few fish get away until the Cormorant learns how to properly execute this maneuver.

CormorantDoubleCrestedwithfishDingDarlingNWRSanibelIsland20141120

One day I was standing on the causeway between the mainland and the island watching the gulls. This Laughing Gull dove into the water and came up with a morsel of food.

GullLaughingfoodsequenceSanibelIslandCauseway20141116

This picture was taken 2 seconds after the previous one. That’s how long it took before another Laughing Gull was trying to steal the food away. The birds were too close to get both of them completely in the photo. I don’t like to use photos with parts of a bird cut off but the intensity of the pursuing gull made me want to show it to you.

GullLaughingfoodsequenceSanibelIslandCauseway20141116

This White Ibis was foraging along the Gulf Coast near the cottage where we stayed on Sanibel Island. I really like that bright red face and bill and the light blue eye. It picked up a small mollusk with the tip of its long bill. Now, the question is, how does it get that tidbit into its mouth and down its throat?

IbisWhitewithfoodShalimarCottagesSanibelIsland20141116flipped

Here’s the answer. After it catches a food item, it quickly opens its bill and lunges its head forward to get the food into its mouth. I caught this one in “mid-lunge.” I wonder how long it takes a young ibis to perfect that move.

IbisWhitewithfoodShalimarCottagesSanibelIsland20141116