Identification challenges are fun, but observing behavior is even more fun.
I posted an item the other day about the Green Jay spreading its feathers out in the sun (see Odd jay behavior). I likened it to “anting” (the behavior where birds will spread their feathers on an anthill, or even pick up ants and rub them on themselves), but after a little googling of the subject I guess it would more properly be referred to as sunbathing. Lots of birds do it, perhaps to control mites and other parasites.
Here’s a shot that vanilla got today of a male Red-winged Blackbird sunbathing:
There was a comment of “poor thing” on the photo, but I think the bird is probably fine.
As long as we’re looking at redwings (and let’s face it; with CONE Welder we end up looking at redwings a lot), check out this shot that txbird got of three male redwings engaging in display behavior. Nice epaulettes, eh?
Birds aren’t the only things on the birdcam engaging in interesting behavior. The last few nights we’ve had fun watching this raccoon demonstrate his high-wire skills getting onto and off of the feeder. There are some occasional dicey moments, though, like in this shot by whereismyrobot:
Another behavior that users have been commenting on is the display posture that the male Great-tailed Grackles adopt when they’re trying to look impressive. Here’s a great shot that txbird got May 8 at 3:40 p.m.:
Three minutes later, vanilla got this shot of two males posing, with a female on the right side of the frame:
Actual mating is a behavior I don’t remember us ever getting a shot of during the seven months CONE SF was active, but earlier today thedevilbird and txbird both snapped the same shot of a pair of Inca Doves mating. Here it is:
According to the comments the male dove from that pair is the bird in this shot, taken shortly thereafter by robin54. You can barely make out what appears to be an orange band on the bird’s right leg:
Thanks to everyone for getting these amazing shots!
CONE Welder has been a rich source of discovery! The possibilities have been endless. By simply hanging on for the ride as a passenger as someone else mans the cam (In my case, because I have already used up my daily shot quota!), it has been a real pleasure and time-consumer to sit back as observer and see these behaviors.
Collectively, we are building some valuable and noteworthy images. Has a book ever been considered, elanus?