Today’s clip showcases the amazing ability of large groups of starlings to fly together in tight (and beautiful!) formations, without a single bird crashing into its neighbor.
(note: the action starts about 25 seconds into the clip.)
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All posts tagged birds
Today’s clip shows a raven’s prowess at stealing others’ food. In the first part of the video, a raven teases an eagle until it gains access to the much larger bird’s prey. Even more impressive, however, is the thievery in which the bird engages in from a local fisherman (about 55 seconds in) – every day when the fisherman would leave his line unattended in a hole in the ice, the raven would later reel in the catch for itself.
In today’s clip, a lovebird shows off an interesting (and quite fashionable) adaptation on a behavior usually reserved for carrying nesting materials.
In today’s clip, a rescued bird and family dog enjoy each other’s company.
Wild cockatoos in suburban Sydney, Australia have started talking. Presumably, they are learning to repeat phrases they hear from other birds who were previously pets and were either released or escaped and who have since joined wild flocks. The Australian Museum in Sydney has even received calls from locals concerned they are hallucinating and wondering the cause of the phenomenon.
Many Chinese fishermen use cormorants to help catch their food. These birds are raised from birth by humans and are trained to dive for fish and bring them back to their owner’s raft. Although the fishermen’s system forces the cormorants to rely on their human masters (a loose rope around their neck makes it impossible for them to swallow their catches), these birds don’t work for free. Rather, cormorants have been found to keep track of their catches, and if they aren’t rewarded accordingly with fish of their own, they withhold effort.
This cockatoo turns keys to open two padlocks before opening its own cage.
If you enjoy dance clips, you should check out Animals don’t think’s new sister site, DAYNCE, which celebrates a different dance every day. From ballroom to breaking, from professionals onstage to breakdowns in people’s living rooms, any and all genres are fair game.
In the above clip, Snowball, the cockatoo famous for proving that non-humans have rhythm (and will even adjust their dancing to match different tempos!), recently showed off his moves for a group of scientists.
WARNING: Extreme dancing along ensues.
