Eastern Reef Egret – bobmcgee

Adventurous Dining …

Eating a puffer fish is fraught with hazard. What about eating a Stonefish?

The bird is an Eastern Reef Egret. I’m pretty sure the fish is a Stonefish. The toxin in its spines causes extreme pain if injected into a human foot so when I’m walking on the reef at low tide I wear shoes. It has never occurred to me to put one in my mouth.

I spent about 10 minutes with the Egret during which time it carefully dropped and flopped the fish. Took it and washed it in the sea and made several trial fits in its mouth. Ultimately it abandoned it and flew off to hunt further up the beach. Maybe the risk from swallowing the spines was just too great.

Bon appetit…

Shooting Fish …

… in a barrel.

It almost seems like cheating. Pools left behind by the tide’s retreat are places where the little fish can take a break from the dangers posed by the big fish but they are by no means safe. Eastern Reef Egrets are very efficient hunters in the small pools.