Bird Watching

[Michelle420]

 

[Michelle420]

 

[Michelle420]

 

[Michelle420]

 

[Michelle420]

 

[Michelle420]

 

[Thunk]

I'm not really into type of birds...but I enjoy watching birds doing the back-stroke in the birdbath

Look at all the happy creatures dancin' on the lawn...bother me tomorrow...today I'll find no sorrow...dooo dooo dooo lookin' out my back door

 

[baileyn45]

Great picture. Obviously a great conversation on the right, "these guys are boring me" on the left.

 

[baileyn45]

OK, I have to ask, what in the hell is that? Looks like a shot from Jurassic Park.

 

[Hossfly]

OK, I have to ask, what in the hell is that? Looks like a shot from Jurassic Park.

The shoebill (Balaeniceps rex) also known as whalehead, whale-headed stork, or shoe-billed stork, is a very large stork-like bird. It derives its name from its enormous shoe-shaped bill. It has a somewhat stork-like overall form and has previously been classified with the storks in the order Ciconiiformes based on this morphology. However, genetic evidence places it with the Pelecaniformes. The adult is mainly grey while the juveniles are browner. It lives in tropical east Africa in large swamps from Sudan to Zambia.[2]


Shoebill - Wikipedia

 

[baileyn45]

I'm not really into type of birds...but I enjoy watching birds doing the back-stroke in the birdbath

Look at all the happy creatures dancin' on the lawn...bother me tomorrow...today I'll find no sorrow...dooo dooo dooo lookin' out my back door

Probably a good attitude, Bird watching seems to have a penchant for becoming obsessive. Someone told me once that you're not a true birdwatcher until every vacation revolves around a swamp, grassland, beach, forest...

For me it cracks me up, amongst my family and friends I'm the bird expert. Around real birdwatchers, I might have breached the beginner status.

 

[baileyn45]

OK, I have to ask, what in the hell is that? Looks like a shot from Jurassic Park.

The shoebill (Balaeniceps rex) also known as whalehead, whale-headed stork, or shoe-billed stork, is a very large stork-like bird. It derives its name from its enormous shoe-shaped bill. It has a somewhat stork-like overall form and has previously been classified with the storks in the order Ciconiiformes based on this morphology. However, genetic evidence places it with the Pelecaniformes. The adult is mainly grey while the juveniles are browner. It lives in tropical east Africa in large swamps from Sudan to Zambia.[2]


Shoebill - Wikipedia

Not buying it, I'm sticking with Jurassic park!

 

[baileyn45]

Funny story about birdwatching. Many years ago I decided to take my golden retriever to a new state park to let her run, in Ohio by the way. So I head out to Crane Creek SP(now Magee Marsh, part of Ottawa NWR). I get there, instead of miles of forest there are hundreds of cars, 400-500 people and a quarter mile boardwalk through a swamp. Oh, and a sign, No Pets. So I went next door to the wildlife area to run the dog.

Intrigued, I went back the next day without the dog. The first people I met was a young couple from Germany. We got to talking and eventually I asked, "so what brought you here?". They said "we're here to see the warblers". I said, "I know why you're HERE, but what brought you to the US". Their response, "we're her to see the warblers". I responded, "you came from Germany to a swamp outside of Toledo, Ohio to see birds?" Yep. Who knew. I was obviously ignorant of my own backyard.

The next year I spent a couple of hours with a Japanese family at the same place. The father was working in Chicago and travelled there to see the warblers. That and as the father repeatedly told me, to go to Cedar Point, "Japanese people love roller coasters", he repeatedly assured me. And many Japanese know of Cedar Point. Who knew?

 

[Michelle420]

Birds are really pretty and interesting.

 

[Michelle420]

 

[Michelle420]

 

[Michelle420]

Birds

 

[Michelle420]

 

[Michelle420]

Vultures: Natural History Notebooks

 

[Michelle420]

30 million years

There is evidence to indicate the Flamingo evolved at least 30 million years ago, perhaps longer. In fact, many believe that those fossils may be as far back as we have found but they certainly aren't where Flamingos began.
Flamingo Evolution - Flamingo Facts and Information