Over the weekend, I captured this Pied-billed Grebe fishing in one of the pools at Squaw Creek NWR in northwest Missouri. While fishing, this little grebe would dive and remain underwater for a few minutes as he fished. After a few dives, he surfaced with a “fish” in his beak. As I photographed him, he seemed to be having a lot of trouble swallowing the fish. Then, after I zoomed in, I discovered why he was struggling so much. He had not caught a fish, but a crawfish! Here is a sequence of images I made while he swam around with the crawfish in his beak, all the while trying to swallow it:
Next up, I’m hoping to have some Sandhill Crane images ready for publishing!