Been on Safari today, a bird Safari. The northern hornbill, some cuddling penguins, and pelicans, both asleep, awake, and in grooming mode managed to capture my camera. And some more mainstream birds. A dog, and at the end 3 drinking rhinoceroses, who posed nicely in the mirror.
Joined: 26 Aug 2010 Age: 69 Gender: Male Posts: 34,147 Location: temperate zone
02 Jul 2022, 2:31 pm
A friend had a second home along an irrigation canal in Ft. Lauderdale Florida. We would sometimes see ibises out the back window. First time I ever saw live ibises that were NOT in ancient Egyptian paintings in books.
In the Caribbean egrets are common. Lovely white heron-like birds. Though long legged 'wading' type birds you see them far from water riding on the back of cattle. They live off the insects either kicked up from grass by the cattle, or the bugs attracted to the cattle.
Apparently, they instinctively stand on the backs of- any hoofed animal they can find- and apparently theyre not always picky about the size of their ride.
When I was riding a shuttle through rural Jamaica I saw a tall white egret (maybe four feet tall) nonchalantly riding on the back of a baby kid goat the size of puppy. The poor baby goats back was swayed down- and its belly was almost dragging the ground while the tall bird ten times it size just stood there surveying the scenery while getting a slow ride on the baby animal's back. Funniest thing I ever saw. If only I had had a camera at the ready!
"People with autism are like canaries in the coal mine, they are the first to react to changes"
I recently came across the above metaphor (in slightly different terms) on the internet. I think this is partly true, under good conditions signal things pretty quickly. If i am confused, then i signal very slowly, then i am more like a waddling penguin walking in a hole. Depending on the group, i don't always 'respond', if i don't like the group i usually don't react at all.
Joined: 3 May 2016 Age: 43 Gender: Male Posts: 3,420 Location: Yorkshire, UK
16 Nov 2022, 7:20 am
A recent New Scientist article says that female robins sing a lot more than we thought. It was always assumed that only males sang complex territorial songs. But female robins have now been observed singing songs of equal complexity to mark their territory during the autumn and winter.
_________________ You're so vain I bet you think this sig is about you
Joined: 27 Jan 2021 Age: 44 Gender: Male Posts: 3,279 Location: Dorset
16 Nov 2022, 7:41 am
I find our garden robins fascinating. I've watched them enough that I know where their territories are and they really do stay in their zones. I find it strange that they don't seem to care about other birds in their territories, just other robins. I've got one super friendly one who is confident enough to eat from my hand at certain times of year, will come in the house if I leave the door/window open and tap on the window if I don't put out food.