White cheeked barbet with a garden lizard

[Roopak Gangadharan]

Record shot of a white checked barbet with a garden lizard as prey. Shot in Jan 2011. one of a breeding pair .Primarily frugivorous did see them feed on small insects like grasshoppers and caterpillars but this is the only instance I saw it hunt and kill (by repeatedly banging it agst the tree trunk) something as big as garden lizard. Didn’t get to see it feed however. Light was very low and the images have visible shake. will post a few images in the natural history section as it is interesting to see how the bird first kills the prey , cuts off the long tail and then sort of smashes the skull probably to make it easy to feed on .

500D, 55-250, 250mm AE , F5.6, ISO 800, SS 1/125,Cropped image.

Regards
Roopak

[Saktipada Panigrahi]

Rare image.Perfect timing. Nice composition.Thanks for sharing.SaktiWild

[Mrudul Godbole]

Rare natural history moment captured. Its good you could get it holding the lizard in the clear. Wish the light was better. Look forward to see more in the series. Thanks for sharing.

[Murugan Anantharaman]

Lovely moment captured Roopakji. I have seen a kingfisher do a similar action but never seen a barbet do it. I thought they are mostly vegetarians as I see them in my backyard regularly feeding on fruits of trees. Thanks for sharing.

[Bhargava Srivari]

A unique moment. Thanks for sharing this, Roopak. I really wish the angle was less steep and you got a cleaner image

[Sabyasachi Patra]

Superb moment. Good to know that this barbet killed a lizard and ate it.