Saturday, 4 February 2012

The Moon and a Confrontation.

Last night with a clear sky and the temperature down to -4C I decided it was an ideal time to have another session photographing the Moon. This was the best of the batch:

Moon_3541
Canon 50D  400mm 1/500sec f7.1 ISO500 cropped


Earlier, just as the light was beginning to fade, I had topped up the bird feeders and scattered some seed and suet pellets on the ground ready for the early birds the next morning. As has happened in the past a few birds were obviously watching from a nearby vantage point as it wasn't long before some Blackbirds and one lone Starling descended for a late snack. What caught my attention was a confrontation between a Blackbird and the Starling. The Blackbird was scolding the Starling and occasionally running straight towards it trying to scare it away.. The Starling stood bolt upright, still as a statue, not moving until it found an opportunity to grab a suet stick and fly off with it.

Confrontation_3531

It was so funny to watch as the Starling stayed absolutely still even when the Blackbird flew straight at it. Almost good enough for a caption competition.

10 comments:

  1. Lovely photo of the moon John, you can just see `The man in the moon`! ;)
    We have had a few quarrels breaking out in the back garden, but mostly it is just confined to Blackbirds bickering amongst themselves!
    J
    Follow me at HEDGELAND TALES

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  2. You have excelled today....the moon is stunning.
    That starling is just great.

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  3. Stunning Moon photo, John!

    The confrontation between the Blackbird and the Starling is so funny. It's not often you see a Starling being intimidated.

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  4. Great shot of the moon John; but that Starling wins the day for me. Excellent capture.
    He must be well 'ard! lol

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  5. what a great story about the blackbird and starling. I think "Feeder Rage" would be a good caption.

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  6. Thank you John. The Blackbirds seem to spend more time chasing each other than they do eating.

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  7. Thank you Jan. Starlings do seem to be the bruisers of the bird kingdom.

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  8. Thank you Keith. It was the perfect vision of 'stand your ground and stare out the opposition'.

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  9. Feeder Rage would be a good title Wilma.

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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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