Frogs On The Menu...Tastes Like Chicken!

[Daniel Cadieux]

On my most recent bluebird thread last week I wrote:

I'll head over there this weekend as there are likely some hatchlings inside now, hoping to get them perching with a variety of insects in their bills...

Well I did head over this weekend, and there was a variety of insects...plus a huge bonus! This gal must have found the mother-load as 5 times while I was there she came back with a frog in her bill and went iside the nestbox with it. Too bad the babies are hidden in a cavity as that must be quite a sight seeing them swallow that!

On another note, I did not see the male at all in the 2 hours I spent parked at that nest box...not a good sign as that pair were side-by-side at all times previous to this. The mother is doing a great job by herself, but I have a stinking feeling the male may have been the victim predation.

Canon 7D + 500mm f/4 II + 1.4TC, manual exposure evaluative metering, 1/800s., f/8, ISO 400, natural light, handheld with lens resting on edge of open car window, almost full-frame.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Here's the setup I use for this location, thought you like to see it. The bluebird loved the horizontal perch on the left and the dry mullein stalk (note the bluebird on it). Never did take the fresh mullein, even if I switched its' position with the dry one (BTW it was straight at first then started to wilt).

Canon 7D + Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8 @60mm, 1/800s., f/8, ISO 400.

[Richard Stern]

Hi Daniel,

Beautifully sharp and nicely posed image, with an interesting tasty morsel - looks almost too big for the bird to carry. I'm glad you posted the attached image of the setup as well.

Richard

[Miguel Palaviccini]

Daniel,

First of all, thanks for showing the set-up. I'm starting to get into setting up some of perches and this helps :)

As usual, your photos are technically stunning. This one, with the frog in the mouth, is that much better. Sucks to hear about the male, but hopefully he just needed a little vacation from the kids and will be back soon.

Keep sharing your photos (and set-ups!).

Miguel

[Randy Stout]

Daniel:

Nice soft,graduated bg,pose, perch. I would have never thought a blue bird would eat a frog! Guess you take what you can.

Thanks for showing the setup too!

Cheers

Randy

[Karl Egressy]

Nice perch, pose and background, Daniel.
A frog is something I have never though Bluebirds would eat.
Amazing!!!!!

[Frank Schauf]

Great timing, great action.

[arash_hazeghi]

what a special item on the menu. well done Daniel

[Manjeet & Yograj Jadeja]

Beautiful pose, nice behavior

[Doug Brown]

Excellent shot Daniel; love the prey! Thanks for sharing your set-up with the BPN community!

[Jeannean Ryman]

Wonderful shot Daniel. What a frog! Thanks for the shot of the set-up as well. Very helpful in seeing this as there's a LOT of barbed wire fences where I live.

[dankearl]

Thanks for posting your set-up, An interesting thing to try and you got such great results.
The frog is over the top!

[BobbyPerkins]

This is just an Awesome Behavior capture! Sharp, with nice gradiant BG. Great perch idea as well so typical with Bluebirds. Very nice of you to show the clever set-up as well. Interesting on the bird's perch preference too, lol. Sad to know about the possible absence of the male. Thanks for sharing.

[David Salem]

Very cool Daniel. Never would have thought although I had a group of mountains feeding at a small water hole eating water bugs, so a frog, guess so. Your usual solid techs and details make for a wondeful unique capture. Nice one.

[Girish Prahalad]

lovely frame! excellent comp & details. the prey puts it over the top.

[Satish Ranadive]

Daniel Sir, Thanks a lot for posting the original, so that we could know how the set up was.
As usual excellent image,looks like she has posed for you with frog in the beak.Very nice HA,great colors and details.
Wonderful composition. Love the frame.

Regards,
Satish.

[Shawn Zierman]

Totally awesome. I remember some photographic and written evidence of this behavior surfacing in a Minnesota ornithology mag a while back, but nothing of this quality. Lucky for sure, but dang you nailed it.

[Declan Troy]

The results speak to the effectiveness of the set up for obtaining great images; however caution should be observed with such practices. Habitat modifications around nests affect not only the behavior of the target birds but also predators, brood parasites, and who knows what else. The risks for cavity nesters, such as bluebirds, are reduced but still present.