Australian Darter (female) with prey

Description:

http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/241... - Info on the Australian Darter. Male birds are dark brownish black with glossy black upper wings, streaked and spotted white, silver-grey and brown. The strongly kinked neck has a white or pale brown stripe from the bill to where the neck kinks and the breast is chestnut brown. Females and juveniles are grey-brown above, pale grey to white below, with a white neck stripe that is less distinct in young birds.

Habitat:

Typical habitat is freshwater or brackish wetlands more than 0.5m deep with fallen trees or logs and vegetated banks; less commonly, Darters are found in sheltered saltwater or estuarine environments.

Notes:

This darter was spotted at the lake on the University of Queensland Campus. I'm sure it's an adult female because the neck stripe is well-defined. Looks like she's caught herself a bream and they're pretty spiky fish, but it posed her no problem and she swallowed it regardless - the fish always swallowed head-first. The platform that she's on is one of the lake's overflow drains.