![\"black-necked](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/black-necked-stilt-8044-ron-dudley.jpg\")
<\/p>\nMost of us are birders,\u00a0photographers or nature-watchers\u00a0to one degree or another and have spent many hours\u00a0observing wading birds and shorebirds as they feed.\u00a0 Who among us has not been at least a little bit curious about precisely what they’re eating?\u00a0\u00a0The retired biology\/zoology teacher\u00a0in me constantly wonders about such things as I watch birds like stilts, avocets and ibis as they feed through my viewfinder.<\/p>\n
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1\/4000, f\/6.3, ISO 500, Canon 7D, Canon EF500mm f\/4L IS II USM +1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n We’re\u00a0aware that many of these birds eat a variety of “aquatic invertebrates” but\u00a0that is a very generic and non-specific answer\u00a0that might include larval and adult insects, crustaceans, molluscs,\u00a0three phyla of worms and others.\u00a0 We’re literally talking about millions of species that are potential prey.\u00a0 And some of these birds also\u00a0eat vertebrates like small fish and\u00a0frogs.<\/p>\n Usually when these birds are feeding we see only the behavior – the action is too quick and the prey too small for us to be specific about what they’re actually consuming.\u00a0 Sometimes, as with this juvenile Black-necked Stilt I photographed recently, when I look at the images I can see the prey but it’s much too small to identify.\u00a0 But usually I can’t even\u00a0tell what they’re eating…<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/1600, f\/7.1, ISO 500, Canon 7D, Canon EF500mm f\/4L IS II USM +1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n even when they’re unusually close to me.\u00a0 This juvenile White-faced Ibis with a wound on the top of its head\u00a0(I know nothing about the origin of the injury) fed unusually close to me a few weeks ago and even though I can see the prey clearly I cannot identify it – it could be any number of\u00a0worms or larval insects or something else.<\/p>\n However, on that same morning an adult ibis fed so\u00a0close to me that I was near the focusing limit of my lens so I decided to see if I could time a few shots to catch the prey in the air when the bird tossed it up to swallow and then attempt to identify\u00a0it.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00a01\/1600, f\/7.1, ISO 500, Canon 7D, Canon EF500mm f\/4L IS II USM +1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n One time I succeeded.\u00a0 The prey item was a planarian – a non-parasitic flatworm related to the parasitic tapeworms and flukes.\u00a0 It can be identified by its flattened body, the triangular-shaped head at bottom\u00a0and (if you look very, very\u00a0closely) the two dark eyespots on the top of the head.\u00a0 \u00a0Some may remember this worm from their life science classes as it has been extensively studied for its remarkable powers of regeneration.<\/p>\n I’m not entirely sure why making this positive ID gave me as much satisfaction as it did.\u00a0 Perhaps it’s a combination of my biology background (bio-geekiness?)\u00a0and the photographic challenge it presented with a wild bird.<\/p>\n But I was pleased to have done it.<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n Addendum: Apparently this biologist got it wrong and this is likely a\u00a0leech rather than a planarian.\u00a0 Matt Tagg made the following explanatory Facebook\u00a0comment on my post\u00a0and it sounds like he knows what he’s talking about.\u00a0 I figured that the prey in the second shot might be a leech but the critter in the last image sure looked like a planarian\u00a0 to me.\u00a0 I should have known better,\u00a0based on its relatively large size (as mentioned by Alison in a comment).<\/p>\n When I asked Matt if the triangular-shaped head in the last image didn’t look like that of a planarian, he responded:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Who among us has not been at least a little bit curious about precisely what birds are eating? <\/p>\n![\"white-faced](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/white-faced-ibis-7344-ron-dudley.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"white-faced](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/white-faced-ibis-7230-ron-dudley.jpg\")
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I think what you are seeing is the oral sucker of <\/span><\/span>the leech. It is more muscular and defined than the rest of the body. Leeches are very “plastic”. In other words, they can manipulate their bodies all over the place. They can go from a very flattened long body form to a tight squatty body form in the blink of an eye. When threatened they will squirm every which way and then ball up. Which is what I think you captured in your picture. Your pictures demonstrate very well what I’m talking about. The close up picture shows a leech that is extended and flattened. The picture with it wrapped around the bird’s beak shows a leech tightly balled up in a defensive reaction. <\/span>
I would bet that both of the leeches in the pictures are probably the same genus, just in different reactive forms.”<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n