Taken on 29/09/2013
Gordon - In answer to your question to Carl "was the dragonfly dead?" well no it wasn't I'm afraid. I don't know if it's normal Egret behaviour or not but Carl and I were sitting in the hide watching over a pool which had a few inches of water in it when three Little Egrets flew in and two of them had a liking to dragonflies. One skirted the edge of the pool in the reeds picking off dragonflies (mainly Common Darters) which were basking in the sun on the reeds. This one however had a different technique and was snatching them out of the air 'on the wing' at times comically running through the water with neck stretched grabbing the dragonflies in flight. These were both Southern Hawkers and mating pairs of Common Darters but the bird had also realised that by drowning them it would stop them flapping to get away and as such easier to eat. All in all in about ten minutes over a dozen or so dragonflies were taken by the pair of Egrets. I'll post another image showing "the drowning" albeit with a reed unfortunately across the shot. Nature can be hard at times!!
Equipment
Nikon gear.
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