character

One of the highlights of our trip so far, was this guy.

We sat down beneath the canopied bird enclosure to watch him puree a small mouse with his bill, which was decidedly ill-suited for the purpose, for about 5 minutes before finally swallowing it whole. It made our eyes water just watching him.

The moment he was done, in came a group of folks, including a stroller carrying a toddler. The toddler evidently wanted to grab and chase the bird, and the mom lifted him out of the stroller so that he could do so. As the toddler came close and his hands out, the bird immediately tucked his head, puffed his chest, and ran a quick circle around the kid, who immediately burst into tears, scared and isolated by the move. The display worked very well, as if this problem had arisen many times before. As the child cried, the bird simply stood there next to him. The rest of us, content to just watch the animal, laughed heartily, as the mom, a little indignant, carried the kid away to safety. We shared a bit of a high-five after that. The bird, shown here is photographed shortly after the attack.