"When the water filled the nest, a mummichog, which is a small fish that lives in tidal marsh environments, leapt into the nest from the surrounding water," Newsome told As It Happens host Carol Off.

"[The fish] kind of hung out in the nest for a second and then grabbed the chick — that was still alive — by the leg and started thrashing it around underwater, eating little bits of the chick in the process."

The act of predation was documented and published this month in the Wilson Journal of Ornithology.