Did you know that belted kingfishers eat crayfish as well as fish?
In this YouTube video a female belted kingfisher hunts from a perch and returns with a crayfish.
The crayfish is so large, compared to the bird, that it looks like she’s caught a lobster. How will she eat it?
Click on the screenshot to watch.
(screenshot from YouTube video by Mark J. Thomas)
Poor little crayfish! First time I’ve seen a bird beat up its prey like that.
Trinidad, even ‘cute’ birds are predators. I’ve seen warblers beat up caterpillars. Yow!
Belted Kingfishers have predators too. I remember watching a Coopers hawk chase a kingfisher over a large pond. The kingfisher was no match the hawk’s speed and agility but he did have one advantage. The kingfisher stayed low over the water and just as the hawk was closing in for the kill the kingfisher would dive into the water causing the hawk to fly past. This chase and dive pattern went on again and again until the hawk finally gave up knowing it was useless as long as his prey stayed over water.
Has to beat it up. Don’t want those claws grabbing the inside of the crop!
Did you know that if a (non-poisonous) snake swalliws a mouse and the mouse is still alive, it will literally eat its way out of the snake!