The morning after we received the minnow delivery, I went down to Michael’s office. He was sitting by the window with his binoculars gripped tightly in his hands. With a concerned look on his face and a serious tone in his voice, he said “Angel, we have a problem.”
Uh-oh…what’s wrong?! Maybe he discovered an issue from our recent storm? Perhaps something happened to his newest landscape project? Or...was there a dangerous animal lurking in the woods?
Nope.
Evidently, the 50 pound delivery of minnows brought with it…the delivery of a pair of Belted Kingfishers!
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| ©Life as an Artist’s Wife One of the beautiful Belted Kingfishers. |
Not knowing what a belted kingfisher looked like, I grabbed the binoculars and said "Oh, they're so cute! What's the problem?"
Michael replied, "The problem? They're stealing all my doggone minnows!"
<Insert my little giggle here!>
Yes, the belted kingfishers are known to feed on aquatic prey…they feed on MINNOWS! Michael watched in horror as the birds swooped up the minnows one by one. For three days straight, it was an all-you-can-eat minnow-buffet!
Here is how these spunky, spikey-crested birds would catch their prey:
They would sit up high on a branch…
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| ©Life as an Artist’s Wife Belted Kingfisher getting ready to move in on the minnow. |
They would plunge down to the water to catch a minnow with its long bill…
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| ©Life as an Artist’s Wife Belted Kingfisher diving for a minnow. |
They would fly to a safe spot, shake the minnow (errr, actually beat the minnow senseless on a branch - ouch!), pitch it up in the air, and then swallow it whole – head first! Eww!
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| ©Life as an Artist’s Wife Belted Kingfisher with the minnow in its mouth. |
We were in awe as they repeated this cycle of catching the minnows over and over again. How could their stout little bodies possibly eat so many minnows?
By the end of Day 2, we noticed that they looked bloated and were moving a little slower.
By Day 3, Michael was wondering "How many pounds of my 50 pound minnow delivery are left in the pond?"
By Days 3 and 4, we saw them less and less throughout the day. Perhaps they were in and out of a minnow-coma?
Also, by Day 4 Michael was a little more tolerable...and forgiving of these cute little birds. (Although he wishes there was some sort of "money back guarantee" for all those minnows we lost!)
It'll be interesting to see if these belted kingfishers stick around for awhile or if they find another freshly-stocked pond.
Oh, and the BIG question: How did these little minnow bandits find our pond...the day after the minnow truck was here? Mikey still thinks they hitched a ride on the back of the minnow truck...riiiiight!!
And, I still think they're cute ;)
