On my way to my car to get a snack I encountered this male Summer Tanager grabbing his own snack (a wasp) during a visit to the Quintana Neotropical Bird Sanctuary on Sunday. I watched for about ten minutes as the bird wiped the stinger on the branch then pulled off the wings and legs or the insect before eating it. I have seen these birds eat bees and wasps in the past but have never seen them so carefully prepare the meal for eating, usually it is mostly squeezing the abdomen and then scraping away the stinger. It was fascinating to watch and certainly left me wondering.

www.texastargetbirds.com

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Piranga rubra