Thursday, May 3, 2012

Crab Fishing

I drove over by the Max Brewer causeway for a few minutes this morning to see if any birds were around. I was of course wishing I had enough time to visit the very near by MINWR, but I didn't today. I found this one lonely White Ibis doing some crab fishing in the shallow river water.


I've observed White Ibises consuming a variety of things, but never a crab.


The Ibis had an interesting technique for consuming the crab.


It spend quite a bit of time crushing and disassembling the crab.


As the Ibis removed the legs of the crab, it would drop them into the water.


The Ibis then dropped the body of the crab into the water and retrieved all the legs.




Posted by at
Labels:

39 comments:

  1. Mia McPhersonMay 3, 2012 at 11:15 AM

    Beautiful action images Tammy!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Bob BushellMay 3, 2012 at 11:16 AM

    Wowee, that was astonishing, to eat frogs legs. You caught it just about time, my favourite is number 6, truly superb.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. TammyMay 3, 2012 at 6:13 PM

      Thanks Bob! The Ibis did seem to enjoy the crab legs:)

      Delete
  3. TexWisGirlMay 3, 2012 at 11:48 AM

    great shots! hoping he got to eat some of the body, but if he didn't i'm sure the turtles and fish would.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. TammyMay 3, 2012 at 6:15 PM

      Thanks Tex! He may have pulled the body back out at so point, or he may have been full after eating all those legs:)

      Delete
  4. Marc HeathMay 3, 2012 at 12:21 PM

    Lovely shots, that is some crab there. I certainly would not be picking that up!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. TammyMay 3, 2012 at 6:15 PM

      Thanks Marc! That was quite a large crab.

      Delete
  5. Jero MilánMay 3, 2012 at 12:33 PM

    una serie estupenda. Felicidades Tammy me encantas tus fotos y esta fauna desconocida para mi. Un saludo desde Extremadura.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. TammyMay 3, 2012 at 6:17 PM

      Muchas gracias. Esta ave es muy común aquí.

      Delete
  6. Jesús CastellanoMay 3, 2012 at 12:54 PM

    Buenas tomas, Tammy, la pillaste en plena faena, buen momento el capturado.

    Saludos.

    ReplyDelete
  7. ShaunMay 3, 2012 at 1:11 PM

    Excellent shots there Tammy. That crab was done for. I didnt think the Ibis would have gone for something that big.
    Have a good day

    Shaun

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. TammyMay 3, 2012 at 6:20 PM

      Thanks for stopping by Shaun, and for your comments! The Ibis didn't seem to have any trouble with the large crab.

      Delete
  8. Kenny IsakssonMay 3, 2012 at 1:38 PM

    Hi Tammy,
    Greate picture series of the crab eating Ibis. It looks like you are quite close with your camera or maybe you have very long lens....
    God sharp pictures with a great little crab story, As always!
    Greetings /Kenny

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. TammyMay 3, 2012 at 6:22 PM

      Hi Kennny, thanks so much for your comments. I was sitting on the shore watching this bird; it didn't seem to pay much attention to me. It didn't even offer me a crab leg:)

      Delete
  9. LaurenMay 3, 2012 at 2:09 PM

    Awesome photos and description of really cool behavior!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Ana Mínguez CorellaMay 3, 2012 at 2:19 PM

    Ummm!!! beautiful bird and unknwon to me.. Great time with breakfast.. Cheers..

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. TammyMay 3, 2012 at 6:23 PM

      Thanks for your comments Ana! This is a very common bird in this area, but it always fun to watch.

      Delete
  11. Julie G.May 3, 2012 at 2:39 PM

    Wow Tammy! These are fabulous action captures! I've seen Ibis eat crabs before but never that large. Great photographs illustrating the technique they use when eating a jumbo crustacean. Very cool! Superb collection!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. TammyMay 3, 2012 at 6:24 PM

      Thank you so much Julie! You are always so kind. I was surprised to see the Ibis catch such a large crab, but it seemed to have no trouble at all with it!

      Delete
  12. KaHollyMay 3, 2012 at 2:45 PM

    I guess that's one way to work up an apetite!! I enjoyed the series of photos illustrating the hard work involved in getting a meal!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. TammyMay 3, 2012 at 6:26 PM

      Thank you very much for your comments. The Ibis did have a bit of work to do, but it definitely seemed to enjoy its meal!

      Delete
  13. FABMay 3, 2012 at 3:05 PM

    Quality feeding shots Tammy.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Lois EvensenMay 3, 2012 at 3:15 PM

    Fascinating! Love seeing the whole story.

    ReplyDelete
  15. CameraCruiseMay 3, 2012 at 4:23 PM

    Wow, awesome shots!
    Thanks for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
  16. JMay 3, 2012 at 4:39 PM

    Great captures - by you and the ibis (but perhaps not so great for the crab!).

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. TammyMay 3, 2012 at 6:27 PM

      Definitely wasn't a great day for the crab:) Thanks for your comments Jeremy!

      Delete
  17. Pasión por las avesMay 3, 2012 at 10:56 PM

    Hola Tammy fabulosas imagenes de este Ibys.Tammy he tenido un problema con la conexion de internet y no podia comentar tus fotografias,creo que ya esta resuelto el problema.Un fuerte abrazo.

    ReplyDelete
  18. NoushkaMay 4, 2012 at 4:44 AM

    Truly amazing!
    What an interesting observation and glorious pics in this sunshine: it enhances perfectly the scene!
    Well done again Tammy!

    ReplyDelete
  19. RonMay 4, 2012 at 5:19 AM

    More great pictures! I would have been even more impressed if the ibis had squeezed a little lemon on the crab legs! LOL

    ReplyDelete
  20. UnknownMay 4, 2012 at 1:14 PM

    ¡Vaya momentazo más bien captado! Enhorabuena.
    Saludos!!

    ReplyDelete
  21. JohnMay 5, 2012 at 2:57 AM

    Fantastic shots Tammy! Like the last one where he is just finishing off his meal!
    J
    Follow me at HEDGELAND TALES

    ReplyDelete
  22. waldlaeufer68 Frank ScholtyssekMay 5, 2012 at 10:23 PM

    Hi Tammy,
    beautiful shots ... my favorite is where he is the cancer of the mouth lies down properly ..
    regards Frank

    ReplyDelete
  23. Nicholas MartensMay 6, 2012 at 4:06 PM

    Wow. What a find!

    ReplyDelete

I greatly appreciate your comments!

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)