Rolling Avian Issues Thread

there was a jay/green woodpecker confusion at the reserve yesterday too. later sightings of jay probably confirmed the earlier one.

course you might have seen a waxwing in which case i am slain

shit, that's it

slightly smaller than a starling = typed this almost verbatim earlier

have dreamed of seeing one of those since i was 6 and never have

90% sure that was it

Bohemian waxwings are not brood parasitised by the common cuckoo or its relatives in Eurasia because the cuckoo's young cannot survive on a largely fruit diet. In North America, the waxwing's breeding range has little overlap with brown-headed cowbird, another parasitic species. Nevertheless, eggs of other birds placed in a Bohemian waxwing's nest are always rejected. This suggests that in the past, perhaps 3 million years ago, the ancestral waxwing was a host of a brood parasitic species, and retains the rejection behaviour acquired then.

^^^this stuff is terrifying & fascinating

posted this elsewhere but as an avian avian issue it needs to be here as well

The pollutant methylmercury is a globally distributed neurotoxin and an endocrine system disruptor. In the Everglades ecosystem, human pollution has led to increased concentrations of methylmercury, which have impacted the behaviors of the American white ibis.[67] Hormone levels in males are affected, leading to a decrease in the rates of key courtship behavior, and fewer approaches by females during the mating season.[68] In addition, methylmercury also increased male-male pairing behaviors by 55%. Both the chemically induced "homosexual" behavior and the diminished ability to attract females by males have reduced reproduction rates in affected populations.

http://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/londonbirders/images/0/07/102_-_105_Waxwings.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20110115210218

Taken on Drayton Park Road opposite the Arsenal steps. Waxwings in a Rowan tree.

two bodybuilding bros argue about the starling-sized birds in that tree

http://i.imgur.com/eOWL8i1.png

that first one really is peering

now do someone pissing on a molehill next to sunderland's finest

there was one of those regionally relevant interludes in the pittsburgh/baltimore game featuring, appropiately enough, a rather wretched looking raven from the national aviary in pittsburgh

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Aviary

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/ff/FranklinSpectacleOwlChick.jpg/520px-FranklinSpectacleOwlChick.jpg

Franklin, the spectacled owl chick

bare magnolia room with incongruous transverse branch where Franklin shall die

lmao

http://31.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mafsxxMNb41qkgm7po1_500.gif

https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4005/4592455560_b04bf29320.jpg

that does not look like a bird species that exists

maybe in delaware?

would not put anything past delaware

An executioner in Mecca, the holy city, took two swings to hack off Layla bint Abdul Mutaleb Bassim's head, after she was found guilty of beating the girl and raping her with a broomstick.

From Arabic بِنْت (bínt, “girl, daughter”), used to denote a patronym.

The term entered the British lexicon during the occupation of Egypt at the end of the nineteenth century, where it was adopted by British soldiers to mean "girlfriend" or "bit on the side". It is used as a derogatory slang word in the United Kingdom, meaning 'woman' or 'girl'. Its register varies from that of the harsher bitch to an affectionate term for a young woman, the latter being more commonly associated with the West Midlands. The term was used in British armed forces and the London area synonymously with bird in its slang usage from at least the 1950s.

Saw some golden eagles passing through Guadalajara today. Or i assume they were golden eagles, the Iberian imperial eagle being much less likely.

http://i.imgur.com/PO2ILrF.jpg

golden oriole, greenfinch, bullfinch, firecrest. maybe a redpoll and a hawfinch. rest have me stumped.

is that an album that many avians will have downloaded

these two may have listened to a couple of tracks from a streaming service at the insistence of ILAFL's finest MENA pugilist, but would need to return to it to have an opinion much beyond 'seems nice, cool forest sounds'

the greenfinch is the only avian i know there

passerines

are they one of the more dominant passerines?

Greenfinches have suffered a terrible decline in the last decade. Used to get them daily in the garden, now cannot remember the last time I even saw one. Chaffinches and goldfinches still going well, in the UK at least.

Finches are amongst the most dominant passerines on the whole though, yes. They're seen as more highly developed than most other families, I think.

I have packed a large bird guide today for educational reasons. I will look up the greenfinch in a bit.

how do u rate dunnocks in the avian firnament

extremely high

they skulk in the literal, glowering sense, as much rodent as bird in behaviour, rarely putting more than four inches between themselves and the ground, even in flight. of course they are beautiful as well with surprisingly rich patterning. another garden standard & yet they never fail to thrill

you are like avian version of the egyptian god who weighed the souls of the dead

a novice

Smales, I. (2006)

Impacts of Avian Collision with Wind Power Turbines: An
Overview of the Modelling of Cumulative Risks Posed by Multiple Wind
Farms

Report for the Department of Environment and Heritage. Pro-
ject No. 5182. Biosis Research Pty Ltd., Melbourne

^rain of blood

went rambling in cassiobury park, watford this morning. not your average park. among others, saw a redwing, fieldfares, treecreepers, goldcrests and a siskin, the latter identified for the first time. heading home now very excited. it is an exceptional park, better maybe than any london park

ilx-searching 'cassiobury' leads to a short & pithy thread in which I posted, under my original nom de plume, perhaps one of my wringer posts. the thread also features peak nordicskilla

wronger, even

but that siskin, right

loves his avians does lj

loves his avians

goldcrests are pretty chill admittedly

http://www.abcbirds.org/newsandreports/releases/130129.html

somewhat resembles the inimitable and dearly departed jeff

loved his avians did jeff

loved his avians

In the 1980s, Azzam travelled throughout the Middle East, Europe and North America, including 50 cities in the United States, to raise money and preach about jihad. He inspired young Muslims with stories of miraculous deeds, mujahideen who defeated vast columns of Soviet troops virtually single-handed, who had been run over by tanks but survived, who were shot but unscathed by bullets.[22] Angels were witnessed riding into battle on horseback, and falling bombs were intercepted by birds, which raced ahead of the jets to form a protective canopy over the warriors.[22][23]

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jgv5ixxgTsQ&feature=player_detailpage#t=152

those avians, my word

a squirrel sitting upon the bough of a tree, eating some unidentified organic matter
on the ground beneath, a robin waited for crumbs to fall

I am not much of a birdwatcher (I like working by the river and seeing ducks and moorhens though) but lately the tree outside my flat window has had a busy gang of chaffinches* pecking all over it for about twenty minutes every day and then disappearing, and they make me very happy

also some yellower, smaller finches, same white λ-shaped flashes on the wings; not sure if siskins or greenfinches or something else entirely

this thread isn't really about birdwatching, but about LJ's foibles w/ re women