![\"western](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/western-grebe-0025-ron-dudley.jpg\")
<\/p>\nIt isn’t unusual for some bird species to regularly attempt to swallow prey that is too large to go down the hatch.\u00a0 I see American White Pelicans and Great Blue Herons make such attempts fairly often but around here Pied-billed Grebes and Western Grebes seem to be the kings of Gluttony Hill.<\/p>\n
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\u00a01\/4000, f\/7.1, ISO 500, Canon 7D, Canon EF500mm f\/4L IS II USM, not baited, set up or called in<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Nine days ago at Farmington Bay\u00a0I watched as this Western Grebe surfaced with a fish (most likely a young carp) and then tried to swallow it.\u00a0 They usually swallow small\u00a0prey items\u00a0under water but bring larger ones to the surface and pinch them repeatedly with their bills before swallowing.\u00a0 As it tried to get the fish down this\u00a0bird was swimming away from other grebes in an attempt to prevent food theft (kleptoparasitism).\u00a0 I wish I’d been a little closer or\u00a0had my 1.4 teleconverter (tc) attached to my camera but even with the bird\u00a0this small in the frame I think you “get the picture”.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a01\/4000, f\/7.1, ISO 500, Canon 7D, Canon EF500mm f\/4L IS II USM, not baited, set up or called in<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n With the\u00a0bird turned a little more toward the viewer you can see that the body of the\u00a0fish was\u00a0significantly\u00a0wider than the head of the grebe\u00a0so there was actually little chance that the fish could be swallowed but that didn’t prevent the bird from giving it the ol’ college try.\u00a0 Western Grebes capture many smaller fish using their bills as forceps but deep-bodied fish (such as this apparent carp) are often speared with their long, sharp bills.\u00a0 Based on what\u00a0appears to be a puncture\u00a0wound just below the dorsal fin I suspect it was the latter that happened here.\u00a0 Eventually the grebe dived with the fish and when it resurfaced it was “fishless”.\u00a0 I believe it’s likely that the fish was simply released underwater rather than swallowed.<\/p>\n Perhaps an avian version of “catch and release”…<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It isn’t unusual for some bird species to regularly attempt to swallow prey that is too large to go down the hatch. I see American White Pelicans and Great Blue Herons make such attempts fairly often but around here Pied-billed Grebes and Western Grebes seem to be the kings of Gluttony Hill.<\/p>\n![\"western](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/western-grebe-0032-ron-dudley.jpg\")
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