Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Lives of Birds:

We have been going out to the South Padre Island Birding Center every Saturday morning and have enjoyed watching the birds going about their lives. While it is fun to simply see and identify birds, we find it interesting to observe them feeding, preening, competing for territories, etc.

It is the time for male birds to establish their territories, and we observed these female (thanks Judy for the correction on gender!) Belted Kingfishers doing aerial battle over the birding center. They were waaaay up in the sky so these images aren't as clear as I would like. But some of the postures these guys achieved were amazing.
---Mark








3 comments:

  1. I believe those are two female belted kingfishers going at it. :)

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  2. Right you are!! Why does the male have the red chest band in the Green Kingfisher, but the female has it in the Belted Kingfisher?? Ugh...

    I'll change it!!

    Mark

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  3. Females? I didn't realize they fought like that. I thought only the males would fight! It's a rough world out there when you're establishing your territory. But a female cat will run off another female, so I guess it makes sense. Everyone needs a good spot for themselves!

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