A bird on the hook

[Gaitshi Gubib]

My Vaal dam camping neigbour this weekend had an unusual catch – a bird …

….well, actually a bird and a fish !

He was pulling out the fish when this bird decided he’ll have the fish and promptly dived after the fish …. and got hooked as well.

I managed one pic and then ran to help save the screaming bird. Neighbour had already unhooked the fish, but it was a bit more difficult with the bird, it was attacking us and frantically flapping its wings …. eventually a towel over its eyes made it calm down.

Swambo promptly supplied an assortment of pliers, nail cutters, side cutters and I cut the hook with a pair of pliers - it came out nicely, the poor bird was hooked in two spots around the beak, but it had another go at us before realising it was freed.

On the first pic you can see the fish lying in the water and neighbour’s hand holding the line on the left.
The second pic was taken earlier of one of these birds – ID anyone ?