Juvenile Sea Gull Eating Starfish

Happened upon this recently in Pacific Grove, CA. In this picture two of the five legs are already in the Sea Gull's mouth. After taking the shot we watched in fascination through a Kowa 8x25 as the gull managed to get the entire starfish into its mouth and begin swallowing. Its neck bulged to several times normal size, something I wasn't aware birds could do.

Milt

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Milton,

Very cool! It's amazing what these birds eat! I remember watching a documentary on TV where a seagull caught a tufted puffin in flight and swallowed it whole! In flight!

My other reaction was "starfish are edible?!?"

Eric

Nice catch.
Augie

Milton,

Great picture, I knew they'd eat almost anything but a starfish yuck! By the way if you are still in the area take a short trip north to the Moro Cojo Slough, there is a pretty large group of otters that hang out in the slough and you can easily see them just hanging out.

Roger

That's my desktop du jour. I change my desktop photos frequently, often with bird or astromart astronomy pictures. The seagull gets his turn! thanks Greg

Wow, what a mouth full!


Robert