Bird bites bug

The dominant foraging technique of the Yellow-headed Blackbird is to prowl through grass looking for bugs and seeds (May, 2011)

Predatory birds and insects often use one of two strategies for finding food: one group sits and waits, only to sally forth after prey is spotted; the other group actively forages.

The two species of dragonflies I watched last Sunday (both skimmers) were perchers. They would sit on a reed or blade of grass and only take to the air after spotting another delectable insect.

A bird I watched (Yellow-headed Blackbird) usually hunted by foraging, albeit it on foot in the grass.

What was interesting was that the bird changed its tactics when hunting the dragonflies: it hunted the dragonflies in the same way that the dragonfly hunted others.

A favourite in marshy areas in the springtime is the Four-spotted Skimmer. This one is waiting and watching. If one wonders how to count the spots (which seem to be eight in number on the wings), one must ignore the ones near the wingtips—the stigma—which appear on most dragonflies.

Who could resist a profile of this same delightful creature as it waits to pounce?

And then there was a female Hudsonian Whiteface. (All of the dragonfly identifications are tentative.)

There appeared a Yellow-headed Blackbird. While it is normally out foraging, on this occasion, it merely sat quietly amongst some reeds. It was not clear to me what it was up to. Apparently, it was just watching.

It seems to have spotted something and promptly headed out.

After capturing a dragonfly, it headed back to another island of reeds to consume it.

After downing the dragonfly, the blackbird settled into another island of reeds. From there it headed out to capture yet another dragonfly and so it went from one island of reeds to another. The striking thing was that the dragonflies were being captured using the same tactic they used to captured others.