A grey heron caught my eye when I noticed it had caught something at one of the dams in the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park. I was puzzled by this, as there are NO fish in the Kgalagadi, but then again it could have been a frog. As I drew closer I realised it was snacking on scaly-feathered finches!
The heron would walk around the dam making himself smaller and holding himself lower than usual, and as the finches came to drink he would grab them, then dunk the fluttering creature in the water, and hold them there. I am not sure if he was trying to drown them or make the feathers more palatable but either way he swallowed the little finches live and hole.
In the 60 minutes I spend at the dam he must have had at least four finches before he eventually flew off.
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