Bempton birds – pecking and preening
It must be very frustrating to be a bird with an itch. Despite having extremely flexible necks and long-jointed feet and legs there are parts you just can’t scratch. Having fleas and lice sucking your blood doesn’t help, either.
How nice then to have a partner who will preen your neck for you.
The Puffin Whisperer and I are on a brief trip to Bempton Cliffs in the East Riding of Yorkshire. It’s an incredible seabird city. Just look at these regularly-spaced Gannets. They’re a tiny fraction of the 500,000 seabirds here.
A couple of Gannets, Morus bassanus, are busy head-shaking:
Then they get busy with preening the backs of one another’s heads. That’s good. Just where they can’t reach themselves.
Another pair are at it on the cliffs
A returning Kittiwake, Rissa tridactyla, calls and rubs the back of the neck of its partner:
There’s a couple of Guillemots, Uria aalge, with beautiful turquoise sea behind them:
They spend their lives at sea and only come to land to breed. Their courtship and pair bonding is great to see.
Given how alien to us these winged dinosaurs are, they are very tender to one another, aren’t they?
More birds at Bempton Cliffs
Bempton birds – Gannets displaying When two Gannets fall in love, they like to let each other know about it: I like the final one.… read more
Tree Sparrows on the edge I've only ever seen Tree Sparrows before at Tree Sparrow Farm. That's a sign, isn't it? If the place is… read more
Bempton birds – when you know you’re being watched Many birds are perfect parcels of protein. There are plenty of predatory species which would treat them as a tasty… read more
Bempton birds – eyelids Blinking birds. Gannets are everywhere at Bempton Cliffs. I'm hoping to get a good look at their eyes. Gannets' eyes… read more
Bempton birds – coming in to land Landing makes flying seem easy: I love the way this Guillemot is dangling its feet, like two paddles, to provide… read more
Bempton birds – staring at the sky Gannets look astonishingly alien, don't they? They're not inhabitants of this world. When they display to one another they point… read more
Bempton birds – nesting materials A Kittiwake flies past with some grass in its beak. It looks like its nest needs reinforcements: They sometimes carry… read more
Bempton birds – violence and aggression It's not all mutual preening and sweetness and light at Bempton Cliffs. It's a difficult life, perched on a ledge… read more
Bempton birds – Gannets, Gannets, everywhere Try going to Bempton and getting a photograph without a Gannet in it. Try it. Go on. Here's a Puffin… read more