Sometimes things work out just right. Besides needing to be way out here you must be looking in the right direction, settings ready, and maybe quick enough to catch a few seconds of marsh life. Things are over in a blink of an eye. This was probably 3 seconds in total, condensed to a few photographs.
I was looking through my lens along the reeds but never saw the big Pelican charge out. I did hear it since it goes from dead quiet to chaos immediately.
A Cormorant came up to the surface with a pretty large fish. Which around here is a signal for everyone else to come steal it. The big Pelican jumped right on the much smaller bird. The Pelican is probably 15 pounds heavier.
Cormorants are tough birds and keeping a catch is as hard as getting it, he has had practice. The smaller bird twisted around and ducked under several times.
Holding the fish by the head was the Cormorant trick. The Pelican was not as fast as the other and this made the difference.
In a flash the Cormorant flipped the fish… and swallowed it. Game over.
Not just yet though. While a little late to the party a Great Blue Heron dropped in looking for an opportunity, and another Cormorant.
The little Cormorant out worked all the others and kept his prize. Oh, the fish never had a chance here.
You never know what you might see out here.
Excellent action series!
Great fun 😂😂
Great action sequence. Thanks too for the color commentary, Ted, so we could tell what we are looking at. 🙂
😂😂, thanks. Things happen so fast half the time we don’t know just what’s happening 😂😂. Ellen and I laughed about the ‘fish fight’ at breakfast again 🤣🤣.
Great actions and you had only three seconds. By the way, I didn’t know that Pelicans can chase Cormorants, I thought it was vice versa.
Adult White Pelicans are the tallest and heaviest bird on North America. It’s rare, but they can push around most anyone they want 😂😂😂.
What a commotion! I love your ‘fish fight’ series 😀
Thanks. Photos not top notch but a fun series.
Great action series, Ted!
😊, When you least expect it. Pelicans are layback so I guess the Cormorant was just as surprised LOL. He was quick though.