Rolling Avian Issues Thread

What kind of bird is(was) this? 47m ago
Lynn Harris from Adams Point
Photo from Lynn Harris
Is it a chicken of some sort? I saw it earlier this morning running around my backyard. When it saw me, it ran under the fence into the neighboring yard. Looks like it came back and, unfortunately, my dog got it. I'm very sorry if this was your pet.

ahaha oh dear

The bird is a Japanees Quail. There is a man who raises them in his back yard. He lives on Van Buren in the apartment behind the house. The house is between Euclid and MacArthur on the south side if the street -- the second house from the corner (not counting the house on the corner that faces Euclid). there are cars parked in front and a porch with steps going up the left side to the porch. The man lives in the building that is in the back yard. They seem to get out often.

http://i.guim.co.uk/img/static/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2014/8/8/1407507298274/Bee-eater-014.jpg?w=1920&q=85&auto=format&sharp=10&s=9e29fcd373005d9b0a8cab1a5308f03c

what the fuck is going on here

your theories please

that dragonfly(?), like all of us, lured by todestrieb

birds & bees
aw romantic

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fukKOvTmStE

i don't know why it's swallowing a dragonfly. perhaps it'll die.

Halcyon days of ilxors past

― Treeship, Thursday, 29 August 2013 00:46 (2 years ago)

oh the bee-eater is just tossing the dragonfly into a more swallowable orientation, as evidenced in that video

should have been obvious all along

trís inadvertently reminding me that that i saw a kingfisher for the first time in surrey last week, quite the most distinguished of insular riparian avianry and a worthy rival to its sylvan counterpart of the other month

now the webpages will tell you that it flies very fast very low to the surface of the water, this really doesn't convey quite how fast and low it was travelling, for a second it merely registered as a projectile of unknown quality, its aviformity discernable only subsequent to apprehension of its cobalt/turquoise livery (which would in any case be an apt camouflage for an antiship cruise missile)

then it, presumably it or possibly another one, strafed the opposite bank a few minutes later, this time seeming more orange whereas previously more blue, one would not be apt to think these mere perceptual errata

so without even trying or spending more than a marginal amount of time in proximity to 'nature', the two rarae aves of interest have been sighted, at least other than eagles or hummingbirds or others seldom found in london or the home counties, one is tempted to suggest that such serendipitious sightings are the most valuable

the halcyon is a dichotomous projectile - cobalt above to blend in with the waters, orange below to evade detection coming in with the sun behind it

did i write here about the sighting of a kingfisher within a minute of taking rarissima avis to my favourite nature reserve for the first time? again, it came in fast and low, and at some distance, but it was unmistakeable even for her

and of course you're right - catching a glimpse of the unexpected avian is usually far more rewarding than that sought-out

of course, there's a grey area, when one is walking in the hope of meeting some unusual species, but this hope is secondary to the movement itself. my recent scottish adventures have provided ample satiation of this dual urge, along with an opportunity to practice and perfect the noble art of binocular-enhanced cellphone photography

that post is about yr sex life, yes?

the heheheherican possibiities will have been alluded to

ugh, so puerile

the fact that the phrase "ample satiation of this dual urge" has obvious sexual connotations did not cross your mind at all when you typed it, come on!

classic lj dual urge to tart for hehehehe ripostes and then claim innocence when they arrive

double unentendre

A+

https://twitter.com/DeBruyneKev/status/598086224419618816

there's a selena gomez joke in there

He also had lunch on 8 April with Georges Auric and Satie as the guest of Poulenc. The latter, a long- time enthusiast of Bartók’s, remembered the froideur of the meeting, for ‘like two birds who do not sing the same tune, Bartók and Satie observed each other with suspicion and maintained an overwhelming silence that Auric and I tried in vain to break. For me it is an extraordinary and symbolic memory.’

love one-off meetings of luminaries that go not quite well

While he was working as an archaeologist in Athens, his first novel Dodo (1893) was published to great success. Thereafter Benson devoted himself to writing, playing sports, watching birds and gadding about.

that's what i call a role model

he wrote 100 books!

the guy n smith of his day

lol those are actually my pursuits

That did not escape my notice although you have a way to go before you catch up with best beloved benson

birders_the_central_park_effect_proves_that_jonathan_franzen_is_the_world_s_most_annoying_bird_watcher_.html

another hellene with bird
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/ed/Zeus_Ganymede_Naples.jpg/272px-Zeus_Ganymede_Naples.jpg

Two particularly bad-tempered dachshunds belonging to the German Emperor, named Wadl and Hexl, almost caused an international incident, when they set upon the heir-presumptive Archduke Franz Ferdinand's priceless golden pheasant on a semi-official visit to his country seat, château Konopiště.

discovered the other day that there is only one lady amherst's pheasant left in britain, had assumed there was a small but thriving population. it's now a race against time to see who lives longer: it or people born before 1900. either way a dark shadow will cross my heart, twice

it's very sad and i hope that more are imported and released on the sly by a wealthy avian enthusiast (there's no chance of a reintroduction campaign as it's non-native)

http://www.askmen.com/top_10/celebrity/top-10-21st-century-playboys.html

thought yr interest in game birds was more alimentary in character

i thought it was the avian that had the alimentary relationship with lj?

this anecdote about the golden pheasant sounds unlikely

everything else about franz ferdinand stresses the amount of avi- and indeed other fauna that he killed during maniacal hunting trips, he sounds like the sort who would enjoy watching a pheasant being killed by dachshunds more than anything else

Attempts were made to rebrand the breed, with the American Kennel Club officially renaming it the ‘badger dog’(a literal translation from the German), with others giving it the moniker ‘liberty pup’.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/47/Cher_Ami_cropped.jpg

As Cher Ami tried to fly back home, the Germans saw her rising out of the brush and opened fire. For several moments, Cher Ami flew with bullets zipping through the air all around her.[3] Cher Ami was eventually shot down but managed to take flight again. She arrived back at her loft at division headquarters 25 miles to the rear in just 25 minutes, helping to save the lives of the 194 survivors. In this last mission, Cher Ami delivered the message despite having been shot through the breast, blinded in one eye, covered in blood and with a leg hanging only by a tendon.

Cher Ami became the hero of the 77th Infantry Division. Army medics worked long and hard to save her life. They were unable to save her leg, so they carved a small wooden one for her. When she recovered enough to travel, the now one-legged bird was put on a boat to the United States, with General John J. Pershing personally seeing Cher Ami off as she departed France.

Awards

Upon return to the United States, Cher Ami became the mascot of the Department of Service[verification needed]. The pigeon was awarded the Croix de Guerre Medal with a palm Oak Leaf Cluster for her heroic service in delivering 12 important messages in Verdun. She died at Fort Monmouth, New Jersey, on June 13, 1919 from the wounds she received in battle and was later inducted into the Racing Pigeon Hall of Fame in 1931. She also received a gold medal from the Organized Bodies of American Racing Pigeon Fanciers in recognition of her extraordinary service during World War I.[4]

amazing

an avian is trying to eat berres from the laurel near the window

its lack of co-ordination and dexterity is quite striing

ive never seen an avian before that looks like it might be at risk of falling to its death, but this one might well do so, despite its apparent capacity for flight

can you narrow it down to a family

spoken like a true Cantabrigian

there is surely only one type of common or garden british avian that shows such limited motor skills, lj

are you saying it was barely athwart the vine

the very same

athwart while also being approximately 40 degrees below horizontal, as if it had heard about low hanging fruit but was unaware that its advantages are absent when that fruit is 10ft in the air

& yet the rousing tale of its kindred Friend puts the columbid family in a whole other light

so foul-smelling and bitter-tasting that the New Guineans nicknamed it the “rubbish bird.