This Barred Owl sat quietly with his catch, a Five-lined Skink, a common lizard in South Carolina.
After squeezing it with his beak for a bit he transferred it to his talon. You can see the tail dangling below the branch in this next image.
I didn’t see any sign of life in the lizard, but the owl kept a firm hold for six or seven minutes before flying off with it.
White-eyed Vireos are a fast, elusive song bird.
This one was intent on food. He picked a worm off a leaf and flew down to an open branch to eat it.
But first he beat it a few times.
I’ve seen song birds gather a stack of worms or insects in their beak and thought he might be rendering this one ready for a flight to a nest.
No, this one was for him.
One gulp and it was gone.
I’m not sure why dragonflies bother with these hard shelled insects, not sure just what they are.
They are pretty small and I think the dragonfly was having a hard time getting it down, chewing and chewing.
Our back yard has hosted a variety of dragonflies this summer. They take advantage of a few fallen branches I’ve left in the corner.
A Yellow-crowned Night-heron was on the prowl at the edge of a pond.
He didn’t have to work too hard for it this time, waded into the water and bam!
I’m not sure what it is, a crab or crawfish maybe.
It was good!
This Prothonotary Warbler’s nest is in that cavity, and the parent spent several minutes poking his head in, like he was moving something around.
I did not see if he brought something on this trip to the nest, like he did when I spotted the parent two days before: Prothonotary Warbler Bringing Food Home
The hole is about my eye level and I did see one chick beak when I passed by.
The parent did fly off with a fecal sac, something I hadn’t seen up close before.
Sitting just off the trail this Prothonotary Warbler was perched, but not singing, which is a common behavior. I didn’t notice at first that his beak was stuffed with lunch.
Not for himself, but he was taking this meal to his nest.
He quickly stuck his head in…
then flew off for another serving.
I didn’t hear any chicks so suspect he was feeding his brooding mate.
Not far from where I saw Juvenile Little Blue Heron Hunting this fellow was feeding more out in the open and may even be the same bird.
He was catching little creepy-crawly things in the shallow water, swallowing before he lifted his head.
I happened upon a Green Heron perched over a small pond.
Turns out he was looking for dinner and went beak first into the water.
Got it and sprung right out!
Pretty sure “it” is a frog.
And in a matter of seconds the heron swallowed it.
A juvenile Little Blue Heron poked along the edge of a pond in between some Cypress knees looking for a meal.
He quickly swallowed a couple of small finds.
After a bit he flew up onto a bridge railing and showed off his mottled blue coloration. Sometime in their second year the Little Blues become fully blue.
Great Blue Herons are known for stealthy, slow hunting.
This fellow defied the norm when he caught and swallowed three fish in a matter of two or three minutes.
The long feather sticking up is part of the breeding plumage.
He is likely eating for a family. The adults fly back to the nest then regurgitate the food for the chick(s).
It will take a lot of these little fish to sustain the adult and chicks.
