We see them everywhere. Along road shoulders, in the fields, up on our roof-tops etc etc. The common Myna is indeed a common sight. And they have also gotten quite used to human intrusions – these street smart city dwellers.
However do not overlook their cool exterior and casual skipping away as we walk past them. There is still this territorial instinct, like in all other feathered kind – to fight a good fight – in the name of defending their home turf. The following photos tells the story of one such encounter between 2 pairs of Mynas.
The classic part is although the fight was intense with a whole lot of noisy and chaotic shrieks, I noted none of them was ‘fatally’ injured when the fight was abruptly ended by a Crested Goshawk swooping down over the 4, causing them to fly helter-skelter in all directions. The Goshawk probably got quite fed-up that the tranquility of the park was disrupted by the foursome creating such a fracas and decided enuf was enuf. Enjoy!
Male vs Male, Female vs Female.
All ended in a tangled pile! It became a ‘push’. Take that!!!
One got pinned to the ground.
And the loser momentarily played ‘dead’
Then it was all 4 in a tangled pile again. Note the ‘eye shield’ was activated. Very clever!
You scratch my head I’ll scratch yours!
And the fight went on and on!
One precision kick to the body and the other went down.
I was so enthralled shooting the fight that I overlooked to up the shutter speed. :-((
At this point a Crested Goshawk appearance out of the blues and swooped in from above to within whiskers from the fighting Mynas. Instinct tells the warring birds they have to end their feud. This time the Mynas were lucky not to end up as the main course for this majestic Raptor. :-))
The Crested Goshawk
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