A male Woodpigeon showing rapid dilation and constriction of pupils during courtship.
Continue readingKategorie: Behavior / Ecology
Carrion Crow kills adult Reeve
While Carrion Crows / Aaskrähen (Corvus corone) – as picture-book generalists – are known to feed on a wide variety of things, this was the first time that I witnessed a crow preying on an …
Continue readingCommon Moorhens mating
When Common Moorhens / Teichhühner (Gallinula chloropus) mate, the female lies down on her tarsi and arches her neck, looking down to the ground. If the copulation happens in shallow water, this leads to the …
Continue readingOne fish is not enough to take a break
After this Osprey / Fischadler (Pandion haliaetus) had caught a medium-sized fish, it didn’t fly off to eat it. Instead, it repositioned over the water again and continued to hover. In the meantime, the fish …
Continue readingRedshank catching flying insects
Some photos of a special Common Redshank / Rotschenkel (Tringa totanus), catching flying insects by jumping in the air. This individual was ringed in September 2015 in Comacchio, Italy and returned to Seewinkel to breed …
Continue readingJack Snipes forage at night
I’ve not seen too many Jack Snipes / Zwergschnepfen (Lymnocryptes minimutus) in my life and I guess that most observers haven’t had a lot of sightings either. A main reason for this is the species‘ …
Continue readingThree Rufous-naped Wrens building one nest together
Rufous-naped Wren / Rotnacken-Zaunkönig (Campylorhynchus rufinucha) is a cooperatively breeding species. In El Paredón (Escuintla, Guatemla) I saw three individuals building one nest together in a palm tree on 6 March 2020. Unfortunately I wasn’t …
Continue readingDifferent nest type of Spot-breasted Oriole
While at Finca La Gracia (Escuintla, Guatemala), I was showed a nest (two side by side actually) of Spot-breasted Orioles / Tropfentrupiale (Icterus pectoralis) that were constructed unusually low under a hanging flower pot right …
Continue readingAerial display of Black Hawk-Eagle
While watching raptors over Los Tarrales (Suchitepéquez, Guatemala) in January 2020, I got these record shots of the striking flight display of an adult Black Hawk-Eagle / Schwarzer Haubenadler (Spizaetus tyrannus). The (male?) bird was …
Continue reading27 species of birds foraging in one Avocado tree
Between 25 January and 11 March 2020, I mini-surveyed a tall Avocado tree in a backyard on the outskirts of Antigua (Sacatepéquez, Guatemala). In the morning hours, this tree attracted a (to my eyes) exceptional …
Continue reading