“On arrival to Chaaya Village, Habarana, Sri Lanka, 4th July 2010, evening, we were so fortunate to be able to witness the Changeable Hawk-eagle (Spizaetus cirrhatus) feasting on his recent kill of the Black-naped Hare (Lepus nigricollis).

“The unfortunate hare was ripped open from his most vulnerable part, which is his stomach. The fearsome tool that the eagle had was his very strong curved and sharp beak, that constantly tore at that section of the body, tearing off portions of the skin together with the hare’s fur. Than it proceeded with tearing off pieces of fresh meat slowly filling up his crop. The whole episode lasted more than three quarters of an hour, and in the meantime the smell of fresh meat also attracted a lot of flies, which constantly accompanied us in greater or smaller numbers.

“On almost finishing three quarters of the hare, the hawk-eagle decided that it could than fly away with the remains of the hare to a more private place away from the prying eyes of us humans, and their cameras and flashes.

“This video clip was done with the Sony Handycam HDR CX 550, with a ProOptik 2x Tele-conversion lens.”

KC Tsang
Singapore
16th July 2010

. Haw-eagleCh-hare

“I was at Sugei Tampines in Pasir Ris on 5th June 2010 at 9am when I saw a group of Black-crowned Night Herons (Nycticorax nycticorax) perched on the same tree in the open which is very strange because normally they are quite solitary birds and prefer to perch hidden in the bushes.

“Some distance away, a huge flock of crows were chasing a few Grey Herons (Ardea cinerea) and this might have agitated the night herons. Several times, lots of night herons will suddenly start flying around when the crows start provoking the Grey Herons which in turn will agitate the night herons. I estimated spotting about 12 night herons at one time, some flying and some perching.”

Thong Chow Ngian
Singapore
5th June 2010

“I was out today to re-visit old locations in the city, with secondary jungle/scrub, that are being threatened by development. This location, now beseeched by housing on three sides, has always had a lot of ‘wild’ Water Buffalo (Bubalus arnee) kept by herders for their milk and ?meat. Hard to get near them when they are free ranging and grazing – they give a cold stare from far off that keeps me away.

“The Cattle Egrets (Bubulcus ibis coromandus) love them and come daily to feed at their feet and often sit on them. I managed to get close when they strayed near a road and used the car as a hide. Almost all were in some stage of breeding plumage.

“This egret caught a frog that was dislodged by the cattle (left centre). It immediately flew a short distance away to enjoy it. Managed to catch up but sadly lots of foliage in between.

“Balancing on the Water Buffalo requires skill and this chap was almost dislodged (left top). One of the birds had part of the bill fractured off but did not seem to interfere with feeding (left bottom).”

Dato’ Dr Amar-Singh HSS
Ipoh City, Perak, Malaysia
6th March 2010

Note:
Non-breeding Cattle Egret, also known as Eastern Cattle Egret, has an all-white plumage and blackish legs and feet. The adult breeding bird has extensive rufous-buff head and neck, short rufous-buff nape and breast-plumes and long rufous-buff back-plumes. The legs and feet are more yellowish. The bill become reddish with yellowish tip during courtship - see HERE. The bird above appears to be just entering the breeding stage as seen from its plumage. Also, the legs and feet are still blackish.

The image on the left of a Chinese Pond Heron (Ardeola bacchus) by Chris Lee a.k.a. chrisle023 shows the bird with its feathers ruffled and raised.

Such a situation usually occurs when the heron adopts a threat display. According to Martinez-Vilalta & Motis (1992), bitterns of the genus Botaurus, “crouches with its neck arched backwards and its bill pointing towards the intruder; the wings are spread and held slightly forwards, while the feathers of the crest are erected and those of the neck and the scapulars bristled up in order to make the bird appear larger.” This posture was taken in the presence of intruders, including photographers. In this Chinese Heron, although the bird was standing, it was most probably adopting a threat display.

Birds also fluff their feathers to create an insulating layer of air that keeps the heat trapped against the body surface (Evans & Heiser, 2004).

References:
1. Evans, H. E. & J. B. Heiser, 2004. What’s inside: Anatomy and physiology. In: Podulka, S., R. W. Rohrbaugh Jr & R. Bonney (eds.), Handbook of bird biology. The Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY. Pp. 4.1-4.162.
2. Martinez-Vilalta, A. & A. Motis, 1992. Family Ardeidae (Herons)]. In del Hoyo, J., A. Elliott & J. Sargatal (eds.), Handbook of the birds of the world. Vol. 1. Ostrich to ducks. Lynx Editions, Barcelona. Pp. 376-429.

This post is a cooperative effort between NaturePixels.org and BESG to bring the study of bird behaviour through photography to a wider audience.

“Brahminy Kites (Haliastur indus) and White-bellied Sea Eagles (Haliaeetus leucogaster) are raptors that are fond of soaring along the sea coast to forage food from the sea. I have always admired the ability of these raptors holding on to their slippery preys while in flight. I have not come across any prey that has managed to slip out of the powerful talons of these raptors. Not until three weeks ago when I was to witness preys getting away from these two species of raptors; all happening on the same day.

“A Brahminy Kite was up in the sky early and was already in the hunt at 7:20 am that morning (above left). At 7:50 am, it dived steeply to snatch a fish off the surface of the sea. As it lifted off, the outline of a long fish that became twisted in its talons could be seen (above centre). In less than a second, the slippery prey managed to wriggle free and fell back into the sea. Prey no. 1 had managed to slip away (above right).

“At 8:26 am, the kite had another attempt. This time, the kite caught nothing as its talons clutched at emptiness after striking at its target in the sea (above left). As seen from the continuous images, both predator and prey were headed in about the same direction (above centre). After the narrow escape, the fish actually sped faster than the kite and had almost caught up with the kite when it leaped out of the water (above right). In all likelihood, the kite was surprised and reacted by turning its head to look at the fleeing fish. There was no second chance for the kite to make another attempt at catching this fish. Prey no. 2 had got away.

“Later in the afternoon, two White-bellied Sea Eagles were soaring in the sky. At 4:55 pm, one of them caught a fish (above left) and was ascending when it somehow lost its grip on the fish (above centre). The prey fell from an estimated height of 20 metres into the sea and was likely to be dead upon impact. In an instant, the eagle decided to turn and glide down as it attempted to retrieve the prey (above right). All of a sudden, the script was dramatically changed when a Brahminy Kite appeared, almost right above the eagle (below left). The eagle aborted its descent and swept towards the kite. The faceoff was brief with the eagle looking up, poised to do battle with the kite. However, the kite was in no mood for a fight and avoided the eagle. It kept a distance from the eagle and flew away after circling the area once.

“All this while, I had my camera trained on the eagle and the kite. In the meantime, unknown to me, a Grey Heron (Ardea cinerea) must have seized the opportunity to pick up the prey that was dropped by the eagle earlier (above right-top). It was seen flying away from the area with a similar fish in its beak. Prey No. 3 was stolen from the distracted raptors but did not escape from being a meal.

“It may be of interest to note that the fish involved in all three episodes could well be from the same species as all looked strikingly similar in appearance with a long body and snout.

“PS: Please note that images are not of optimum quality due to poor light, wrong setting and heavy cropping. Image of WBSE holding on to prey was attached for reference - it was taken on another day (above right-bottom).

Kwong Wai Chong
Singapore
15th April 2010

Images by Kwong Wai Chong.