tadpole tussle
Hooded Merganser hen with a fat tadpole, Suamico, Wisconsin USA
I'm not sure how a petite little bird like this can do it, but I saw her eat 6 or 8 of these creatures along with a crayfish or two in less than an hour. She needs her energy for nesting, I guess. Very tough to catch an image of her like this one, not knowing where she will pop up from each dive and with the tadpoles she would tend to swallow them very soon after she broke the surface. The tadpoles go down pretty easy, as opposed to the crayfish which she will thrash around until the pinchers fly off, only then down the gullet.
The floating blind (flic.kr/p/2mhVMF4) is amazing for moving and adjusting position a bit for each dive.
If you look closely, this tadpole had begun to sprout legs, but there was nowhere to run.
tadpole tussle
Hooded Merganser hen with a fat tadpole, Suamico, Wisconsin USA
I'm not sure how a petite little bird like this can do it, but I saw her eat 6 or 8 of these creatures along with a crayfish or two in less than an hour. She needs her energy for nesting, I guess. Very tough to catch an image of her like this one, not knowing where she will pop up from each dive and with the tadpoles she would tend to swallow them very soon after she broke the surface. The tadpoles go down pretty easy, as opposed to the crayfish which she will thrash around until the pinchers fly off, only then down the gullet.
The floating blind (flic.kr/p/2mhVMF4) is amazing for moving and adjusting position a bit for each dive.
If you look closely, this tadpole had begun to sprout legs, but there was nowhere to run.