Nature Green in Beak and Claw

More soon on European travel and the results of the caption contest, but today I wanted to share with you something I witnessed at the zoo this weekend in the Outdoor Flight Exhibit, which is populated by many pretty zoo-birds and a number of wild birds that flit in and out of the wire mesh surrounding the outdoor aviary.

I always like taking pictures of cardinals in there—but they’re wily little things, and they tend to fly away too quickly for me to capture them. But on this day, I found a cardinal so distracted by its prey that I was able to take a few pictures of it. This cardinal is munching on a hapless caterpillar; the green goo has actually shot out from the body of the unfortunate invertebrate:


The cardinal did look up and see me, but he was too intent on his meal to really care.


Finally, the feast is over: all that remains is a predatory look in that dinosaur descendant’s eye—that, and a bit of green he missed…

{A note: I do write all text and take all pictures. Please do not reproduce either without my permission.}