[MJR]

It seems most bird species like Humans have their share of Bandits. I see birds like Gulls, Terns and Egrets all the time trying to steal a fish away from another bird. Brown Pelicans are mostly victims than suspects. I was able to recently catch this sequence of an overly aggressively CA Brown Pelican trying to unsuccessfully steal a fish from another CA Brown. First time I have witnessed this.

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[NorthernFocus]

Yes this is interesting. Typically the gulls are snatching fish from them while they're draining the water from the pouch under the beak. Though a while back Mark Smith posted some stuff of what looked like a pelican trying to steal a fish from an osprey. It looked like the pelican was trying to eat the osprey.

 

[K9Kirk]

Nice capture. I once saw a pelican biting a gull on the head to get it to let go of a small fish. It seems a lot of birds are very tenacious and brutal when it comes to food.

 

[Whiskeyman]

... It seems a lot of birds are very tenacious and brutal when it comes to food.

My observations are that on a lake with eagles and ospreys, the ospreys do most of the catching, only to be harrassed and robbed by the eagles. Once the eagles get the fish from the osprey, they then do the same to each other. Often the biggest eagle, or the fastest, finally end up with the prey. I also see the same behaviors with shore birds.

 

[StarTracker50]

I had a pelican darn near swallow my arm when I tried to give it a fish! Never did get that picture!