Skip to main content

White-Tailed Kites Grappling

                                                                     

One of the reasons I love White Tailed Kites

Looking up from photographing the coyote (in a previous post) I saw a pair of kites, off in the distance flying close to each other.  I focused my camera on them and began shooting.  It was all happening so fast and the image in the viewfinder was so small I did not fully grasp what I was capturing.  But here it is, a series of pictures with the two adult kites their talons locked together, spinning and falling toward earth.


                                  

Some people think they are fighting but I think that is unlikely.  They have to maneuver in the air with one of them turning onto its back for them to engage.  Seems more likely a mating ritual of some sort that involves the mutual consent and cooperation of both of them.  Or, then again, maybe they are just having fun!                             

Continuing to spin about as they descend together.


And now coming closer to the ground you can see the distant horizon coming into view.

And now they are really low to the ground and just beginning to disengage.  Later they were together again higher up, one rolling on its back as if inviting another go around.  I didn't see them lock on again, but quite frankly I was thrilled, which is to say I was really, really happy, with what I had seen.  

I just now read an article on white-tailed kites and the article called this behavior grappling and that it is most often done on the boarders of their territories.  Apparently a mid air drawing of the boundary lines.  But I have also heard is questioned as possibly play behavior.  Shucks, I like the mating idea better.  If anyone knows for sure what this behavior is I would love to hear from you.
Labels:

Comments

  1. Adios AsthmaApril 7, 2023 at 7:51 AM

    Bob,

    Your photographs are out of this world. Actually IN THIS WORLD, emphasizing the beauty that often escapes us. I found myself saying, "This is my favorite gallery." Then I changed my mind when I went to the next gallery. Bravo, Bob

    ReplyDelete
  2. Adios AsthmaApril 7, 2023 at 7:53 AM

    Magnificent!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

All comments are moderated. Please be patient. Your comment may take a while to appear. Thank you.

Popular posts from this blog

Family Life Of Red Foxes

The family life of a red fox is a joy to observe.  The kits are very much like puppies, jumping on and chasing each other almost the entire day.  Of particular interest is how the Vixens teach the kits to eventually become self sufficient around their food supply.  There are two vixen in this family unit, the mother and grandmother, and I can not tell them apart.  The kits you see here are still suckling from their mother.  But by this time in their young lives she is well on the way introducing them to game.  In the beginning she will stash the game, encouraging the kits to forage for it.  The next step in the process you can see here, where she brings game directly to the kits.   Here she is dropping a rabbit for them.  At this stage in the teaching she has killed the rabbit.  The next stage will be for her to bring them live game.  The little black one grabs the rabbit and makes a run for it getting away from his siblings. A...
1 comment
Read more

Red Foxes

I had never experienced anything quite like photographing red foxes.  I was with them nearly all day, for three days in a row.  I was so taken by them, especially the way they related to each other.  Above is the dog fox, the adult male of the group, with one of his offsrping, a female kit fox.    In this family group there were two vixen, one was the grandmother, the other the mother of three kits.  The adult females attended the den all day with one or the other going off to hunt, returning with food for the kits.  Missing most of the day was the dog fox and when he would return the kits all gravitated to him. All of the kits seemed to adore the dog fox but the moments between him and his daughter were especially touching.   What a gorgeous, photogenic animal he is.  When I returned a year later he was still there and there was a whole new brood of kits.  I am hoping to return again this year having missed last year due to a bout ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Art Display At The Center For Spiritual Living, Santa Rosa

 The Center for Spiritual Living Santa Rosa, has a wonderful program that encourages artist members to display their work.  The work is hung in the Social Hall and typically has about twenty pieces hanging for two months at a time.  On March 1rst I will be hanging several images taken in Iceland, along with some wildlife images, including foxes, coyotes, eagles and kites.  I will also have some paintings by my mother and two of my own.  I am pretty excited about this showing.   One of the pictures I will have in the show is of Godafoss, a beautiful waterfall in Iceland.  When I first saw pictures of this waterfall I knew I wanted to go to Iceland to take pictures of it.  This composition required gettin into some very cold water.
1 comment
Read more