Drama at the Duck Pond

Time for a few wildlife photos!

As I've mentioned in prior posts, there's a neighborhood park close to my home with a large pond.  This water body is home to all types of waterfowl.  Since ducks are there year-round, long ago my family nick-named it the "duck pond."  But not only ducks, this suburban park is home to all types of feathered fauna.

A cormorant caught a nice fish

During winter months, cormorants and pied-billed grebes dive for fish that live in the pond.  I enjoy strolling around the pond with my camera, in hopes to catch one of these birds with a fish in their beak.

Flipping his catch around

Every once and awhile I get lucky.  One day in mid-January I was watching two cormorants as they dived underwater.  After several minutes of observation, one of them came up with a good-sized bullhead in his beak.  

Catching the fish in his mouth

This was the photo op I'd been waiting for.  Training my lens on the bird, I fired off multiple shots.  The cormorant didn't eat his catch right away.  He flipped the fish around and dipped it in and out of the water.  I think he was positioning the fish for ease of swallowing.

Another cormorant tried to steal the fish

Suddenly another cormorant burst out of the water and tried to steal the fish from his buddy.

The first bird beat a hasty retreat

Lots of wing flapping and splashing ensued.  Luckily, I had my lens focused on the birds, and furiously snapped away. 

"Stay away from my lunch!"

The first cormorant tried to get away from his aggressor.  With some quick swimming moves, and a bit more flapping, he beat a hasty retreat. 

Quickly swallowing the fish 

With the second bird in hot pursuit, the cormorant had no choice but to hastily swallow his catch to prevent it from getting stolen.

An amused blue heron looks on

What a great bit of drama to capture!  I've discovered the more I visit the duck pond, the greater my chances are of catching these waterfowl in action.  

And that's not the only excitement I've recently witnessed here.  Come back for my next post and I'll share photos from another encounter with my feathered friends.