Bet You’ve Never Seen This Before…
This is a Kingfisher casting a pellet. These kinds of birds (along with owls, herons and shrikes, etc.) swallow their prey whole. Much of it is digested but the leftovers—feathers, fur, scales, bones, etc.—get compacted into the bird’s crop and coughed up a short time later.
Not exactly pretty but, absolutely, one of those cool things that should make you want to call over the nearest kid (or the nearest person who’s still a kid at heart) and watch their reaction to the video.
Also, if you find one of those pellets, dissect it. You’ll get an idea of what the bird has been eating.
How do you find the pellets? By looking around the perches where the bird hunts or roosts. Happy hunting!
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Reminds me of my cat…. gick.
Did you take this video, Kym? If so, wondering if it was just pure good timing, or if you had an idea this was going to happen. And, thanks, but I’ll pass on dissecting any pellets I run across!
No, this is from Redwood Planet Media.
That was me. I was waiting for the kingfisher to dive at something but it just sat there for a while, threw up, then got spooked and left when a Peregrine Falcon arrived.
So…… That”s what those little fur caccoons are. Owl pellets are also fun to study , lots of mouse and shrew sculls and bones….Mystery solved. Next case …… Strange, haunting high pitch whistling in the deep woods , around streams and river…. The Ex pert says its my hearing aid… .Fisher martin?, mountian lion? I always expect to see a person appear. Big foot calling the salmon? Or perhaps a southern Arcadian calling an oyster?One things for sure youll never hear it unless your in the woods…. Love the nature posts thanks…..
Might be Bob Cat. Two “notes” short low to longer high. (The high note is more of a “scream.”)
All males in the cat family have barbed penises. Easy in, rough out. It is the stimulation of the painful withdrawal which triggers ovulation.
The Lions make similar sounds, but MUCH louder. Much. (When I go to check out such sounds, I’m always packing. One never knows, eh?) af
If it sounds kinda like a squeaking tree it might be an elk or deer.
high pitch whistling in the deep woods might be a varied thrush (bird). they are very common and whistle back and forth in different pitches. check them out at the link. somewhere on the page you can listen to their whistle.
https://www.audubon.org/field-guide/bird/varied-thrush
Learn something every day. I was just showing the granddaughter what an owl pellet was this past weekend. Never knew kingfishers harked one up like that.
I believe the technical term is yarp, as in yarping up a pellet.
This kingfisher yarps a pellet as noble as any owl.
ok
Winner of the 2015 Golden Yarp Award
Snort!
Cartmahn theet out of his mouth and then many other South Park residents did, too.
Sorrin and Gylfie would certainly approve.