What a fascinating observation. Per https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Mallard/lifehistory , Mallards eat a good deal of animal matter, mainly invertebrates, during the summer. In my experience, it's rare to see them eat any critter that's bigger than a half-inch or so. However, a couple years ago I watched in amazement as a drake used its bill to dispatch a medium-sized bullfrog and then struggled for several minutes to swallow it.
Peter Ruprecht Superior On Thu, Aug 26, 2021 at 1:11 PM rjpa...@gmail.com <rjpaut...@gmail.com> wrote: > In the shallow bay at the end of the Boulder West trailhead yesterday, our > Boulder Bird Club group observed something very strange. A mother > Pied-billed Grebe was actively hunting and feeding what looked like small > crayfish to her three young (they still had head stripes). They were being > followed by a lone Mallard, which would aggressively pursue a young grebe > after it had been given the crawfish by its mother until it was able to > snatch the crawfish from the young grebe's mouth. The grebes would dive > and thus lose the Mallard for a moment, but as soon as it popped up, the > Mallard was after it again. This happened three times within 15 minutes. > I thought Mallards were vegetarians! > > -- > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google > Groups "Colorado Birds" group. > To post to this group, send email to cobirds@googlegroups.com > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/cobirds?hl=en?hl=en > * All posts should be signed with the poster's full name and city. Include > bird species and location in the subject line when appropriate > * Join Colorado Field Ornithologists https://cobirds.org/CFO/Membership/ > --- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Colorado Birds" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to cobirds+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > To view this discussion on the web visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/cobirds/8074dc53-4bb3-4536-a5dc-8ea5fe422f00n%40googlegroups.com > <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/cobirds/8074dc53-4bb3-4536-a5dc-8ea5fe422f00n%40googlegroups.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> > . > -- -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Colorado Birds" group. To post to this group, send email to cobirds@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/cobirds?hl=en?hl=en * All posts should be signed with the poster's full name and city. Include bird species and location in the subject line when appropriate * Join Colorado Field Ornithologists https://cobirds.org/CFO/Membership/ --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Colorado Birds" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to cobirds+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/cobirds/CAHPXVBa7L%2BaENUigqTsP_nJtY-2hucS9RdyoWuMLF2ue2Ffpog%40mail.gmail.com.
