Tiger fish catches barn swallow!

My daughter Karlien lives on a farm near Komatipoort in Mpumalanga, on the border of the Kruger Park. She once told me that the tiger fish in their irrigation dam catch swallows – something I found hard to believe! But in January 2018 my wife Alma and I visited the farm and I got the chance to see for myself… We were fishing at the dam, but there wasn’t even a nibble on the line. We didn’t mind because it was peaceful next to the water – we were just enjoying being outside.

Karlien suddenly pointed to the middle of the dam – a tiger fish had just launched itself out of the water and caught a swallow in flight!

She encouraged me to take photos, but I found it quite difficult. There were dozens of swallows flying low over the dam, scooping up water. How to tell where a tiger fish would strike? Which swallow to follow? My hand-eye co-ordination was also too slow – I would glimpse the action and press the shutter button, but all I got was a splash of water. Eventually, however, we managed to work out a system to get a few shots.

We were far from the action and the fish disappeared quickly underwater, but at least I have proof that it really happened. Photos 1–3 show the tiger fish catching a swallow, and photo 4 shows an unsuccessful attack where the swallow gets away. We’ve seen this happen a few times since.