they seemed impatient, alas. how, then, could they have obtained their quarry? the crass among you may suggest cgi, the artful a complex system of capture nets, digitally removed in postproduction, leaving only the frenzied oscillations of the afternoon chorus
― imago, Tuesday, 18 March 2014 14:49 (ten years ago) link
did you ask any of them out?
― sarahell, Tuesday, 18 March 2014 15:58 (ten years ago) link
I do adore our avian comrades but I don't think it'd work. We'd be too similar
― imago, Tuesday, 18 March 2014 16:24 (ten years ago) link
wrong sized bottoms?
― sarahell, Tuesday, 18 March 2014 16:25 (ten years ago) link
only end up fighting over the blood sausage
― imago, Tuesday, 18 March 2014 17:44 (ten years ago) link
it's that impressive, eh?
― sarahell, Tuesday, 18 March 2014 17:46 (ten years ago) link
this line of enquiry has me discomfited and i would prefer we address the accounted predicament
― imago, Tuesday, 18 March 2014 17:49 (ten years ago) link
well that's a first
― sarahell, Tuesday, 18 March 2014 17:51 (ten years ago) link
do u have any opinions on herons
― nakhchivan, Saturday, 5 April 2014 17:00 (ten years ago) link
we can be heronsif just for one day
― sarahell, Saturday, 5 April 2014 17:01 (ten years ago) link
you kids stay off the heron now, that shit'll mess you up
― twistent consistent (Noodle Vague), Saturday, 5 April 2014 17:02 (ten years ago) link
the german version of that could have been 'herren' with a little license
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPHi9VIC9a8
― nakhchivan, Saturday, 5 April 2014 17:05 (ten years ago) link
yes
they are especially wonderful in flight - great, loping wings, instantly identifiable - and their terrestrial repose is exemplary
they are also surprisingly sly - I once raised a camera to capture a very peaceable-seeming specimen outside charing cross hospital in hammersmith, but upon inspection, the image was heron-free. it had flown, silently, in the moment of its chronicling
there is an intelligence in their eye that does not belong to many other non-passerines
― halber mensch halber keks (imago), Saturday, 5 April 2014 17:05 (ten years ago) link
i hear there are exemplary specimens in delaware
― sarahell, Saturday, 5 April 2014 17:13 (ten years ago) link
m8
― halber mensch halber keks (imago), Saturday, 5 April 2014 17:14 (ten years ago) link
they seem to have small bottoms
― sarahell, Saturday, 5 April 2014 17:26 (ten years ago) link
wading birds tend to be dolicocephalic, ectomorphic and micropygous
― nakhchivan, Saturday, 5 April 2014 17:33 (ten years ago) link
without looking up
big-headed, long-limbed, small-footed
― halber mensch halber keks (imago), Saturday, 5 April 2014 17:40 (ten years ago) link
ectomorphic is prob wrong
you don't know what she looks like?
― sarahell, Saturday, 5 April 2014 17:42 (ten years ago) link
http://i.imgur.com/8jIul8X.gif
― nakhchivan, Saturday, 5 April 2014 17:42 (ten years ago) link
i'd pleur that furrow! har de har har
― sarahell, Saturday, 5 April 2014 17:47 (ten years ago) link
oh as in callipygic
ffs micropodal wd be small footed
― halber mensch halber keks (imago), Saturday, 5 April 2014 17:50 (ten years ago) link
truly this is the thread of my classical education's undoing
― halber mensch halber keks (imago), Saturday, 5 April 2014 17:52 (ten years ago) link
also where i can make sub-snobes jokes
― sarahell, Saturday, 5 April 2014 17:55 (ten years ago) link
flocks of all feathers may roost herein
― halber mensch halber keks (imago), Saturday, 5 April 2014 17:57 (ten years ago) link
― sarahell, Sunday, April 6, 2014 3:13 AM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
you must not be hard of heron.
― estela, Sunday, 6 April 2014 10:23 (ten years ago) link
just saw an avian, a strigiform no less, with acephaly issues
― Little Saint Hugh of Lincoln (nakhchivan), Wednesday, 16 April 2014 18:20 (ten years ago) link
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2606325/Emma-Stone-dazzles-second-time-one-night-changes-outfits-night-town-following-Berlin-premiere-The-Amazing-Spider-Man-2.html
― Little Saint Hugh of Lincoln (nakhchivan), Thursday, 17 April 2014 00:46 (ten years ago) link
― Little Saint Hugh of Lincoln (nakhchivan), Wednesday, April 16, 2014 6:20 PM (2 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
this, at last, is the saddest thing
― imago, Friday, 18 April 2014 22:39 (ten years ago) link
did its ladbroke grove looks turn you on?
― sarahell, Sunday, 20 April 2014 22:39 (ten years ago) link
cormorants?
― Little Saint Hugh of Lincoln (nakhchivan), Tuesday, 22 April 2014 00:38 (ten years ago) link
that depends. when swimming they're essentially mundane grebes. when airdrying their wings they're magnificent. when flying purposefully down the thames they never fail to excite. catch them in either of the latter two aspects imo
― imago, Tuesday, 22 April 2014 00:40 (ten years ago) link
Phalacrocoracidae!
― Little Saint Hugh of Lincoln (nakhchivan), Tuesday, 22 April 2014 00:42 (ten years ago) link
^^^this literally means 'of the shaggy-fingered family' or somesuch, doesn't it
― imago, Tuesday, 22 April 2014 00:46 (ten years ago) link
today i was about 10' away from a heronjust a small heron, maybe a bairnso much dignity
― Little Saint Hugh of Lincoln (nakhchivan), Thursday, 24 April 2014 22:11 (ten years ago) link
http://dontdanceherdownboys.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/lush-promo_2b.jpg
birds of britpop - time for reevaluation
― sarahell, Sunday, 27 April 2014 01:16 (ten years ago) link
http://www.irishkop.com/forums/showthread.php?t=18313
― Little Saint Hugh of Lincoln (nakhchivan), Sunday, 27 April 2014 01:43 (ten years ago) link
Admittedly after she left them she got a bit too butch for my liking, but she was gorgeous in that "dont speak" video.
― sarahell, Sunday, 27 April 2014 01:46 (ten years ago) link
Originally Posted by Maldjd23 View PostI once grabbed Andrea Corrs ass in a crowded pub off Grafton street...it was pert...Anyway...Would have said Abba, no doubt and Fleetwood Mac...(ignoring the fact she has aged 30 years)wow. Ya jammy basstid. Both cheeks or just the one?
― sarahell, Sunday, 27 April 2014 01:47 (ten years ago) link
the hotpress.com messageboard [ back to topic list ]
Birds in Bands
Myself and the boyfriend were discussing this lately. Basically, I said that women become more attractive to the opposite sex when in a band when in fact they are only 'normally' good looking. He made the point that no good looking women in bands are actually talented and asked me to think of a few who were, only one I could think of was Charlotte Hatherley, and maybe yer one from the Zutons. I dunno?
― Little Saint Hugh of Lincoln (nakhchivan), Sunday, 27 April 2014 02:14 (ten years ago) link
The Naked And Famous“I like that. Have they got a bird in the band? Hmmm. You can’t have fookin’ birds in bands with all the lads.”
www.nme.com/blogs/nme-blogs/shaun-ryders-ten-commandments-for-new-bands
― Little Saint Hugh of Lincoln (nakhchivan), Sunday, 27 April 2014 02:15 (ten years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7ooW5_TNNk
― Little Saint Hugh of Lincoln (nakhchivan), Sunday, 27 April 2014 02:39 (ten years ago) link
They are not afraid of the dead. They are small, alert, merry birds, some gray, others green; still others red and some yellow. Some are only red or blue on their chests, some only on their necks, some on their tails. Some are white with a blue throat; and I have seen some that are very tiny and proud, all white, spotlessly white. At dawn they begin to sing sweetly in the cornfield, and the Germans raise their heads from a gloomy slumber to listen to their happy song. They fly in thousands over the battlefields on the Dniester, the Dnieper, the Don. They twitter away free and merry, and they are not afraid of the war. They are not afraid of Hitler, of the SS, or of the Gestapo. They do not linger on branches to look down on the slaughter, but they float in the blue singing. They follow from above the armies marching across the limitless plain. The birds of the Ukraine are truly beautiful.
― Little Saint Hugh of Lincoln (nakhchivan), Monday, 28 April 2014 23:10 (ten years ago) link
:O
― imago, Monday, 28 April 2014 23:19 (ten years ago) link
Today, as I left my place of work, I saw a woodpigeon pecking for scraps by some litter bags, and was filled with what might have been a nostalgic urge to sigh, point and shoot.
http://imgur.com/6SqKVxC.jpg
I was immediately struck with a sense of displacement. One is quite accustomed to seeing feral pigeons, derived of course from the Rock Dove, festooning sites of refuse upon city streets, but a woodpigeon is a different bird - a stately fowl, a strutting paragon of bucolic pride. It was quite disarming to see it deigning to feed upon human wastage in such a flagrant manner.
http://imgur.com/js4jFMm.jpg
As I approached, I considered the street I was in. Stanhope Gardens, an exemplar of the whitewashed largesse prevalent west of Marble Arch. A street of fabulous wealth and unconscionable expenditure. Perhaps, I thought, their waste was an altogether different class of cast-offs. Mountains of unwanted foie gras, rivers of freshly squeezed goji. Peelings and trimmings fit for a woodpigeon, drawn from the nearby acreages of Hyde Park to feast, decadently, upon something more enlivening than buds or grubs.
http://imgur.com/OcgfcKN.jpg
But then I looked closer and noticed that the woodpigeon bore a pale scrap of feathers - a cosmetic imperfection upon its slate-rose mantle - and, somehow, an indication of feralness. The longer I looked, the more it was apparent that this tuft bespoke scuffles, malnutritions, genetic defects - it was the sign of a city pigeon, not a regal creature of the field. It may have come here to dine at the highest table, but in doing so, it has in fact lowered itself to the tier of a scoundrel, a street-thief, a loiterer...with that physical mark proof of its verminous trajectory. I felt a certain disappointment at this consideration.
http://i.imgur.com/fCKxvUw.jpg
And yet, that iridiscent sheen, that unmistakably portly bearing - in its comportment and waddle, it surely retains those noble aspects I'd momentarily thought lost? I watched its movements as it began to edge away from me. Still distinctly woodpigeon - unhurried, perhaps a little bit flustered, but certainly not scurrying or limping as the 'flying rat' of urban folktale might do. What, then, had been reduced? And it was as it mounted the steps to what I now recognised as its own abode that I saw it at last. The woodpigeon was no interloper or jack, no ravenous urchin. It had not grown an outward sign of imperfection through adversity. In fact, this was its very element! Surrounded by its like - proud and buff-chested masters of opportunity, who'd perhaps had to sacrifice a little elegance for their dramatic gains - it now ascended to its pantheon, its front porch. No regard it paid to the scrunched-up Wrigley's wrapper on the penultimate step; litter in such places is inevitable. It is simply a matter of finding the best litter; then one can say, even if nobody else will, that one is the best pigeon.
http://imgur.com/ZvPXNJo.jpg
― imago, Tuesday, 29 April 2014 01:39 (ten years ago) link
"Quite so," said Frank, "I cannot tell the difference between a Princess Radziwil and a coachman."
"And you are wrong," I said.
All looked at me in wonder, and Frank smiled at me.
But at this juncture the door opened quietly and there appeared on a silver tray the roast goose, lying on its back amid a garland of potatoes roasted in fat. It was a round fat Polish goose with a flourishing bosom, full hips and a strong neck; and I cannot say why there came into my mind that its neck had not been cut in the good old-fashioned way, but that the goose had been shot against a wall by a platoon of SS men. I seemed to hear the harsh voice ordering "Fire!" and the sudden rattle of shots. No doubt the goose had fallen looking proudly into the eyes of the cruel oppressors of Poland. And I shouted "Fire!" as if to realize what that shout meant, that raucous sound, that harsh voice of command, almost as if I expected to hear the sudden rattle of rifles in the great hall of the Wawel.
― Little Saint Hugh of Lincoln (nakhchivan), Tuesday, 29 April 2014 02:01 (ten years ago) link
<3 that's wonderful & dovetails perfectly w/ my dove tale
― imago, Tuesday, 29 April 2014 02:05 (ten years ago) link
needless to say the odyssey of the woodpigeon stirred similarly, an incursion into the domain of the sootridden inner london pigeon, the true proprietor of the citadel, its neotenous shrunken form haunting the undersides of bridges and municipal wastelands
― Little Saint Hugh of Lincoln (nakhchivan), Tuesday, 29 April 2014 02:15 (ten years ago) link
S*********** S****5 secs · Pedro is gone. The door was left open and my sweet beautiful lil bird Pedro is gone. So depressed. I'll be at legionnaire drinking away my sorrows tonight if u feel like giving me a hug, I will take as many as you can lay on me.
― sarahell, Wednesday, 30 April 2014 19:25 (ten years ago) link
i might post a photo
― imago, Tuesday, 21 June 2016 16:05 (eight years ago) link
http://i.imgur.com/Ho4moUB.jpg
― imago, Tuesday, 21 June 2016 16:17 (eight years ago) link
dignified bird
― nakhchivan, Tuesday, 21 June 2016 16:22 (eight years ago) link
immensely so
― imago, Tuesday, 21 June 2016 16:24 (eight years ago) link
i saw a barred owl, during the day, on saturday. i had never seen an owl irl before in the wild.
im fostering a pomeranian right now and the owl looked at him in a way that caused me some panic.
― -_- (jim in vancouver), Monday, 26 June 2017 16:40 (seven years ago) link
on reflection it was possibly a barn owl
― -_- (jim in vancouver), Monday, 26 June 2017 16:43 (seven years ago) link
post pics of the pom, por favor!
― sarahell, Monday, 26 June 2017 16:59 (seven years ago) link
http://i674.photobucket.com/albums/vv105/NAPOLEONROFL/dog/Screen%20Shot%202017-06-26%20at%2010.07.22%20AM.png
― -_- (jim in vancouver), Monday, 26 June 2017 17:11 (seven years ago) link
trying to work out which avians would be able to turn the aforepictured into lunch
― imago, Monday, 26 June 2017 17:21 (seven years ago) link
perhaps the very largest strigiforms
yeah he likely wouldn't have had much of a chance of eating him but he did stare at him quite intently. the dog didn't realize what was going on so i picked him up, the owl followed us for a short time - well we walked further along the trail and he flew from behind us to in front of us twice before deciding to stay perched on the branch and no bother with us anymore.
― -_- (jim in vancouver), Monday, 26 June 2017 17:24 (seven years ago) link
adorable!
― sarahell, Monday, 26 June 2017 17:33 (seven years ago) link
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-50180781
Russian scientists tracking migrating eagles ran out of money after some of the birds flew to Iran and Pakistan and their SMS transmitters drew huge data roaming charges.After learning of the team's dilemma, Russian mobile phone operator Megafon offered to cancel the debt and put the project on a special, cheaper tariff.The team had started crowdfunding on social media to pay off the bills.The birds left from southern Russia and Kazakhstan.The journey of one steppe eagle, called Min, was particularly expensive, as it flew to Iran from Kazakhstan.Min accumulated SMS messages to send during the summer in Kazakhstan, but it was out of range of the mobile network. Unexpectedly the eagle flew straight to Iran, where it sent the huge backlog of messages.The price per SMS in Kazakhstan was about 15 roubles (18p; 30 US cents), but each SMS from Iran cost 49 roubles. Min used up the entire tracking budget meant for all the eagles.
After learning of the team's dilemma, Russian mobile phone operator Megafon offered to cancel the debt and put the project on a special, cheaper tariff.
The team had started crowdfunding on social media to pay off the bills.
The birds left from southern Russia and Kazakhstan.
The journey of one steppe eagle, called Min, was particularly expensive, as it flew to Iran from Kazakhstan.
Min accumulated SMS messages to send during the summer in Kazakhstan, but it was out of range of the mobile network. Unexpectedly the eagle flew straight to Iran, where it sent the huge backlog of messages.
The price per SMS in Kazakhstan was about 15 roubles (18p; 30 US cents), but each SMS from Iran cost 49 roubles. Min used up the entire tracking budget meant for all the eagles.
― Xia Nu del Vague (Noodle Vague), Saturday, 26 October 2019 21:11 (four years ago) link
looool
― imago, Saturday, 26 October 2019 21:59 (four years ago) link
they are getting louder during this time of quarantine
― sarahell, Monday, 23 March 2020 16:14 (four years ago) link
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-52779727Plucky water bird stabs eagle in heart with beakCanada v US: Loon stabs eagle through heart
― What fash heil is this? (wins), Wednesday, 27 May 2020 09:09 (four years ago) link
i wonder what the most outrageous birdfight upset of all time is. inevitably unseen by human eye. 45,000 years ago a sparrow offed a swan, kind of thing
― imago, Wednesday, 27 May 2020 09:53 (four years ago) link
lots of baby seagulls around where I live now. a bit too far away for me to get good pictures but they look like this:
http://wildlifeambulance.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/gull-chicks.jpg
― Temporary Erogenous Zone (jim in vancouver), Wednesday, 8 July 2020 20:06 (four years ago) link
'ello
― imago, Wednesday, 8 July 2020 20:27 (four years ago) link
what fine little fellows
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/jul/02/sandringham-royal-estate-linked-to-many-deaths-and-disappearances-of-protected-birdsThe Guardian has documented 18 cases of alleged shootings, poisonings and disappearances of rare birds and related incidents linked to the Sandringham estate or surrounding land owned by the king2003Red kite found dead, poisoned by two highly toxic insecticides on farmland owned by Sandringham. No suspect identifiedDecember 2005Tawny owl was put down after being badly injured in an illegal trap. The owl had significant levels of toxic rat killer in its body. A Sandringham gamekeeper fined £500 and £470 costsMay 2007A marsh harrier found dead on the boundary of Sandringham estate, suspected poisoning by toxic pesticides. No suspect identifiedOctober 2007Two female hen harriers were shot over Sandringham estate. The police searched part of the estate. Prince Harry, a friend and the head gamekeeper were interviewed by police. The birds were not recovered and no one was prosecutedOctober 2009A sparrowhawk found on Sandringham estate poisoned by an insecticide, next to a dead pigeon laced with it. The police and Health and Safety Executive searched Sandringham buildings. They did not find the same substance but uncovered “significant safety issues” with pesticides rule breaches. Warning letter sent to SandringhamAugust 2014A female montagu’s harrier, Britain’s rarest bird of prey, disappeared on land owned by Sandringham. It was fitted with a satellite tag, which also disappeared. No offence could be detectedAugust 2016A goshawk died near Sandringham House. Its body was incinerated by estate staff before it could be examined. Its satellite tag was posted back to the British Trust for Ornithology. No offence could be detectedSeptember 2016Up to 40 dead wood pigeons were found piled up near Sandringham estate visitors centre. One was alive and had blood coming from its beak. The next morning the birds had been removed before they could be examined by Natural England. No offence could be detectedMarch 2017A dead stock dove was found close to where the dead wood pigeons were found in September 2016. Because of that previous case, it was investigated but believed to have died of natural causesAugust 2017Another female montagu’s harrier disappeared near the site of the first missing montagu’s harrier. Its satellite tag also disappeared. No offence could be detectedMay 2020A little owl was found dead in a Fenn trap, designed to catch stoats, on the Sandringham land. Those traps were no longer authorised for that purpose. Police said no offences were committed but the RSPCA gave advice to the head keeper to prevent this happening againDecember 2020Further Fenn traps and poisons were found by anti-snaring campaigners, who complained to Norfolk police. No offence recordedJanuary 2021A fox was reported “spinning around” in distress in a snare on Sandringham, which led anti-snaring campaigners to be concerned about the estateJanuary 2021A pet dog was trapped around its neck by a snare on Sandringham land. The dog owner complainedMarch 2021A dead red kite was found on Snettisham beach, very close to Sandringham. Rat poisons and a shotgun pellet were detected by tests. Investigators could not identify a suspectJuly 2021More Fenn traps, river traps and snares, some with poisons, on Sandringham estate were reported to Natural England, and then followed up by the HSE. No action takenAugust 2021Rat poisons allegedly left in the open on Sandringham land. The HSE did not visit the rat poison locations, so no samples were analysed, but the case was added to its databaseAugust 2022More allegedly unauthorised traps found on Sandringham. Norfolk police investigated and stated they “don’t seem to comply with best practice at the very least”
― Grandall Flange (wins), Sunday, 2 July 2023 16:07 (one year ago) link
avian best practices
― sarahell, Sunday, 2 July 2023 16:40 (one year ago) link
a friend told me that he used to have a male duck that died because it couldn't put its dick away? Is this a common thing?
― sarahell, Tuesday, 10 October 2023 19:09 (eleven months ago) link
louis qk
― Boris Yitsbin (wins), Tuesday, 10 October 2023 19:45 (eleven months ago) link