As I only have a week of contributions, I still need photos from readers. We are grateful!Today is Sunday and that means John Avise has another set of themed bird photos. This weeks theme features two types of animals, which I love. (You'll see that John is as familiar with his birds as he is his fish. You can click on his photos and zoom in to see more of his IDs and notes.Piscivorous Birds and Their Fish Many birds love to eat fish, so it is common to see piscivores at work. Sometimes I have been able to capture a bird and its prey in sufficient detail to show the type of fish or the species. This is often possible because I know the aquatic species where the bird was eating. This batch of photos aims to identify the piscivorous bird and the fish it is about consuming. All other photos were taken in Southern California. The White Tern was shot in Hawaii. Elegant Tern (Sterna Elegans) with topsmelt Silverside (Atherinops Aaffinis).Black Skimmer (Rynchops. niger) with topmelt SilversideForsters Tern (Sterna Forsteri) with topsmelt SilversideLeast Tern (Sterna Antillarum) with topsmelt SilversideLeast Tern with unidentified fish:Osprey (Pandion.haliaetus), with mullet. (Mugil.cephalus).Osprey and an unknown fishAnother Osprey with mulletOsprey eating partially-eating fishWhite Tern (Gygis Alba) and chicks with unknown eellike fishBrown Pelican (Pelecanus westernis) and unknown fishAnhinga (Anhiinga Anhinga) and sculpin, (Cottoidea).Anhinga swallowing the sculpin
