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| Willets Fighting |
The other day I was at Fort De Soto in the St. Petersburg area. I went there in part to photograph Reddish Egrets in breeding plumage, but it was also fun to see many Willets all over the beaches. One afternoon two Willets were near the shore and they got into a pretty good fight. It all happened so fast that it was hard to see what was going on, let alone keep the two birds straight as they fought. The photographs helped me see what they were doing. In the end, there was a clear winner and a clear loser. I thought it might be fun for this post to show the sequence of photographs I was able to take home. It's moments like these that feed my addiction to bird photography.
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| Ouch! |
Male Willets defend their feeding and nesting territories from other males, and fights can ensue. My guess is one of these Willets encroached on the territory of another.
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| I got you right where I want you |
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| That's gotta hurt |
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| Back Off! |
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| Flight and Chase |
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| Flight and Chase |
The sun was getting ready to set; I so wish I had better lighting for this encounter, but it's fun just to witness this--well, at least is was for me. I suspect the loser of this fight doesn't feel the same way.
Great shots, I love seeing the willet's beautiful wings while they are in flight.
ReplyDeleteGreat capture of territory behavior Scott
ReplyDeleteWhat a scintillating series! Great action sights and insight provided into Willet behavior. That one seems to have some moves.
ReplyDeleteThanks. Yes, the winner certainly seemed to heavily "outskill" the opponent.
DeleteWonderful action images Scott!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful bird fight :))) And excellent photography.
ReplyDelete...great set of action photos! Glad you were fast on the draw with your camera.
ReplyDeleteMaravilloso that it captured ha magic Resplandor final horinha! Amazing! abrazo
ReplyDeleteWow, how wonderful to have gotten these fight scenes in images so beautifully, a great and interesting series~
ReplyDeleteWow, that was a pretty action packed battle! I've never seen Willets in a territorial dispute before. Fantastic captures of territorial behavior, Scott!
ReplyDeleteThose are some amazing shots! And to think I thought of Willets as benign birds!
ReplyDeleteThanks! They're one of my favorite shorebirds, largely because of scenes like this.
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