- Sculpins are hard to swallow shows a Belted Kingfisher beating a sculpin against a dock before swallowing it.
- This paragraph from the paper on the Belted Kingfisher from Birds of North America online explains the process: After capturing a fish, the bird flies to a perch where it pounds its prey against the perch by sidewise movements of its head. Pounding serves to stun the fish and provides a means of turning the fish so it can be swallowed head first. Pounding may also serve to break long spines of sticklebacks (Gasterosteus spp.) and bullheads (White 1953).