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Hi there. I have been birding most of my life and am currently a grad student working on a bird migration study. "A bird does not sing because it has an answer. It sings because it has a song."
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A juvenile Herring Gull in flight  by jonasflanken

A juvenile Herring Gull in flight

 by jonasflanken

Friday June 14th // Filed under: animals, nature, birds, gull, aves, bird, birding,
A white stork called Macius re-occupies his nest in Bydgoszcz, Poland. Storks herald the coming of spring and have been coming to nest in this area of the city for 20 years.

A white stork called Macius re-occupies his nest in Bydgoszcz, Poland. Storks herald the coming of spring and have been coming to nest in this area of the city for 20 years.

Saturday February 9th // Filed under: animals, nature, birds, bird, aves, stork,
Penguin, by Joseph Tepper

Penguin, by Joseph Tepper

Sunday February 3rd // Filed under: animals, bird, penguin,
animalworld: SHOEBILL STORK - Yikes!Balaeniceps rex© Zdeněk Chalupa  I couldn’t resist - these pre-historic looking birds never cease to amaze me :) This species was only classified in the 19th century when some skins were brought to Europe. It was not until years later that live specimens reached the scientific community. However, the bird was known to both ancient Egyptians and Arabs. There are Egyptian images depicting the Shoebill, while the Arabs referred to the bird as abu markub, which means one with a shoe, a reference to the bird’s distinctive bill. Shoebills feed in muddy waters, preying on fish, frogs, reptiles such as baby crocodiles, and small mammals. They nest on the ground and lay from 1 to 3 eggs, usually during the dry season. The population is estimated at between 5,000 and 8,000 individuals, the majority of which live in Sudan. BirdLife International have classified it as Vulnerable with the main threats being habitat destruction, disturbance and hunting. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoebill Other posts: Threatening Shoebill Judging Shoebill Shoebill moving aside a duck

animalworld:

SHOEBILL STORK - Yikes!
Balaeniceps rex
© Zdeněk Chalupa 

I couldn’t resist - these pre-historic looking birds never cease to amaze me :)

This species was only classified in the 19th century when some skins were brought to Europe. It was not until years later that live specimens reached the scientific community. However, the bird was known to both ancient Egyptians and Arabs. There are Egyptian images depicting the Shoebill, while the Arabs referred to the bird as abu markub, which means one with a shoe, a reference to the bird’s distinctive bill.

Shoebills feed in muddy waters, preying on fish, frogs, reptiles such as baby crocodiles, and small mammals. They nest on the ground and lay from 1 to 3 eggs, usually during the dry season.

The population is estimated at between 5,000 and 8,000 individuals, the majority of which live in Sudan. BirdLife International have classified it as Vulnerable with the main threats being habitat destruction, disturbance and hunting.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoebill

Other posts:

Threatening Shoebill

Judging Shoebill

Shoebill moving aside a duck

(via prehistoric-birds)

Monday January 21st // Filed under: modern maniraptor monday, shoebill, stork, bird,
prehistoric-birds: Moa: The Life and Death of New Zealand’s Legendary Bird By Quinn Berentson The moa were the most unusual and unique family of birds that ever lived, a clan of feathered monsters that developed in isolation for many, many millions of years. They became extinct reasonably quickly after the arrival of the Maori, and were a distant memory by the time European explorers arrived. So the discovery and identification of their bones in the 1840s was a worldwide sensation, claimed by many to be the zoological find of the century. This book begins by recounting the story of discovery, which was characterised by an unbelievable amount of controversy and intrigue. Since then there has been an unbroken chain of new discoveries, culminating with intriguing revelations in recent years about the moa’s biology, that have come to light through DNA testing and radio-dating. This is a fascinating and important book that richly recounts the life and death of our strangest bird. Packed with a fantastic range of illustrations, Moa fills an important gap in our natural history literature, a popular but serious book on this national icon. (Find out more —> Craig Potton Publishing)

prehistoric-birds:

Moa: The Life and Death of New Zealand’s Legendary Bird

By Quinn Berentson

The moa were the most unusual and unique family of birds that ever lived, a clan of feathered monsters that developed in isolation for many, many millions of years. They became extinct reasonably quickly after the arrival of the Maori, and were a distant memory by the time European explorers arrived. So the discovery and identification of their bones in the 1840s was a worldwide sensation, claimed by many to be the zoological find of the century.

This book begins by recounting the story of discovery, which was characterised by an unbelievable amount of controversy and intrigue. Since then there has been an unbroken chain of new discoveries, culminating with intriguing revelations in recent years about the moa’s biology, that have come to light through DNA testing and radio-dating.

This is a fascinating and important book that richly recounts the life and death of our strangest bird. Packed with a fantastic range of illustrations, Moa fills an important gap in our natural history literature, a popular but serious book on this national icon.

(Find out more —> Craig Potton Publishing)

(via scientificillustration)

Sunday January 13th // Filed under: paleontology, moa, bird, theropod, dinosaur, lit,