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:
This owl flew to get away from me but, surprisingly, looped back and flew right back towards the utility pole near where I was standing. Thus, it apparently forgot what it was doing. It flew right at me until it got very close, realized its error and pealed off, giving me in-close side shots too. I wish that this kind of behaviour were more common.
A black Swan attacking a Muscovy duck.
Hope you will enjoy this shot.
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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).
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
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).
RKO_8179. A pelican showing its catch!
Copyright: Robert Kok. All rights reserved! Watermark protected.
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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.
The grasshopper is an insect of the suborder Caelifera in the order Orthoptera. To distinguish it from bush crickets or katydids, it is sometimes referred to as the short-horned grasshopper. Species that change colour and behaviour at high population densities are called locusts.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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.
RKO_9069.
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!
Although they are not the only birds to engage in similar behaviour, gannets are famous for "billing" or “mutual fencing.” While it can happen any time both birds from a mated pair are at their nest site, it is quite routine when one bird returns to the nest after foraging for food or nesting material. The two gannets will face each other, often touching and calling. They then shake their heads side to side with their bills clacking together. They often bow, rub necks, and preen each other’s neck before taking up the more mundane activities of nesting in colonies, such as bickering and fighting with neighbors.
juvenile marsh harrier (up) squawking at it's mum (down) for the moorhen chick in her claws. I don't know what I was doing with my shutter speed so excuse the quality lol but it shows some good behaviour. I'll be posting the mid air swap from the rear in about a week
Typical Cormorant pose as it dries out after a dive.
When they dive for a fish, their wings become saturated and heavy which actually helps them to dive quicker. However, they are unable to fly like this so "hang themselves out to dry."
This pair of twin calf North American Moose (Alces alces) were observed in a behaviour not expected this early in their life cycle in Jasper National Park, Alberta, Canada.
25 October, 2012.
Slide # GWB_20121025_5388.CR2
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© Gerard W. Beyersbergen - All Rights Reserved Worldwide In Perpetuity - No Unauthorized Use.
I had a day in Ottawa between work in Vancouver, and took a few hours to visit some wetlands. This bird was extremely well-sheltered from the shore, enabling it to hunt and rest without disturbance. Because it was pretty intent on the water, which it observed from a dead tree trunk, I was able to crawl through some bushes and young trees and park myself in a way it couldn’t see me. I had just enough space to set up my monopod and find a clean line through branches.
The Night-Herons around here have a way of hunting in deeper water that involves launching or pouncing off a branch or a dead tree trunk. They enter the water feet and bill first, with a great splash, and try to ambush their prey. (I have a few images of that I may post later).
The bird was successful, and emerged with a pretty decent-sized Catfish. What I hadn’t realized at that moment was that, around a small bay from where I sat enclosed in branches, there was a prospective mate. What followed was an amazing twenty minutes of this bird displaying mating behaviours, including a fairly flashy ‘watch me swallow this food that I can catch for all of us’ dance.
I will post more of those images as well.
Rainham Marshes, Essex, UK. Spring feels early this year, with plenty of wet and mild weather, and lots of courtship behaviour on display from a wide range of species.
For this month's theme 'Chair'.
I decided on a different take on the theme, using this tiny deckchair and a Margo mini me to sit on it, so she's sitting on the chair, but in fur form :) The tiny biscuit nose was her reward for good behaviour.
A very beautiful and colorful nuthatch found in many parts of the country, but hard to sight unless one knows where to look. After several sightings of various species of nuthatches, I am a bit comfortable in finding them now I suppose.
They are typical nuthatches in behaviour and defy gravity looking for insects, larvae and grub on the tree trunks and branches. The birds are resident in the country and found in deciduous forests often in the upper canopy, but quite possible that they come down to the lower part once in a while. We sighted several of them much to our delight, but shooting them was very challenging due to their size and in the thick canopy.
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Species: Lanius meridionalis.
Location: Canary Islands, Spain.
Southern grey shrike and Great Grey Shrike (Lanius excubitor) are now recognised as different species. Not only do they differ in some plumage details, but also in size, voice, behaviour and favoured habitat.
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One side of Timmy is the adventurer: today a wall was newly concreted at the construction site at the creek behind the house. Two hours later Timmy checked the quality of the work. Fortunately, the concrete was already solid enough so that he did not leave paw prints :-)))
Happy Caturday 2.10.2021 "Signature behaviour"
see all photos: meine.stimme.de/heilbronn/kultur-freizeit/das-maeuerchen-...
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.
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 :)
First is a Cinnabar Moth Caterpillar, next a Soldier Beetle, then a Ladybird and a Hoverfly. Please try viewing large. Thank you....
Ontario Red Squirrel ... An Artistic oil paint portrait version of my little buddy "Red" who shows up to my backyard from our local park.
Edited with a white matte frame.
Nobody has ever described a red squirrel as laid-back and casual. They seem to live with the accelerator nailed to the floor, zipping around trees and through branches with blinding speed.
Nor are they the fast but silent type. They may be the smallest squirrels in Ontario, but they don’t seem to know that. Any black squirrel that is perceived as an intruder will be chased away in a flurry of chattering and squeaking, every sound accompanied by a stomping of tiny feet and a flick of the tail. The same goes for gray jays and other Ontario birds, small dogs, and even owls: anything that might pose a threat is chased away.
That’s just standard red squirrel behaviour. And come spring, they ramp that up a few notches.
We spent a week in Tofino, sort of an annual pilgrimage for my husband and I during the shorebird migration... Aside from the shorebird, there is always an amazing number of Bald Eagles in Tofino... More often than others, they are perched in those tall conifer trees that line the beaches.... not the best photo settings unless you brought with you an extremely tall ladder :)
However, if you are an early riser and the tide is low, you might have a chance to catch an Eagle or a family of Eagles on the shores... I wonder why the Eagles hug the shores that way in the early morning at low tide? Are they hoping that the ocean will push on the shores some weak or dead seals that they can feast on? Are they trying to ambush some shorebirds coming to feed? Or are they just like us, fascinated by the sight and sound of those waves crashing on the shores? I am afraid I will need the assistance of the Birders with some "Sherlock Holmes" skills to resolve this enigma.
This being said, no matter what motivate the behaviour, it sure is a wonderful scene to witness!
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?
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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.
In our area the first time I saw this behaviour was in '14 towards the end of a brutal winter that saw our Great Lakes frozen at 97% of all surface area. Many birds were starving and I was going to the river almost every day and one day I observed this Swan checking out a dead fish floating. To my surprise it began to eat it. Within a week others were including the Mallards and Geese. Some just kept doing it.
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!
These purple swamp hens are not exactly my favourite bird (from a behaviour point of view!) , but they do look great in the right setting.
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.
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.