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:
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
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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The Harris hawk or Harris's hawk is unique amongst the raptors for hunting in family groups. This co-operative behaviour allows it to capture larger prey than would otherwise be possible.
Found from the southwestern United States down to Chile and central Argentina, Harris hawks are medium to large birds of prey with dark brown and chestnut plumage and a white-tipped tail. They occupy sparsely covered habitats including semi-desert, woodlands, marshlands and mangroves. Some individuals are sighted in Britain; however these are likely to be escapees from falconry, a purpose for which they are one of the most popular hawks.
Barn Owl - Tyto Alba
Like most owls, the barn owl is nocturnal, relying on its acute sense of hearing when hunting in complete darkness. It often becomes active shortly before dusk and can sometimes be seen during the day when relocating from one roosting site to another. In Britain, on various Pacific Islands and perhaps elsewhere, it sometimes hunts by day. This practice may depend on whether the owl is mobbed by other birds if it emerges in daylight. However, in Britain, some birds continue to hunt by day even when mobbed by such birds as magpies, rooks and black-headed gulls, such diurnal activity possibly occurring when the previous night has been wet making hunting difficult. By contrast, in southern Europe and the tropics, the birds seem to be almost exclusively nocturnal, with the few birds that hunt by day being severely mobbed.
Barn owls are not particularly territorial but have a home range inside which they forage. For males in Scotland this has a radius of about 1 km (0.6 mi) from the nest site and an average size of about 300 hectares. Female home ranges largely coincide with that of their mates. Outside the breeding season, males and females usually roost separately, each one having about three favoured sites in which to conceal themselves by day, and which are also visited for short periods during the night. Roosting sites include holes in trees, fissures in cliffs, disused buildings, chimneys and haysheds and are often small in comparison to nesting sites. As the breeding season approaches, the birds move back to the vicinity of the chosen nest to roost.
Once a pair-bond has been formed, the male will make short flights at dusk around the nesting and roosting sites and then longer circuits to establish a home range. When he is later joined by the female, there is much chasing, turning and twisting in flight, and frequent screeches, the male's being high-pitched and tremulous and the female's lower and harsher. At later stages of courtship, the male emerges at dusk, climbs high into the sky and then swoops back to the vicinity of the female at speed. He then sets off to forage. The female meanwhile sits in an eminent position and preens, returning to the nest a minute or two before the male arrives with food for her. Such feeding behaviour of the female by the male is common, helps build the pair-bond and increases the female's fitness before egg-laying commences.
Barn owls are cavity nesters. They choose holes in trees, fissures in cliff faces, the large nests of other birds such as the hamerkop (Scopus umbretta) and, particularly in Europe and North America, old buildings such as farm sheds and church towers. Buildings are preferred to trees in wetter climates in the British Isles and provide better protection for fledglings from inclement weather. Trees tend to be in open habitats rather than in the middle of woodland and nest holes tend to be higher in North America than in Europe because of possible predation.
This bird has suffered declines through the 20th century and is thought to have been adversely affected by organochlorine pesticides such as DDT in the 1950s and '60s.
Nocturnal birds like the barn owl are poorly monitored by the Breeding Bird Survey and, subject to this caveat, numbers may have increased between 1995-2008.
Barn owls are a Schedule 1 and 9 species.
Population:
UK breeding:
4,000 pairs
Europe:
110-220,000 pairs
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
Gonepteryx rhamni (known as the common brimstone) is a butterfly of the family Pieridae. It lives throughout the Palearctic zone and is commonly found across Europe, Asia, and North Africa. Across much of its range, it is the only species of its genus, and is therefore simply known locally as the brimstone. Its wing span size is 60 - 74 mm.
The brimstone relies on two species of buckthorn plants as host plants for its larvae; this influences its geographic range and distribution, as these plants are commonly found in wetlands. The adult brimstone travels to woodland areas to spend seven months overwintering. In spring when their host plants have developed, they return to the wetlands to breed and lay eggs] Both the larval and adult forms of the common brimstone have protective coloration and behaviour that decreases their chances of being recognised and subsequently preyed upon.
The adult common brimstone has sexual dimorphism in its wing coloration: males have yellow wings and iridescence while females have greenish-white wings and are not iridescent. This iridescence is affected by environmental factors.
Australian pelicans have a really fascinating behaviour. We watched a group of them in the bird park Walsrode, and their many different faces were amazing!
A beautiful and uncommon bulbul endemic to Southern India. They are found in scrub habitats around rocky hills and currently classified as "Vulnerable" in the IUCN list due to their habitats being constantly threatened. These birds are found only maybe in a dozen places across the country - all of them in South India. Many of the habitats are under "development" or damaged due to grazing or quarrying. Further, the distribution is highly fragmented making conservation a challenge.
The bird's behaviour is quite similar to the other bulbuls and physically sometimes confused with the white-browed bulbul -- especially the female - which is also found in the same habitat.
I had visited this temple on the edge of a hill that overlooks a forest. In this hot summer where temperatures are already at a record high, birds come to the water drip to grab a few drops of water. We waited there and were fortunate to see some action of these birds - catching insects and drinking water.
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Birds of prey are fascinating and majestic animals. They can generally be defined as birds that feed on animals that they catch alive. Representatives of these two orders can be found almost everywhere in the world. Although these groups are distantly related, the behavioural and anatomical characteristics they share appear to be mainly the result of parallel evolution.
A large non-parasitic cuckoo endemic to the Indian Subcontinent. The bird is pretty large - maybe 40-45 cms and is quite famous for its beauty. This is also known as "Lipstick bird" for its reddish beak and beautiful eyelashes.
It habitat is the dry scrub land, forest edges and is often sighted on the ground hunting for insects. The birds are quite shy and behaviours are hard to predict - so it is tough to sight them at the same location again and again. On this day though, we hit the jackpot - spent an hour roughly with 2 birds and at times they got too close to get a full length shot. Luckily they were flying perch to perch continuously, so managed to get a few good flight shots.
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I couldn't help imagining some emotional conversation between these two thistle seeds waiting to catch a breeze.
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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This grackle is singing for a potential mate. The song has been described as creaking and grating. I don't find it that bad. Like a toned down red-winged blackbird.
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"
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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....
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This male Sharp-tailed Grouse is intensely focused on its ‘dance’ at a lek (communal display area) in southern Alberta, Canada. There are many elements to this behaviour: the inflated purple air sacs, raised yellow eye combs, erect sharp-pointed tail, fanned wings, stamping feet, and various vocalizations. It is amazing to watch and was witnessed at a controlled site on private land with booking required, for which you must enter the blind before sunrise, be quiet, and wait until the activities have eventually finished after several hours before leaving. Well worth it!
A pair of Sarus Crane (Antigone antigone) was searching for food seriously for the caring of their little chick sticking together. It was the learning course for the chick to pick the right food after searching. The beauty of this behavioural shot is that it is a living documentation of parental care and behavioural learning in their natural habitat with an artistic composition. Pics was taken from Bharatpur, Rajasthan, India.
These birds were nesting and this one was showing off to a female. The straw he picked up was too big for the nest, but then size matters here!
This is the typical courting behaviour of the Silverbills - carry a supersized straw and dangle in front the female with some kind of special moves to woo her. There were several suitors, but the large straw gives him a better chance of wooing the female. Once accepted, the male brings nesting materials to the female, while the female builds the nest - a small cup in the bushes.
These are resident birds - around 10-14 cms - found throughout the country easily in the countryside. The birds are always seen in flocks and found together around other munias like Scaly Breasted and Tri-colored.
Thanks in advance for your views and feedback. Much appreciated.
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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Certainly interesting and exciting to view the interaction of these owls as one would do close flyovers upsetting the other. It didn't last long and other than a few pulled feathers no damage was done.
Thank you for viewing.
"If you ever get close to a human
And human behaviour
Be ready, be ready to get confused
There's definitely, definitely, definitely no logic
To human behaviour
But yet so, yet so irresistible"
One of 5 varieties of minivets in the forest we visited and a rarity! This is the not the rarest among the 5, but definitely an uncommon one. It looks similar to the Scarlet Minivet, but has a rosy frontside due to which it derives that name.
Similar behaviour as that of the other minivets except that it prefers small groups, usually 2 where both the male and female forage together. It is also a high canopy bird and prefers to come out to the open at the top! Sighted this next to our lodging in the village which is next to the forest. The birds were nesting I think and hence quite active in the middle of a cloud day.
They primarily inhabit subtropical or tropical moist lowland and montane forests, often seen high up in the canopy. These are active insectivores and frequently join mixed-species foraging flocks, expertly catching insects mid-air or gleaning them from foliage. While the population in the Himalayan foothills exhibit altitudinal migration—moving to lower valleys and southern plains like parts of peninsular India during winter— the birds here are resident and with luck could be seen througout the year.
Thanks so much in advance for your views, faves and feedback.
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!