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audrey
My name is Logs. I have 44 in my flock. We’re barely noticable from predators. I’m the alpha male in my flock. I make decisions for my group. I have not been beaten by any other Alpha males, at least for now. My territory is big, with minnows and sardines. Many have tried to take my territory but have failed and most join me. Males are a little bigger than females. They live in the ocean or a sea. Here are some of the adaptations and why they help them. The male has a bigger comb than the female, so you can tell the difference between male and female. They live in flocks so if a member dies, another member will care for their eggs or chicks that are alone. If another group decides to own or take our own group they will ruffle their feathers to appear bigger than they really are. They can scare them off and warn them to back off by raising their tail.
A alpha male from the other group may challenge our alpha male to own our group. If our alpha male wins, the one that loses can choose to join the winning flock or stay with its beaten leader. Then the losing team leaves the winning group. When females lay eggs, they float naturally and are very thick or thin depending on the temperature. If the eggs are too cold they don’t hatch so the females and males can hold their eggs under their wings instead of having to sit on them. They’re blue and sparkly to camoflague them in the ocean. The males and females have thick or, depending on the temperature.
The mothers can smell and see their outline. They peep so silently that only mothers and fathers can hear instead of birds. If prey could hear they could dive and get them. Baby chicks are blue and sparkly so the mothers are always saying, “She looks just like me!” Their legs aren’t orange because under water prey could see them. They even sparkle when the sun or moon is shining on them. They are not always floating. They swim, too, using their webbed feet. They close their gills when they are above the water. At these times, they breathe through their noses or beak
When the Socks swim, they catch small fish which are their main prey. They are able to hold lots of fish because of their throat patch which is red. When they hear or smell a predator, they put their beak to their chest to hide their throat patch. When they are thirsty, they use a built-in straw to filter out sea salt and other nasty stuff. When they eat, they use sharp baleen to catch fish or small prey. They can fly to escape underwater predators. The females lay between 7 and eleven eggs. If there are less, it means there is something wrong.
This day, a challenger arose. He challenged me. He was bigger than me, blue, and built for fighting. I gulped with fear as I might not win. We started. My whole flock was depending on me. “Come on! Come on! You can do it!” said my feathery flock. The big bird in the deep mean voice got cocky and cawed “You’re going down!” He smiled as he bit me with his blue beak, his wings flapping furiously in the air and water. He blinded me with those big blue wings. I yelled, “Enough!” He backed off smiling but my grin was bigger. He thought I had given up but I only yelled “Enough!” to confuse him and get him to back off.
I struck. My sharp baleen were shredding his feathers, Flapping my feathers now would also blind him. He couldn’t shake him so he cheated and everyone saw him. He took a drink and sprayed the salt out in my eye, blinding my eye and burning it. He got me, and got me well. He got me under the wing and neck. He won. My flock didn’t move. They didn’t want to join a cheater and a bully. He took our territory.