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Thursday, February 3, 2011

Smart Birds 2

Here's another example of intelligent birds. The seagulls pictured above and below were photographed out at Esquimalt Lagoon. Both photos were taken within about a half hour I spent observing these gulls (and others) flying past with these clams in their beaks. They catch the clams in the shallows of the lagoon and then fly over the road to a nearby bunch of large boulders. As soon as the gulls are above these rocks they drop the clams from high enough so that the force of their fall onto the rocks cracks the shells. The gull then swoops down and enjoys his shellfish.

8 comments:

JoJo said...

Those are great shots! So clear!!

Carola said...

Your shots are outstanding, so close. I like to see the details.

Canarybird said...

Benjamin you do take some wonderful bird photos! You can even see the drops of water falling from the clam in the first one.

Regards, Sharon.

RedPat said...

Wonderful shots! Smart birds!

Andy said...

Your photos have a quality that caught my attention. It's almost as if you were flying with the birds.

Dean Lewis said...

I knew crows did this, but not seagulls.
Some very quick focusing to get these great shots.

Leeds daily photo said...

I saw the first photo and thought some kind of nut, like an almond, but no. Clever birds indeed, though I too have seen crows do this, magpies here too. Great pictures!

tennisjazz said...

wonderful shots -- well done.