behavior – Page 4 – Feathered Photography

Some Interesting Coyote Behaviors

Late last week we encountered two coyotes walking east along the north side of the Antelope Island Causeway. One was a very light-colored adult and the other a slightly darker and smaller youngster. This summer has been a mighty survival struggle for the island’s coyotes – the vole populations crashed and the extreme heat and drought have taken their toll. These two actually seemed forlorn and destitute in both posture and demeanor as they walked the shore of the causeway. But they did show me several interesting behaviors that I was able to photograph.

Why Did The Red-tailed Hawk Stand On The Road?

A little over a month ago I found this juvenile Red-tailed Hawk just standing around on a gravel road in the Centennial Valley of Montana. It’s behavior seemed at least a little odd because I’d never seen this species act so nonchalant when perched so low for so long – especially on a road.

Avocet Wing-stretch – A Predictor Of Behavior

In my experience American Avocets have two primary “styles” of stretching. When they stretch a single wing they extend it to the side with one leg stretched out behind. But they also use what’s called the “two wing stretch” and this style is often a precursor of imminent behavior – takeoff.

The Raven And The Pied-billed Grebe

Last week as I drove along the causeway to Antelope Island just after sunup I came across a Pied-billed Grebe on the shore that was being tormented by a Common Raven. I still don’t fully comprehend what I witnessed.

West Desert Mule Deer Behaviors

Last week we spent a few days camping and exploring Utah’s west desert. A herd of Mule Deer composed of over a dozen animals hung around the general vicinity of our campsite for most of the time we were there. They still had most of their winter coat so they were scruffy and sun-bleached but they displayed a couple of interesting behaviors that I was able to photograph.

Anticipating An American Avocet Behavior

Anticipating behaviors is often crucial for nature photographers and that’s particularly true when your subject is a lightning-fast bird. Most of us don’t need any more images where the wings have been cut off in the frame or the bird is soft due to lack of shutter speed or poor focus tracking of the bird at take-off. The American Avocet in breeding plumage is an especially lovely subject with its long recurved bill, bluish legs, cinnamon head and neck and the black and white chevron pattern on its back. But you don’t see many quality flight or take-off images of the species, partially because their flight tendencies are fast and erratic. Like many birds, avocets routinely perform single wing and leg stretches. These stretches occur when the bird is at rest and at ease. They stretch like this in the water… and on land. But this single-wing/leg stretch is not an indicator of nervousness or a precursor of take-off. Neither of the birds in these two images did so immediately after the stretch. 1/1000, f/8, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, a sliver of canvas added for composition But when you see this two-winged wing stretch, expect imminent take-off. A few seconds later this bird did just that but it took off away from me and I deleted the images. Another two-wing stretch. And almost immediately after the wings came down… the bird took off. It’s not a good shot because of the angle of take-off but it illustrates my point. Here’s what Birds…

Black-billed Magpies Constructing Their Nest

This post is largely about behavior. The image quality ranges from good to mediocre but I think each photo contributes something to a better understanding of magpies. Black-billed Magpies begin nest-building as early as January and these particular birds have been at it for several weeks now. Actually, in this case it’s more a “remodel” than it is “new construction” since this nest has been used for at least the last three years. All of these photos have been taken this week, which accounts for the relatively bright snow and ice background in some of the shots. 1/2500, f/7.1, ISO 500, 500 f/4, natural light One of the first things you may notice is the fact that sometimes these Black-billed Magpies don’t seem to have black bills. Part of nest construction involves mud gathering and the drying mud on the bill can significantly alter the appearance of the bill. 1/2500, f/7.1, ISO 500, 500 f/4, natural light Both sexes contribute to nest construction and they’re quite industrious in their efforts. The size of the twigs they bring in is often impressive. 1/4000, f/7.1, ISO 500, 500 f/4, natural light The nest is buried deep in a greasewood bush at about eye level for me. Typically a bird bringing in construction material will land on a nearby perch and look over the nest for a few moments – seeming to plan placement of the twig and an approach path through the myriad of vertical greasewood stems that present significant obstacles to proper placement of such an unwieldy…

Attack Of The Shoveler

Most Northern Shovelers breed far north of my area (northern Utah) so I rarely get to see their intensely agonistic breeding behaviors but I’ve seen and photographed some of it in mid-June at Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge in sw Montana. Northern Shovelers are the most territorial of all dabbling ducks and the sexes remain paired longer than any other species. Both of these factors contribute to their aggressive natures. These three sequential shots don’t have great image quality but I do think they illustrate some interesting behavior. 1/2000, f/7.1, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc I’d been photographing Short-eared Owls from my pickup but was aware of some activity from shovelers in the marshy grasses nearby. A commotion got my attention just in time to see the male on the right fly in to attack another male on the water. The second bird saw the attack coming and decided that discretion was the better part of valor and rose from the water in a hasty retreat. I like the non-plussed look of the retreating bird. 1/2000, f/7.1, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc In this second image of the series it’s not clear if the open bill of the incoming bird is due to aggressive vocalization or an attempt to bite the other male. 1/2000, f/7.1, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc But in this last image I think it becomes obvious that the intent was to bite the retreating duck. Bird behaviors fascinate me. They’re often both interesting and entertaining but many of…

Lark Sparrows – A Unique Mating Behavior

Back on May 25 of this year, on this post about Lark Sparrows, I made the following statement at the end of the post: “Now that I have some decent images of this species my next goal with them is to capture some of their unique behaviors. These birds often pass a twig from the male to the female during copulation (an impressive display of multitasking and concentration). And they do a turkey-like strut during courtship. I would love to capture either behavior.” In your comments, several of you gave me encouragement in meeting that goal and 11 days later I was at least partly able to do so. These are those images. A couple of these photos may be a little “clinical” for some, but to me it’s all behavior and it’s all interesting. Techs for all images were: 1/4000 or 1/3200, f/6.3, ISO 640, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc The courtship of Lark Sparrows includes behaviors found in no other songbirds. Prior to actual mating, the male struts like a turkey, with its tail sticking up to show off its white tail spots and its wings drooping to the ground. Then, before the male mounts her, he picks up a twig (or twigs) which he passes to the female just before copulation. When mating is complete (they may mate or attempt to mate up to 20 times in 3.5 minutes) the female often flies off with the twig. The courtship had already begun when I approached this mated pair. Normally, this species doesn’t allow me to get this close…

Northern Harriers Hunting

It’s getting to be what I call “harrier time” here in northern Utah so I thought I’d do a significant post on the species. For me, watching these birds hunt is absolutely mesmerizing and I could do it for hours. And I have – many, many times. But before I get into hunting I’d like to cover some basics on telling the sexes and ages apart. Sexual dimorphism in harriers is exceptional among birds of prey – telling adult males from adult females is easy because their colors are so dramatically different. But because juveniles of either sex strongly resemble adult females, that distinction becomes very tricky and causes a lot of confusion. So, here’s a primer: Adult males – gray above, mostly white below, black wing tips, lemon-yellow eyes Adult females – brown above, buffy with brown streaks below, lemon-yellow eyes (but in my experience, the eyes of adult females tend to be less bright than those of adult males) Juvenile of both sexes – similar to adult female but darker chocolate-brown above and strongly rufous (reddish) below Juvenile male – pale, greenish-yellow eyes Juvenile female – dark, chocolate-brown eyes All sexes and ages have the unique facial disc (ruff) characteristic of harriers. It’s not as prominent as it is in many owls but it can clearly be seen in this image. Its function is the same as it is in owls – to direct sound to the ears. Most hawks hunt almost exclusively by sight but because of their excellent hearing, thanks largely to the facial disc, harriers depend at least…

Rough-legged Hawk “Playing”

This post is about behavior. Please don’t expect high quality images… Last March I found this juvenile (I believe) Rough-legged Hawk along the Antelope Island causeway on a cold morning after a light snowfall. It was perched on a windrow of debris consisting mostly of piles of old brine fly pupae casings. For a while the bird seemed content to simply rest and watch me. But soon it apparently got bored… and walked about two feet to my right to investigate a clump of fly casings (red arrow) that had been cemented together by melting snow that had re-frozen during the night. The hawk reached over to grasp the clump with its talons… retrieved the clump,… transferred it to its beak and then instantly tossed it to the ground. I assumed that was that, figuring the bird had thought it might be something edible, then discarded it for good when it wasn’t. But that wasn’t what happened. The hawk grabbed the clump with its talons once again… and then seemed to contemplate for a few seconds about just what to do next. Which turned out to be something like “give the clump a toss and see where it lands”. The hawk immediately started walking over to where the clump had landed behind the mound of fly casings, where it can’t be seen in this image. It used its wings for a little more stability as it negotiated the hill of debris. …

Western Grebes: A Bizarre Behavior Finally Explained

Anyone who has spent a significant amount of time observing Western Grebes (or their close relatives, Clark’s Grebes) has undoubtedly observed this curious behavior multiple times. But before I continue, a few words of explanation are in order. Grebes are unique to most other water birds in two ways that are related to this behavior: 1.) their legs are attached to their bodies at the rear, rather than underneath and 2.) the toes of grebes are lobed instead of webbed. Having legs attached at the rear allows for efficient swimming but causes extreme clumsiness while walking – they rarely venture on to land, but when they do they often fall down after just a few steps. This leg attachment position is so distinctive of grebes that the genus name of four of the North American grebe species is Podiceps (from “podicis” meaning anus or vent and “pes” meaning foot) – in other words, “anus foot”. (and yes, I’m having a hard time resisting a joke line or two with that phrase…) Recent experimental work with grebes has demonstrated that the lobes on the toes function much like the hydrofoil blades of a propeller. Ok, with that background, on to this strange behavioral quirk of the Western Grebe. Without warning, and for no apparent reason, they stick one of their legs out behind them. With those unusual feet it can look pretty silly. Sometimes they’ll do a simultaneous wing stretch, but rarely. Occasionally they’ll hold the foot high in the air for quite a while. That can look even sillier. Even the chicks do it….

Can’t We Go Any Faster Dad?

I’ll preface this post with an apology for the cutesy title. I usually avoid them at all costs but in this case I just couldn’t help myself… (I’m making the assumption that the adult bird here is the male because of its straight bill but it’s a subtle distinction and I could be wrong). For the last few days we’ve been having a great time with Clark’s and Western Grebes and their chicks. Both sexes of both species brood their chicks on their backs (back brooding) from almost the moment they hatch until they are quite large. I’ve seen up to three chicks of about this size on the back of a single adult, although by the time they get this size the other parent often shares the burden. 1/1600, f/8, ISO 400, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc When I first saw this image of a Clark’s Grebe and its chick on my screen I assumed it was simply another case of the youngster having just jumped onto the back of the adult (as evidenced by the position of the feet and the direction of the water splash). But now I’m quite convinced that the adult was actually allowing the youngster to act as an outboard motor of sorts as the chick seems to be providing the propulsion as the parent relaxes. If so, and I think it is, in all the time I’ve spent watching these birds this is the first time I’ve noticed such interesting behavior. I offer this image as further evidence of my theory…

The Western Kingbird and the Beetle

This will be another behavioral post – yes I am fascinated by interesting behaviors, perhaps overly so… I found this Western Kingbird hunting from a barbed wire perch which is quite typical for the species. It was so focused on its prey that it let me get quite close so I was able to get better detail of the feeding behavior than I normally do. 1/500, f/8, ISO 400, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc The kingbird has spotted prey on the ground 1/1250, f/8, ISO 400, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc so it flew down to retrieve it. In this case it happened to be a beetle. You can see it clinging upside down to the darker diagonal twig just in front of the bird. 1/1250, f/8, ISO 400, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc Here’s a highly cropped version of the previous image to show the beetle better. 1/1250, f/8, ISO 400, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc The bird grabbed the beetle but as you can see it had reached “through” the twig to get it 1/1250, f/8, ISO 400, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc so it got more than it bargained for. The end of the twig broke off and wedged between the beetles abdomen and the upper mandible. 1/1000, f/8, ISO 400, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc So it flew back to its wire perch and tried to figure out what to do about the dilemma. It actually spent about 15 seconds just sitting there and staring at what was in its…

Short-eared Owl Delivering Food To The Nest

In previous posts (here, here and here) about these Short-eared Owls at Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge I’ve shown and described snippets of the fascinating behaviors I observed when this male would deliver voles to the female and two youngsters at the nest. But it struck me that I’ve never put the whole process together in sequence so the behaviors could be fully appreciated so that’s what I’ll attempt to do here. Most of the images will be different from those in the previous posts. 1/1250, f/5.6, ISO 800, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc The male was a tireless and highly skilled hunter and I never saw him with any prey other than voles. When successful he would always return to the vicinity of the nest and land momentarily on one of two favorite perches – the dark sagebrush at lower right in the above photo or a metal post a few feet from the sagebrush. Here he’s coming in for a landing on the sagebrush with vole in talons and glances up at me to make sure all is safe. I really like the intense direct eye contact in the shot. 1/1000, f/5.6, ISO 800, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc Now he’s focused on the sagebrush in order to make a successful landing. 1/1250, f/5.6, ISO 800, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc This time he stayed perched for less than five seconds and didn’t even pull his wings in against his body – he just kept them out or up while he seemed to contemplate his next…

Tag: behavior