The southern pied babbler (Turdoides bicolor)
This a species of bird in the Leiothrichidae family, found in dry savannah of Botswana, Namibia, South Africa, and Zimbabwe.
A behavioural description given by Wikipedia sums these birds up beautifully….
“Aggression toward fledglings is most commonly observed when the dominant pair have begun to incubate another brood. During this period, begging fledglings will be punished by parents using aggressive behaviour such as jumping on the youngster. In all cases, fledglings stop begging immediately following attack. Brood overlap results in a distinctive division of labour, with subordinate adults continuing to care for fledglings while the dominant pair concentrate their effort on the new brood. Owing to the extended period of post-fledging care in this species, this can result in dependent young from multiple broods being raised simultaneously.”
Now is this not a lesson we could learn from them,???? Kids get out of hand … “JUMP ON THEM !!!!” ….
The Photographic Journey of bulldog. 
These birds are no joke.
I love them… always been big on discipline
That sounds mean!
The lessons we can learn from nature… lol
What a strangely aggressive behavior towards their fledglings, Rob. I am rather intrigued by that…wonder what it’s all about. I know many a parent who has at least thought about it! LOL!
Yes I’ve seen the aggressive display… but then the young before it normally take over with the raising and training of that youngster… but I think you saw this post… https://visitstothepark.wordpress.com/2012/10/17/southern-pied-babbler/ here I give a bit more on their life…
Haha, maybe I should have read this before I wrangled N in a home affairs line for two hours today. 😉
Brave brave person you are… standing in such a line is bad enough… but with a young one in tow… madness….
I have really reached peak irritibility for today. Have locked myself in the bathroom for some quiet and alone time. I feel like having a bit of a cry actually…
Like your new theme, and the Babbler photos Rob.
Thanks Brian… I do too…
What a great way to control the kids! It obviously works for them 😀
Thanks Dianne… maybe I should have tried this with my kids, just not sure of the result when I weigh 120 Kg. lol
Love the new header, Rob. Beautiful! What an array of birds you have. Almost makes me wish I lived in South Africa, but it would be better if the birds just flew here.
It would be better if you just came and had a visit…
Thanks I’m loving the new theme now that I have it working right…
No you tell me! Why didn’t I think of jumping on my children while they were still living here? They flew the coop just in time!
I think mine did too Ronnie… or 120 kg splat might have been the result…
This little birdie seems to be caught up in the ‘too many mouths to feed’ syndrome.
I like the new theme Bulldog and love the new header photo. I am looking to change my them and always get a bit apprehensive when I think about it as I wonder what may go wrong.
Thanks LuAnn the are prolific breeders and I love that discipline happens in nature…
Changing you theme is easy and goes like a clock work… my problem is I use “Windows Live writer” to write my posts before publishing them direct to the blog… I had a few problems changing the theme on the writer… bt the change on the blog was easy… just select and preview, if happy, publish…
The bird is beautiful. Black and white, that’s my colour 😀 Well..I have to try this when my twofeet brothers and sister come, Bulldog. Good lesson 😉 Pawkisses for a Happy Evening 🙂
Thanks … don’t be too heavy footed … lol
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Another good one! I’ve got a few coming up myself but they aren’t wild like yours 😦
Thank you… specially for the ping back…
Lovely captures again, bulldog. I’m sure that these parents accept no nonsense from their youngsters, and that “The terrible twos” is not a term that they’re familiar with. 😀
You’re right there AD… as for you liking the idea of a book… can you imagine the reaction to some of natures disciplines…
Yes I can well imagine, but surely there has to be a happy medium. 🙂
Lovely pics – I’ve never seen this kind of babbler before, I don’t think we get it in Mat’land. I’m glad to see yours also lurk around in the shadows!
These babblers are found in Mat’land… when I attended REPS i actually collected eggs from one of their nests… they come in the NE of RSA, all of Botswana and SW Rhodesia….
We live on the greenstones in Fort Rixon Shangani – Ill keep a lookout for them – I only know the arrowmarked
Hi there Rob. I got sent this three times and it wasn’t until the third time that it would let me read it. Kept directing me to “page not found”. Good to see it has finally come through and looks like you’ve changed your setup – looks good incidentally as are the photos as always.
Thanks Jan for your patience… change theme and that seemed to blow a hole in thew whole blog… anyway seem to have won the battle now, really tested my computer skills…
haha sounds like great advice to me bulldog! Maybe you should write a parenting book based on the behaviours you have witnessed in the wild life you shoot. 😀
Diana xo
Great idea, Diana! 🙂
Diana this has given me an idea…. it might not be received to well by the authorities as some behaviour in the wild is hard… elephant .. as loving as they are, are heavy on discipline and have been witnessed giving their young a good hiding.,.. now that I received, as did my children and we all grew up alright… but you can’t do that any more … still it could be quite a good lesson for parents…
It would be very interesting bulldog!