[obol] Am. Avocet with a fish (pic from last year)

[woodenapple at juno.com]

Greetings, Obolists!

While organizing some digital photos last night, I called one up on the computer that I hadn't looked at before. The shot was of a small flock of American Avocets engaged in group feeding at the Narrows at Malheur last May.

One of the birds clearly had a fish in its bill!  What's more, the fish appeared to be approximately the length of the bill, that is to say, fairly large. I'm not claiming the bird actually swallowed the fish--I didn't even know until last night it had a fish--but it certainly had caught one. And in another picture in the series, a different avocet also appears to have a smaller fish in its bill, but that image isn't as clear cut as the first.

I was under the impression that avocets fed exclusively on invertebrates.  The possibility that they sometimes may feed on fish might be bolstered by the feeding strategy of this group. A communal effort such as this wouldn't be necessary for finding invertebrates.

Comments?

Rudi
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