The yellow-billed bird came across a tigerfish’s head floating in the water when it was out fishing in Tᴀɴᴢᴀɴɪᴀ’s Selous Game Reserve. It gathered up the food in its beak and a four-meter-long crocodile appeared in the shallows.
The stork’s head appeared to be ᴅᴀɴɢᴇʀᴏᴜsly ᴄʟᴏsᴇ to the beast’s jaws for a brief moment, as though it had become entangled in the action. Fortunately, the crocodile didn’t grab the bird, leaving it to carry on fishing.
The stunning collection of images was taken by Mark Sheridan Johnson while he was working as a safari guide. The 35-year-old claimed that he saw the stork was playing with soᴍᴇᴛʜing in the water, which turned out to be the head of a tigerfish.
The crocodile rushed in fast to take the stork’s dinner as the bird attracted his attention while playing with the fish head.
The stork decided to continue fishing with the crocodile after realizing that the struggle was finished once the crocodile had captured the fish. A stork’s main food source is small fish, which they eat whole.
The photographer continued by claiming that it was common to see storks foraging ᴄʟᴏsᴇ to crocodiles. They are aware that when the croc strolls along the lake’s borders, it will scare off fish, which the stork will then catch.
Similar to this, you’ll find many bird species ʜᴜɴᴛing together, such as the spoonbill and the yellow-billed stork. This is called the “dual ʜᴜɴᴛing ᴍᴇᴛʜod”.
