Bird Behaviour in Action
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the horbills are quite large birds used to feed on fruit and mainly insects,arachnids and small vertebrates.
but they are not used to kill aduld birds.
in this case an African Grey Hornbill (tockus nasutus) has cought and killed a social weaver.
"a strange behaviour"
Etosha National Park ,Namibia
original 3K file here:
A black Swan attacking a Muscovy duck.
Hope you will enjoy this shot.
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©Elsie van der Walt, all rights reserved. Please don't use this image on websites, blogs or other media without my explicit permission. If you are interested in using one of my images, please send me an E-mail (elsie.vdwalt@gmail.com).
Dove and Red-headed Finch.
Many thanks to everyone who chooses to leave a comment or add this image to their favorites, it is much appreciated.
©Elsie van der Walt, all rights reserved. Please don't use this image on websites, blogs or other media without my explicit permission. If you are interested in using one of my images, please send me an E-mail (elsie.vdwalt@gmail.com).
Very interesting behaviour - this LEO was hunting at 10AM (and was very successful at it!) Not typical behaviour for a dusk hunter. My hypothesis is that it was taking advantage of the people / dog activity in the local park, what I mean is that because of it’s proximity to a busy trail, dogs in particular spook mice and other rodents. If I was a betting person I’d say this is an example of a hunter adapting to it’s circumstances!
RKO_9069.
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Courtship behaviour of the great crested grebe.
great crested grebe
Haubentaucher
[Podiceps cristatus]
RKO_2650. The Courtship process. Great Crested Grebe project 2021 (#4).
So much fun watching their courtship behavior. Extremely difficult to be at the right place and right time. One moment of inattention and you miss the action! Not perfectly sharp but good enough for now.....
Copyright: Robert Kok. All rights reserved!
More of my work and activities can be seen on my website: robertkokphotography.com
Please do not use my photos on websites, blogs or in any other media without my explicit permission.
Thanks for visiting, commenting and faving my photos. Its very much appreciated!
The Indian pangolin, thick-tailed pangolin, or scaly anteater (Manis crassicaudata) is a pangolin found on the Indian subcontinent. It is not common anywhere in its range. Like other pangolins, it has large, overlapping scales on its body which act as armour. It can also curl itself into a ball as self-defence against predators such as the tiger. The colour of its scales varies depending on the colour of the earth in its surroundings.
It is an insectivore, feeding on ants and termites, digging them out of mounds and logs using its long claws, which are as long as its fore limbs. It is nocturnal and rests in deep burrows during the day.
The Indian pangolin is threatened by hunting for its meat and for various body parts used in traditional medicine.
The Indian pangolin is a solitary, shy, slow-moving, nocturnal mammal. It is about 84–122 centimetres (33–48 in) long from head to tail, the tail usually being 33–47 cm long, and weighs 10–16 kg. Females are generally smaller than the males and have one pair of mammae. The pangolin possesses a cone-shaped head with small, dark eyes, and a long muzzle with a nose pad similar in color, or darker than, its pinkish-brown skin. It has powerful limbs, tipped with sharp, clawed digits. It is an almost exclusive insectivore and principally subsists on ants and termites, which it catches with a specially adapted long, sticky tongue.The pangolin has no teeth, but has strong stomach muscles to aid in digestion. The most noticeable characteristic of the pangolin is its massive, scaled armour, which covers its upper face and its whole body with the exception of the belly and the inside of the legs. These protective scales are rigid and made of keratin. It has 160–200 scales in total, about 40–46% of which are located on the tail. Scales can be 6.5–7 cm long, 8.5 cm wide, and weigh 7–10 grams. The skin and scales make up about one-fourth to one-third of the total body mass of this species.
The Indian pangolin has been recorded from various forest types, including Sri Lankan rainforest and plains to middle hill levels. The animal can be found in grasslands and secondary forests, and is well adapted to desert regions as it is believed to have a tolerance to dry areas, but prefers more barren, hilly regions. This pangolin species may also sometimes reach high elevations, and has been sighted in Sri Lanka at 1100 meters and in the Nilgiri mountains in India at 2300 meters. It prefers soft and semi-sandy soil conditions suitable for digging burrows.
Pangolin burrows fall into one of two categories: feeding and living burrows. Feeding burrows are smaller than living burrows (though their sizes vary depending on the abundance of prey) and are created more frequently during the spring, when there is a greater availability of prey. Living burrows are wider, deeper, and more circular, and are occupied for a longer time than feeding burrows, as they are mainly used to sleep and rest during the day. After a few months, the pangolin abandons the burrow and digs a new one close to a food source. However, it is not uncommon for the pangolin to shift back to an old burrow.
Unlike its African counterpart, the Indian pangolin does not climb trees, but it does value the presence of trees, herbs, and shrubs in its habitat because it is easier to dig burrows around them. Features that promote an abundance of ants and termites (grasses, bare grounds, bases of trees, shrubs, roots, leaf litter, fallen logs and elephant feces) are often present in pangolin habitats.
Few details are known about the breeding behaviour of the Indian pangolin. During the animal's mating period, females and males may share the same burrow and show some diurnal activities. Males have testes in a fold of the skin located in their groin areas. The female's embryo develops in one of the uterine horns. The gestation period lasts 65–70 days; the placenta is diffuse and not deciduate. Usually, a single young is born, but twins have been reported in this species. The young weigh 235–400 g at birth and measure roughly 30 cm. The newborn animals have open eyes, and soft scales with protruding hairs between them. The mother pangolin carries her young on her tail. When the mother and young are disturbed, the young pangolin is held against its mother's belly and protected by the mother's tail.
An amazing experience watching this pair feed their chicks recently.
Taken at a public site at a distance so as not to disturb the birds or alter their behaviour.
Stag frantically digging up mud at the edge of a lake to cover its antlers before dressing them in vegetation. Not sure if this is to impress the ladies or threaten other males in the rut.
One of the first local bird species to engage in mating behaviours is the Downy Woodpecker, though the Hairy and Pileated Woodpeckers are also pretty active at the same time. Chasing, calling, and scrapping (between competing males or females) is a behavioural backdrop in the woods around Ottawa.
I am not often lucky with opportunities for photography with Woodpeckers during this time. They move quickly, and often are chased higher up. It was fun to come across this male, busily digging into the bark, early one morning. He noticed me, but returned to his business pretty quickly. A few minutes later a female flew in and off they went.
His business was at the junction of the trunk and the branch coming off to the left. He was about six feet off the ground, and I was able to stay behind a tree nearby to leave him in peace while I secured an image.
I made a quick trip to the nature reserve after work and met this beautiful and friendly girl. After moving to a very photogenic spot on the grass she spent several minutes turning, preening and generally showing off all her best sides for the camera! It was hard to pick a shot in the end :)
Spyder turning his head upside down as I sweet talk him into taking his photo, behaving ever so bashful!
Posted for the Happy Caturday theme: "Behaviour"
First is a Cinnabar Moth Caterpillar, next a Soldier Beetle, then a Ladybird and a Hoverfly. Please try viewing large. Thank you....
Eurasian Jays have very particular and interesting behaviours, and some of them make them excellent forest gardeners.
Examples include the use of gifts provided by males for females in mating rituals. This behaviour is performed by a few species. In most cases, it means that the species understands the desires of other individuals, which is quite complicated.
Their most important and interesting behaviour is their ability to store seeds, especially acorns or nuts. They do this to prepare themselves for the cold season and the harsh months that await them.
Experts suspect that this behaviour may be much more complicated than it seems. They proved, through different experiments, that the Eurasian Jay’s habit of keeping food is due to its ability to plan for the future, something experts thought that only humans could do.
This behaviour is what makes it a very important animal for our forests. In many cases, these birds don’t consume all their stores, or they just forget about them.
Thus, the seeds germinate and the forests expand as they move these heavy nuts and seeds, which can hardly be spread otherwise.
Eurasian Jay (Garrulus glandarius) flight_w_2278
Mute Swans display courtship behaviour in late winter with synchronised head dipping and lifting and the pressing together of necks and breasts. I watched the poetry of this beautiful interaction play out amongst a wall of reeds on the water at Mill Dam, Beaulieu.
Thank you all for your kind responses.
Came across this bruin in the arctic, he was feeding on a musk ox calf. His eyes tell the story, stay away! Taken from inside a truck on a gravel road. Decided to heed his eyes and stay in the truck with minimal movement. (The photographer didn't get this old being stoopid!) I have had very close encounters with Grizzly Bears while hiking and have been bluff charged and followed for miles before. One thing that is important is to read the animals behaviour. This one is quite obvious, wouldn't you say?
The rook (Corvus frugilegus) is a member of the family Corvidae in the passerine order of birds. It is found in the Palearctic, its range extending from Scandinavia and western Europe to eastern Siberia. It is a large, gregarious, black-feathered bird, distinguished from similar species by the whitish featherless area on the face. Rooks nest collectively in the tops of tall trees, often close to farms or villages, the groups of nests being known as rookeries.
Rooks are mainly resident birds, but the northernmost populations may move southwards to avoid the harshest winter conditions. The birds form flocks in winter, often in the company of other Corvus species or jackdaws. They return to their rookeries and breeding takes place in spring. They forage on arable land and pasture, probing the ground with their strong bills and feeding largely on grubs and soil-based invertebrates, but also consuming cereals and other plant material. Historically, farmers have accused the birds of damaging their crops, and have made efforts to drive them away or kill them. Like other corvids, they are intelligent birds with complex behavioural traits and an ability to solve simple problems.
Not sure what,s going on here.At first i thought the ants were moving their larvae to another location,but the first larvae is clearly a plant hopper nymph! So moving plant hopper larvae for security,or food?
Thanks for your comments and faves,they are truly appreciated.
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