Earlier this week Mia and I witnessed an incredible display of avian aggression on Antelope Island. I’ve often seen and photographed battling birds but I’ve never before seen such a long-lasting and vicious fight as this one between two Willets. It lasted for over 20 minutes and I took 413 photos of the action but don’t expect high quality images in this post as the conditions were far from ideal. We had contrasty sidelight, lots of obstructingvegetation between us and the birds and constantly changing lighting conditions as clouds moved in and out and the birds moved from place to place as the battle raged. But as I’ve stated before on this blog I’ll often post images of interesting behaviors even if they are less than perfect in image quality. And to me this behavior was certainly interesting.
Canon 7D, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, 1/1600, f/5.6, ISO 500
The Willets were already fighting as we approached them in my pickup and they mostly ignored us after pausing for a few seconds when we first drove up.
Canon 7D, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, 1/1250, f/5.6, ISO 500
In this and the following image the bird on the right had its bill tightly clamped on the upper mandible of the other bird.
Canon 7D, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, 1/1250, f/5.6, ISO 500
The bird on the left was desperately trying to break the grip of its tormentor but it took some struggling before it finally succeeded.
Canon 7D, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, 1/1250, f/5.6, ISO 500
In this photo the same bill grasping behavior occurs again. You can see that it is a separate event from the one in the previous images from the differences in the setting.
Canon 7D, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, 1/1600, f/5.6, ISO 500
Birds of North America Online states that when these birds squabble it’s not unusual for them to try to pull out each others tail feathers and that they occasionally succeed. I suspect that is what the bird on the left is attempting to do here.
Canon 7D, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, 1/1250, f/5.6, ISO 500
It was breathtaking to watch the incredible speed at which these birds maneuver during an altercation. BNA has this to say about the quickness of Willets during a fight: “they (fights) transpire so quickly that it is impossible to analyze component movements in real-time”.
Canon 7D, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, 1/2500, f/5.6, ISO 500
Once one of the birds was able to latch on to a body part (usually the tail, bill, leg or wing) of its opponent it was very reluctant to let go. And believe me these birds make a lot of noise during a fight. I can hear them in my mind as I type this…
Canon 7D, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, 1/3200, f/5.6, ISO 500
This one got a tight grip on the neck of its adversary and for a few moments I thought the poor bird would be strangled.
Canon 7D, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, 1/3200, f/5.6, ISO 500
According to BNA, occasionally when Willets fight “each bird grasps the other’s leg, neck, or wing with its bill, immobilizing each other up to 18 minutes”. We never saw it last that long but twice one of these birds had the other pinned down for about 15 seconds each time.
Canon 7D, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, 1/3200, f/5.6, ISO 500
I assume that the combatants here were males fighting over territory or breeding rights though the sexes are virtually impossible to tell apart and females are also known to fight each other. If so, the bird on the right is the female and she stood passively by during the entire episode, interested but seemingly detached at the same time.
Canon 7D, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, 1/3200, f/6.3, ISO 500
They would sometimes use their bills as a stabbing weapon but most of my shots of that action were terribly obscured by vegetation. This is the best one I have to show that behavior.
Canon 7D, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, 1/1600, f/6.3, ISO 500
After almost 25 minutes of fighting (I don’t know how long it had gone on before we arrived) one of the birds had apparently had enough and departed the area. I was able to get off two shots as he flew off.
What an incredible event to witness! I’ve often said that even if I don’t get any great shots on a bird photography trip I still usually enjoy the hell out of the experience just by being with them, watching their behaviors and improving my skills. This experience was the epitome of that kind of trip.
I will admit though that if I ever get another chance at something like this I do hope for a better light angle and less obstructing vegetation…
Ron
Fantastic set of images! I just had a chance to photograph a similar squirmish, though it didn’t last nearly that long. Great shots!
Thank you Scott. This was the first time I’d ever seen this behavior and I was duly impressed by their aggression and endurance.
Ron, Really great series Ron, I enjoyed looking through them. It must have been amazing to watch in person, thanks for sharing.
Deedee, I deleted all but 92 of the 413 and probably shouldn’t have kept that many but it was such an interesting experience to see that I had a difficult time pressing the delete key when I was deciding what to keep. Culling this many images didn’t take as long as you might think because most of them really were garbage because of lighting and obstruction issues. And the only ones I’ve processed, and may ever process, are the images in this post.
You complain about the light and foliage obstruction, but these photos are terrific! I’ll bet you didn’t throw all of the rest of the 413 away either. I’m curious. How long did it take you to go though them all and process the keepers? 413 would take me weeks! Congrats! Deedee
Excellent series of shots with observational comments and story, Ron. As for the lighting/quality, as a wildlife photog myself, I go back to the old photographer’s addage…’You take what you can get, cause it may not come your way again’. At least that’s my philosophy. I’m certainly glad you ‘took what you could get’ and shared with the rest of us. I learned a lot about these willets with this post; I haven’t seen them in my region of Ft. Collins, CO, yet…range maps indicate that I probably won’t either! Thanks again.
Those Willets were such great fun to watch, hard to keep up with and such interesting behavior. Hope we get a chance with them again when they are closer and in better light.