Black-crowned Night-Heron Fight

[Paul Guris]

At the end of the day we were doing the Cape May CBC, we stopped by a spot that had been holding a few Black-crowned Night-Herons and one Great Blue in case the numbers were up or a Bittern appeared. One Black-crowned had the small open stream to itself, when another attempted to join in. The ensuing fight was positively brutal. The intruder was chased up the embankment, onto the grass by the road, and I managed to snap them in mid-tussle. Open, huntable water was at a premium and it's obvious the first bird did not want to share.

Nikon D90, Nikkor 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6
ISO 400, f/7.1, 1/200, -0.67EV, 120mm (180mm equivalent), Manual Mode
Nikon SB-900 Flash, -1 EV

86080

[John Chardine]

Interesting Paul. All-out fights like this are rare in the animal kingdom because the costs are potentially so high- your life and therefore all future breeding opportunities. It is rarely more profitable in evolutionary terms to all-out fight, even for the most valuable of resources. And when animals fight, a lot of it is "show". A good example is Elephant Seals, the males of which fight for females and harems. Although these fights look brutal, they rarely produce anything more than superficial cuts around the neck. Having said this, I saw a big male beach-master this year at Grytviken, South Georgia, with most of his nose torn off in an apparently titanic battle. He looked a mess but quite happy. Here he is in all his glory!