A hungry female kingfisher took no prisoners when she swallowed an entire frog in one go after bashing it around to tenderise it.
The pied kingfisher perched herself on a tree before juggling the frog between her beak and digesting it in its entirety – with one image showing it about to plunge down her throat vertically.
It was spotted at the Pilanesberg Nature Reserve just northwest of Johannesburg in South Africa by a local teacher.
The female kingfisher flips the frog in the air and gobbles it down as it’s perched on a branch in a South African game reserve
The unlucky frog is tossed in the air by the hungry bird – a tactic understood to be used in an attempt to tenderise the catch
The lifeless frog hangs limply from the beak of the kingfisher in a photograph taken by an opportunist teacher and librarian
In a brutal move, the bird swings its neck around so that the frog is horizontal before bringing it crashing down onto the branch
The frog appears to be throwing its front right leg around the beak of its killer in a desperate attempt to cling on
Antoinette Kloppers captured this stunning sequence of pictures as the bird tucked in to her four-legged dinner.
The 49-year-old said: ‘This was a spontaneous sighting. I thought that the kingfisher had captured yet another fish when I noticed to my surprise she had a frog in her beak.
‘The frog was probably unaware of the kingfisher beforehand because the bird usually hunts by hovering over the water to detect its prey and dive vertically down, bill-first, to capture its meal at lightning-fast speed.
‘The kingfisher had already landed on the perch with her froggy catch when I went to take the picture.
‘She then proceeded to bang the unfortunate frog against the perch to kill it and soften the meal – tenderising it basically.
‘She does this by flipping the frog up in the air and bashing it down on the branch. She then proceeds to swallow it head first.
‘I say she because it looks like a female – males have a double band across the chess, females a single gorget that is often broken in the middle looking like a bikini top.’
The frog is lifted parallel to the branch by the kingfisher as it prepares to bring it crashing back down onto the branch below
In free-fall the frog is thrown skywards by the bird in a photo taken by teacher Antoinette Kloppers in South Africa
The hungry female kingfisher took no prisoners when she swallowed an entire frog in one go after bashing it around to tenderise it
The pied kingfisher perched herself on a tree before juggling the frog between her beak and digesting it in its entirety – with one image showing it about to plunge down her throat vertically
It was spotted at the Pilanesberg Nature Reserve just northwest of Johannesburg in South Africa by a local teacher
Antoinette, a qualified librarian, took up photography as a hobby in 2012 and said Mankwe Dam, in the Pilanesberg Nature Reserve, was her favourite place to picture.
Antoinette said: ‘Kingfishers always have a big appetite, continually hunting for new prey, hovering, diving down, splashing out of the water, taking off, landing.
‘This makes them such wonderful subjects to practice bird photography skills.’
‘We have observed that kingfishers love to splash down into the water after a big meal, usually at least three times, maybe also drinking some water in the process.
‘The frog looks a bit overwhelmed and resigned to its fate.
‘I love bird photography, especially the thrill of capturing the moment when a giant kingfisher dives into the water and exits with a splash and its prey in its beak.
‘The white-fronted bee-eaters are also my favourites, throwing their prey up in the air before swallowing, and the grey herons when they catch a giant-sized fish and swallow it.’