Fighting
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by
joepinkston
2 condors that I cant see tags or age are fighting
Posted
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by
wreness
moderator
Great pic!
That happens pretty often and those wings are always magnificent to see. Some of the fights really aren't much of anything while some get pretty vicious. This one looks like it might be more of a navigational error. The condor on the left might be landing and and looks like he just cracked the other one right in the head. Often they don't have the most delicate aim and need some room to land because they're so big, so go crashing into others. Who then reach up and bite or start slapping everything in sight with their wings. Kind of can't blame them! Sometimes when they're feeding at a carcass and one gets too close, there's a lot of pushing and shoving for position.
Other times you will see fights due to there being a Social structure to groups based on age or experience, what order everyone eats in - a similar order that dogs or wolves have. If someone steps over the line or an Adult thinks a Juvenile needs a smack in the head, they just go ahead and do it. These can get pretty vicious and serious. The rest of the time, who knows what's going on . I guess condors have bad days just like everyone else.
Here's a great fight - someone's in a bad mood, and the other condor really wonders what his problem is. 😃
Posted