While looking for the name of the African Goshawk I'd seen a few days ago, I came across this statement By a Gordon Ellmers at the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency.

But I can find nothing on the Tennessee site, or any other site, to back that up, and I think it's a bullshit claim by Ellmers Fudd.

The Hanover eaglet that got knocked out of the nest was gone for a few days, but it got up its will, and learned to fly during that time. Now it's back on the nest, flying on and off it regularly. The other youngster has not taken up the task yet.

The newly-flying birb knocked 2 out of 3 cameras out of alignment. One more and the viewing season will be over.

I suppose relative to its body length, a Rufous hummer may be speedier than a falcon, but about 50 mph seems tops.
They do chase and eat insects, especially when fueling up for migration, but otherwise would rarely need 200 mph for nectar gathering.

I'd like to know the context of fast. Wingbeat, maybe? Level flight, maybe?

I'd find it difficult to believe that a Rufous hummer could be faster than a Peregrine in a stoop.

FAYI (fer all y'all's info) speed is not mentioned AT ALL on the Rufous' Wiki page. If it were faster than a Peregrine, I figure it would be shouting that fact all over the page.

In the last 45 seconds, the younger Hanover birb flies for the first time. It's not much to see; kid finally gets up his gumption. But it's lovely they captured it.

The rest of the video is mostly younger birb wingersizing, and making the trip up and back from the branch next to the camera. You can almost see him thinking, big brother did it, I should be able to do it...

Nice!

I have a hen hatching chicks right now, somehow less dramatic than an eagle. :us:

...and only slightly less dignified.

California eagles defy odds by taking in baby hawk

Attachment 68225

...the hell?

It'll give their squadron more functionality.

Kea...

These guys are cute as hell and love to eat rubber off cars. Our bus driver gave a tourist hell for molesting one, she was asking for it.

In other En Zed bird news:

New Zealand kakapos hatching in record numbers, boosting endangered native parrot's numbers

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-04-...aland/11030582

They love their birbs.

I am not a dedicated bird watcher but I do like to see wildlife of all kinds especially anything that's a bit of a rarity.

I'd been told of a Great White Egret taking up residence on a nearby canal so thought that it might be worth having a look for myself.

The location isn't too far away so it was reasonably easy to nip out for a short while without causing too much domestic upheaval.

In the end I had to make three visits before getting a decent sighting.

On the first occasion it was just disappearing from sight as I arrived, the second time it was nowhere to be seen so I thought that I would give it one last go this afternoon before the approaching storm sets in and I struck lucky.

Attachment 68444

They are gradually moving up from southern Europe via France to the UK and successfully bred here for the first in the Somerset Levels in 2012.

They're about the same size as Grey Heron and one decided to push in on this chap's fishing patch after he'd made a catch.

Sorry about the poor focus but I'm not a photographer, I just take snaps!

I love watching those beauties fly.
Their slow wing beats seem like what pterodactyls must have looked like.

We have Blue Herons and Sandhill Cranes. And yes they are beautiful Birbs.

And Pelicans in the spring.

That brings back happy memories.

I remember one occasion driving north in deepest Wyoming in June when I caught sight of four large birds coming the other way.

It took a few seconds for me to register that they were Pelicans. I just couldn't believe the size of them.

Happy days! :)

You were mistaken, Pelicans can't fly they're too nose heavy. They have stunt doubles for the flight sequences.
If they actually flew they would look like this...

I'd quite forgotten that there is a small colony of Pelicans on the lake in St James' Park, London.

I'd assumed that their wings had been clipped but apparently not.

One individual made a habit of flying to Regent's Park (London Zoo) and stealing fish from the Pelican enclosure there.



So, instead of flying over 4,500 miles to see these magnificent birds, I could have travelled about 40 miles and been home in time for tea.

OTOH I think it unlikely that I would have seen Bison roaming around Trafalgar Square. ;)

Link

The Hanover eagles' nest collapsed away to nothing, after serving its purpose. The family would only visit it every once in a while.

It was interesting to see the progress of the nest, and to realize: this collapse happened on purpose.

When they build, the eagles complete the basic structure of the nest with just sticks; then they start bringing straw/dry grass to the middle, and they keep on bringing that until the eggs hatch. That makes the nest comfy, with a safe resting place for the eggs.

When the nest is just sticks and a little straw, rain can easily just seep through. It drips away, and the eggs stay dry. But as the birds are are always bringing straw, it builds up. Eventually, the bottom layer stays damp with rain that has dripped through the top layers. After a while, that layer turns to mulch.

This creates a very solid platform. (It has to hold up to 75 pounds of moving/landing birds.) The original sticks are like the beams, and the straw/mulch is cement and planks between them.

As the youngsters grow, the nest "fills up" and the mulch bottom layer gets thicker. Now all that mulch is rotting the sticks away. Once enough sticks are rotted, the whole thing becomes unstable.

The timing of all this has been worked out over millions of years. The birds start with a stick size that will take 6 months to rot away - just enough time for the youngsters to fledge. They bring just enough straw to make this rot happen with the right timing. So the Hanover babies learned how to live outside the nest, and three weeks later, the nest collapsed. Hand of evolution.

Wow. I just learned a thing.

Yeah, I knew they built a nest every year and often in the same tree, but figured the weather destroyed the old one. I didn't have a clue it was engineered that way.
I wonder how that knowledge is passed down, think they Google it? :lol:

Nah, they'd use DuckDuckGo.

ah, well played sir!

The highest concentration of raptors in the world is a choke point in Mexico of the north/south fly way.
Just look up and see a thousand or more raptors of all types.


Crap, gotta watch on youtub

That's what I said, gotta watch on you tube. So click on the notice when it opens and it takes you to it.

So you did. Perhaps I should read these posts...

I'll be glad when the dog-lips GIF moves off the page.

It s not in the millions but Hawk Hill just north of the Golden Gate, has about 30,000 raptors from 25 varieties. pass over in a short time every year.
Its advantages are that it is only 100 miles from me and the folks in the area less prone to murder and hostage taking.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawk_Hill_(California)

Ok how is this?https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...ac95833f27.jpg

Sent from my moto e5 supra using Tapatalk

Those Hawk Hill birds join the other two fly-ways in the bottleneck at Veracruz.

Truly big bird...

"...the largest bird that can go years without landing."
What is the smallest?

A footless free flyer? :p:

A Gooloo bird.

Excellent, I doubt we'll find one smaller. :haha:

http://cellar.org/img/ShockedYellowishDarwinsfox.gif

(bigger version here)

Washer birb looks like he's sayin the same as this cockatoo:

LOL

And the winner is...

It's like the puppy chasing the car...

Now you've caught it, whatchya gonna do with it?

The look like aliens but they're only baby Owls.

Baby aliens.

My grandmother and her sisters had sayings for every thing.
Reach exceeding grasp, eyes bigger than stomach and bite off more than can chew come to mind here.
Nobody told this eagle that birds have light and fragile bones:

https://www.earthtouchnews.com/natur...-raising-hunt/

A better way:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yz7F...ature=emb_logo

I was expecting a trans-Atlantic trip to Bernheim Forest in Germany or Austria.
Nope, Kentucky.

That was interesting.

If I see them I'll tell them you said Hi.

This is my desktop atm:

Attachment 69274

Captions

Monitor hawk is watching you wank

Holy smokes, there are rules!

https://www.audubon.org/news/when-bi...portant-guide#

Austin has wild parakeets?

I must protest the Shoebill being declared a Birb, under the muppetry exemption. :headshake

I've never seen a parakeet out of its cage. Besides, the grackles are everywhere and will fuck up any smaller bird that tries to butt in on their territory.

Lots of monk parakeets in various locations around town. I always see them nesting up power/cell towers.

http://austin.culturemap.com/news/ci...rakeets-study/

So parakeets are small parrots?

A smart Owl in an armored abode...

Barn Owl showing off this years fashion...

Ladies and gentlemen of The Cellar, I, Gravdigr, humbly submit, for your holiday reading pleasure, the story of That Time A Hollywood Icon Made A Duck Centipede, shamelessly copy/pasted from Cracked.com:

Merry Ducking Christmas urrbody!!

Unlike other fishing birbs, the Osprey forms itself into a 30-50 mph javelin, and dives into the water.

It is badass:

http://cellar.org/img/ospreydive.jpg

The UK Osprey population has made something of a recovery over recent years not least due to the sterling work of the Scottish Wildlife Trust.

Although I have never seen one here, Ospreys pass through local reservoirs at Tring and Weston Turville on their way to and from their summer breeding sites in Scotland and Scandinavia.





I was very fortunate in spotting two birds some time ago but had to travel 4,500 miles in order to do so!

They were at Buffalo Bill Reservoir just west of Cody, WY.

The first bird was flying parallel to the road I was on and I wasn't sure what I was looking at at first.

The second bird was sighted just before the road entered a tunnel and was close enough to see its most piercing stare.

I don't know if I shall have ever the good fortune to return to the US but I do have some great memories of my trips.

They really are gorgeous birds. We see the occasional one here and more in the Adirondacks. I found a dead one near my driveway once, I think he had hit the power lines.

Ospreys like the highest point around to nest and building platforms can entice them away from places that are dangerous or otherwise unsuitable.
I just discovered a nest on Christmas that overhangs a nearby lake, but is only 30 or 40 feet above the water. I have often watched them fish in the lake but that seems a special place.
I have it on my calendar to look for activity in the spring.