Photo: Stewart Canham
Amateur photographer Stewart Canham snapped this amazing photo of a cormorant swallowing a foot-long pike:
With its rows of needle-sharp teeth, the pike is a feared predator in the water world. But this one hadn't a hope when a hungry cormorant decided it was supper time. The bird pounced on the foot-long pike with its hooked bill and pulled it to the surface of a lake.
The two antagonists grappled for a few seconds before, in one swift movement, the magnificent bird extended and twisted its neck in preparation for supper. Its highly elastic throat allowed the cormorant to gobble the pike down whole within seconds.
These birds are killing fish stocks all over the country,and costing fisheries thousands and thousands of pounds yearly.
Nice pic mind you