Posted by Tony Wood on December 03, 19101 at 00:27:05:
A few years ago I had the opportunity to go to Denali and heard a fantastic nature story. Just a week earlier a grizzly bear had attacked, killed, and ate a moose calf early in the spring and right in front of a new NPS ranger from "back east somewhere". A few years earlier, while in Africa on safari, I heard all of the fantastic stories of how the lions take their prey. Of course we have all seen the fantastic videos of nature at work, where the prey is taken by the predator, on Discovery or National Geographic. I really admire the hours it must have taken the cameramen and women to get those photos or videos. It doesn't matter to me whether the predator is a crocodile or a great white shark or an amoeba. I am in awe of the nature of it all and I am in awe of the camera person's patience. But it seems that those stories never happen when I am there to watch, nor when I have my camera ready. It is enough for me to know that man, the ultimate predator, is and should be a carnivore or omnivore.
So enough of my phlosophy on man's place in the food chain. This is a story of what I believe was a very surprised carnivore at work in my backyard. It is the story of what I think I saw as much as what I am sure I saw. It occurred on June 8, 2001, just outside my kitchen window, in a small fish pond. This pond is inhabited by goldfish, a small blue catfish, a couple of small bluegills, a few bullfrogs, and occasionally a garter snake. Various species of birds come to bathe and drink from the fishpond when it's hot outside.
Anyway, what I think I saw on the morning of June 8th was the closest thing to a flying frog that one could ever hope to see. In a blur there was something like a frog with feathers taking 2 big jumps away from the fish pond and then two big jumps back to just inside the edge of the fish pond. When he finally came to a rest, I could look more closely and focus my eyes on what had previously been just a blur. Here is what I am sure I saw. I ran to the bedroom to get my camera. Yes, that is a bullfrog eating a sparrow. The wings and a little foot can be seen sticking out of the frog's mouth in the photo.
My best guess is that the frog sent his sticky tounge out and caught the sparrow by the other leg (not shown for obvious reasons). The bird initiated a flight while the frogs body followed his tongue attached to the birds leg. I believe that he tried to retract the tongue as the bird struggled to escape. at the end of the second hop and once the frog had recovered the tongue with the bird partially in his mouth, he was able to jump back to the fishpond and hold the struggling bird until he could swallow it. That is when I took the picture. I thought it ironic that the whole swallowing effort looked a lot like a snake eating a frog.
I immediately went to the internet (the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department has an excellent site on amphibians, http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/nature/education/tracker/amphibians/amphibian_index.htm) and found that what I had seen was not anything extraordinary. Bullfrogs ARE known to eat small birds. I'm not sure whether this is known because folks have seen them do it, or because bullfrogs have been found to have small birds as a part of their stomach contents. Either way, I have never seen a picture of a frog eating a bird before. I can say that I wouldn't trade my Texas backyard for anything! It is as fascinating as the wilds of Alaska or Africa anytime.
Tony Wood
tmcawood@aol.com