Secretary And Kori Bustard Birds Brawl In Incredible Video

"We were really excited about this sighting because we had never seen either of these birds behave in this manner."

Offbeat | NDTV Offbeat Desk | Updated: April 30, 2019 08:53 IST

Secretary and Kori Bustard in bird brawl unlike anything you've seen in Kruger

Kruger offers up some spectacular, yet expected sightings. But one you don't often expect is bird fight between a Secretary Bird and a Kori Bustard - going at it in this manner.

The Kruger National Park in South Africa has given us some rare sights - like a buffalo taking on a lion and a crocodile. But this is a video unlike anything you've ever seen before. A video by Kruger shows a brawl between two big birds - a Secretary bird and a Kori Bustard.

The match was an incredible one between two equally scary opponents. According to Destination Wildlife, while the Kori Bustard is the planet's heaviest flying bird and can weight up to 18 kgs, the Secretary bird is feared for its powerful legs - used to deliver hard downward blows to kill prey.

The video was shot by 25-year-old Ashlea Dennison, reports Traveller 24, who was excited about the "super rare" encounter.

"We were really excited about this sighting because these two birds are both amazing sightings alone - and we had never seen either of them behave in this manner," she said.

"I had never seen either of these birds act in an aggressive manner towards any other bird or animal for that matter. These two birds always appear to be minding their own business when we see them in the park."

Source and video

Feisty hummingbirds prioritize fencing over feeding

Some male hummingbirds have weaponized their bills, making them less efficient feeders

Date:January 2, 2019

Source:University of California - Berkeley

Most hummingbirds have bills and tongues exquisitely designed to slip inside a flower, lap up nectar and squeeze every last drop of precious sugar water from their tongue to fuel their frenetic lifestyle.

But in the tropics of South America, University of California, Berkeley, scientists are finding that some male hummers have traded efficient feeding for bills that are better at stabbing and plucking other hummingbirds as they fend off rivals for food and mates. The males' weaponized bills are good not only for pulling feathers and pinching skin, but also wrestling their rivals away from prime feeding spots.

Using high-speed video cameras, the researchers have for the first time captured hummingbird fencing and feeding strategies in slow motion to document the various ways the birds use their bills to fight and the trade-offs they accept when choosing fighting over feeding prowess.

"We understand hummingbirds' lives as being all about drinking efficiently from flowers, but then suddenly we see these weird morphologies -- stiff bills, hooks and serrations like teeth -- that don't make any sense in terms of nectar collection efficiency," said Alejandro Rico-Guevara, a Miller Postdoctoral Fellow at UC Berkeley and the lead scientist on the project. "Looking at these bizarre bill tips, you would never expect that they're from a hummingbird or that they would be useful to squeeze the tongue."

Continued

WATCH: Swans freak out as their necks get tied together – but there’s a happy ending

TWO fighting swans faced death by drowning or starvation as their necks and wings became hopelessly tangled.

By STUART WINTER

PUBLISHED: 13:04, Tue, Feb 2, 2016 | UPDATED: 16:09, Tue, Feb 2, 2016

These two entwined mute swans were destined to drag each other to a watery grave until they got human help.

With their huge wings and webbed feet hopelessly entangled, the birds would have perished without the caring hands of an animal lover easing them gently apart.

Footage of the rescue on a French riverbank has become an internet sensation after it was posted on Facebook.

The swans' wings and necks had to be carefully de-tangled

The video shows the two adult swans hopelessly ensnared and making frantic efforts to get to the side of the river and the waiting arms of onlookers.

Over the next two minutes, the birds’ fragile wings are carefully pulled apart. Once they are disentangled, both swans waddle away as if nothing had happened. 

How the swans happened to be so wrapped in each other has spawned all sorts of theories. Were they in some kind of courtship display or were they locked in mortal combat?

The swans appeared to be in distress after getting tangled

Even more controversial are suggestions that they decided to swim towards humans for help.

One commentator on Facebook said: “It is obvious they came for help. It is also obvious they just moved on when they got help.”

Continued ...

Now, ban on bulbul bird fight in Assam temple

Wednesday, January 13, 2016, 20:07 [IST] 

The Gauhati High Court has banned the traditional bulbul bird fight at the Hayagrib Madhab Mandir, an ancient pilgrim centre at Hajo in Assam. Vacation bench judge Rumi Kumari Phukan passed the order yesterday after considering various provisions of the Wildlife Protection Act 1972 and Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act 1960. 

The judge modified the earlier order passed on December 22 whereby the ban of bulbul fight imposed by Kamrup district administration was kept in abeyance. The application was filed by Animal Welfare Board of India. The order triggered reactions in Hajo and across the state with the temple priests claiming the bird fight was part of a religious ritual in which obeisance to Lord Vishnu began with it. 

The priests were also in dilemma as how to conduct the religious ceremony going on for centuries in view of the court order.

Read more at:

Fighting eagles lock talons in Portland tree

By KOIN 6 News staffUpdated: Monday, March 3, 2014, 2:14 pmPublished: Monday, March 3, 2014, 12:43 pm

Two bald eagles appeared to be stuck together in a tree in Southeast Portland on Monday, March 3, 2014. (KOIN 6 News/Dean Barron)

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Two fighting eagles spiraled down into a tree in Southeast Portland and became locked by their talons, but flew off and continued fighting when wildlife officials approached.

Lacy Campbell with the Portland Audobon Society told KOIN 6 News the eagles took off once she and a wildlife veterinarian got within three feet of them in the tree at SE 55th Avenue and Division.

Crews from both the Oregon Fish & Wildlife Department and the US Fish & Wildlife plus the Audobon Society went to the site after they were called.

It’s normal at this time of the year for eagles to fight, Campbell said. Largely these are territorial battles, and she said the eagles continued to fight even while they were in the tree.

Once they flew off, the eagles continued fighting, with one chasing the other.

Sometimes the eagles will fight to the death, Campbell said, or until there’s a clear winner.

Continued

The REAL Angry Birds: Extinct relation of the pigeon was 'built for fighting'

By VICTORIA WOOLLASTON

PUBLISHED: 17:24, 24 May 2013 | UPDATED: 17:26, 24 May 2013 

· Researchers from London's Natural History Museum have discovered that the small 'musket ball' knobs found on the wings of the now extinct solitaire bird were used for fighting 

· It is thought that the knobs were a result of fighting and the Mauritian birds then evolved so the knobs developed naturally 

· The solitaires became extinct at the end of the 1700s but were genetically similar to modern-day pigeons 

A now extinct giant flightless pigeon from Mauritius used its small but deadly wings to fight off competitors and communicate with mates, according to new research published this week. 

Researchers from the Natural History Museum in London studied fossils of the solitaire, officially known as Pezophaps solitaria, and in particular the unique ‘musket ball’ structure on the bird’s wing. 

They discovered that the birds used the circular nodes as a way of fighting with other birds and fending off prey. 

Writing in the Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, ornithologist Julian Hume from the Natural History Museum said: ‘We know from detailed historical notes from eighteenth-century sailors that the birds were aggressive. 

'They also describe a musket-ball-like bony growth on the wings, which was originally thought to be the result of injury. 

When we compared the wings of solitaire fossils from the caves of Rodrigues, an outer island of Mauritius, to modern birds we found that these growths were largest in adult males. 

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2330392/The-REAL-angry-Birds-Archaeologists-aggresive-giant-birds.html#ixzz2UExlKRsb