Great Egret, Upper Mississippi Valley, Green Island Wetlands, Iowa
The Great Egrets in the Green Island Wetlands have no problems to find and catch food at this time of the year. The metamorphosis from a tadpole to a frog was not yet completed for the prey the egret had in its bill, but I can see the legs of the frog already in a different photo of this shooting sequence.
Tadpoles or frogs were not the only items the Great Egrets had on their menu this afternoon. Another one caught a young Northern Pike and gobbled it down into its throat within a few seconds. The interesting thing to observe was the behavior of the egret after it had the fish in its beak. The Great Egret was smart enough to know that it can loose the pike during the attempt to swallow it and the bird just jumped onto the shore where it could pick up the fish again if the prey was accidentally dropped.
Nikon Z6 III, Nikon NIKKOR Z 600 f/6.3 VR S, Nikon Z Teleconverter TC-1.4x