We installed our new bees for the year over the weekend and a man named Matt Kuchta came out to film them in this really fancy pants slow mo camera. I have to admit, that when I arrived and Mr. Neil was beaming at me with, "We have a photographer coming!" I thought, "Really, I didn't wash my hair, I'm not wearing clothing for it...beesuits are forgiving to one's figure..." But he was actually there to film the bees. However, he showed me this incredible video he had of a male bluebird attacking his window. Birds can see their reflection in windows and can interpret their reflection as a potential rival I've written about it on my FAQ and at 10,000 Birds. Once they start fighting, it's very hard to dissuade them. Matt has tried bird netting, which prevents the bluebird from making contact with the window, but they still waste the energy making the attempt. He's now covering the windows on the outside with tin foil to break the male bluebird of the habit of coming around in looking for his rival.

As he was doing all of this, he also has a high speed Memrecam GX-8 Camera and got some footage of the bluebird attacking his window:

[vimeo]http://vimeo.com/40834510[/vimeo]

Two things struck me with this video. First, the bluebird brings out its toes just like a raptor would--kind of brings down his landing gear. Which makes sense, you don't want to attack with your beak, your opponent could attack with his beak and damage your eyes. And insectivores have softer beaks, not really much there.

Second...his cloaca is really swollen and you can see a bit of a cloacal protuberance.