Bird Behaviour in Action
View allAll Photos Tagged Behaviour
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:
May is going to be images made at either Las Canteras or Maspalomas Beaches, Gran Canaria.................all are done this year, an attempt has been made to contrast the freedom of Las Canteras with the "Organised" behaviour of Maspalomas
I was observing a group of sea gulls next to the Yarra River when I took this shot.
I am sure you would have seen these postures and calls before.
I was also curious about these postures and their meanings.
Here you can see two common postures.
The gull in the front is showing the Forward Posture.
As the name implies, this posture is all about displaying a forward motion by holding the body roughly horizontal or slightly diagonally with the neck kinked characteristically.
The tail can sometimes be spread; the bill is either slightly opened or closed.
The Forward posture is used in the following situations:
1) hostile encounters
2) pair formation sequences
3) as a response to a bird approaching in flight
When used in hostile encounters on land, it often includes running towards an opponent, whereas in a pair formation sequence both gulls move parallel to each other
The Gull behind is doing the Mew Call
The Mew call is accompanied by a characteristic Arch-posture in which the head is held down and the wings are held slightly away from the body.
It is usually performed while walking but can be performed while standing, flying, or swimming as well.
The Mew call is used in both aggressive and non-aggressive situations:
Aggressive
1) In defense of food or territory, aimed at an opponent
2 )To attract a mate for support in territory defense
Non-aggressive
1) To attract a partner (also for courtship)
2) To call chicks that have wandered too far from the nest
3) To gather chicks for feeding or after they have been hiding after a disturbance
4) As a nest-relief invitation
5) As a call performed upon landing.
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Peaceful Sunday
Since we are in our new home, Merlin seems to be more peaceful.
Merlin for Happy-Caturday theme : "Behaviour".
LACPIXEL - 2022
Fluidr
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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).
From the "senses" series: Vision
If someone sees something, they react. Cause-effect. According to Pavlov, reflexes could be conditioned. If you don't see, you don't react. But if vision is deprived from you and you know and watch that you don't see because someone doesn't want you to see, you react. Cause-effect.
RKO_9069.
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Courtship behaviour of the great crested grebe.
great crested grebe
Haubentaucher
[Podiceps cristatus]
We just couldn't believe this!
Many of you would have seen adult Grebe's doing the Weed Dance., an elaborate and beautiful 'Courtship' ritual
But what we have here are two Grebe chicks from the same family spontaneously performing (with all the same complex moves) the very same dance
They are young and immature., so this cannot be 'learnt behaviour' but instead somehow engrained into their DNA
We were taken by surprise and It was wonderful to watch!
Thanks for looking, comments and faves. Much appreciated!
One of the few species of birds where males and females are both amazingly beautiful. The male has a rich scarlet color plumage while the female is bright yellow as in this picture.
These are predominantly found in the Himalayan belt and much of North East India and a small of part of our neighbouring state. The birds behaviour is quite similar to the other minivets and we sighted them foraging on the upper canopy.
Thanks in advance for your views and feedback Much appreciated.
... says Timmy and Daddy agrees :-)
Happy Caturday 22.10.2022 "Behaviour"
My cat stories: www.wolfgang-kynast.de/katzen.htm
Halcyon senegalensis
L'offrande de nourriture du mâle à la femelle est un comportement très fréquent... avant les choses plus sérieuses...
Parc national Kruger, Afrique du Sud
The offering of food by the male to the female is a very frequent behaviour... before more serious things happen...
Kruger National Park, South Africa
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.
Puffins mating and courtship ritual, the puffins will pair up before they come onto land from the sea. Once they are on land, the pair may perform billing, a behaviour where puffins rub their beaks together. There numbers are falling because of global warming and this year bird flue.
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.
Birds of prey are fascinating and majestic animals. They can generally be defined as birds that feed on animals that they catch alive. Representatives of these two orders can be found almost everywhere in the world. Although these groups are distantly related, the behavioural and anatomical characteristics they share appear to be mainly the result of parallel evolution.
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 :)
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?
Certainly interesting and exciting to view the interaction of these owls as one would do close flyovers upsetting the other. It didn't last long and other than a few pulled feathers no damage was done.
Thank you for viewing.
This beautifully bright songbird looks a lot like the Baltimore and Bullock's orioles that are familiar to North American birders. However, this Central American native, the streak-backed oriole, seldom makes forays into the southern US.
A couple of individuals occasionally visited the grounds of the lodge I stayed at. The one pictured here was gleaning insects from the branches and leaves of the trees, including the one it is perched on and in a nearby palm.
Streak-backed orioles are considered a medium sized bird, being about 19 - 23 cm (7 1/2 - 9") in length. In local Costa Rican Spanish, these birds are called chorcha. Chorcha is colloquial for a lively, informal get-together, chat, or party among friends. That sounds like an oriole!
When walking by a local urban lake, a blue jay landed in a nearby tree and started scolding. A second joined. I thought the behaviour may have been directed at me, but no. I noticed their ire was really meant for Clyde, a cat that was on the prowl. His tag suggests he prefers gold fish, but I suspect he has an appetite for birdies.