This fish must have been an epicurean delight because there sure were a lot of birds fighting over it for a long time.
Most of these images are of mediocre quality but they’re good enough to tell the story and I think it’s an interesting one.
1/2500, f/7.1, ISO 250, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS II USM, not baited, set up or called in
About a month ago I was mostly photographing other birds at Farmington when all hell broke out among a small group of Snowy Egrets on the other side of the pond. One of them had caught this fish and several other egrets tried to steal it from its rightful owner. The skirmish over the fish lasted for almost four minutes which is quite unusual and I have a theory as to why it lasted so long.
The fish is a Weather Loach, an invasive species common at Farmington but not found in most other habitats where Snowy Egrets fish during migration. These loaches have a long eel-like body and they’re very “squirmy” so when they’re caught they typically wrap their bodies around the bill of the bird just like a snake might do. Presumably these egrets were migrating through and I suspect this bird may not have had any previous experience with loaches because this one seemed to be nonplussed by the situation it found itself in. It struggled with the fish for a long time, seeming confused, and all the time other egrets were trying to take it away.
It was a chaotic scene with many potential photographic opportunities but because of the strong sidelight and issues with multiple birds and depth of field most of my images were only deserving of the delete bin so that’s where they ended up.
1/3200, f/7.1, ISO 250, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS II USM, not baited, set up or called in
At one point the egret actually dropped the fish but quickly retrieved it before…
1/2500, f/7.1, ISO 250, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS II USM, not baited, set up or called in
yet another bird moved in to try to take it away. Here we see only the shadow of the bird with the fish on the right side of the frame.
The skirmish went on for another several minutes and in that time I took 118 more shots and deleted them all. But then the bird with the fish took off to escape its tormentors…
1/1600, f/7.1, ISO 250, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS II USM, not baited, set up or called in
and flew low and around a clump of cattails and then came back in my direction but by that time it had picked up yet another hungry tormentor with thievery on its mind – this time a gull. There’s nothing sharp in this image but I thought I’d include it to set up the following photo.
1/1600, f/7.1, ISO 250, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS II USM, not baited, set up or called in
The gull actually bit the trailing feet of the egret in flight.
A huge crop of the same image shows that I snapped the shutter just a millisecond before the bite but I actually saw the bite and the egret react to it through my lens. I assume the gull’s intention was to cause the egret to drop the fish but it didn’t. At this point I must have been distracted by other birds because I don’t know how this turned out.
But after all that work I hope the egret was eventually able to enjoy its meal.
Ron
Even though the pictures aren’t of the best quality, they are very worthwhile for the story they tell. It is wonderful that you got to see and record this behavior. Thank you for sharing this great story.
Pecking order is very real isn’t it? I suspect I would drop my prize if something fanged my feet.
A great sequence and I am so very thankful you didn’t delete all of it.
Thank you.
One of our bird feeders is the scene of some less than amiable behaviours. The pigeons crowd it – until the corellas come in. The corellas drag the pigeons off by a wing or a tail, and often hang on for a bit, with the pigeon suspended in mid air by a bunch of feathers. Then the corellas let go, and the pigeons have to try and save themselves from hitting the ground.
Sounds like there’s lots of action at your feeder, EC. I suspect that if I had your birds around here (the corellas in particular) I’d never get anything done.
I often don’t get a lot done. And feel very little guilt. As an aside, if I knew where my guilt button was, I would disconnect it. Permanently.
WHAT A WONDERFUL, AMAZING SITUATION TO CAPTURE! Love the photos and, as always, the commentary! I didn’t know a Gull would go to that extreme…poor Egret! I hope the Egret got to eat it’s prey, especially after all that (painful) drama! Now I ‘m aware of yet another way wounded extremities occur…tough world…just trying to survive is tough enough!!! To have actually captured the open beak of the Gull as it chomps down on theoor Egret, it fantastic!!! Boy! What you allow us to see!!!!!
I’m also surprised at how small the Egret seems to be in relation to the gull…photographic depth distortion–or reality?
Patty – it’s reality. Snowy Egrets are not that big a bird and some gulls can be pretty big.
Thank you very much for the kind words about this post, Patty.
Agree with Jo Ann – the relative sizes of the gull and the egret are reality and not photographic distortion to any significant degree.
Just love this, Ron because of your words & the story your photo series tells!! So glad you didn’t delete ALL the photos you took of the interaction between all the snowy egrets & even the gull!! We would have missed a great story!! It also brought to mind that this is also a human behavioir. Coming from a family with 7 siblings, you could often see one of us having either food or a favorite toy that several of the others were trying to get. (Of course me being the oldest, I never did anything so childish!! LOL) Such an enjoyable story/series!!
Yup, sibling rivalry can be pretty intense, whether it be birds or people. I was the oldest sibling too but some of the things I did to my poor younger sisters were pretty childish (Tobasco sauce hidden in a well in the icing of an Oreo cookie comes to mind…) though that wasn’t really sibling rivalry, just me being a bit of a poop. Still makes me smile though so I guess I still haven’t grown up…
Wonderful shots, and I know how you feel about dumping all 118. Been there done that!
Great show and tell, much appreciate the shots and the action.
I specifically didn’t know, but suspected that gulls would actually bite the feet of a heron or egret to get them to release their prey.
Dick, Once I actually saw a gull biting the tail of a Bald Eagle that was carrying a fish in flight. I photographed it too but I missed the actual bite. No question that it happened though.
Amazing behavioral series Ron!I’ve never seen anything like this. Thanks for sharing!
Charlotte
Thanks, Charlotte. I’ve seen it a number of times at Farmington.
Wow, what a drama! I’m exhausted. I’ll certainly give thanks this morning that no one is trying to steal my breakfast! I particularly love Photo #3 – those feet… and the shadow of the bird just ahead.
I agree, Alison – that’s the best shot, technically. I like that both of those “golden slippers” are off the ground as it runs toward the other bird.
Lot of work for that tidbit! 🙂 Good sequence and commentary! 🙂
Thank you, Judy.