This big one did not get away
I went to the Edmond's Pier today despite the impending rain. I ended up getting over an hour there before the rain started. By far the most amusing catch of the day was a Double-crested Cormorant who caught a Sculpin that was WAY too big for him to get down easily. It took a full three minutes for him to get it down, but not without a fight.
This was my first view of the scene. There is no way this is going down easily.
There were several occasions where he seemed to be about to swallow it, but he had to spit it out repeatedly to get it re-positioned.
Finally the competition arrived. Both the Gull and another Cormorant wanted that fish badly.
Then it got really interesting when a second Cormorant entered the fray.
I guess the Cormorants will bite the neck to force the first one to regurgitate the fish. Thankfully it did not work and the first Cormorant got to keep his fish. He finally got to swallow it. This has GOT to be painful:
Even as he was swallowing it, he was attacked one last time by the other Cormorant:
But, none of the antics worked and he was able to FINALLY swallow the fish. The entire drama took 3 minutes.
If you want to see more pictures from the day, click here: February 1, 2018
Comments
That one shot, I think the spiky fish is doing its best to fan itself out. Seemingly to prevent a final descent downward! ;)
So the cormorant really managed to win the bird battle AND gulped that whole thing down okay?? Does the sculpin put up a good fight, it looks mostly eaten, does the unlucky prey get swallowed wriggling all the way as well?