Herring Gull - Larus argentatus
Canon 400mm f5.6 for 1/1000th @ iso200
One from a series of shots -taken over on the cliffs in Yorkshire. How the chick had found its way on to the higher parts of the cliff I am not sure. The gull arrived and initially the chick though it was going to be fed and moved forward beak open waiting to be fed - in but a moment in, the chick realised following a short stab from the gulls beak that this was not a parent bird arriving to care for it.
The chick tried to escape the gull calling out as it floundered in the grass it's little legs not adapted to propelling it through the long grass - the end was neither quick nor pleasant for the chick.
The gull already with blood on it from anther hapless chick - attacked it and was able initially to get it into it's beak - the commotion attracted another gull - the bird with the chick flew off from the cliff, the chick all the time calling out - the second gull locked its beak onto part of the chick and both gulls performed an aerial tug of war until the end came and both birds got a share of the chick as it was pulled apart in mid-air.
One from a series of shots -taken over on the cliffs in Yorkshire. How the chick had found its way on to the higher parts of the cliff I am not sure. The gull arrived and initially the chick though it was going to be fed and moved forward beak open waiting to be fed - in but a moment in, the chick realised following a short stab from the gulls beak that this was not a parent bird arriving to care for it.
The chick tried to escape the gull calling out as it floundered in the grass it's little legs not adapted to propelling it through the long grass - the end was neither quick nor pleasant for the chick.
The gull already with blood on it from anther hapless chick - attacked it and was able initially to get it into it's beak - the commotion attracted another gull - the bird with the chick flew off from the cliff, the chick all the time calling out - the second gull locked its beak onto part of the chick and both gulls performed an aerial tug of war until the end came and both birds got a share of the chick as it was pulled apart in mid-air.