Kleptoparasitism (or Get That Gull Off My Back!)

Leave it to my sib to read yesterday’s "Magnificent Frigatebird" blog and comment with a new vocabulary word for my Texan-speak:  Kleptoparasitism.

 

I’ve learned a lot from said sib, except for stealing candy bars.  He just wasn’t very good at it.

 

Kleptoparasitism literally means parasitism by theft!  And, as you would guess, there are two types:

Instraspecific Kleptoparasitism is thieving within the same species type, as in one brother trying to steal a candy bar from another brother.

Interspecific Kleptoparasitism is thieving of one species from another species, as in a gull trying to steal fish from a Brown Pelican.

With Kleptoparasitism as my new word of the week, I thought I’d include these not so great, but kind of funny pictures, from my two recent daytrips to the Texas City Dike.  

Just don’t ask me to say Interspecific Kleptoparasitism out loud, three times in a row.  You go ahead and try!  

These photos tell the story better than any words. But can't you just hear the bird-speak conversation going on within each picture?

Some thieves worked together:

Some thieves worked alone, and would have nothing of another trying to thieve from their thievery:

And frequently, the Brown Pelican got the catch, threw the bill-fist-punch, and had the last laugh: