アカガシラサギの狩り(動画あり)
アカガシラサギの狩りを間近で観察できました。小さな昆虫やクモ、グッピー、ヤモリなどを主に捕まえていました。
警戒心が弱いようで、地面に座って観察しているとだんだんこちらに近づいて来た。一番近いときは、アカガシラサギまで3メートルほど!! こんなに近くでじっくりと見たのは初めてです。
A Chinese Pond Heron looking upward, fixing its sights on something.
What it had caught turned out to be a gecko that had been up in a tree. Geckos bask in the sun during the day, so perhaps that was what it was targeting.
It caught a spider of the kind often seen at the water's edge.
Locking its gaze onto the water's surface.
What it caught was a guppy. I usually see Chinese Pond Herons in pastures and paddies, so this was the first time I had come across one catching a fish.
A Chinese Pond Heron staring straight at me. After this it came closer. An individual this unguarded is unusual.
It seems to have finally started moulting into breeding plumage — feathers were being replaced here and there. It would be nice if it stayed long enough to come into full breeding plumage.
A Chinese Pond Heron lit by the evening sun.