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Bonaire Nature & Nature Organizations: Yellow warbler
Bonaire Talk: Bonaire Nature & Nature Organizations: Flamingos, Parrots, and other birds of Bonaire: Yellow warbler
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By tom and barbara wilson on Friday, November 10, 2000 - 8:44 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

Has anyone else seen that small yellow bird (jerry L. would kill me for not ID'ing)in Washington Park. It is totally inamored with the side rear view mirrors of vistors autos. This pretty bird came and sat right by the drivers window and kept flying up to the mirror. Then over to the passenger side and on to other cars.
Just amazing.

Tom

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Peggy Bowen on Friday, November 10, 2000 - 7:10 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Getting back to that yellow bird from a few posts up.
It might have been a yellow warbler. They are usually all over the place. The male has a brown cap and brown striped on the breast. Both sexes will try to 'fight' other birds (the one in the mirror) to get them out of their territory - especially if they are nesting. They eat insects!
We have seen them nesting in Nov., Jan., March and April - think it depended on rainfall (and insects). Let me know if you need more info by e-mail.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Philip Wansley on Tuesday, November 21, 2000 - 1:15 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

My wife and I also got to enjoy the antics of one of the yellow warblers at the dive site "Ol Blue" this past July. We were having a snack and off-gassing in our rental truck and while waiting noticed a bird that was busy jumping around inside another couples van. Those folks had left the windows down in their van, and the bird was having a great time flying from window to window and pecking at both outside mirrors. At one point it even got into a cookie or cracker box on the dashboard and scattered the contents about. When the owners returned they were less than excited about what the bird had done, but it was great entertainment for us!

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Ellen Muller on Sunday, January 21, 2001 - 2:36 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Peggy has already given a good description of the yellow warbler. I took these pictures of a yellow warbler last weekend in Washington Park at Pos Mangel. They really tire themselves out in the car door mirrors.

yellow warbler All pooped out!

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Kerri Freeman on Sunday, January 21, 2001 - 4:28 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Ellen,I've said it before,and no doubt will say it again,You're amazing! A million dollar shot!Or pair of shots!I've been laughing since I saw them. Reminds me of my littlest Shi-Tzu, Xia Xia. Heaven help those 'invader' dogs who show up on 'our' television. 7 lbs of dog is on guard for me. Come to think of it, she's blonde,too.Hmmm... Somewhere in some birdie bar,a little bird is chirping to his friends....I'm telling you,featherbrain....You should see the other guy..:-)

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Wendy S. Bolognesi on Tuesday, January 23, 2001 - 5:24 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Ellen,The Friday before you took your photo I was at Pos Mangel and I believe the exact same little guy was at our side view mirrors from the time we arrived until we left. Correct me if I'm wrong in assuming his bright coloring makes him a male. Does he think he's fighting off a competitor, or found a long lost buddy?

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Ellen Muller on Tuesday, January 23, 2001 - 10:08 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Wendy, you are correct in assuming that he is a male. I think that he is defending his territory but that stubborn bird in the mirror just doesn't seem to get the message! Did you see the BIG iguanas at Pos Mangel?

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Kerri Freeman on Tuesday, January 23, 2001 - 10:27 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Yes,Wendy,it is defensive. Little garden sparrows in the back yard, fight and drive off even much larger birds,like crows. Unless the 'mirror' bird flies away, our friend can't quit. He'd lose his girl, his territory and his reproductive rights in the Darwinian hierarchy of 'suvival of the fittest',I believe.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Niki Harris on Tuesday, January 23, 2001 - 10:33 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Ellen, as amazing as that picture is, it makes me think I might bring something to cover up the side mirrors temporarily so that the "rivals" could enjoy a cease-fire. At least until the next truck comes along... Keep up the great wildlife photos; we love them!

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Glen Reem on Tuesday, January 23, 2001 - 11:22 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Fascinating!!! How did he learn to see a bird in
a car's side mirrors??!!?? A self image is
visible over quite a narrow angle, from the
driver's eye direction, in their customarily
adjusted positions. Attracted to food at the
window sill?

What does happen when the mirrors are
covered? More than one bird doing this?

I know that terns (at Sand Dollar) and seagulls
(here in CT) learn to catch tossed french fries
almost instantly though I am not aware that
either species catches natural food in flight.

Ain't nature fun!!

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Ellen Muller on Wednesday, January 24, 2001 - 12:34 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

Glenn, a lot more than one of the yellow warblers are doing this. I had parked my car at the main entrance to Washington Park to make the trip through the park in my son's pickup truck. As soon as I left the car a male warbler started his ritual with the side door mirror. When we were half way through the park I asked my friend if the bird would tire at some point and stop and was told he would not. Unfortunately only then did it dawn on me that I could have covered the mirrors and saved that poor bird a lot of aggravation! Five hours later when we got back to the entrance he was still there. Needless to say my car door was covered in bird droppings( I should have taken a picture of them for Cecil!).

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Kerri Freeman on Wednesday, January 24, 2001 - 1:59 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

Well,fools step in where angels fear to tread,so I'll add what I remember,speculate and have observed. You all will correct any errors,please. I think we have a mix of instinctive,learned and maybe adaptive behaviour here. If I remember correctly, a bird's eyes are differently constructed than ours.They,I think,also see forward and back.And since the Warbler feeds on insects, he catches them on the fly as well as 'landed'. Probably,in swooping for an insect, his excellent bird's eye sight catches the reflection of his own movement,or himself in the truck mirrors. (Or,he might be looking for those crumbs,maybe a learned appreciation,or just learned behaviour about a food source) With a covered mirror likely nothing happens. He sees no 'mirror'bird,and he's not 'challenged' by a Suzuki. It's once he sees the 'bird' and perhaps signals like ruffled feathers,which make him look bigger to his enemies,that he, or in this case,from what Peggy Bowen says,both sexes,attack to defend their territory. It would be interesting to know if they've 'learned' that Suzuki trucks are a food source.If anybody wants to do a study,I'll be happy to assist Bonairean observers. Specially this winter.J Okay,corrections come NOW!gif_DO

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Kerri Freeman on Wednesday, January 24, 2001 - 2:09 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

Moderators Sorry. Got so nervous trying to do an image I clicked the wrong button. Hope I didn't mess up your stuff. You don't accept gifs from me?No.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Wendy S. Bolognesi on Wednesday, January 24, 2001 - 5:32 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Yes Ellen, We did see the Big Iguanas at Pos Mangel. There were alot of them too. We took still and video shots of them. The video came out really nice, one close up shows an iguana nodding his/her head up and down. If I can figure out how and where I will post it.
Back to the Warbler, maybe we should suggest a warning to Washington Park travellers so the little guys don't get worn out.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Kerri Freeman on Saturday, January 27, 2001 - 5:52 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Glen Reem As you are interested in nature, further to the discussion of Jan23-24, "bird in the mirror",you might like the following reference which involves mirrors and Bottlenose Dolphins.If you haven't seen it:Project Delphis,"Evidence of Self Awareness in Bottlenose Dolphins" by Dr.Kenneth Marten and Suchi Psarakos,from the book 'Self Awareness in Animals and Humans;A Developmental Perspective.The chapter is reprinted courtesy Cambridge University Press(95) A few tables and commentary on the 'Mirror/Mark Test' \Try Project Delphis or Intelligence in Dolphins Maybe just 'Dolphin Intelligence'.Enjoy!

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Glen Reem on Sunday, January 28, 2001 - 12:41 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Kerri,

TKS, I will try to to find the reference. Self
awareness, as different from an enemy in the
mirror, is always interesting. It is something
we don't believe many animals have, as I have
understood it. My daughters cats seemed to
ignore cat, or dog, images.

Bending direction a bit, we don't think of fish
as sentient beings either. Yet I have seen
many photos over the last few years wherin
the fish really appears to be a being watching
another being, the photographer. I don't see it
as often in fish swimming on the reef, but in
stationary fish being cleaned I do. And in
aquaria.

Last year at the New England Aquarium, my
daughter, granddaughter and I were given a
tour behind the scenes. There was a tank with
several Leafy Sea Dragons in it at which I
stopped. One dragon came over to the glass
and was interested in me-followed me along
the wall of the tank. It seems to me that the
fish in the tanks are watching us outside and
asking 'why me?' Stopped visiting zoos and
aquaria for pleasure some time ago.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Glen Reem on Sunday, January 28, 2001 - 1:09 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Kerri,

Found the references easily w/ a Sherlock
web search. Fascinating stuff.

For others, the research is about
self-awareness in Tursiops and about
language and using computers to
communicate w/ the animals and try to have
common language. Two relevant references
are:

Apple G4 computers used in dolphin
language research:
www.maccentral.com/news/0012/12.delphis.s
html

Project Delphis:
leahi.kcc.hawaii.edu/~et/delphis.html

Add the customary 'http://' in front of each of
those partial URL's. This is an artifact of the
truncated lines in all my posts-still a mystery
to Linda/Jake and me. Apparently the
newsgroup software adds a 'return' character
when it wraps the line so I get formatting
errors when I try to insert a URL longer than
one of these short lines.

Enjoy.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Michelle Ryan on Tuesday, January 30, 2001 - 3:15 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Similar experience with a yellow warbler back in 1999 at Washington Slaagbai National Park. The photo is here:

http://jmryan.home.mindspring.com/bonaire_1999.html

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Niki Harris on Tuesday, January 30, 2001 - 4:20 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Michelle, a nice selection of land and sea photos, and your descriptions are great. This is a good introduction for anyone wondering what are some of the creatures you see on Bonaire. (There are many more, as well...) Thanks for adding your link.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Ellen Muller on Tuesday, January 30, 2001 - 10:15 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Very nice photos, Michelle and I second Niki's thoughts.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Niki Harris on Saturday, July 7, 2001 - 10:56 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

We saw yellow warblers in many places, and at Pos Mangel they were quick to locate the side-view mirrors on the truck.

Here's one calmly standing in the low ground cover that you see by the water in the south, and maybe elsewhere too. What's it called?

yellow

(Bob's photo, too)

 


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