Native Birds Fight Back Against The Wasps

Native Birds Fight Back Against The Wasps

I spotted this tui eating something in a dead tree in our shelter belt so zoomed in and took some photos though I couldn't quite make out at the time what it was catching. To my surprise, when I took the photos off the camera, I saw that it was catching wasps, what look like chinese paper wasps. 

Looking at the sequence of photos it caught and ate at least four wasps in the ten minutes or so that It took to take these photos. I knew that tui supplemented their diet with insects and have often seen them catching insects on the wing around the tops of trees but I never knew that they would take on wasps.

Grabbing it by the stinger for a bit of extra excitement

Looking smug and satisfied after polishing off some wasps for breakfast.

3rd May 2018 Alec Messenger

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