![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/common-goldeneye-5771-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"common-goldeneye-5771-ron-dudley\\"")
<\/p>\nWith gulls in the area, goldeneyes and coots stand a very good chance of losing their meals.<\/p>\n
Despite their softness (due to differential heat waves in the single digit temperatures two days ago at Bear River MBR) I decided to use some of these photos for today’s post. After applying twice my normal amount of sharpening to them during processing they’re good enough for documentary purposes and I think these behaviors are worth seeing.<\/p>\n
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Near one of the bridges on the refuge this young male Common Goldeneye came up with a fish which almost immediately attracted the attention of one of the thieving gulls that were hanging around in wait of just such an opportunity. Because of depth of field limitations the duck is very soft, making the fish difficult to make out, but you’ll see it more clearly in subsequent photos.<\/p>\n
The fish was a little too big for the goldeneye to swallow quickly so his preferred evasion technique was to…<\/p>\n
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![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/common-goldeneye5774-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"common-goldeneye5774-ron-dudley\\"")
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wait until the gull got close before diving with the fish. This photo was taken just prior to diving – notice that his tail is already flared which will help him submerge quickly.<\/p>\n
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![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/common-goldeneye-5761-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"common-goldeneye-5761-ron-dudley\\"")
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This time he was gone before the gull even got close.<\/p>\n
But the gulls know that if the fish is too large to be quickly swallowed underwater the duck will eventually have to reemerge with the fish. So they lay in wait, either on the water’s surface or in flight close to the water, for the duck to…<\/p>\n
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![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/common-goldeneye-5793-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"common-goldeneye-5793-ron-dudley\\"")
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reemerge so the gull can try again.<\/p>\n
This time the gull got closer but…<\/p>\n
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![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/common-goldeneye-5800-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"common-goldeneye-5800-ron-dudley\\"")
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once again, no cigar.<\/p>\n
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![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/common-goldeneye-5806-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"common-goldeneye-5806-ron-dudley\\"")
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The gull used this technique repeatedly but on this day the duck’s technique was…<\/p>\n
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![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/common-goldeneye-5830-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"common-goldeneye-5830-ron-dudley\\"")
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more successful than the gull’s and I believe the Goldeneye eventually swallowed the fish.<\/p>\n
But things don’t always turn out that way, as an American Coot discovered later the same morning at a different location on the Bear River.<\/p>\n
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![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/american-coot-5956-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"american-coot-5956-ron-dudley\\"")
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Around here at least, coots will eat fish if given the opportunity, especially in winter. The coot on the right somehow came up with a fish (maybe it was already dead?) and another coot had designs on its prize. So for quite a while I watched as…<\/p>\n
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![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/american-coot-5970-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"american-coot-5970-ron-dudley\\"")
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they competed for the fish. The action wasn’t particularly fast or frenetic but the pursuing coot was relentless in its attempts to steal the fish from its rightful owner. But in the end it wasn’t another coot that posed the biggest threat to the ownership of the fish. It was…<\/p>\n
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![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/american-coot-6029-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"american-coot-6029-ron-dudley\\"")
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another thieving gull.<\/p>\n
For whatever reason, coots usually don’t dive to escape potential food thieves and the gull seemed to know that as it put on almost continuous pressure in its attempts to cause the coot to release the fish. Eventually the gull landed…<\/p>\n
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![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/american-coot-6056-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"american-coot-6056-ron-dudley\\"")
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almost on top of the coot with the fish (there’s a second coot behind the one with the fish) which apparently caused the first coot to let go of the fish and allowed…<\/p>\n
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![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/american-coot-6072-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"american-coot-6072-ron-dudley\\"")
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the gull to snatch it up and fly off with it. The coot in the foreground who lost the fish looks flummoxed. And pissed.<\/p>\n
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In wintertime, with most fresh water surfaces locked up in ice, birds are concentrated in relatively small patches of open water. Gulls take advantage of that concentration in their relentless attempts to steal food (kleptoparasitism) from other birds.<\/p>\n
They’re good at it too.<\/p>\n
Ron<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
With gulls in the area, goldeneyes and coots stand a very good chance of losing their meals. (12 photos)<\/p>\n