Intelligent life, and it’s not in the halls of Congress
I’m pretty much a believer in the intelligence of wildlife.
I think they are a lot more intelligent than we give them credit for.
In fact, maybe man’s simply not intelligent enough to understand what all these other creatures that we share the Earth with are actually thinking.
The Secretary Bird (Sagittarius serpentarius) at the San Diego Zoo is a great example.
I stood and watched it for almost an hour the other day.
Interestingly, I didn’t connect with it— or did I? An hour with it? — until I got home and saw the pictures I had taken:
The Secretary Bird is a Vulnerable species from Africa. It is related to buzzards and vultures but is the only species in the family Sagittariidae. It gets as tall as four feet with an 87-inch (7¼ feet!) wingspan. They spend most of their time on the ground although roosting in acacia trees.
Adult birds hunt mostly in pairs but sometimes in a loose familial flock. They discover prey by stomping on clumps of vegetation or waiting near wildfires and capturing anything trying to escape. They are known to stomp on their prey until it is stunned or unconscious enough to swallow, and there are unconfirmed reports that they know which snakes are venomous, capturing them, taking flight, and then dropping those snakes to their death before making a meal of them.
Now tell me these birds aren’t intelligent!
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Posted on March 19, 2013, in Birds, Fauna, Mother & Father Nature, Photos, Zoo & Safari Park and tagged bird pictures, intelligent life, san diego zoo pictures, secretary bird pictures. Bookmark the permalink. 35 Comments.
So cool!
Hi,
Thank you. I agree that animals are very intelligence. I didn’t know that about the Sagittarius bird, so thanks for an interesting lesson in Biology.
Ciao,
Patricia
Hey, Pat. I stopped by your blog a couple of days ago but you don’t seem to be blogging anymore. Hope all is well.
Hi,
Still blogging but I had to take the time to get my manuscript ready for submission to the James Jones First Novel Contest by Feb 28. Made the deadline and now I am getting my feet back on the ground.
Thanks for inquiring Russel. You’ve brought a little more light into my day.
Take care.
Ciao,
Pat
Glad to know you were doing something worthwhile and not sick and out of it. Hope the contest goes well for you!
When you take photos, do you look through a lens or a screen? I don’t feel connected with anything I photograph (I use a crappy camera and a screen) because of the displacement and the feeling that the creature is not connected to me, I’m not sharing eye contact with it. Seems like it connected to your photos, like you said. Animals are intelligent – my dog has me wrapped around her dewclaw
I look through the viewfinder on the digital SLR camera. I originally tried point & shoot cameras, but the lack of a viewfinder meant using the LCD screen, and I couldn’t make a connection with the world around me by looking at an LCD screen.
Maybe it was the bird’s aloofness then? The two shots where he is looking at you seem like he made a connection to you.
I told him I’d make him an Internet star!………lol
gorgeous bird, love the feathers on its head which look like a beautiful crown.. and love zoey’s paw..
Beautiful pictures…beautiful bird!
You really connected with that bird Russel.
What an awesome looking bird! Great shots
Beautiful bird and photos.
Beautiful bird!!! Great shots too!!!
Russ…you have to get your stuff available to purchase. I love these!
I will, but only the best. I’m cataloging things right now to separate the good from the bad. If I could just quit taking 500 pictures each day, I might be able to get caught up and get something going at SmugMug or Fine Art America.
intelligent post…
hello…
Beautiful. Those eyes! And are those eyelashes? Yep, you connected alright.
What a stunningly elegant creature. Thank you so much, Russel, for sharing your photos and your talent. It is greatly appreciated.
Awesome post! Beautiful shots and great info about a bird that I had never heard of before. We are truly surrounded by amazing creatures!
They may be related to vultures and buzzards, but they got all the looks in the family.
http://kissmeunderthepinkblossomtree.wordpress.com/2013/03/20/tagged-in-blog-award/
Thank you!
Thanks for stopping by and liking my blog today.
Brilliant!
what a beauty
Wow – wonderful! Magestic and attractive!
What a unique creature. You captured his beauty, Russel.
Beautiful looking bird and by the looks I’d say he knows it..
Unreal shots! What a beautiful bird! Thanks for sharing.
I had to come back to look at those fab pictures again. Such beautiful eyes and what a natty hat she’s wearing! Regarding intelligence in nature/animals – I really believe that is true. So much is going on underneath the surface, so much we are too busy/wrapped up in ourselves to process. I really feel that.
That is a crazy looking bird. Never seen anything like that before. Reminds me of that dinosaur from Jurassic Park the movie . . .
I want to draw these!!! Awesome shots! Thanks for stopping by……I am so lucky to meet so many talented people on here, including yourself. I can’t wait to view more soon!
Unusual AND beautiful.