Tuesday, May 3, 2011

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.}

3 comments:

pattinase (abbott) said...

We were at the DC zoo on Friday. We paid a visit to the flamingos in your honor.

biobabbler said...

You KNOW little caterpillar mommies have posters of that 2nd shot in the house to WARN their babies about the perils of inattention around birds. Having watched my chickens at work (on GIANT worms, they even killed a skink!) I'd HATE to be anything a bird wanted to eat. YIKES.

Anca Vlasopolos said...

Predation's not pretty, but that last shot! The little guy looks so innocent and puffy.

Post a Comment

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...