On 25-08-2008, at 8:03 PM, L&L Knight wrote:
I was outside of my house the other day when I noticed a T. Crow at
the back of a property across the street with its wings spread.
That was not something I could recall seeing before, so I popped
inside to collect my binoculars.
I initially thought the bird was caught on something and hanging
down, but it moved and I was able to see that it had both its wing
and tail feathers fully spread - the effect reminded me a bit of the
posture assumed by riflebirds. It held that attitude for a few
minutes before being approached by another crow and they both
dropped out of sight.
Is that wing & tail spread position typical of corvid mating display
behaviour?
Some years ago we once observed two Australian Ravens on the ground,
in the grounds of NSW Government House. It's hard to describe what
they were doing. They were facing each other, closely, their heads
held up and back and their beaks open slightly, with their wings
spread, held open kinda like the way a cormorant holds its wings out
to dry, not fully spread out. Big and glossy blue-black birds in their
prime shining in the bright sunlight. We stumbled upon them they were
on the grounds in the garden at the back, not more than 3 or 4 metres
away. They held this position for quite a while, i.e. 15 minutes or
more. We weren't sure whether it was a mating or dominance display or
even a defensive posture, as there was a noisy miner harrassing them,
but only intermittently (although why two ravens would be concerned
with a single noisy miner, I don't know).
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