15th Annual Smithsonian Magazine Photo Contest Natural World
Yellow-crowned night heron with crab

On the shores of Lake Pontchartrain in south Louisiana, I was photographing a heron with a nice-sized crab dangling from its mouth. When I was going through my images later, I realized that in this particular shot the crab was actually clamped onto the heron's tongue. Shortly after this frame, the crab released its grip and fell back into the water, only to be snatched up by the heron once again.

Photo Detail
Date Taken: 06.2017
Date Uploaded: 06.2017
Photo Location: Metairi, Louisiana, United States of America
Camera: NIKON D7200
Copyright: © Charles Marshall