The neck, head and beak structure of the oriental darter is like a built in rope dart bow and arrow which allows it to be pulled in and kept ready to be uncoiled with force and precision .This unique structure allows the darter to spears fish from both above and below water and then bring it out of the water to be swallowed head first. Following is series of images showing this behavior. The bird in the pic below is an immature one.
Shot at Arrikulam my native village in North kerala near Calicut.
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