Along the beach of St. Augustine, a Willet was dodging in and out of the surf looking for dinner. The delicacy of the day are Sand Crabs hidden in the sand. After extensive searching, one was found.
I watched him run around a bit with the crab in his mouth. Probably celebrating the fact that he found a crab.
But then all of a sudden he dropped the crab!
He just stood there watching the crab crawl around. And then he picked it up and then promptly dropped it again!
After the third round of drop, crawl, pick up and toss game, the Willet picked up the crab again and ran towards the surf.
Where he promptly placed the crab in the water. Taunting in a way, seeing if the crab would break free.
Ending the game, he picked up the crab and with one last fling gulped him down. I swear he was laughing at the end.
Categories: 2013 Project 365, Birds, Florida, Nature, travel
Emily Carter ~ Nature as Art 
So cute!
Thank you!
Excellent series! Could it be that the willet was getting the sand off from the crab before swallowing it?
Oh yes, definitely washing the sand off. Pretty cute.
Fab-fab-Fabulous, Emily! Great text, stunning pix, the right amount of humor – it’s ALL THERE! 🙂
Thank you so much ! It really brings a smile to my face when you enjoy my posts so much. I’m so grateful.
Fab images…love the subject isolation you get.
🙂 It’s all about bird stalking Mark. Also, a good telephoto zoom. I do vignette a bit in post to really highlight the bird. Happy you like it.
Wonderful series of action shots. The details in the feathers and the sharpness of the focus are amazing, especially for a moving subject.
Thank you so very much Mike. I must confess, I love these shots, but am unhappy with the sharpness of them. These were taken with the Canon 7D and 70-300mm lens. That lens is really soft.
But on the other hand, with practice of 3 years, I am getting better with the birds. Appreciate your comment.
What a naughty tease that Willet was. Great shots, Emily. 🙂
He was a little bugger wasn’t he. Great fun to watch though.
Now that’s one happy bird with a full happy tummy! awesome shots 🙂
That last look was really a look of glee wasn’t it?
Super series. Wonderful way to spend a bit of time at the beach. Such great results.
Thank you so much Lynne. I seem to never get enough time on the beach to bird. But anytime is precious to me.
Fantastic captures! He was definitely toying with the poor crab! I reckon he was washing the sand off before finally enjoying his find! 🙂
🙂 You’re right ! So washed his dinner before eating.
Fun series, great shots.
Thank you so much Beth!
I truly love this, Emily. How fortunate you were to witness all that!
I don’t know what’s going on with my WordPress, but blogs I used to follow have failed to materialised, yours included. I keep ticking boxes and boxes become unticked! I hope I have sorted it out once and for all.
Great to see you Fatima ! You are always thought of whether you are here or not. 🙂
What a beautiful think sot say. Thank you very much. Problem seems to be sorted for now.
Loving your captures – thanks so much for sharing:)
It is truly my pleasure Renee. Thank you so much for visiting.
What fun to watch!!