Today I was witness to what may just be the most gruesome act of nature I have ever been witness to. I was watching a mother duck swimming near the shoreline of the river with her ducklings when all the sudden a Ring-billed Gull swooped down and picked off one of the ducklings. The gull flew some distance out into the river before settling and then literally beating the duckling to death. When the duckling was dead the gull swallowed it whole.
 
After the fact I was in shock at what I had just observed. I didn't think gulls could be so vicious nor did I think they were capable of capturing and consuming something as large as a duckling. Up until now I never viewed gulls as predators of other living birds, just scavengers of dead animals and french fries, raiders of dumps and grain fields, and consumers of insects, small fish, frogs, and perhaps other birds' eggs. But not other living birds.
 
There were thousands of gulls around and none but this one particular gull showed any interest in the ducklings that were up and down the shoreline and a distance out from shore all morning. I have been witness to raptors picking off birds like cardinals, sandpipers, crows, and gulls, but this incident was particularly disturbing because it involved a tiny defenseless ducking, an animal that has universal cute appeal, and it was not as if the gull had no choice but to eat this duckling. The Cooper's Hawk has no choice but to eat other birds and small mammals, but gulls have an enormous menu of food items available to them. It is just too bad that this particular gull chose to put this duckling on its menu.