Bird (feathered one) Playing?

[corydoras]

The bird is an anhinga.

 

It is a fish-eating bird, and it is highly likely this display is to demonstrate to prospective mates how very clever it is with fish-handling,

 

It is a male in breeding plumage

So it as a Suliform then. I knew it had to have a close relationship to cormorants. Edited March 25, 2015 by corydoras

[Andrew]

Learning how to manipulate fish so it can eat it.

[corydoras]

Maybe it just caught a "stick fish". I'm sure we have all caught at least one.

[Bobj]

Seen that happen when I lived in the New England Region of New South Wales.

As Vagabond says, it is anhinga, commonly known as snake bird due to its long, thin, bent neck.

[Vagabond]

Seen that happen when I lived in the New England Region of New South Wales.

As Vagabond says, it is anhinga, commonly known as snake bird due to its long, thin, bent neck.

Yes, there are actually four species recognised world-wide.

 

Anhinga or Darter Anhinga anhinga - USA and neotropics

African Darter Anhinga rufa - Tropical Africa

Oriental Darter Anhingha melanogaster - S and SE Asia

Australian Darter or Snakebird Anhingha novaehollandiae - Australia, New Guinea and adjacent islands

 

...or if you belong to the "lumpers" of the taxonomic world - all are just "Anhinga"

[corydoras]

Yes, there are actually four species recognised world-wide.

 

Anhinga or Darter Anhinga anhinga - USA and neotropics

African Darter Anhinga rufa - Tropical Africa

Oriental Darter Anhingha melanogaster - S and SE Asia

Australian Darter or Snakebird Anhingha novaehollandiae - Australia, New Guinea and adjacent islands

 

...or if you belong to the "lumpers" of the taxonomic world - all are just "Anhinga"

So what are you Dave; lumper or splitter?

[Dave H]

It may just be playing. I have had a bird do the same and the female used to get the right hump with him as he would not bring it back to the nest and kicked him out to get more...

 

I had a hawk once that i had to fly away from golf courses because as it would pick up a golf ball and drop it say 20 yards away,

never had an eagle or a birdie or albatross do one though

[Vagabond]

So what are you Dave; lumper or splitter?

If you look at the thread on Chub Squalius cephalus you might deduce I am neither, just an interested and sometimes entertained observer.

 

I might "lump" or "split" depending upon the context of what I am dealing with

 

Taxonomic systems are man-made for those that must put labels to everything. Fine for the chub, but almost useless for any really adaptable and variable organism - like (say) piranha - or even trout !

 

Evolution might regard taxonomists in the words of the Arab proverb. "The dogs bark, the caravan moves on"

[chesters1]

Magpies on watching on the cctv often play and some of it is deliberately destructive ,they also continually talk to a fellow if ones about in a quiet voice not the usual magpie call but much more complicated ,if ones alone its not as vocal as two and not as playful either ,on the other hand the resident jackdaws seem not to interact with each other are concentrate on feeding but i know after owning one they can on occasion deliberately annoy you i presume their form of playing.

And yes they do like shiny things and pinch them for themselves if possible

The play is not a presumed prowess in stick fetching etc but moving things from one place to another then back or pulling threads or string in a deliberate way or watching intently what the other one is doing then spoiling it by hiding whatever its playing with (sometimes while watching where the other bird is and doing it behind its back so to speak)

I guess its experimenting doing things i know the buggers try to open the bin but are not strong enough to get it open far enough but in time i am sure one will prop it open with a stick like the ones that use tools in the lab experiments with other crows ,they ofcourse do it for a reward but i am sure even in the bird mind doing something is reward enough in some cases

 

The jackdaw we had got fun out of emptying match boxes ,it put its foot on it and tapped the inside out with its beak and then scattered the matches about ,put them back in and it repeated it ,no reason why it didnt eat them or make tiny nests it just seemed to enjoy doing it and hunted for the box if you got fed up picking up matches and hid them

Edited April 2, 2015 by chesters1

[Dave H]

The crow family has a brain much bigger in size to their bodies than other birds and thats why they are more intellectual . But they have as other birds have no conscience and despite popular belief they are wary of shiny things and if anything they find them as a threat and will throw them to one side (the bold females) or avoid completely. Some people have known to hang CD's up in their garden so when the light reflects off them they get scared off and it works!

 

Animals do however seem to get fixated on what we can only call a hobby and like my bird ( with the golf ball) and many others over 25 years do seem to get enjoyment out of the weirdest things just like some of our hobbies seem to others.

 

Despite the also common belief that owls are wise too you could not be further from the truth as they have just about the smallest brain compared to their size and smaller than a crows probably as their face features take up most of their head so owls really are quite the dunce of the bird kingdom.