Monday, December 7, 2009

First Come First Serve

Traditionally, monsoon period also means that is good time to go for bird watching. Lots of migratory birds will stop over here for the next 3 months to re-fuel their energy after long journey here to avoid the cold winter from the north. Other than Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve, Central Catchment area, neighbourhood parks are all good place to start. I head to Pulau Ubin last week end to try my luck.
The first thing that I notice is that lots of grey heron (Ardea cinerea)here are changing to the breeding plumage, with their bill changed to orange or reddish colour such as the one on top.
This grey heron first perch on this tree but was fast facing unwanted guests - flock of crows! This poor heron took quite some times to get some peace! However, before the heron able to rest, here comes another guest - a competitor!Unwilling to share this prime area, the heron protest to this uninvited guest by raising up both wings!
Both heron trying to fight for this prime area and unwilling to give way.
Looks like both are really serious and a fight is unavoidable!
The heron on the left seems to be gaining ground, so far no physical contact yet.
For the next 2 minutes, the stand off continues and both heron are trying to scare opponent away without any physical contact.
The saga continue for another minute and the heron on the right show sign of retreat...
The heron on the right finally gave up and flew away and end the saga.
It is very common for birds to fight for 'prime area' especially branches that with good vantage point.

2 comments:

  1. Wow excellent series of images of the heron. We have these here, but I never seen something like that. Anna :)

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  2. Perhaps they don't need to compete with each others there as space is not an issue. In Singapore, we have very limited limited space for the wildlife. That could be the reasons.

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