BIRDS

I saw a hawk in downtown Toronto today, a fucking hawk (roughly 2 feet in size, too).

Golden Eagles definitely swoop at around 150mph, fastest is the Peregrine Falcon at around 200mph

in neighbours garden finishing off a pigeon.
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4001/4568033551_d8b10a9d87.jpg

http://26.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_l69r5jj3zT1qak053o1_250.gif

This bird has a RUMEN!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62Q-himJgaU&feature=related

They are all feathered dinosaurs but particularly that one.

poor smelly bastards

better one, sorry, temporarily obsessed will stop now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18582_zqzF8&NR=1

I mean now.

worth watching gets even more amazing towards the end
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XH-groCeKbE

Wow, thanks for posting that.

Had just come on here to ask "Where is good for watching migrating starlings?" and it turns out it's two miles up the road ... Marvellous.

When's a good time to see starlings as in the above clip? (Looks like Feb?)

http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2010/11/23/1290551753396/Flamingos-001.jpg

if only its tail wasn't melting amirite

shaped a bit like the Spurs logo

Some people have actually said that the image is divine intervention and proof that there is a God

That God, eh?

fucksake everyone involved, especially the flamingoes

flamingoes are among the most boring of birds imho

if I wake earlier than the heroic 16:00 I have set my alarm-clock to I will rank all the birds whose jpgs still adorn this thread

flamingoes are among the most boring of birds imho

― pro EVOO sucker (acoleuthic), Wednesday, 24 November 2010 08:59 (10 hours ago)

ha

i agree

great fucking birds (an incomplete list)

gulls (larger ones)
corvids
wagtails
swifts (and martins, more so than swallows)
robins when singing
ALL WADERS EVER esp sandpipers
small falcons
shrikes
buntings (much more so than finches)
the chiffchaff
the zitting cisticola aka fantailed warbler
treecreepers although I've never seen one ;_;
migratory thrushes
PIPITS

pipits might be stealth winners actually

stormy petrels also altho they are almost too elusive and unlikely

SHIT BIRDS (British; incomplete)

geese
ducks EXCEPT mergansers and wigeons
mute swans
small gulls
owls when portrayed as cute
large raptors when portrayed as superior (ospreys have their moments for instance but r overly fetishised)
coots when there are too many of them and they are not being violent (violent coots r GREAT)
starlings (do not need to explain this)

So much wrongness, more later.

BIRDS THAT CAN BE GREAT DEPENDING ON MOOD

pigeons (esp wood)
woodpeckers
tits (esp crested)
the dunnock
the heron (esp in unexpected surrounds)
the moorhen
the kingfisher when not gratuitous
gamebirds when not in season
grebes when you haven't seen one for a while
gannets the first time you see them; see also auks - the black guillemot is a delightful species actually
fulmars when you haven't had an overload of shearwater stiffwingness
wrens when they're not being miserable skulkers

ok geese needs more of a breakdown. brent geese are cool.

Can't believe yr trying to troll me on ducks tbh.

wtf wrens are awesome whatever their mood

^

wrens are awesome when flitting around in full view and singing; not when they're dashing around the undergrowth and you can't see them

ducks are a bit played ime - the wilder, faster-flying ones are mad cool tho - <3 goosanders

oh shit, EIDERS ok eiders are also cool but they're seagoing ducks - much preferable on the whole

Smew, garganey, eider, long-tailed duck - all classics of the genre imo.

^^^all otm; feel ashamed now BUT I must stress those are ALL seagoing migratory sorts as per my amendation - actually thought of long-tailed ducks, add harlequins and goldeneyes too

Smew are actually fucking spectacular. Sorry, Smew. I was attacking your staid and pond-bound brethren.

Rolling my damn eiders here.

SHIT BIRDS

geese

you ever seen Fly Away Home, motherfucker?

haha I've caused a controversy :/

am just flinging ideas around tbh - will have made my peace with all the shit birds before and will do so again

red kites over oxfordshire = great btw

http://i47.tinypic.com/dnltu8.jpg

forgot you were A Bird Man aco, always found that charming abt u

SHIT BIRDS

geese

you ever read The Once and Future King, motherfucker?

as for non-migratory thrushes, the order of greatness is

mistle
(big gap)
ring ouzel
blackbird
song thrush
nightingale

ok whatever, take up thy goose and shit everywhere

geese are at their best when u r feeding them and u hit them on the back with a large piece of bread and it makes the most satisfying noise

lol

when i was a kid i was feeding ducks and a swan attacked me, v scary

SOmehow I read that as "Shit...birds..." like how a vulgar person like me says "shit" in reflex to the profound. All those birds are awesome, imo, I even like how starlings have fucked up America so much. "Like" meaning I appreciate all invasive species in an abstract way. ALso I think you need to see the owl movie in 3D. The climax is an owl flying around with a fire bucket while Dead Can Dance plays.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3276/2950725421_9cfd5fe4be.jpg

i still got a lot of love for the geese

after that owl movie came out i spent a few weeks just saying the phrase 'owls of ga'hoole.' at choice moments, something about it just cracks me up

I am p sure I ruined the movie for all the kids there by repressed-laughing like crazy through the whole thing.

Makes me feel like an ass but OTOH the owl kept making this face

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_OuKIMUeA20M/S8Q8Zynpc0I/AAAAAAAAC_k/KyQTUx90QDg/s1600/gahoole-owl.jpg

While he made that face, he would say something like "That can't be," or "That's not right" or "We must get to the Guardians" in a fake Aussie voice.

abbott there are always exceptions!

residential swans are disgusting; the best ones are the migratory ones
some geese are dandy (the smaller ones and the Egyptian ones)
shelducks are mutant duck-geese and are v cool
owl movie will be watched with my kids in 13 years' time. owls are great but only when in their wild, elusive element - subtle birds, hunters. also, Kiwi accent not Aussie iirc

ok there IS one awesome small gull, the JUVENILE kittiwake

Actually made a giant detour w/ the family on Sunday explicitly to look for owls over the meadows, but we drew a blank and now they hate me 8>

The asshole of the bird world is the cassowary.