View allAll Photos Tagged behavior
Killdeer (Charadrius vociferus)
Rogue Valley - Jackson County - Oregon - USA
Habitat : Grasslands
Food : Insects
Nesting : Ground
Behavior : Ground Forager
Conservation : Low Concern
"A shorebird you can see without going to the beach, Killdeer are graceful plovers common to lawns, golf courses, athletic fields, and parking lots. These tawny birds run across the ground in spurts, stopping with a jolt every so often to check their progress, or to see if they’ve startled up any insect prey. Their voice, a far-carrying, excited kill-deer, is a common sound even after dark, often given in flight as the bird circles overhead on slender wings... The Killdeer’s broken-wing act leads predators away from a nest, but doesn’t keep cows or horses from stepping on eggs. To guard against large hoofed animals, the Killdeer uses a quite different display, fluffing itself up, displaying its tail over its head, and running at the beast to attempt to make it change its path."
- Cornell University Lab of Ornithology
Porphyrio porphyrio, often known as the Western Swamphen, is a vibrant wetland bird in the rail family, found in southwestern Europe and northwestern Africa.
Unique Physical Characteristics:
Dexterous Feeders: Unlike most birds, swamphens use their large, unwebbed feet like hands to grasp and manipulate food, often bringing it to their beak while standing on one leg.
Massive Feet:
They have exceptionally long toes that act like snowshoes, allowing them to walk easily over floating lily pads and unstable wetland vegetation without sinking.
Frontal Shield:
They possess a prominent, fleshy red "shield" on their forehead that extends from their thick bill, which is a key identification feature.
Behavioral Traits:
Vocal Commotion: Known for being extremely noisy, they make a wide variety of "un-birdlike" sounds, including loud bleating, hooting, and harsh "kak-kak" calls, especially during the breeding season.
Aggressive Nature:
They are surprisingly territorial and aggressive, known to drive away other waterbirds and even prey on the ducklings of other species.
Communal Breeding:
In some regions, they engage in cooperative breeding where previous offspring and other adults help the primary pair with incubation and caring for the new chicks.
Purple Swamphen (Porphyrio porphyrio) Ad. flight Andalucia_8124
This picture represents and interesting event in this chick’s life history. Up to this point, at least during the time I was lucky enough to be watching, the most Junior would do was peck at his food. He relied upon Mom to tear up the prey and feed it to him. They demonstrated a very close bond, lots of Mom preening her pride and joy and sometimes Junior preening Mom. This shot was taken close to sunset. Mom took the foot shown in her beak, a body part Junior in the past seemed to relish, and flew to a nearby branch. From there she made a call I hadn’t heard before. It was explained to me by Karen, a woman also watching, that Mom was attempting to entice Junior to make the short flight from the nest branch to where she was perched with the tasty tidbit. I hadn’t seen the chick attempt to fly but his feathers had grown in a lot and it would not have surprised me to see a short flight. Unfortunately, I can’t get back to the nest until after Junior will have fled the coup but hope he or she has a bright future and will not move too far from the neighborhood. (Bubo virginianus). (Sony a1ii, 400mm lens, f/3.2, 1/2000 second, ISO 3200).
RKO_5158. Love is in the air!
Couldn't resist to upload another shot of this young pair of Grebes during their courtship ritual.
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Sterna forsteri,
Morro Bay, California
The juvenile had been closely following the adult and they move so fast that I don't really know what happened next. And then this. I look at it as chiding, but it could be encouragement, or, of course, anything much less anthropomorphic.
RKO_6604. Maybe not the best action shot but it was fun to watch them and a real challenge to get some acceptable shots. A little (too) far away shot, hence cropped to the max.
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More than 10 million visits on my stream! Wow, thank you all!
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RKO_5751. Love is in the air!
More of my work and activities can be seen on:
www.instagram.com/robertkok_photography/
Please do not use my photos on websites, blogs or in any other media without my explicit permission.
Thanks a lot for your visit, fave and comments. Its truly appreciated!
RKO_0658.
Copyright: Robert Kok. All rights reserved! Watermark protected.
More of my work and activities can be seen on:
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 Red-tailed hawk on the left tried (unsuccessfully) to dislodge the other hawk from a Redwood treetop. It reminds me of some countries, but with fewer casualties of war.
Seen in the Countrywood/Bancroft neighborhood of Walnut Creek, California.
Captured this image of the two house finches together. It has been amazing watching their behavior and was thrilled to capture them together.
Wishing you a lovely and blessed day !!
I was very thrilled that this photo took first place in the NJ State Fair in the Animals-Color Division. It's a shot that holds special meaning to me since this is the very first family of bluebirds that nested on our property, in spring of 2016. In the photo, the male is feeding two of the five fledglings.
Le comportement de ce Geai est difficile à cerner, parfois il est relativement facile à l'approcher à 25m et d'autres impossible à moins de 50m...
Cette photo a été prise dans le jardin public à Bordeaux
The behavior of this Jay is difficult to define, sometimes it is relatively easy to approach it at 25m and others impossible within 50m ...
This photo was taken in the public garden in Bordeaux
Zygaena filipendulae: day-flying moth that can be mistaken for a butterfly due to its behavior and vivid patterns.
Are these two males serenading in a competition to attract females? They do it in twos and more. After each vocalization they vibrate their wings for another sound effect. I would welcome any informative comment on this behavior.
Wild Grizzly takes a moment to look up as it moved through the forest in Jasper. Taken from the safety of my vehicle.
Third and last image in this Killdeer series...
Posing nicely for me and with the Lake Michigan waves in the background. It's such a joy to hang around with these birds and to capture their beauty and behavior.
Have a great Sunday everyone!
This great grey owl is checking out the environment for rodents. Although not natural, its choice of perch is a good one, as there are open, grassy areas all around it. Those areas are where the voles hang out.
I mentioned once before how amazing it is to see something in nature that you didn't set out to see. Well, this was one of those stories. Out looking for other wildlife, out of nowhere comes along this lone wolf. It was just so beautiful as it smelled it's way along the tundra. Though I have seen wolf previous to this encounter, I was never on the ground with them at eye level, especially with so few people around. I felt strangely comfortable with its presence. It was a day that left me with tears in my eyes, a great sense of gratitude, and of course, a great big smile. A day that I'll never forget. That's what makes being out in nature so amazing ... it's more that just about us ... so much more.
© Debbie Tubridy Photography
Innocent Ukrainians are trying to find a way to escape despite the constant bombing and destruction waged upon them by President Putin. This is unjust and unforgivable behavior, the war must STOP and peace and love must return. There is no place for power and hate in this world! Let's concentrate on love!
Thank you for your kind visit. Have a wonderful and beautiful day! ❤️❤️❤️
Insect macro photography reveals a lot of fascinating aspects of their behavior and evolution. One of the more interesting things I've seen is the tail of the hairstreak family of butterflies - " A hairstreak’s trickery happens when it’s perched, with wings folded. Its eyespots and antenna-like tails are designed to fool predators into thinking that the butterfly’s head is where its tail is. Hairstreaks even add a behavioral component – a nectaring hairstreak often moves its hindwings up and down, simulating the movement of twitchy antennae. A butterfly that loses a chunk of its hindwing can survive, but a butterfly that loses its head – not so much."
uwm.edu/field-station/gray-hairstreak-butterfly/
With 25 mm tube, Raynox DCR-150 snap-on macro lens
Two common sights in rural West Central Texas: bullet-riddled signs, and posting of a crude oil drilling lease. This public notice in Nolan County, Texas, USA.
Camera: Nikkormat FTN
Lens: Nikkor S-C 55mm f1.2 with red filter on a cloudy day
Film: Ilford HP5+
Developing: Kodak HC-110 dil B, 5 min.
He sits steady, shoulders square, expression unmoved. The monkey bends into its practiced pose, robe falling exactly where it should. One body trained to perform. The other trained not to react.
Control isn’t always force.
Sometimes it’s repetition—
until even the absurd feels orderly.
Caught this kestrel mid‑hover as I rolled to a stop on a quiet country road. She seemed deeply focused on her hunting sermon—until she noticed my car roof opening. A brief stare, a quick relocation, and the moment was gone.
Brown Anole, Anolis sagrei, Caribbean native accidentally introduced to the US and elsewhere by the importation of ornamental plants. The pattern darkens in response to surroundings, for camouflage. Capable of high population densities, crowds out and preys on other lizards. Gulf Coast native Greens have been mostly relegated to treetops. Supposedly more wary of humans than Greens, but I took this through the kitchen window.
This Mew Gull in breeding plumage (the red eye ring) gives its feathers some careful attention.
Taken 5 June 2021 at Potter Marsh, Alaska.
A Blue Jay checks out its reflection as it pauses at the heated bird bath for a refreshing drink of water on the coldest day of the winter to date: 20 degrees F (-7 C) at 7 a.m.
Buck Brannaman says "The horse is a mirror to your soul."
This is not my horse.
I won't elaborate. But, I will say this:
It's not his fault...
Red-spotted purple butterfly engaging in "puddling" behavior, collecting salts from a moist stream bed.
I've never seen anything so amazing as this little Grebe ( 12-inches and 1-pound } tackle anything this big. I never pass them up and think there behavior is very interesting so I always photograph them. He went under water for what seemed a long time and came up with this fish, I think by the look on it's face and looking at what he caught he had a problem. His mouth was so outstretched as you can see and still had no room for consumption. He did finally let it go but after quite some time, just an amazing little guy with an "A" for effort. Thank you all so much and hope that you find this as interesting as I did.
Il ne cherche pas la lumière. Il attend qu'elle vienne jusqu'à lui.
Les plus anciens savent que le temps travaille mieux que la précipitation...
EN It does not seek the light. It waits for the light to find it. The oldest beings know time always works better than haste.
Searching for bugs and bug eggs/pupae requires you look everywhere. It does look like this little cutie is doing chin-ups though.
the pigeon guillemots sit on the rocks for ages before taking their catch to the juveniles in the nest, I have no idea as to why they do this..
My friend Rachel has such a wonderful relationship with Bolingo. She has spent years developing this connection. The handstand happened while they were doing their normal training exercises. This regular training allows the keepers to elicit certain behaviors in order to provide routine medical checkups and other examinations without the need to sedate them. In a perfect world none of these animals would need to be in captivity, but unfortunately the way we are destroying the natural world it may be the only way to prevent these amazing animals from going extinct. Bolingo has already fathered two children, Oliver and Enzi. This sort of world wide breeding program helps to ensure the long term survival of these animals.
RKO_5610. Sitting on my deck these grebes came by and started their courtship dance. How lucky can you be!
More of my work and activities can be seen on:
www.instagram.com/robertkok_photography/
Please do not use my photos on websites, blogs or in any other media without my explicit permission.
Thanks a lot for your visit, fave and comments. Its truly appreciated!