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Saturday, August 05, 2006 10:37 AM

Aggressive bird behaviour

We had a pair of Lesser Sandhill Cranes at Nortwest wildfowl.  Not a great addition to a waterfowl facility but they were given to the owner as a gift so they resided in with the Ross Geese, Red Brested geese and Trumpeter Swans. 

Cranes mate for life and are always together.  They do a lot of wonderful unison calling and dancing.

It was always a challange doing the daily feedings as cranes can be very aggressive. The male was always lurking in the weeds ready for an attack.

One thing to be wary of is false preening.  He will stand looking away while preening the feathers between his wings.  Sometimes fluffing his wings or uttering a low growl.  He would like you to think there is nothing to worry about.......he is after all just preening but look out because the minute you take your eyes off of him he will attack.  

They attack with their feet first.

Sometimes you may see a crouching behaviour.  He will bends his legs and  lower himself to the ground and drape his wings loosely against his body and the ground.  This looks like a bird in distress but it is also a very aggressive posture.

Once he has successfully run off the intruder he will trumpet loudly and fluff his wings for the benefit of the female. 

I have not be successful in uploading pictures to this post so I'll put the series in my photo gallery for now.

 

 

 

 

Posted by Janeybug | 3 Comments
Thursday, August 03, 2006 3:54 PM

For The Love Of Waterfowl!

I can't believe that I am actually starting up yet another blog but I just couldn't resist being part of the Whatbird community. 

While this blog is going to be about all of the birds I come into contact with on a day to day basis I do have a lot of waterfowl stories to tell and wonderfull pictures to share.

I spent years working as a bird keeper at the zoo and at a duck, goose and swan breeding facility for endangered and threatened birds.

I am thrilled to find an audience for these stories.

All of my waterfowl pics were before digital cameras were affordable so I need to get to work scanning.

Thanks for stopping by, check back later for more posts after I have had a chance to settle into this new blog.

 

 

Posted by Janeybug | 4 Comments