The fight of the year!steemCreated with Sketch.

in hive-174578 •  5 years ago  (edited)

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Here I will show you a serious fight between two Cape Glossy Starlings.
People would rather watch two lions fight, but these two birds are real warriors in their own way!

We were sitting in traffic and I was fortunate to look out of the drivers window to see the fight in a grass field next to the road. Not easy to film it in a driving position, but I think that you will like the results.
Starlings are known as easy going birds that can get along with other birds, but in this case I think it was either a territorial fight, or a fight for the hand of a lady. Could of course also have been two siblings arguing about seniority, or leadership.
Whatever the reason was, let's have a look at the fight!

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It all started like this, they sat in the tree and then the one attacked the other in flight!

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Straight down they came to land next to a fencing post in the field!

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I kept one eye on them and one eye on the traffic, but you can see that these guys were serious!

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Soon the dust started to fly as they hacked at each other!

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Soon they switched roles until eventually I could not tell which one was at the top!

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A silent fight, as not one of them made a sound and I could only hear the sound of car engines running!

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Here I thought that we had a winner and that the fight was over!

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But not so, as the other one had plans of his own Lol.

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Now it looked like the victor role was reversed as the other guy was on top!

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But the first Starling learned Judo lessons somewhere and flipped the other guy over!

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How is this for a real fighter's pose?

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You can see the seriousness of the fight as this soldier's face doesn't look too good!

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At last a winner and just as the cars were getting ready to get going again!

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All over? Not a chance as they were at it again, but the cars were hooting behind us in the traffic and we had to get going!

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They say that Starlings' stomachs are blue, so I found a plane with a blue stomach hahaha!

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And just for fun to settle your nerves after the fight, here is another plane that came along a bit later!

Some more information about the Starlings below!

Cape Glossy Starling!

"The Cape starling is found in the southern part of Africa. Its range encompasses the extreme south of Gabon, the west and south of Angola, the extreme south of Zambia, the southern half of Zimbabwe, Namibia, Botswana, Lesotho and South Africa. It is a vagrant to the Republic of the Congo but does not breed there. In the other countries in its range it is a resident (non-migratory) species and its total extent of occurrence is about 3,000,000 square kilometres (1,200,000 sq mi). The Cape starling is found where trees in which it can roost and nest are found. It is not a bird of dense forest or of pasture and is not associated with any particular plant type. It does occur in open woodland, plantations, savannah, bushveld, rough grassland, parks and gardens and is quite numerous in the central Kalahari where isolated trees occur".

"The Cape starling is a gregarious bird and forms large flocks in the non-breeding season. It usually feeds on the ground often foraging alongside other species of starlings such as the pied starling, the common starling, the greater blue-eared starling, the lesser blue-eared starling, the wattled starling and Burchell's starling. It is habituated to humans and its diet includes fruit, insects and nectar. It sometimes feeds on ectoparasites that it picks off the backs of animals and it sometimes visits bird tables for scraps".

"Breeding mainly takes place between October and February but may continue into April in Namibia. It nests in crevices such as holes in trees and out-competes other birds seeking to use these holes. It is a host to the greater honeyguide, a brood parasite that lays its eggs in other birds' nests.[2] In an observed nest in a thorn tree at the edge of the Kalahari, the chicks were fed predominantly on grasshoppers, locusts, ants and beetles, and were also given fruit, insect larvae and other small invertebrates".

Source

Note; Only the parts above in the inverted brackets ("") are not my own and according to the rules the parts were duly cited by the source of origination.
All of the photos and descriptions are my own, the photos are unedited and only cropped for uploading purposes.

Great that I could show you another side of these Starlings. They can be found only here in the Southern parts of the African continent. They have beautiful colors as at times the sun causes their feathers to shine in a midnight blue.
But they are still "old school" birds that settle their differences face to face and none of the back stabbing of today is in their behavior!

We hope that you have enjoyed the pictures and thank you for visiting a post by @papillonfoundation

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I never thought birds could be that ferocious and they seemed to carry on for quite some time - they were serious! It must have been over a mate to get that serious! I hope that they finished thier fight before the fighting finished one of them off!
Beautiful shots and the coloring on the birds is quite beautiful too!
And to think this was all from the drivers seat in traffic!

Thank you and we thought along the same lines as it would be sad if one perished. I love the way that sun plays on their feathers and they are indeed beautiful.
I was just in the right place at the right time my friend.
Blessings and thank you!

#posh share; Source

Hahaha as always the images are gorgeous, but what make this post so Great is the way you mixed your shots with your narrative.

Thank you my friend and it was indeed interesting to watch these two having a go at each other. The narrative was just applied as bit of glue to hold it all together.
Glad that you liked the post.
Blessings!

How fortunate to be a front-row spectator in this fighting ring between these two winged fighters. You got some good shots. Well done, you also enlightened us about these beautiful birds.

Thank you for the kindness my friend.
I try to keep my posts interesting and informative.
The front row was a luck as we were stopped in a traffic jam and I always keep an eye on my surroundings!
Glad that you liked the post.
Blessings!

You amaze me! Driving a car and being a fantastic photographer at the same time. You really did have a ringside seat for this fight. And you are right they are vicious Warriors. Thanks for posting these to #featheredfriends
!Tip

Thank you Lady Melinda and I have learned to do what I can do with my camera when I see something interesting. Fortunately Marian knows how to change the gears and also how to hold the wheel, as times it frees me to hang out the window hahaha. Always when there are no cars behind us, but I don't know what the oncoming drivers think Lol. Maybe they think that I have a self drive car hahaha.
Thank you for the kind support my friend
Blessings!

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oh, there’s a whole dramatic story! It’s a great luck to catch such shots.

There was indeed a lot of drama.
Just in the right place at the right time my friend!
Blessings!

WOW I never knew they fought between them selves and so viscously it seems, thanks for sharing this with us

Blessings

Glad to share it JJ and it was a no holds barred affair.
Blessings also to you guys!

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Blessings!

Rarely get chance to capture those kind of photograph. Beautiful photographs sir.

Just some luck my friend.
Blessings and thank you!

You always capture great stories when it comes to wildlife. Bird looks mean but has a lovely color. Looks like a nasty fight because of the injuries there.

I have seen them fight with other birds, normally about food, but now and again they get into quarrels like this one and it's always a vicious scenario my friend.
They of course go all out.
Let's hope one of the didn't perish.
Blessings and thank you!

I have seen them fight off Indian Mynah's never two of them scrap it out like that, must be a territorial issue to draw blood in attack. Interesting piece of information you have here Stephen.

That's just the thing Lady Joan, they are not territorial and that's why I am guessing. We just hope that they both were alive at the end.
Blessings and thank you!

Beautiful birds, I like their glossy feathers. They know karate too. 😉 I always learn something new from your posts, trying to catch up with reading everything, thank you for being such an interesting and prolific blogger my friend 😊

Wow! What a kind comment here my friend.
Those birds are indeed great fighters when they get angry and the yellow eyes just make them to look more aggressive.
Blessings and thank you for the kind words!

Gorgeous pictures, especially taken from a car. I can't seem to get pics like that to be clear.

I intend to curate your post if you don't mind.

Thanks for sharing.

Thank you for the kindness of curating and I am glad that you liked the pictures my friend.
Blessings!

I love to hear the whole story when I am watching a fight! What great pictures and the best part of course, is having you give me a blow by blow description! LOL

Thanks you and awesome photography!

To the moon!!!! I love it!

!tip

Thought to include the moon shots, as I parked the car the planes came over one after the other and it was indeed a magical sight.
Glad that you liked the post and thank you for the tip my special friend.
Blessings and hope that you will have a great day!

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Thanks for the photos and the narrative! I love the colors of their feathers!

Thank you and they are indeed beautiful birds my friend.
Blessings!

Howdy sir papilloncharity! What an amazing scene! Too bad you had to move on, I wonder how long that fight lasted?

Greetings Sir @janton, no idea but I know that when they get into fights with other birds, most notably Indian Mynas, the fights don't last very long. Let's hope that they both made it!
Blessings!