The Kalahari Desert in Botswana is always a harsh environment to live in. Water and food are scarce in the sandy savannah with its sparse vegetation of grasses, shrubs, and acacia trees. But in particularly dry years, drought can force birds and other animals in the Kalahari to the very edge of desperation.

Things can get pretty dramatic.

Like the following scenario, for example.

Two neighboring flocks of southern pied babblers are facing off in a noisy territorial dispute.

They're hopping and flapping around in some bushes.

One group is large with about 10 individuals.

The other group is only half that size.

The southern pied babbler is roughly the size and shape of an American robin.

This species has a mostly white body, but its flight feathers in the wings and tail are black.

The eyes are yellow and the pointy black bill curves down slightly.

Both males and females look the same.

Anyway, while the two groups are busy squabbling over the border between their territories, hurling insults at each other from their

respective shrubs, there's a covert operation underway. A few members of the smaller flock have

formed a black ops team in order to infiltrate the territory of the larger flock.

They use the distraction of the dispute as cover while they slip behind enemy lines.

Their mission? To kidnap one or more of the chicks from the larger group.

The scrappy olive-brown chicks are hidden in the shadows between the leaves and branches of the shrubs.

The kidnappers stealthily locate and then lure the chicks away.

The young, naive birds are enticed by tasty treats, and with a soft purring call that adult pied babblers use when feeding their chicks.

You know, this is sort of like with humans, when a shady guy in a windowless van pulls up to the

sidewalk and says, Hey kid, do you like candy?

Streetwise kids see through this ruse and run home to tell their parents about the creeper in the van.

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