A web site dedicated to gulls in North East Scotland and beyond
Sunday 4 November 2012
Isabelline Wheatear: odd pose/behaviour
Just been sorting out images for a talk that I'm giving and was reminded of this bird that I saw a few years ago. A great bird, but I have always wondered about the wings-open pose: has anyone come across this behaviour before in this species?
I live in Saudi Arabia and see Isabelline Wheatear regularly. This pose is often taken up when the bird has found something to eat (grub etc) and it opens and spreads it wings a few times before taking the prey. I have seen them do it without the final outcome being eating but this is the time I have found that they do it regularly.
I live close to the village of Newburgh in North-east Scotland. My local birding patch is the Ythan estuary and, especially in the winter months, Peterhead. Nowadays most of my birding time is spent gull watching.
This web site is really just a way to make my pictures useful in some way, rather than having them sitting unused on my computer. I hope you find them interesting, useful and stimulating. Most pictures are gulls, but there are some other birds dotted around - please browse through the older posts...
4 comments:
chris,
I live in Saudi Arabia and see Isabelline Wheatear regularly. This pose is often taken up when the bird has found something to eat (grub etc) and it opens and spreads it wings a few times before taking the prey. I have seen them do it without the final outcome being eating but this is the time I have found that they do it regularly.
Cheers
Jem
www.birdsofsaudiarabia.com
Hi Jem. Thanks a lot for this comment - makes perfect sense.....
Chris
Hi Chris
The Fair Isle bird in '98 regularly used this pose when feeding. Added an additional distinctiveness to its behaviour
Phil
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