I’ve been posting more older photos than usual lately because we’re in what I call the ‘bird doldrums’. Birds are slow right now.\u00a0<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n <\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/white-faced-ibis-7069-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"white-faced-ibis-7069-ron-dudley\\"")
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1\/2500, f\/6.3, ISO 500, Canon 7D, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\nIn early August of 2014 I was photographing other birds on the water at Bear River MBR when these two White-faced Ibises began to fight. I hadn’t been watching them so I don’t know what instigated their dust-up but whatever it was they both took it seriously. Among other fighting techniques they were using their long decurved bills as weapons and slapping each other with their wings.<\/p>\n
They brawled for long enough for me to get 22 photos of the action. These are two of them that I’ve never posted before.<\/p>\n
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![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/white-faced-ibis-7082-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"white-faced-ibis-7082-ron-dudley\\"")
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1\/2500, f\/6.3, ISO 500, Canon 7D, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\nMost of the physical contact occurred while they were in the water but they did a lot of posturing while they were airborne after they both repeatedly jumped straight up into the air. They reminded me a little of ‘dancing’ Sandhill Cranes.<\/p>\n
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![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/white-faced-ibis-7082-vertical-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"white-faced-ibis-7082-vertical-ron-dudley\\"")
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A different crop of the previous photo includes part of their reflections and I think gives us a better appreciation for how far they were jumping out of the water.\u00a0The fight ended when the ibis on the left eventually conceded defeat and left the area.<\/p>\n
The intensity of the fight surprised me. White-faced Ibises are highly gregarious and generally tolerate each other well, even when feeding very close to each other in large groups. Cornell’s Birds of the World makes a point of their general peacefulness by saying “foraging birds feed close together and usually tolerate one another with little or no aggression, even when they bump into one another.”<\/p>\n
One or both of these birds must have been having a bad day.<\/p>\n
Ron<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A species I rarely see in serious fights and this one was a knock-down, drag-out.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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