ML616477763

Age

Not specified

Sex

Not specified

Observation details

WILD!! All was calm in the bay until a Great black backed gull came in and grabbed onto the neck of a Lesser scaup holding it down while shaking it around like a chewy toy, this whole sequence took around two minutes before the bird was out. The Gull then proceeded to feed on its kill, all the while many hungry gulls gathered around the feeding GBBG but no one even dared to feed. When the bird was satisfied with it meal it flew a short distance away. A juvenile GBBG settled down to feed on the now vacant kill thinking that it was safe, BUT...in came the angry adult and grabbed the juvenile by the beak....(i thought that it was game over for this youngster) it held on for about half a minute before letting go of the bird. Based on the precision that the adult was able to get on hold on the beak of the juvenile ( And the unfortunate Scaup) I would assume that this bird is not new to the game of going after avian prey. I am guess that it was getting bored of the stale bread the the people feed them. Needless to say i will not be looking at a Great black backed gull the same way again. (withheld from posting some of the more graphic photos).

Technical information

Model

ILCE-7RM5

Lens

FE 200-600mm F5.6-6.3 G OSS

ISO

2500

Focal length

600 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire

f-stop

f/36.0

Shutter speed

1/320 sec

Dimensions

2770 pixels x 1847 pixels

Original file size

1.03 MB