Gulls seem to do this more often than some... I recall there was a
video of a big Larus from South Africa a few years ago that had eaten
a squid or octopus whole and alive. The video was taken of the bird
acting sick, with a strange object protruding from its chest. It
died, and an autopsy revealed that the cephalopod had been in the
process of chewing its way out. What a horrible way to go! (for
either).

I looked a bit online but could not find the video. If anyone knows
of a link, it's worth posting to check out.

AND

BTW, there was a massive influx of Golden-crowned Kinglets into the
Maple Leaf neighborhood last night. They were everywhere on my walk
to the bus this morning.

Jesse

At 9:25 AM -0700 10/4/06, Wayne C. Weber wrote:
>Tweeters,
>
>This reminds me of an event that occurred many years ago,
>when Wayne Campbell was working at the zoology museum at
>the University of BC, and I was a graduate student there.
>Someone brought in a juvenile Glaucous-winged Gull
>which had been flying over one of the parking lots at UBC,
>and literally dropped out of the sky, stone-dead, into the ground.
>After a few minutes of examination, it was discovered that the bird's
>throat was stuffed chock-full of bread. The greedy gull had apparently
>ingested so much bread so fast that it choked to death!
>
>Eating can be hazardous to your health....
>
>
>Wayne C. Weber
>Delta, BC
>contopus at telus.net
>
>
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Kevin Mack" <kmack at paws.org>
>To: <tweeters at u.washington.edu>
>Sent: Tuesday, October 03, 2006 5:23 PM
>Subject: [Tweeters] A gull that bit off more than he
>couldchew...errr...swallow
>
>
>Hi Tweets,
>
>I'm sure we've all seen birds swallowing prey that seemed far too large for
>them to actually swallow. Whenever I see a gull trying to choke down a sea
>star, I always wonder how they keep from choking. Well...apparently they
>don't always keep from choking. On Sunday I discovered the carcass of an
>immature gull at Ebey's Landing on Whidbey Island. A very large fish was
>lodged securily in his throat. For photos visit:
>http://www.flickr.com/photos/96123763 at N00/
>
>Anyone else ever come across something similar?
>
>Kevin Mack
>Edmonds, WA
>
>
>_______________________________________________
>Tweeters mailing list
>Tweeters at u.washington.edu
>http://mailman1.u.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/tweeters


--
Jesse Ellis, Ph. D. candidate
Neurobiology and Behavior
jme29 at cornell.edu
111 Mudd Hall
Cornell University
Ithaca, 14853

"Now, for some of you it doesn't matter. You were born rich, and
you're going to stay rich. But here's my advice to the rest of you:
take dead aim on the rich boys. Get them in the crosshairs. And take
them down."

Herman Blume, in "Rushmore"