View allAll Photos Tagged Behaviour
Rhinoceros Auklet RHAU (Cerorhinca monocerata)
Strait of Juan de Fuca
Salish Sea
BC
DSC_5084 - Copy
DSC_5086 etc Publication1 RHAU power dive
Prey appears to be
Pacific Sand lance (Ammodytes hexapterus) aka Needle Fish
Initially i thought this bird was working on taking off.
It was not stressed by being too close to boat or anything like that ... just seemed to want momentum for a deep dive.
1st time i have seen that behaviour
Great Spotted Woodpecker / dendrocopos major. Norfolk. 18/08/25.
A juvenile Great Spotted Woodpecker dropped down to a shallow pool and maintained this upright position, back always towards the water during its stay.
At first I thought it wanted to bathe, but eventually realised it was drinking. I watched it twisting its head sideways and downwards, whilst maintaining a firm grip on dead wood on the bank side.
Fascinating ,,, and I was left wondering if I'd witnessed typical GSW drinking behaviour at pools with any kind of bank?
I'd welcome your thoughts/comments.
BEST VIEWED LARGE.
Doing what cockatoos like to do best, Little Corella ripping cones to pieces in pine trees. Adelaide Botanic Garden.
Over the past couple of years, I've enjoyed making friends with my garden birds, and have been amazed by how trusting (and demanding!) some have become. I started by trying to befriend Christopher, our garden robin, by throwing food to him, and soon had him happily landing on my hand ... and over time most of the other garden birds have gotten in on the act!
This is Betty Bloo, one of THE MOST demanding of all, such a character. In spring, when they had chicks to feed, Betty Bloo and her partner were relentless in stalking me ... and I couldn't open the front door without hearing enthusiastic flapping and chirping, as they flew in excitedly and expectantly. Betty Bloo happily landed on my hand, even when I wasn't expecting her: one day in the garden I was asking Albus, one of our dogs, what he was barking at, at the same time raising both my hands in a pretend exasperated 'huh?' gesture ... only to immediately feel that familiar sensation of tiny blue tit feet on my hand!
Update (May 2023): Betty Bloo and 'her' partner decided to fend for themselves once their chicks had fledged, so I hadn't seen them for a few months (or not obviously, just a fllock of blue tits around the garden that they may or may not have been part of) ... until April this year, when they both returned, demanding food. I can tell it's the same pair from their behaviour, exactly the same as last year. Betty Bloo happily lands on my hand, with her partner, Little Boy, coming close, but never landing on my hand. In fact, I've seen them do a few pair-bonding food passes, and now know that Betty Bloo is the male of the pair, and Little Boy is the female!
A little artistic licence for this one.
The Red Kites were circling together at one stage but I photographed them separately before combining them in Photoshop for this shot.
Shorebirds of Ireland, Freshwater Birds of Ireland and The Birds of Ireland: A Field Guide with Jim Wilson.
www.markcarmodyphotography.com
The Crested Lark, Galerida cristata, breeds across most of temperate Eurasia from Portugal to northeast China and eastern India, and in Africa south to Niger. It is non-migratory, and the sedentary nature of this species is illustrated by the fact that it is only a very rare vagrant to Ireland, despite breeding as close as northern France.
This is a common bird of dry open country and cultivation. Its food is weed seeds and insects, the latter especially in the breeding season.
This is a smallish lark, slightly larger and plumper than the Skylark. It has a long spiky erectile crest. It is greyer than the Skylark, and lacks the white wing and tail edges of that species.
In flight it shows reddish underwings. The body is mainly dark-streaked grey above and whitish below. The song is melodious and varied, with mournful whistles and mimicry included.
Some care must be taken to distinguish this lark, which has many subspecies, from its close relatives in areas where they also occur. In the west of its range the Thekla Lark, Galerida theklae, is very similar. (wikipedia)
I did not stumble upon too many Crested Lark during our family holiday in 2023 in Portugal. However, a pair were holding territory along the edge of a nature reserve close to where we were staying. They were quite skittish and best views were had across the road from them.
"Wallowing, or rolling in the dirt, is a common behavior that serves many functions for bison. ... A common explanation for the wallowing behavior relates to relieving skin irritations, whether that is from shedding a winter coat or seeking relief from biting insects. Bison will lie down and roll repeatedly onto their sides to stop insects from biting them. Rolling on the ground also creates a layer of dirt on the body that forms a defensive barrier from ticks and lice. Wallowing is also sometimes seen as a social behavior associated with play, group cohesion, and male-male conflict."
Dione moneta
(The Mexican Silverspot / Pasionaria Mexicana)
Dione moneta occurrs from the southern USA to Peru, Bolivia and northern Argentina.
This species is migratory in behaviour so can be found in almost any habitat, and at any altitude from 0-3500 metres. It is most frequent between 1800-2800m and is most often encountered in open sunny areas - these typically include riverbanks, rocky slopes, pastures and roadsides - in fact anywhere where there is an abundance of nectar sources. Both sexes nectar at a wide variety of flowers.
www.learnaboutbutterflies.com/Andes - Dione moneta.htm
The pine processionary (Thaumetopoea pityocampa) is a moth of the family Thaumetopoeidae. It is sometimes placed in the genus Traumatocampa, is one of the most destructive species to pines and cedars in Central Asia, North Africa and the countries of southern Europe. The urticating hairs of the caterpillar larvae cause harmful reactions in humans and other mammals. The species is notable for the behaviour of its caterpillars, which overwinter in tent-like nests high in pine trees, and which process through the woods in nose-to-tail columns, protected by their severely irritating hairs, as described by entomologist Jean Henri Fabre.
Mala Mala Game Reserve
Near Kruger National Park
South Africa
Happy Caturday !!
The driver and guide in our jeep were tracking this unknown young male leopard thru thick undergrowth. He decided to climb up onto a small hill to rest. He hunkered down on the top with not much more than his head showing and decided to stay there. We were with him for at least thirty minutes, so we started taking head shots. After about thirty minutes or so, he rose and headed to the road.
The leopard (Panthera pardus) is one of the five species in the genus Panthera, a member of the Felidae. The leopard occurs in a wide range in sub-Saharan Africa and parts of Asia and is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List because leopard populations are threatened by habitat loss and fragmentation and are declining in large parts of the global range.
The leopard is distinguished by its well-camouflaged fur, opportunistic hunting behaviour, broad diet, and strength (which it uses to move heavy carcasses into trees), as well as its ability to adapt to various habitats ranging from rainforest to steppe, including arid and montane areas, and its ability to run at speeds of up to 58 kilometres per hour (36 mph).- Source Wikipedia
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
This is a good time of the year to find this species of shield bug in the long grass and bushes on the mendips and it has almost become an annual ritual to see if I can find feeding individuals. This is quite a common site with them feeding mainly on caterpillars and sawfly larvae, occasionally adult butterflies or moths.
Best viewed very large.
Visit Heath McDonald Wildlife Photography
You can see more of my images on my other flickr account Heath's moth page
A behaviour common to birds - find a way to seem larger than you are - but one I had never seen before in a Wood Duck: this male stuck his neck out and raised his head as high as he could, as another male floated into range.
lack of understanding breeds hatred of other people... we should try to tune-in... my travel diary, with musical innuendos by Björk and Mily A. Balakirev.
Shorebirds of Ireland, Freshwater Birds of Ireland and The Birds of Ireland: A Field Guide with Jim Wilson.
www.markcarmodyphotography.com
There are three species: the Bohemian waxwing (B. garrulus), the Japanese waxwing (B. japonica) and the cedar waxwing (B. cedrorum). The Bohemian waxwing is a starling-sized bird. It is short-tailed, mainly brownish-grey, and has a conspicuous crest on its head. The male of the nominate subspecies has a black mask through the eye and a black throat. There is a white streak behind the bill and a white curve below the eye. The lower belly is a rich chestnut colour and there are cinnamon-coloured areas around the mask. The rump is grey and the tail ends in a bright yellow band with a broad black border above it. The wings are very distinctive; the flight feathers are black and the primaries have markings that produce a yellow stripe and white "fishhooks" on the closed wing. The adult's secondaries end in long red appendages with the sealing wax appearance that gives the bird its English name. The eyes are dark brown, the bill is mainly black, and the legs are dark grey or black. In flight, the waxwing's large flocks, long wings and short tail give some resemblance to the common starling, and its flight is similarly fast and direct. It clambers easily through bushes and trees but only shuffles on the ground.
The range of the Bohemian waxwing overlaps those of both the other members of the genus.
The Bohemian waxwing's call is a high trill sirrrr. The Bohemian waxwing has a circumpolar distribution, breeding in northern regions of Eurasia and North America.
This waxwing is migratory with much of the breeding range abandoned as the birds move south for the winter. Migration starts in September in the north of the range, a month or so later farther south. Eurasian birds normally winter from eastern Britain through northern parts of western and central Europe, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and northern China to Japan. North American breeders have a more southeasterly trend, many birds wintering in southeast Canada, with smaller numbers in the north central and northeastern US states. Birds do not usually return to the same wintering sites in successive years. One bird wintering in the Ukraine was found 6,000 km (3,700 mi) to the east in Siberia in the following year.
In some years, this waxwing irrupts south of its normal wintering areas, sometimes in huge numbers. The fruit on which the birds depend in winter varies in abundance from year to year, and in poor years, particularly those following a good crop the previous year, the flocks move farther south until they reach adequate supplies.They will stay until the food runs out and move on again. (wikipedia)
Always a pleasure seeing Waxwing. This bird was one of a flock of 50 in an industrial estate on the outskirts of Dublin city. Every few years there is a larger invasion into Ireland when the food supplies in their normal winter range is exhausted prematurely. Flocks of up to 400 Waxwings have been recorded in Ireland. This year seems to be one of those irruptive years for the species.
I wen't down to check out the birdbath after and a few feathers remained. So sad really but that is nature right?
Matti-Jay asked for photos of her playing with the lock to the tools shed at Memorial park back in December. Bit cheeky really, I'm not sure she would have had such a grin if park maintenance turned up :)
I was delighted to note that she's wearing the flower earrings I made many moons ago that I gave her for Christmas. Boxing Day 2017.
Psychologist Timothy Leary developed an interaction behaviour theory which demonstrated a strong and consistent interdependency of behaviour between people.
Based on his research Leary arranged a set of interpersonal variables into a circle and which lead to an interpersonal circumplex model for assessing interpersonal behaviour, motives and traits. The construct of the model is formed by two main dimensions:
-1 - the degree of dominance / submission and
- 2 - the degree of friendliness / unfriendliness.
The first set of behaviour is located on the orthogonal y-axe of the model; the latter set of behaviour is located on the orthogonal x-axe of the model. Interpersonal behaviour plotted in the model reflects the degree of friendliness and dominance of that specific person at a given moment in time.
7 Days of shooting
Week #39
Flowers
Shoot anything saterday
...not the birdie
Poppy, my dog, had a better idea than to look at the camera as I'd asked her, instead watching the pretty buttercup catching the sunlight. As is often the case (with her being half collie), her idea was superior to mine, and resulted in a better composition than I'd planned originally, confirming to me, yet again, that the IQ is most definitely on the wrong end of the lead! :D
Shorebirds of Ireland, Freshwater Birds of Ireland and The Birds of Ireland: A Field Guide with Jim Wilson.
www.markcarmodyphotography.com
The great black-backed gull (Larus marinus) is the largest gull in the world. It is 64–79 cm (25–31 in) long with a 1.5–1.7 m (4 ft 11 in – 5 ft 7 in) wingspan and a body weight of 0.75–2.3 kg. it is a very aggressive hunter, pirate, and scavenger. It breeds on the European and North American coasts and islands of the North Atlantic and is fairly sedentary, though some move farther south or inland to large lakes or reservoirs. The adult great black-backed gull has a white head, neck and underparts, dark grey wings and back, pink legs and yellow bill.
This species can be found breeding in coastal areas from the extreme northwest portion of Russia, through much of coastal Scandinavia, on the Baltic Sea coasts, to the coasts of northwestern France, the United Kingdom and Ireland. Across the northern portion of the Atlantic, this gull is distributed in Iceland, the Faroe Islands, southern Greenland and on the Atlantic coasts of Canada and the United States.
Great black-backed gulls are opportunistic feeders, apex predators, and are very curious. They will investigate any small organism they encounter and will readily eat almost anything that they can swallow. Unlike most other Larus gulls, they are highly predatory and frequently hunt and kill any prey smaller than themselves, behaving more like a raptor than a typical larid gull. They get much of their dietary energy from scavenging, with refuse, most provided directly by humans, locally constituting more than half of their diet. (wikipedia)
The Great-black backed Gull is resident along all Irish coasts. Less frequently seen inland, usually only following storms. They follow trawlers and other fishing boats along the coast, even hitching a ride on smaller lobster and crab fishermen's boats, just like this one. This was off Dun Laoghaire, Dublin.
This Crow had dumped something in the birdbath and was disturbed by Harry who ran down the backyard barking. I called Harry back not really realising what was going on. It came back and I clicked a few shots, after review I realised that this is a baby bird the Crow was devouring. I hope it wasn't from my backyard!!