Apologies to amphibian-lovers everywhere. The scene that unfolded in Kent Ridge Park in Singapore was quite gruesome to watch. A pair of White-crested Laughingthrushes, Garrulax leucolophus, had found a frog in the moistness of the shade behind a line of trees.
They are omnivorous birds and I shouldn’t have been shocked by the enthusiastic way in which they acquired the meal, but there was something predatory in the way that they used their claws to keep it pinned at tarsus’s length while they fed from it.
This was not behaviour that I associated with Laughingthrushes and I found it a little disturbing.
Without the strong talons and bill of a hawk, they were unable to deliver a quick, killing bite. Instead they reared up high and stabbed viciously down onto the frog. This was repeated over and over, surely long after the frog was dead.
Even after it had been disembowelled, it was still subjected to repeated blows as though the birds were unused to preying on live animals and were unclear how much force was needed to subdue a little frog.
Best done on a soft surface.
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Amphibians seem to be a favorite prey item of birds the world over. We love spending time in the swamps and marshes of the Texas Gulf Coast trying to get shots of waders taking amphibians and other prey. Some years (and in some spots) the water is alive with tadpoles and young frogs, and the waders seem to show an extra exuberance when they’re eating amphibians, rather than fish or aquatic insect larvae or crawfish–no spiny exoskeletons or fin spines to worry about getting caught in the gullet. On the Gulf Coast, amphibians are a favorite of Boat-tailed Grackles and Loggerhead Shrikes, also.
Everywhere we go birding, I’m always looking for amphibians: I think the number and diversity of amphibians present is a good proxy for the health of an ecosystem, especially now given the global amphibian crisis. Cheers.
Great shots, Redgannet. I was sorry to miss these guys during my short trip to Singapore but look forward to catching up with them elsewhere. Guess I’ll leave my frogs at home.
I am amazed how much their colouration resembles that of a shrike (a red-backed in particular).