Animal Behavior

[Waterspyder]

Since most of us spend a great deal of time outdoors I am sure you’ve seen some animal behavior you don’t really understand.
Here are a few of my examples:

We had a turkey nest next to our driveway with eventually eleven eggs ten of which hatched on the same day. Turkeys normally lay one egg a day and incubate for 28 days. How the heck do they all hatch on the same day. Does the last egg hatch and then going around to wake up the others?

Paddling Stony Creek in the Adirondacks a chipmunk swam across the creek in front of my boat. Every time I’ve seen a chipmunk run it has it’s tail up in the air, well they seem to swim in the same manner. Why don’t they use it like a rudder?

I just came back from a trip to Home Depot and there had to be at least 100 seagulls in the parking lot. I can understand where the seagull nest at the ocean or Long Island sound which are not far away but where do parking lot seagulls nest as there sure seem to be a lot of them around here?

 

[Glenn MacGrady]

Long ago, I noticed when paddling a river how a single heron would fly out of tree slightly ahead of me and land on a tree several hundred yards downstream. Then the heron would repeat that flight as I approached its next tree. On and on with this game of hopscotch. I always wondered why the heron didn't fly upstream so it would get rid of me. Surely a bird is smart enough to know I was traveling downstream and would likely continue to do so.

I've seen similar behavior in flocks of other birds as I've paddled down rivers.

 

[yknpdlr]

Like the heron, a mother duck will leave her chicks clustered near shore and fly downstream ( or upstream) ahead of an approachiing canoe. She will repeat several times, leaving the chicks far behind. Obviouisly it is to lure the dangerous predator far from the chicks. Eventually she will circle around and go back to them. A killdeer with a nest (often made in stones of the same color as her speckled eggs) will fake a broken wing and flop around crying as she leads you away from the nest. Other birds do the same, including partridge.

 

[MrPoling]

I'm convinced herons, hawks, and other birds of prey know when you're watching them. If you keep your face forward and watch them with a side glance they fly away a lot less often. But on small southern rivers the heron hop is unavoidable.

We saw a heron step on a turtle once. It was pretty funny. And surely he knew it was there, his whole business is catching things at his feet.

The most puzzling behavior I've encountered was homo sapiens. But I'll not hijack this thread with stories of their bizarre behavior.

 

[PaddlingPitt]

I just came back from a trip to Home Depot and there had to be at least 100 seagulls in the parking lot. I can understand where the seagull nest at the ocean or Long Island sound which are not far away but where do parking lot seagulls nest as there sure seem to be a lot of them around here?

I know that most people use the generic term “seagull” in reference to any gull that they might see. But in the science of ornithology, there is no bird officially known as “seagull.” This short article notes that there are at least 28 species of gulls in North America, none of them are called seagull. Please have a look to see the 28 species-specific names for gulls. It’s not a pet peeve of mine, but somewhat closish.

Gulls (Laridae) - Birds of North America - North American Birds

The gulls are more or less the scavengers of lakes, seas and oceans. These birds of varying sizes can be seen across the continent, some in cities, others in farmfields and along the coastlines.

www.birds-of-north-america.net

 

[Waterspyder]

I agree as most of the gulls we see locally are ring-billed with Herring gulls coming in second. My use of the generic term was a result of experience mentioning something like an Alewife and people look at you with a blind stare but if you say herring many can understand what you are talking about. My quandary still remains where are all these parking lot gulls nesting?

 

[Glenn MacGrady]

Aha! The pedantic "Canadian Goose" objection.

Seagull or Gull: Who Really Cares?

When birders reflexively correct common names like "seagull" or "Canadian goose," they may turn newcomers off the hobby altogether.

www.audubon.org

 

[jdeerfoot]

Funniest wildlife observation I ever saw involved the resident squirrels and chipmunks that frequent a bird feeder just outside a window at a local nature center. I watched as several squirrels and a few chipmunks were feeding on spilled bird seed. The largest squirrel would chase away the chipmunks which would return only to be chased back into a nearby woodpile. As I watched the two chipmunks sat on top of the woodpile and suddenly one lept off and landed spread eagled directly on the back of the largest squirrel. The squirrel cart wheeled through the air chasing the attacking chipmunk back into the woodpile.

 

[Gamma1214]

Does the last egg hatch and then going around to wake up the others?

A fresh, unwashed egg can sit at room temperature for about a month or so but, I believe, the chick inside does not begin to develop until the hen starts brooding. In theory, she could hatch a clutch of 30 or so all on the same day (though that would be a huge hen to cover them all adequately)

 

[Cheeseandbeans]

I witnessed a chipmunk stalk, dispatch, and eat a large frog…. Didn’t expect that.

I found a dead but seemingly unharmed fish (crappie) in my front yard. I’m guessing an eagle dropped it.

 

[clemency]

Last summer I saw a pair of catfish what I thought at first was scarfing down a school of minnows, but they weren't actually eating. Turns out the "minnows" were young catfish, and catfish parents herd them around for their protection. Was very cool. Probably at least 100 of the young. I've got vid, but can't upload an MP4. Alas.

 

[JohnSand]

When I see gulls away from the beach, I look for bad weather.
A few curious incidents:
Walking the beach one day I saw a gull with a fishhook in his bill, and the leader buried. He was trapped. I spoke to him softly and moved slowly closer until I could cut him free. When I walked away, he flew circles around me all the way down the beach.
Another time I was a guest aboard a catamaran in Provincetown. The owners and their friends formed a band, and played folk music on deck. When they played, a seal popped up astern and rocked back and forth in time with the music. Whenever they stopped, he dove, only to return when the music started.
Somewhere I have a picture of a warbler perched on my foot on my boat at sea.

 

[yknpdlr]

When I was in the Air Force flying out of the then Griffiss AFB in Rome NY, on warm moist spring mornings we often had hundreds of gulls (I don't know exactly which kind) occupy runways and taxiways, scarfing up thousands of earthworms/nightcrawlers that had crawled onto the pavement overnight. Sometimes they were so concentrated that they had to be cleared by shotgun. Being a Strategic Air Command base, B-52 bombers carrying nukes (oops, I cannot confirm or deny that) and KC-135 refueling tankers coud be called upon to launch with zero notice, so birdstrikes were a constant caution. Where did they come from? There is a rather small lake nearby, large Oneida Lake 25 miles further, and much larger Lake Ontario 50 miles away.

 

[PaddlingPitt]

One morning, two springs ago, I took our dog, Shadow, down to our garden, and stepped into the grass to attach him to a tree while I weeded. I actually inadvertently stepped on this fawn that lay perfectly still, as instructed by its mother, while she was away foraging. I have read that new-borne fawns are scentless, to evade detection by predators. Our dog is quite a hunter, and can smell/hear and capture meadow voles and shrews in their tunnels beneath two feet of snow. Shadow, only a couple of feet away, never knew the fawn was there. Quite amazing. I checked later in the afternoon, and the fawn was gone.

 

[Aslowhand]

Wabakimi June 2022

 

[yknpdlr]

show me the way to go.

 

[ppine]

Animals are honest. Sometimes you have to think for awhile to figure out what their intent is. I find it rewarding because there is no ego, or ulterior motives involved. What you see is what you get.

I have lived with multiple dogs for a half century. They have taught me a lot. But it is the equines, donkeys, mules and horses that have taught me the most. They speak with body language. They do not lie. They tell you what is going to happen before it happens. Mules in particular are really smart and intuitive. They do not suffer fools. They have taught me patience and that the fastest way to train animals of all species is with kindness. After working with mules, most horses are easy.

 

[MrPoling]

I was in the ocean once (when I was young and rude to wildlife) with a couple of dolphins. They disappeared as I broke through the breakers. I stopped paddling for a moment, thinking I'd scared them off. Suddenly they both jumped completely out of the water, from opposite sides of the canoe, perfectly synchronized, and only 4 feet past the bow. I could see their dark shiny eyes looking at me.

I wondered if they were curious or showing off or what.

 

[scoutergriz]

paddling a western river we had a grizzly follow us for the better part of 3 days. it never huffed, or did anything aggressive, he would just pop out of the alders every hour or so. it was always the same one, a scarred up brute missing an ear, It kept to his side, and we camped on gravel banks during that run. eventually he just stopped and stood on the beach watching us as we passed then turned around and headed back up the river.
It took us a while but we eventually figured out that all he was doing wasn't being threatening, but just escorting us out of his territory.

 

[tketcham]

I spent a lot of time working in the woods during my career so I've had some interesting encounters with wildlife of all kinds but the most exciting encounter was with a cougar. I'd been working and camping alone for about a week in a fairly remote area of Oregon and I'm sure that the cougar had been keeping track of me the entire time. Well, one day while I'd stopped for lunch, something caught my attention. It was the cougar, down in a creeping crouch with it's ears laid back, moving towards me as I sat leaning against a tree. I slowly reached over to grab a stout branch to use as a weapon and began talking to the cougar in a quiet voice. It crept forward several more yards and stopped. I kept talking and it raised it's ears back up. Good sign. Then it sat up. Another good sign. After what seemed like an eternity watching me as I talked, it stood up, turned, and disappeared into the forest. I took my logger tape and measured the distance from my tree to where the cougar had been sitting. It was 70 feet away when it stopped. I've had them follow me - you could see their tracks overlaid on my tracks in the dirt or snow - but that's the only time (that I know of) where they were actually stalking me and getting ready to pounce. I was never afraid, but always aware.