View allAll Photos Tagged Behaviour
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.
This male Pileated Woodpecker had just taken a bath but was also molting in the neck. He kept on scratching its head against the tree trunk. It would lift the bark a bit and scratched on it. It looked like it was extremely itchy. Poor thing.
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 is behaviour I've not witnessed before. This pair of Robins are building a nest in our garden. For the last few days the male has been taking food from me and flying across the garden to present it to the female. I finally caught them in action today!
I saw this woman in Sal Rei, the capital of Boa Vista, Cape Verde. It got me thinking as to how much we take for granted in the modernised world. If we want fish, we go to the supermarket and get it filleted and/or breaded/battered however the majority of people on our planet have to catch it, gut it and then cook it. Count your blessings.
A very unusual behaviour that I didn’t see before. Red Cardinal Beetles, including this Red-headed Cardinal or Common Red Cardinal Beetle (Pyrochroa serraticornis) are predators and eat other small insects which they stalk on flowers. Having pollen for a snack is not their typical behaviour, at least what I’ve read. I have seen another one doing the same thing – interesting. Browns Folly Nature Reserve, Avon Wildlife Trust, Bathford near Bath, England
Flock behaviour is fascinating. How they manage to synchronise turns or decide on the next action or direction is a mystery. The synchronism is impressive. Here and below, all birds have closed wings at the same time, becoming little projectiles.
The parent appeared to be teaching the juvenile to scavenge for food.
The adult (female I think?) Great Spotted Woodpecker seemed to
1) collect food from a feeder
2) stash the food in a crevice on the wooden pole
3) feed it to the juvenile
I watched (and photographed) this behaviour several times. (I selected the photos from different bursts)
At one point I photographed two juveniles at the site.
Interesting behaviour. These Hoopoes were chattering and displaying while the same time feeding their nestlings in hole of a tree. The green wood hoopoe is a cooperative breeder and common resident in most of sub-Saharan Africa. It is found in groups of up to a dozen or so birds with only one breeding pair. The breeding female lays two to four blue eggs in a natural tree hole or old barbet nest and incubates them for about 18 days. On hatching, she and the nestlings are fed by the rest of the group, even after they have fledged and left the nest hole. The group is fearless in defence of the nestlings against intruders.
20+ lightpainted domes in a row, down a flight of steps off a footbridge, in a heavily light polluted area.
Single exposure.
Do you dome? Here's how
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Fabulous encounter with a wonderful, totally relaxed mountain hare in the Scottish Highlands, July 2019.
Scuttling tree climbers. Look for these woodland specialists hurrying up and down tree trunks in search of food..Nuthatches are small birds and have unique colourings making them different to any other UK garden bird. Its Latin name is Sitta Europaea and belongs to the nuthatch family, the Sittidae family. The name Nuthatch comes from the behaviour in which a Nuthatch breaks into a nut, they jam a nut into a tree crevice then repeatedly hammer the nut with their beaks until it cracks open. Other names a Nuthatch is referred to are mud dabbler and mud stopper which refers to the species nesting habits.
If there’s one thing we know beyond any doubt, it’s that all of life is an evolutionary process. Everything, from the smallest particle in existence to the universe as a whole is in the process of evolution. Immutability is the only truth. Expansion is the point. The only question is whether or ...
I don't know what's gotten into the Canada Geese lately! They are all very vocal & looking for a fight! : )
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Activists for birds and wildlife
Crestie photographed at my feeding station in Inverness-shire. Please contact me if you're interested in photographing these wonderful birds (Oct-early March)
www.karenmillerphotography.co.uk/Crested-Tit-Photography-...
I was poking about in the rocks yesterday afternoon, when this limpet (with another riding on its back) suddenly reared up on its hind legs. I grabbed this shot and got ready to take another, better composed. But the moment passed too quickly.
I spent all afternoon looking for the behaviour to be replicated in other individuals, and saw a few others, all with a 'rider' - doing something similar but none so exaggerated as this one.
What were they up to? Is this common limpet behaviour? Does anyone know?
back on the first day I met her when she was just 2 days old.
For all those missing the exmoors here on flickr there is a sequence below
of some interesting behaviour
(lol it probably comes under the TMI tag!!)
The flehmen response also called the flehmen position, flehmen reaction, flehming, or flehmening, is a behaviour whereby an animal curls back its upper lips exposing its front teeth, inhales with the nostrils usually closed and then often holds this position for several seconds. It may be performed over a site or substance of particular interest to the animal (e.g. urine or faeces) or may be performed with the neck stretched and the head held high in the air. The behaviour facilitates the transfer of pheromones and other scents into the vomeronasal organ located above the roof of the mouth via a duct which exits just behind the front teeth of the animal. (Source Wikipedia)
King Loki of Kilo Saba Pride was seen busy in procreation during a Photography Safari on a late evening game drive just as the sun was setting in the Maasai Mara Game Reserve, Kenya.