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<\/p>\nPlus a lifer for me – a Snowy Plover at Bear River MBR yesterday. And an update on Dr. Talamy’s “What Do Birds Eat?” project.<\/p>\n
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1\/4000, f\/6.3, ISO 500, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n Yesterday I photographed this Eastern Kingbird on the approach road to Bear River MBR.\u00a0\u00a0He exhibited some weird behavior that I’d never seen (I don’t know the sex but for the sake of convenience I’ll refer to it as a male). He was constantly opening and closing his bill during the entire 8 minutes I spent with him. He usually didn’t open it very far but he did it rhythmically and continually without\u00a0pause. I estimated that he did it once every second which is about the respiratory rate of a bird this size according to some quick research I did.<\/p>\n It wasn’t “gular fluttering” that birds often use to keep cool in the heat\u00a0because\u00a0he didn’t keep\u00a0his beak open during the process (it was constantly opening and closing) and\u00a0he didn’t flutter\u00a0his neck muscles (birds don’t have a diaphragm so that’s the method they use to create air flow during fluttering).\u00a0Besides, it wasn’t hot – it was still in the 60’s F.<\/p>\n The bird did this for the entire 8 minutes and he did it…<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/5000, f\/6.3, ISO 640, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n on 4…<\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/8000, f\/6.3, ISO 640, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n different…<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/5000, f\/6.3, ISO 640, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n perches. I was stymied about what I was seeing and I still am.<\/p>\n Ok, back to the\u00a0third perch for a minute.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/6400, f\/6.3, ISO 640, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n While he was here he flew off after prey and caught an insect. He swallowed it (apparently)\u00a0before I could get my lens back on him but soon he appeared to be retching. At first I wondered if he was trying to throw a pellet but I’m fairly\u00a0confident that wasn’t the case. I’ve spent endless hours with kingbirds and photographed them throwing pellets several times. This was\u00a0different.<\/p>\n My best guess is that he was having trouble breathing because of something caught in his throat and that might explain him (apparently) breathing through his mouth rather than his nostrils in the previous images. The presumed object might have blocked the openings to his nostrils in the back of his throat. But if that’s true, how did he (presumably)\u00a0swallow the insect?<\/p>\n So\u00a0I’m reaching for an explanation for a\u00a0bird behavior I’ve never seen. I’ll probably never know and readers may wonder why I’m making such a big deal of it. Maybe you had to be there…<\/p>\n <\/p>\n And\u00a0I had some more excitement yesterday morning at Bear River.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n A “lifer” for me, a Snowy Plover! It was far away and I never got any quality images but it was a memorable experience nonetheless. I usually try to avoid the word “cute” but in my book these\u00a0tiny\u00a0birds certainly qualify for that overused distinction.<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n PS – I\u00a0thought readers of yesterday’s post would be interested in some\u00a0feedback I received from Dr. Doug Tallamy who\u00a0leads the “What Do Birds Eat” project at the University of Delaware\u00a0I featured in that post.<\/em><\/p>\n In an email to him I suggested that he would likely get many more photo submissions of birds with insects in their bills if his entomologists ID’d the insect for the persons submitting them. I told him that folks like “us” like to know that kind of thing.\u00a0I was encouraged by his response as follows: “I am forwarding this to my grad student Ashley Kennedy who is heading up this project. Reporting back to interested photographers is a great idea if we can pull it off. I’ll talk to Ashley about it.”<\/em><\/p>\n And as a favor he ID’d the insects in yesterday’s post for me. The Yellow Warbler has a caddisfly in its bill (I should have known that one)\u00a0and the Savannah Sparrow had snagged\u00a0”\u00a0a beetle larva…it looks like an aquatic beetle, maybe a Hydrophilid, but I’m not sure how a savannah sparrow would capture one of those”.<\/em><\/p>\n From the value of his work to birds and from his prompt and\u00a0generous response to me I get the definite impression that Dr. Tallamy is one of the good guys.<\/em><\/p>\n Note: I’m having computer problems so I may have to take it in for repair. If that happens I likely won’t be able to post for a few days so don’t be concerned. It also explains why I haven’t been able to edit this post carefully.<\/em><\/p>\n Update: My computer problem is “fixed” at least for now. I have to remember to clear my cache once in a while…<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Plus a lifer for me – a Snowy Plover at Bear River MBR yesterday. And an update on Dr. Talamy’s “What Do Birds Eat?” project.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/eastern-kingbird-3355-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"eastern-kingbird-3355-ron-dudley\\"")
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