The Cellar - Birb

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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

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Sit outside an Austin coffeeshop on a pleasant fall day, and many urban birds present themselves for perusal: strutting, sardonic grackles, chatty parakeets, bustling sparrows.

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:

Quote:

Errol Flynn was the greatest action star in the Golden Age of Hollywood: Hard-fighting, hard-drinking, hard-molesting -- Flynn always strived to act first and think later. But as a young man, the actor had more cerebral ambitions. Instead of just wanting to be a danger to himself and the occasional minor, he wanted to be a danger to animals instead.
In his vodka-soaked memoirs, My Wicked, Wicked Ways, Flynn recalled how much he admired his father Theodore, a zoologist and professor of biology at the University of Tasmania. In fact, young Flynn began his own zoological experiments, which lasted until the age of eight or nine, when he both made his first big scientific breakthrough, and broke all the laws of nature and decency.
Flynn observed that if he gave a piece of pork to one of the ducks in his backyard "something in its intestinal make-up caused the bird to pass the pork within a minute or two." So the next day, he tied a juicy bit of meat to a piece of greased string, fed it to a duck, waited for the duck to pass it whole, and then fed it to the next one. After stringing up half a dozen ducks bill-to-cloaca, Flynn closed the loop, creating a "living bracelet" of which he was more proud than any "scientist inventor of an antibiotic."
Always more showman than scientist, Flynn turned his academic freakshow into a more literal one, selling tickets to his friends who could come stare at the ornithological ouroboros in awe. Flynn's father was less impressed. The sight of the abomination caused Pa Flynn to shout "you cruel little devil," and break his umbrella across Errol's back. And so ended the scientific career of Errol Flynn, who vowed never to experiment again -- "unless my experience with women can be counted."

Go check the first paragraph again if you're curious how that worked out for him.

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.