Herons/pelicans swallowing live prey

[Fallenfox]

Pelican vore is totally acceptible in this thread, but try to find videos of live prey getting swallowed if possible!

For our next video, we're looking at herons eating feisty, wriggling rats that are foraging on a riverbank. Several rats are gulped down in this clip, and I think at least two of them are very much alive when they are swallowed - though there is not too much inside-the-throat thrashing as we often see with fish.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sk9EhGqyWHc

[Fallenfox]

Another nice Egret video. This one snags a decent sized fish and quickly works it into its gullet for swallowing, but the fish isn't going down without a fight! Includes a slow-mo closeup of the fish twitching and wriggling inside near the end of the vid.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rAUztYbEgcM

[Spunkomatic66]

I'm not big on real animals being eaten, but I will say that if these were animated I'd like them.

[Fallenfox]

OK, I've neglected Anhingas for too long. Also known as a "snakebird", Anhingas are a type of cormorant - great fishermen and voracious eaters, who employ energetic jaw-jacking tactics to get prey into their gullets! Lots of fun to watch.

In the first fun video, we see an Anhinga putting on quite a show for the camera while working a big fish past his beak. Music is fitting.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94lWO5UHHlg

Next, this one shows off what good swimmers these birds are, and also some awesome slo-mo toss-and-gulp action at around 0:50 - yep, that fish went down very much alive.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LUIJQ_1zYFg

Finally, a good sized fish survives being impaled only to get skillfully swallowed alive. One of my favorite things about these birds is the way they follow up the swallow with a very fast wriggle of their throats to "vibrate" the prey down - Yum!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9RFTfxjT0c

[Fallenfox]

Another short Anhinga vid to bump this thread. I like the little "Uh Oh!" zoom in on the fishes' face that the OP did just before the quick swallow.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okyu3M2Zl28

And one more slightly longer Anhinga vid. This one has a voyeuristic feel to it, as the guy tries to sneak up on the bird during lunch.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOTwAB36lpw

[GBBG]

Those last ones were great.

[Tassie]

The videos with the squirrels were simply divine.

Pelicans have always fascinated me, and while sharp beaks do rather scare, I just can't thank you enough for sharing these.

[Fallenfox]

Amazing new video that needs to be stabilized. A white heron captures a fat wriggling duckling or a gosling. I thought for sure that the young bird's neck would be broken by all of the thrashing it's subjected to in this feeding, but it doesn't happen. A moment of stillness is all it takes for the hungry heron to skillfully maneuver the prey into the headfirst position for swallowing, and once it's past the beak no amount of kicking or wriggling will keep it out of the heron's stomach.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8F2WAL_ljA

[Zuel]

Currently digging to find more on/of this but apparently this pelican ate a cormorant. O.O

http://tigerlandindia.in/wp-content/upl ... morant.jpg

[Fallenfox]

Currently digging to find more on/of this but apparently this pelican ate a cormorant. O.O

http://tigerlandindia.in/wp-content/upl ... morant.jpg

Wow! Yeah, nothing is safe around a pelican. They will literally try to eat anything, and often succeed if the prey is smaller than their own body.

[Fallenfox]

Another awesome video by these skilled nature photographers. A GBH enjoys a satisfying meal of a live and wriggling tilapia. Video features plenty of inside-the-throat struggling, feather-fluffing and tailfeather shaking (which in birdspeak means "Yum!"), even some cleaning and preening, and some nice slow motion replays of the catch and swallow at the end.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwZn4peiEXA

[MirceaKitsune]

This one has a lot of detail, and you can even see the bulges:



[EDIT] Aaaand embedded videos broke again on the forum: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rAUztYbEgcM

All I can say is: It's still death and that sucks. But it would sure be nice if nature was like this more often, instead of gory and depressing.

[Fallenfox]

This one has a lot of detail, and you can even see the bulges:

[EDIT] Aaaand embedded videos broke again on the forum: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rAUztYbEgcM

All I can say is: It's still death and that sucks. But it would sure be nice if nature was like this more often, instead of gory and depressing.

Thanks for the embed (I see it fine) but I already posted that one on august 18.

[MirceaKitsune]

Thanks for the embed (I see it fine) but I already posted that one on august 18.

Ah... sorry about that And I don't see it for some reason... that is strange.

[EDIT]: Aha: It's only when you access aryion.com via https:// and not http://. Forgot this site still uses a non-secure connection...

[Fallenfox]

Time to necropost this thread rather than start a new one!

Quite a few new videos out there if you look carefully. Here's one from this june of a GBH feeding on a large fish which looks like it could possibly be a salmon. The fish perks up just in time to be fully engulfed in the bird's throat, and the heron relaxes and lets the fish do some of the work - taking a few sips of water to encourage it along.



Second is the most quick, skillful, beautiful swallow I've seen in years, and its a 4 year old video to boot! I've seen clips of other herons taking minutes to swallow fish this size, but this GBH carefully sets up, and - with a gentle head toss and a perfect little lunge - he forces the head of his prey past his beak, and lets it wriggle right into his gullet. This fish did NOT want to be swallowed. The heron braces against his frantic thrashing, and patiently waits for his meal to settle down and find its way to his stomach. Awesome capture!

[Fallenfox]

If you like gentle swallows like I do, this one is for you. Other than the initial grab, this feeding is for the most part free of violence as the bird focuses on feeding on his prey rather than killing it. A few coaxing lunges and the heron has this fish just where he wants it.

[Fallenfox]

Another older video of a fish swallowed while still alive and wriggling. I like the feather ruffling that follows the swallow - it makes me think the heron is enjoying the feeling of the live prey swimming into his stomach - and if I didn't know better I'd say he is strutting away smugly after this feeding.

[Fallenfox]

Now for something slightly different - a small fish is a massive meal for a small green heron! Despite his prey's defensive puffing up and flaring out of fins, the determined little heron manages to get it down with a little help from the fishes' own struggles @3:05. Tasty!

[GBBG]

These are hot. Not sure if you posted this one or not but I like it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=10UZ5ZwRiys

[Fallenfox]

These are hot. Not sure if you posted this one or not but I like it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=10UZ5ZwRiys

Good one! I love Anhingas - their swallowing techniques are so fun to watch. Here's another - a huge fish, it takes quite a bit of jaw-jacking to get him down.