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Journal
(Blog)



"Grebe eats frog!"  or "I can't believe he ate the whole thing!"

1/7/2016

4 Comments

 
"Eat a live frog first thing in the morning and nothing worse will happen to you the rest of the day."  Mark Twain

Warning: If seeing a Grebe down an adult frog makes you feel queasy,  best to move on to another post on this blog, or just stop to enjoy pictures of snow on Mt. Lemmon on the Winter pages. ​

January 3, 2016.  Another great morning at Sweetwater Wetlands birding with some friends. We stopped on one of the decks built over the wetlands, and spotted a Pied-billed Grebe playing with something in the water, which looked at first like seaweed. Closer inspection however showed his item of interest to be breakfast, a frog.  I captured well over 100 images, picking the ones below to create the feeding sequence. 
Our best guess is that this is a Pied-billed Grebe. They are common in Mexico and the United States. The Cornell Lab of Ornithology describes them as "part bird, part submarine," using their thick bills to kill and eat a variety of crustaceans, fish, amphibians, insects and other invertebrates.  Their legs are attached close to the buttucks and they have lobbed, not webbed, toes, making diving easier. They swallow their own feathers, which protect their intestines from damage from rough swallow parts. They will regurgitate indigestible hard parts. 

The Grebe tossed the frog around, made one early pass at swallowing it, then began feeding in earnest.  The following images are captured in sequence.  All photos shot with Canon 6D, Sigma 150-600 contemporary, at 600 mm. Post production processing in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom.
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Best wishes for a Happy New Year! 
4 Comments
Janet Davies
1/9/2016 09:33:42 pm

Amazing, beautiful pictures. I had no idea a Grebe could swallow something that large !!!

Reply
Jonah Perry link
3/25/2021 09:18:12 pm

Awesomee blog you have here

Reply
Bodhi Lee
12/28/2024 07:32:10 am

On Thursday, I watched in awe and photographed a Pied-billed Grebe eating a frog at Sweetwater Wetlands. He worked hard at that! I googled to see if anyone else had photos of that and found your site. It's so well done and informative with great photos. I look forward to reading more.

Reply
Henry Johnson
12/28/2024 07:39:19 am

I am glad Google got you to the post from 2016! I am glad you liked the post. Hit the contact key on my home page if you want to be added to my distribution list for new posts. About one or two posts a month, so now a lot on incoming mail. Happy New Year!

Reply



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  • Home
  • Blog
  • Visitor's Guide
    • Seasons
  • Birding Hotspots
    • Agua Caliente
    • Madera Canyon
    • Mt Lemmon
    • Portal, AZ
    • Sweetwater Wetlands
    • Texas Coast
    • White Water Draw
  • Birds
    • Acorn Woodpecker
    • American Bittern
    • American Coot
    • American Kestrel
    • American Robin
    • Arizona Woodpecker
    • Ash-throated Flycatcher
    • Black and White Warbler
    • Black-crowned Night-Heron
    • Black Phoebe
    • Black-throated Sparrow
    • Cactus Wren
    • Cedar Waxwing
    • Chihuahuan Raven
    • Common Raven
    • Cooper's Hawk
    • Crested Caracara
    • Curve-billed Thrasher
    • Elf Owl
    • Gambel's Quail
    • Gila Woodpecker
    • Great Blue Heron
    • Great Horned Owl
    • Green-tailed Towhee
    • Hooded Oriole
    • House Finch
    • Ladder-backed Woodpecker
    • Lazuli Bunting
    • Lesser Goldfinch
    • Northern Cardinal
    • Northern Flicker
    • Northern Mockingbird
    • Northern Shoveler
    • Phainopepla
    • Pied-billed Grebe
    • Plumbeous Vireo
    • Red-naped Sapsucker
    • Red-tailed Hawk
    • Rufous Hummingbird
    • Sandhill Crane
    • Sulfur-bellied Flycatcher
    • Verdin
    • Vermilion Flycatcher
    • White-crowned Sparrow
    • White-winged Dove
    • Williamson's Sapsucker
    • Yellow-rumped Warbler
  • About
  • Contact
  • Parting Shots
  • Member Content