Many of us get to see a Heron catching fish or Thrushes eat a worm,but how often do you get to witness a bird fall prey to a predator?
Examples : Bass splashing out of the water to snatch a hummingbird or Pike drowning a goosling,fox catching a grouse.Basically anything besides a bird being caught by domestic pets.
I have only seen a Coopers Hawk catch a Titmouse.
I find the food chain fascinating and I would like to hear your lists .
-Stephen Bahr
Greetings,
In Anchorage last fall I saw a Northern Goshawk eating a Black-capped Chickadee while the Chickadee’s mate did everything within its power to stop the hawk. It was an impressive display of determination, but was totally ignored by the hawk.
Many years ago down in Seward I saw a sea lion grab a sea gull that seemed to be pestering it. I’m not sure if the gull was eaten, but it definitely never made it out of the water.
Joe H
Sharp-shinned hawk catching birds in our yard is a several-times-weekly occurrence.
But the most astonishing incident of predation I've seen to date was watching a killer whale mother teach her calf how to use stealth to sneak up on prey -- in this instance, a Red-necked Phalarope sitting on the surface of the water. We'd seen the adult female swimming upside down just under the surface of the water (to conceal the prominent dorsal fin all killer whales have; males' are even taller), and on the last run she made, she swam under 3 phalaropes when one of them just simply disappeared underwater. There was no break in the water's surface, the bird just got sucked out of sight. The other two phalaropes immediately flew off. The calf was seen shortly afterward swimming upside down as well.