A situation where gushing hormones aren’t necessarily your friend.
1/4000, f/6.3, ISO 800, Canon 7D Mark II, EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM @ 114mm, not baited, set up or called in
Three days ago in the mountains this male Mountain Bluebird had a gigantic chip on his shoulder. He had learned that vehicles, with their outside mirrors, brought rival male bluebirds with them. Or at least that’s what he thought they were, so he attacked them at every opportunity and on more than one vehicle. In reality those rival males were only his own reflection in the mirrors.
Here he’s attacking his reflection in the mirror of my pickup. I took quite a few photos of him doing so but for this one I wanted his reflection to be my primary subject (rather than the actual bird) so to get the proper angle I walked to the back of my pickup and took a few photos from there. It isn’t a great shot but I think it’s a highly interesting one.
I plan on devoting a more extensive blog post to this very aggressive bluebird but once again it’ll take me some time plopped in front of my computer to get that many photos processed.so that didn’t happen today.
Ron
Another photographer who I am friends with on FB also had the same experience there. She has a neat video of the encounter. If you are interested I can send the link.
Are raging hormones EVER our friend. They seem to me to be the power in the sadomasochistic relationship that too many of us, from too many species experience.
Wonderful shot – and I look forward to learning/seeing more when your back will allow it.
“Are raging hormones EVER our friend.”
EC, taken literally I’d say they’re usually our friend, even when they’re “raging”, which they’re usually doing for a positive purpose. There are many kinds of hormones and most of them, most of the time, perform useful, even life maintaining, functions for us.
But regarding out-of-control sex hormones specifically? – point well taken.
Great shot, Ron! Sometimes we beings really can be our own worst enemy. I get many springtime inquiries from concerned folks whose side mirrors are being attacked, often by CA Towhees. I have fun telling them to put a sock in/on it! Once they realize I’m not suggesting that they be quiet, they get out socks, bags, etc., cover the mirrors (or parts of sliding glass doors) and return to angst-free yard birding. Thanks for another gem. Continue to heal that back!
I’m working on it, Nanci. It’s a slow process.
Attacking mirrors and reflections in windows can be a real problem with territorial male birds. Male Cardinals have been known to attack their reflections until they were bloody, or have even died from self inflicted injuries and/or exhaustion.
Yes I’ve heard of extreme cases like that, Rene.
One of my favorite bird species (anywhere). I once saw one perched on a small shrub on a snow-covered Tuolumne Meadow in Yosemite NP.
Patrick, Mountain Bluebirds in snow are often strikingly beautiful.
I’m sorry that bird was so upset by the “stranger danger” he envisioned here, but good golly, what a great photo! ♥️
Thank you, Chris.
Love the capture of the reflection. I’ve seen exactly the same behavior for Mountain Bluebirds before, and many other species. This is the time of year when I get many calls about “this bird attacking my window”. It’s often a Song Sparrow or a Spotted Towhee but it may be the males of many other species as well. Those pesky reflections just look too real. I always tell people to do what they can to reduce any reflection and assure them this behavior will diminish as the birds get their nests well established. With territory well established and nesting underway the male now turns his attention to feeding his mate and any nesstlings. Blackbirds are known for attacking more than just reflections. Many times I have been hit on the head by a male Brewer’s Blackbird defending his territory in the nearby bushes. Barbara and I were once returning to the parking lot of a nearby park. The driver of a pick-up was trying to leave but a peacock kept attacking his front bumper preventing him from leaving. We eventually shooed the peacock to one side long enough for the driver to leave.
I’ll say this, Dan – a peacock attacking my pickup would get my attention! As large as they are I suspect they can make quite a fuss when they’re upset and hormone-driven
I swear, Ron, when birds see you coming they feel compelled to do something of interest. How else to explain all the curious behaviors you have seen.
No less your ability to catch them on film.
I wonder about birds seeing their reflection and what it says about their intelligence. They see the reflection but don’t recognize it as themselves. Or maybe they do and don’t like what they see.
“How else to explain all the curious behaviors you have seen.”
Lyle, when I first started blogging twelve years ago I had a difficult time choosing the words for the ‘subtitle’ to my blog, particularly when it came to these words – “devoted primarily to bird photography and bird behaviors”.
Behaviors were what I was most interested in (although I like ‘pretty bird photos too) but I wondered three things: would my interest in behaviors diminish over time? Would I see enough behaviors to make that subtitle an accurate description of my blog? And would I be able to photograph enough of the behaviors to do the same thing?
But in the end, my interest in behaviors didn’t diminish, I saw lots of behaviors and eventually I became reasonably successful at photographing them.
So, I think I photograph as many interesting behaviors as I do because my interest in them has me looking for them intensely, in many cases I’ve learned to anticipate behaviors and over time I’ve developed the photography skills needed to document them.
At least that’s how I’d explain it…
Mirrors are tricky. My farm dogs went with me to my parents’ home, where there was a full length mirror. When three of the females were confronted with the mirror, the pack’s black and white leader stood at an angle to the mirror and the light colored second in command put her front legs up on the leader’s back. Then the second in command got down and the third dog walked in front of the leader’s face. With those actions, the dogs understood they were seeing themselves and each other. I caught all five of them looking at themselves in the mirror during our visit.
Behaviors! They’re fascinating, Pam – no matter what kind of critters are involved.
Great shot. Really captures the intensity of the moment.
Here is southern California we get hooded orioles for nesting right about April. I think they are nesting in a palm or decorative banana tree in my neighbors yard. At some point during their stay, what looks like females or juvenile males (I can’t tell them apart), start attacking their image in the sideview mirrors of our CR-V; going at it for days on end. Thinking that they were wasting energy (and fouling the side of our car), we eventually went to covering the mirrors with old pillow cases.
If they are juveniles, could this behavior also be a solicitation for food from what they perceive to be a parent?
Michael, I don’t know the answer to your question for sure but this is a behavior that I’ve only seen in adult males, of any species.
This behavior is aggressive and not at all like feeding or begging behaviors. This is seen almost exclusively in adult males and only when defending a territory. Usually this only occurs before a mate is obtained or at least before a female has completed her nest and is sitting on eggs. By the time the young have fledged but may still be seeking food from parents, this behavior will have stopped. It is hormonally driven and as nesting season progresses, the testosterone driving this behavior declines and the aggression also declines. Along with this, other hormones increase that initiate brooding in females and males of some species. Males still sing but territories are well established and strong territorial aggression is not as necessary. Boundaries are usually well-respected by other neighbors of the same species.
About 16 years ago, this happened to a car my husband and I were driving in Australia. Interestingly, the attacking bird was also colored mostly blue.
You managed a really good photo of the event. I’m looking forward with anticipation to more of the story.
Nancy, at this point I’m thinking I’ll be able to tell “more of the story” in the next few days.
Hilarious! Great capture Ron!
Thanks, Kathleen.
Very interesting Ron and I have seen this behavior years back on my own car, but I forget now what species it was. Excellent shots. Ken’s inputs above are interesting and informative.
Thank you, Everett.
Good one! 🙂 Excellent capture of the reflection without glare! At times at work I’d come out to the employee parking lot to find everything from crows to magpies to smaller birds having had windshields and mirrors on some “shiney” vehicles – mine was never that clean….. 😉
Judy, it’s a good thing I keep my mirrors cleaner than I keep the rest of my pickup!
They are feisty little birds and very territorial. Our Eastern Bluebirds attack others of their own species aswell as other interlopers. I saw the male engage a Tree Swallow and they fell directly to the ground and were tangled in battle for a couple of seconds befor the swallow retreated.
Ken, interesting that a bluebird was apparently able to ‘catch’ a swallow, as fast as they can fly. Those hormones can perform near miracles.
On the other hand, maybe the swallow was being aggressive too, rather than just defensive.
True– the swallows were competing with the bluebird for one of our two bluebird boxes. The bluebirds eventually won after I helped by removing the nests of competing House Sparrows for three or four days. Without my help the sparrows seemed to have the edge in persistence and aggression.