Today, scientists performing bird surveys on Pelican Island, situated about 9 miles off the coast of Queensland, Australia, caught an uncommon yet ruthless moment in nature: a crocodile emerging from the ocean to nab a migratory bird.
“We believe it is the very first taped meeting in between an estuarine crocodile and a pomarine jaeger,” stated Lee Hess, a senior ranger with Queensland’s Department of Environment, Science and Innovation, in a news release. “And unfortunately it was a long way to fly to end up like this.”
“Pomarine jaegers are an arctic, migratory bird and while it is not uncommon to see them in Australian waters or on seaside islands, there isn’t many tape-recorded sightings on Fantastic Barrier Reef islands,” Hess added.
Video released by the agency shows the jaegers walking along the beach and the croc gradually walking out of the water, and as soon as one of the jaegers nears the croc, the croc gets him and after that retreats back into the ocean.
Gavin Bassani, operations manager of the Lama Rangers, said that he does not think the bird understood it was supposed to be afraid of the croc.
“I guess originating from the Artic region, crocodiles are not their typical hazard,” Bassani stated, adding that a number of migratory bird types fly to the far northern Excellent Barrier Reef area for the season.
“It’s a shame this one traveled up until now just to succumb to the dangers of Cape York,” Bassani stated.
While researchers say it’s a “embarassment,” they likewise stated it was the first documented conference in between an estuarine crocodile and a pomarine jaeger.