A Centipede Down the Gullet - Observation of the Week, 8/27/19

Our Observation of the Week is this Brown-hooded Kingfisher, seen in South Africa by @magdastlucia!

Originally from the South African city of Pretoria, Magda moved to the Zululand area about thirteen years ago, and resides in St. Lucia, by the coast. “My holidays were usually short break-aways, hiking or camping with friends or family,” says Magda, “[and] there was always a crate in the car with field guides.” A member of iSpot and now iNaturalist, and a contributor of nearly twelve thousand observations, Magda says “I have no scientific background and do not even call myself a citizen scientist. I am just a nature nut that spend as much of my free time I can exploring God's creation.”

The photos you see throughout this post were taken by Magda a few weeks ago, on a trip with some friends up to the Kosi Bay area of South Africa. After exploring Tembe Elephant Park and the Kosi lakes, the group kicked back and did some birding from the deck of their accommodations, where they watched the Brown-hooded Kingfisher enjoying a centipede breakfast. “The bird slammed the centipede against the perch, before it was swallowed,” recalls Magda. “After the centipede disappeared down the bird's throat, it turned around and started scanning for more titbits.”

While kingfishers are best known for perching over lakes and streams and diving for ichthyish prey, many species hunt for terrestrial prey in a similar fashion, including the Brown-hooded kingfisher. They feed mainly on arthropods, but will also take lizards and snakes. As Magda described, a kingfisher usually beats its prey against its perch. This is done in order to stun or kill it, and break dangerous spines or other protrusions before the prey is swallowed. 

And beating a centipede before popping it down the hatch is probably a good idea. Centipedes are voracious predators, and they use their modified front legs (called “forcipules”) to inject their prey with venom. The kingfisher would definitely not want to be stung by the centipede while trying to ingest it. 

Magda, who is also in the St. Lucia Birding Club and the LepSoc’s Caterpillar Rearing Group, says “It is great to be part of a platform where I can share what I see, get it identified, and to top it all, contribute to science.”

- by Tony Iwane

- Kingfishers do not mess around when subduing their prey.

- Copying the shape of a kingfisher’s bill, Japanese Shinkasen trains no longer create a “tunnel boom” when entering a tunnel. 

- Yes, Virginia, there is centipede that catches and eats bats.

Posted on August 28, 2019 03:37 AM by tiwane