View allAll Photos Tagged behaviour
Rhinoceros Auklet RHAU (Cerorhinca monocerata)
Strait of Juan de Fuca
Salish Sea
BC
DSC_5084 - Copy
DSC_5086 etc Publication1 RHAU power dive
Prey appears to be
Pacific Sand lance (Ammodytes hexapterus) aka Needle Fish
Initially i thought this bird was working on taking off.
It was not stressed by being too close to boat or anything like that ... just seemed to want momentum for a deep dive.
1st time i have seen that behaviour
Doing what cockatoos like to do best, Little Corella ripping cones to pieces in pine trees. Adelaide Botanic Garden.
Telemonia male jumping spider courtship show, there is a female telemonia jumping spider in the opposite side! Will post the other image soon!
A few more shots taken during the summer of 2021 on local moors & farmland.
Added to Moor & Farmland habitat album.
The Birds of Ireland: A Field Guide with Jim Wilson
Shorebirds of Ireland with Jim Wilson.
Freshwater Birds of Ireland with Jim Wilson
www.markcarmodyphotography.com
The Black-tailed Godwit (Limosa limosa) is a large, long-legged, long-billed shorebird first described by Carl Linnaeus in 1758. It is a member of the Limosa genus, the godwits. There are three subspecies, all with orange head, neck and chest in breeding plumage and dull grey-brown winter coloration, and distinctive black and white wingbar at all times.
Its breeding range stretches from Iceland through Europe and areas of central Asia. Black-tailed godwits spend winter in areas as diverse as the Indian Subcontinent, Australia, western Europe and west Africa. The species breeds in fens, lake edges, damp meadows, moorlands and bogs and uses estuaries, swamps and floods in winter; it is more likely to be found inland and on freshwater than the similar Bar-tailed Godwit. The world population is estimated to be 634,000 to 805,000 birds and is classified as Near Threatened due to a decline in numbers of around 25% in the previous 15 years.
Godwits from the Icelandic population winter mainly in the United Kingdom, Ireland, France and the Netherlands, though some fly on to Spain, Portugal and perhaps Morocco. (wikipedia)
The bird depicted is the islandica race of Black-wits that breed in Iceland and winter in Ireland. In 2004, the population size of Icelandic Black-tailed Godwits was estimated to be around 47,000 individuals. Given the continued expansion since then, it is likely that there are now around 50-60,000 Icelandic Godwits. In a site in Cork Harbour called Harper's Island Wetlands, up to 2,000 of these beautiful birds may be found in winter, making this an internationally important wintering site for this species.
This photo is of one of the largest flocks of Godwits I have seen at Poolbeg, Dublin Bay.
The behaviour of sticking their feet out, as in the picture, is known as foot-shipping and prevents loss of body heat to the water. They stick the foot out, shake water off, then place it under the wing to warm it. On sunny days they periodically leave the feet on their backs to absorb heat from the sun.
The feet are attached at the end of a Grebe's body and not underneath and are lobed, not webbed , allowing propeller like speed under the water as well as on the surface.
Shorebirds of Ireland, Freshwater Birds of Ireland and The Birds of Ireland: A Field Guide with Jim Wilson.
www.markcarmodyphotography.com
The Crested Lark, Galerida cristata, breeds across most of temperate Eurasia from Portugal to northeast China and eastern India, and in Africa south to Niger. It is non-migratory, and the sedentary nature of this species is illustrated by the fact that it is only a very rare vagrant to Ireland, despite breeding as close as northern France.
This is a common bird of dry open country and cultivation. Its food is weed seeds and insects, the latter especially in the breeding season.
This is a smallish lark, slightly larger and plumper than the Skylark. It has a long spiky erectile crest. It is greyer than the Skylark, and lacks the white wing and tail edges of that species.
In flight it shows reddish underwings. The body is mainly dark-streaked grey above and whitish below. The song is melodious and varied, with mournful whistles and mimicry included.
Some care must be taken to distinguish this lark, which has many subspecies, from its close relatives in areas where they also occur. In the west of its range the Thekla Lark, Galerida theklae, is very similar. (wikipedia)
I did not stumble upon too many Crested Lark during our family holiday in 2023 in Portugal. However, a pair were holding territory along the edge of a nature reserve close to where we were staying. They were quite skittish and best views were had across the road from them.
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.
One of the many ground squirrels (aka marmots or groundhogs) of the Grand Canyon. Taken on the South Rim trail with a 55mm (equiv. 82mm), no crop. Despite the signs, the cute furry balls are clearly fed by the hords of tourists, otherwise they wouldn't display this behaviour (and size !).
Part of my US West Coast set.
Matti-Jay asked for photos of her playing with the lock to the tools shed at Memorial park back in December. Bit cheeky really, I'm not sure she would have had such a grin if park maintenance turned up :)
I was delighted to note that she's wearing the flower earrings I made many moons ago that I gave her for Christmas. Boxing Day 2017.
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.
I wen't down to check out the birdbath after and a few feathers remained. So sad really but that is nature right?
Psychologist Timothy Leary developed an interaction behaviour theory which demonstrated a strong and consistent interdependency of behaviour between people.
Based on his research Leary arranged a set of interpersonal variables into a circle and which lead to an interpersonal circumplex model for assessing interpersonal behaviour, motives and traits. The construct of the model is formed by two main dimensions:
-1 - the degree of dominance / submission and
- 2 - the degree of friendliness / unfriendliness.
The first set of behaviour is located on the orthogonal y-axe of the model; the latter set of behaviour is located on the orthogonal x-axe of the model. Interpersonal behaviour plotted in the model reflects the degree of friendliness and dominance of that specific person at a given moment in time.
7 Days of shooting
Week #39
Flowers
Shoot anything saterday
BLOY Warrior Point Behaviour Doc Collage
Black Oystercatcher BLOY (Haematopus bachmani)
Warrior Point
North Saanich
Vancouver Island
British Columbia
So as this individual was foraging ..repeatedly submeged head...
when it came up with a prize i attempted to photo doc.
Here we see that it is a bit like the song "Hole in the bottom of the Sea" (if you know that one)
Here we see there's an..""Oyster on a Mussel on the Bill of a Bird out at Warrior Point""
after which The BLOY walked over to a rocky area above waterline and dislodged the Mussel from the Oyster and then Dislodged the mussel from off of its own beak ,,,then dislodged the meat from the mussel shell...
Then down the hatch
:)
This Crow had dumped something in the birdbath and was disturbed by Harry who ran down the backyard barking. I called Harry back not really realising what was going on. It came back and I clicked a few shots, after review I realised that this is a baby bird the Crow was devouring. I hope it wasn't from my backyard!!
Taken late evenng. The fish is about to eat a worm which is a little strange as I understand this type of parrotfish browses on algae.