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:
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
A resident shrike species - the most beautiful of the 3-4 we have here and a common bird in the countryside. They are easy to id and differentiated from their 2 other cousins by the thick brownish red coat on their backs. Size wise, they are also small and easy to distinguish visually.
Apart from the minor coloration difference, behaviour wise they are very similar the Long Tailed Shrike and Brown Shrike, though the Long tailed Shrike is the biggest of all.
The birds tend to sit on a small thorny bush like this and survey the area - often for 10-15 mins before they dive and get back to the same perch. Sometimes they eat the prey directly where possible, otherwise, the birds impale the prey onto the thorns and eat them.
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Dove and Red-headed Finch.
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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).
RAW file developed with the Retinex set of commands in RawTherapee. The Retinex algorithm intends to mimic the behaviour of the human eye under poor light, coloured surroundings or hazy veils. It was originally implemented in astronomical photography and medical radiographies.
RKO_9069.
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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.
A pair of Northern Gannets at their nest.
The male on the left had just returned and the female started to shake her head from side to side as if saying "Where have you been for all this time?"
The male then started to dart forward excitedly towards the female, beak agape,but never got too close.!
A few days later the female laid her first egg in the nest.
The head shaking is behaviour I have seen before but I have never managed to capture it on camera!.
Taken at RSPB Bempton.
American Robin adapted to winter. Worms in the summer and minnows in the winter for the ones that stick around. Interesting but not such a rare behaviour as we might think.
Although this wren looks slightly different from our Marsh wren, it displays very similar behaviour, including perching habits, singing and are so vocal and curious just like our local wrens. The common name of this Falkland subspecies is Tomtit. It is one of the two resident wrens of the Falklands, the other being the Cobb's wren which is slightly larger than the Tomtit.
You definitely need these two things in wildlife photography patience and luck if they both happen at once you sometimes get a nice shot. super chuffed to watch this right in front of me including all the build up!
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.
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 :)
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.
First is a Cinnabar Moth Caterpillar, next a Soldier Beetle, then a Ladybird and a Hoverfly. Please try viewing large. Thank you....
A Malabar Giant Squirrel (Ratufa indica) was scanning for well ripe fruits on tiny branches. I love this shot for its body position and specially the tail, beautifully hanging out against a gorgeous Bokeh backdrop! It was very agile and framed under poor light but all in all an enjoyable behavioural shot. Pics was taken from Satkoshia Tiger Reserve in Odisha, India.
The lip curling you see here is known as the Flehmen Response of rutting Deer. It is a behaviour where an animal curls back its upper lips exposing its front teeth, inhales with the nostrils and can hold this position for several seconds. It may be performed over an area of interest to the animal (e.g. urine or faeces). They usually do this with the neck stretched and the head held high in the air. Flehmen is performed by a wide range of mammals. The behaviour facilitates the transfer of pheromones and other scents into the vomeronasal organ located above the roof of the mouth.
They love to perch on the dead thistles and pick the seeds out. A behaviour that is also common among the Chickadees and the Yellow-crowned and White-Crowned Sparrows.
OBSERVE Collective
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Gannets do this behaviour before taking off - it signals that they are leaving so their partner knows to stay and keep an eye on the nest/egg/chick.