To observe them in flight, close to each other, they almost make one laugh, such is the difference in size.
\nThe alpine chough Pyrrhocorax graculus literally disappears in comparison with the bearded vulture Gypaetus barbatus, which hovers with outstretched wings.<\/p>\n
If we then think that the little corvid is intentionally trying to disturb the great vulture in order to drive it away, then the feat cannot but appear decidedly comical.
\nOne thinks: no, he\u2019ll never make it, what could he, so tiny, do against a giant with a wingspan of 280 cm?<\/p>\n
In nature, it is precisely the small birds \u2013 even if they are usually gathered in large flocks \u2013 that carry out the mobbing, i.e. the disruptive action against the large diurnal and nocturnal birds of prey. The aim is to ward off a potential threat or competitor for food.
\nOn this occasion, too, there were several choughs cooperating, \u2013 flying around the bearded vulture and hinting at a few swoops -, although only one can be seen in the frame.<\/p>\n
The bearded vulture, or rather the vultures, because there were two adults flying \u2013 to my great satisfaction \u2013 in front of the telephoto lens, did not seem much concerned about the choughs.
\nThey continued unconcernedly to patrol the area, performing twirls and glides, while the last gleams of the evening light caressed their slender silhouettes and highlighted the extraordinary perfection of their design and the beauty of their plumage against the dark background of the valley, already reached by the first shadows of evening.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
To observe them in flight, close to each other, they […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1540,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[38,42,44,43,41,45,39,34,36,37,40,46,35],"class_list":["post-1551","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-photos-and-stories","tag-flight","tag-gliding","tag-gracchio-alpino-en","tag-interaction","tag-maurizio-biancarelli-en","tag-national-geographic-en","tag-nature","tag-nature-photography","tag-nikonitalia-en","tag-nikonz9-en","tag-photos-and-stories","tag-plumage","tag-vultures"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mauriziobiancarelli.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1551","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mauriziobiancarelli.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mauriziobiancarelli.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mauriziobiancarelli.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mauriziobiancarelli.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1551"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.mauriziobiancarelli.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1551\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1552,"href":"https:\/\/www.mauriziobiancarelli.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1551\/revisions\/1552"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mauriziobiancarelli.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1540"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mauriziobiancarelli.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1551"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mauriziobiancarelli.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1551"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mauriziobiancarelli.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1551"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}