Here are some more birds with their reflections or with simulated reflections

#LittlePiedCormorant

#AustralianWhiteIbis

#MagpieLark

Pic 5 - Amazingly a little friarbird joins the two magpies, and now the curlew has three aggressors. The picture looks like a pas-de-quatre from a ballet, but it's not art, it's serious (however it is #AYearForArt, because #ArtMatters

Pic 6 - None of the attacks has daunted the curlew, and one of the magpies tries a desperate vertical attack. It flies an inverted loop, ending in a vertical dive upside down onto the curlew. The curlew is unmoved.

Pic 7 - The curlew has had enough, and turns from defense to offense. Still on the ground, it sprints at the magpies, wings still spread. The magpies clearly understand the threat, and they flee.

Pic 7 - The victor, transforming back into Clark Kent.

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#photography #action #birds #BirdsOfMastodon #fighting #native #wildlife #curlew #MagpieLark

Birdfight at the OK Corral

A while back I posted some shots of lorikeets fleeing (spectacularly) from a single magpie lark.

Here is a surprising encounter between a bush stone curlew (Burhinus grallarius) and not one, but two magpie larks AND an accomplice.

I was actually trying to shoot a pair of spangled drongos (pic 1) having an argument (at extreme telephoto range), when I heard a commotion much closer to home. It was a stone curlew, on the ground, being seriously harassed by two magpie larks in the air.

The stone curlew is a superbly camouflaged bird (see pic 2 for an example in a different locale, where it's difficult to see even in the open), so it's doubly surprising to see how aggressively it responds to threat.

Here are some highlights.

Pic 3 - one magpie throws down the challenge, and the curlew responds by making itself large, and very noticeable
Pic 4 - the second magpie joins in the attack, so they're coming at the curlew both left and right.

How will it end?...

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👇

#photography #action #birds #BirdsOfMastodon #fighting #native #wildlife #curlew #MagpieLark

More diving. As you can see from these shots, the birds were traveling so fast they were often nearly out of shot. The last shot is the smug-looking (projection, there) magpie lark, after clearing out an entire tree before landing.

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#photography #birds #BirdsOfMastodon #action #flying #diving #wildlife #nature #lorikeet #MagpieLark

Dive! Dive! Dive!

Rainbow Lorikeet escape behaviour.

Rainbow Lorikeets (Trichoglossus moluccanus) are extremely agile and full of joie-de-vivre, both in the air and in trees. If they were human, I'm sure they'd be circus clowns.

Usually when it comes to an order of precedence at a feeder, the Rainbow Lorikeets will displace most other birds, some much larger than themselves (such as King Parrots).

However there is a species that causes them to—literally—dive for cover as soon as it's spotted, the Magpie Lark (Grallina cyanoleuca).

I was lucky enough to observe this behaviour when I was taking shots of the lorikeets feeding in a flowering gum, and a magpie lark flew over the tree (first pic). Next moment, the tree was raining lorikeets! They literally drop, head first, out of the tree, and dive for some distance before pulling up and fleeing—and they're very fast fliers.

Even on a moderate zoom I was hard pressed to keep them in shot.

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#photography #birds #BirdsOfMastodon #action #flying #diving #wildlife #nature #lorikeet #MagpieLark

early riser
magpie lark sings
double notes
~ Rose van Son
#Haiku #FreeHaiku #AustralianHaiku #HaikuOz #Poetry #AIArt #Craiyon #RoseVanSon #MagpieLark #MudLark #Peewit #Peewee @freehaiku

Watercolour of a Female Magpie Lark. I have watched this female in our garden so many times, often tapping on our windows. I loved how the light shone on her & her distinctive markings. #watercolour #birdart #bird #magpielark #art #artist #illustration