Tuesday, 18 January 2011

Missed Photo Opportunity - Rooks Sharing Food

This is something I have read about and now seen with my own eyes for the first time. I often put a slice of bread in one of the fat ball feeders near the bottom of the garden. The Rooks always arrive early in the morning and having the bread to go at keeps them away from the other feeders.

This morning, as usual, they spotted me in the kitchen and flew to a nearby tree. One had a large piece of bread in its beak. Another Rook landed on the same branch and leaned towards the first with wide open beak. After a few attempts at begging it was rewarded. The first Rook gave some of its bread to the second.

They were both adults as would be expected in the Winter. Of course I started up the video camera which is always ready on a short tripod on the work surface near the window but I was spotted and they all flew away. I can but hope that another opportunity arises to film this activity which may be part of the social group bonding or part of the mating ritual as occurs with Robins.

11 comments:

  1. Look forward to seeing any video footage of this. I've known about juveniles and sub adults (non breeding) corvids, especially jackdaws and rooks food sharing, but never adults. Corvids are a fascinating group as they work together in times of environmental pressure (and at other times), and now although it's not as cold as it has been, maybe your birds have learnt to co-operate as a loose family/social group for survival. Looking forward to more.

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  2. I have the same problems, when you have a good opportunity the camera wont start quick enough.
    Good luck next time.

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  3. Fascinating observation John. Hope you manage to capture it on camera.

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  4. One of the nice things about blogs is that you can record and share these observations even when they are not documented by photography. Now you have a whole bunch of us on the lookout for similar behavior. How cool is that?!

    cheers,
    Wilma

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  5. How fortunate that you were able to see that exchange with your own eyes. I could picture it!

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  6. Nice post!
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  7. Hello to The Wessex Reiver. Unfortunately I think it will be a long wait before I see that sort of activity again let alone managing to video it. It was great to have seen it though.

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  8. Hello to Ben the Dog. Tell me about it lol. There are more than a few times I have just missed recording an interesting piece of behaviour. As always its a question of being lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time.

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  9. Thank you Keith. I wonder what the chances are of seeing such activity again and capturing it on video. Can but hope.

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  10. That is true Wilma. I have seen several small species exchange food at mating time but it was the first time I had seen such a thing in the Winter.

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  11. It was very interest to see Glo. That is the beauty of observing nature - never know what will happen next.

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Thank you for visiting. Hope you enjoyed the pictures. Any comment, or correction to any information or identification I get wrong, is most welcome. John

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