Rfalconcam Forum

HOOPOE. A genuine beauty and very, very fabulous. However, UNCLEAN.

Like all ABOMINATIONS, Upupa epops is in good company:

Deuteronomy 14  (similar list is in Leviticus 11):
11 You may eat any clean bird.
12 But these you may not eat: the eagle, the vulture, the black vulture,
13 the red kite, the black kite, any kind of falcon,
14 any kind of raven,
15 the horned owl, the screech owl, the gull, any kind of hawk,
16 the little owl, the great owl, the white owl,
17 the desert owl, the osprey, the cormorant,
18 the stork, any kind of heron, the hoopoe and the bat.

so, WATCH it, you-all.

Hoopoe says his name:
http://www.xeno-canto.org/sounds/uploaded/AFEHYCAHZR/CommonHoopoe2Edwards.mp3
more info and picture source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoopoe

A lot of you have more pictures and much more knowledge than I do about hummingbirds. All I've done is sit around with Lou's hummingbird helmet on in Wisconsin, which netted no birds, and take the picture below in Big Sur. What kind is this, please? I knew but forgot. There were gazillions of them.

OK...I'll see your weird looking bird and raise you.

This is a Hoatzin, another amazonian bird.  I took both photos in Peru, at the Tambopata Reserve.  Like the Hoopoe, you wouldn't want to eat the Hoatzin, unless you enjoy a bird with a "disagreeable, manure-like odor"  (Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoatzin).

You might want to read the full wikipedia article; Hoatzins are unique in several ways!

The first photo is the halfway decent one; the second one was blurry, but I thought turned out rather interesting in spite of the blur (or maybe because of the blur).

You TOOK that picture?   You SAW that?   I can't believe that thing EXISTS!!!!
and smells like poo to boot!   

Score, Patti!

I also recommend reading the wikipedia article on the Hoopoe, especially the "relationship to humans" section, which cites mentions of the beast in the Quran and Ovid's Metamorphoses.

The "relationship to humans" section was interesting...but the predator defense tactics, even more so!  Secreting a substance that smells like rotting meat that they rub into their feathers, shooting feces (and I thought only primates did that), and hissing like snake!  Pretty cool bird, but I wouldn't want to get on his bad side.

I bet it's behavior like that that got him into some Old-Testament-sized trouble.
But his bad side is surely also fabulous.

I have posted this photo before on this forum...but the story is worth a re-run!  This is a female Hooded Warbler.  We met her as we were hiking in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park.  We were tripping merrily down the trail when a rather clueless fledgling came hopping up the trail directly at us.  I think it hadn't yet learned to avoid humans, and was friendly and curious like most young things.  Mother Hooded Warbler got concerned about her goofy youngster, flew down in front of us and tried the "broken wing" routine to try and lure us away from her offspring.  Very cute.  We stayed long enough to snap this picture and then gave them some space.  Happily, the fledgling didn't try to follow us!

I'm leaving on a trip tomorrow, and I've already packed my "Western" field guide away, so I'm no help with your bird.  But I'll add my own favorite backyard hummingbird photo (Ruby-throated Hummingbird).

Northern Harrier - this guy is a juvenile.  I took the photo during fall migration in Cape May.

wonderful picture. my optic nerve is sizzling a bit

My final contribution to the "H" list:  a Harris's Hawk.  We met this hawk while camping in the Red River Gorge Geological Area in Kentucky...we heard an unusual bird call and while looking all around to identify the culprit, noticed that the campers in the next site over had a captive hawk.  They invited us over to meet the hawk, who was very laid back.

Harris's Hawks are more social than most other hawks; they do cooperative hunting, so they are a good choice for a beginning falconer.

I have a harris hawk picture, too, with a "beginning falconer" --

I can't compete with the "really different" ones you all seem to have seen.  But this was for sure a different one for me last year.
Tri colored Heron in Blue Springs. 

Harpyie - a big bird of prey

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Harpia_harpyja_qtl1.jpg (http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Harpia_harpyja_qtl1.jpg)

WOW!   :scaredblue:

H is for Hammerkop

The Hammerkop is a sub-Saharan wading bird  It gets its name from the hammer shape of its head.  It feeds on fish, tadpoles, small crustaceans.  These images are screen shots from safari.tv.  It frequently roosts on hippos and hunts from that perch.

From Wikipedia:  "The strangest aspect of Hamerkop behavior is the huge nest, sometimes more than 1.5 m across, comprising perhaps 10,000 sticks and strong enough to support a man's weight. The birds decorate the outside with any bright-coloured objects they can find."

The entire article is interesting:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hammerkop

Gayle







 

Dale, I did not know that the hoopoe was considered tref.  I shall remember that when next I prepare a kosher meal!!

Patti, your photographs are terrific.  It is not easy to separate a bird from its surroundings in a rain or any other forest.

Annette, that harpyie is one ferocious looking bird!

Gayle

H is for heron, Bare-throated Tiger Heron

I photographed this magnificant heron in Tortugueros. Costa Rica.

Gayle

Also from Tortuguero, the Chestnut-bellied Heron.

Gayle

Dictionary.com says: tref: "unfit to be eaten or used, according to religious laws; not kosher."

Apparently, you're not supposed to cook raptors either. Or bats. That whole list.
So, we have a choice. Severely limit our ingredient list or not invite people who care.
I'd find it hard to give up my old bat-eating habit.

The chestnut-bellied is gorgeous. He has all those bells and whistles, like the other herons.

OK...having dug out my Western field guide, I'm going to say Anna's Hummingbird -- either a female or a sub-adult male.  It looks like only a few species would be likely to show up in Big Sur.  I don't know when you were there, but the Anna's Hummingbird is shown as being a year-round resident.  If you were there during summer, the other bird that might also be a possibility is a summer resident:   Black-chinned Hummingbird.  There are other summertime or "rare" possibilities, but none of them particularly looks like your photo.  Does Anna's or Black-chinned ring a bell, since you said you used to know?

It was early September. Definitely no one mentioned black-chinned. I've never heard of the beast. Maybe Anna's. I thought I knew ;) Hmmmm....

Found another picture (wiki). I like the bird a lot. Thanks, Gayle! Also, his feet are all wet.

wikipedia: "One unusual feature is that up to ten birds join in "ceremonies" in which they run circles around each other, all calling loudly, raising their crests, fluttering their wings. Another is "false mounting", in which one bird stands on top of another and appears to mount it, but they may not be mates and do not copulate."

("let's not and say we did" sort of thing, I guess.)

Well, here's another list...this is from a checklist of birds at Andrew Molera State Park, which is probably pretty representative.
[ ] *  Black-chinned Hummingbird
[ ] B  Anna's Hummingbird
[ ] *  Costa's Hummingbird
[ ] *  Calliope Hummingbird
[ ]     Rufous Hummingbird
[ ] B  Allen's Hummingbird

The "B" means it breeds in the area.
The * means it's rare enough to be reported to the local rare bird alert, so you would have been lucky to have seen those.  But see if any of these rings a bell.

Patti-  the image below is on
http://www.richard-seaman.com/USA/States/California/TahquitzCanyon/index.html
and they call it an Anna's. I think this is the same bird, or maybe its friend from down the block.
Anna's, then! Thanks.

 :flash:   Cool pic Aafke!    ;D

ooooh, Aafke, that hoopoe picture is MUCH MUCH better than the wikipedia one I posted. That's AMAZING!

I love them.

So while I was browsing for a good white breasted nuthatch picture I ran across this picture.  When I took it in July I didn't realize what it was.  Picasa's I'm feeling lucky (which is exaggerating the color) revealed a House Finch feeding its fledgling...

great House Finch shot, Ei.

I'm always entertained when fledglings, which can look so much larger than their parents, and often have different markings, are demanding food and being fed.
With starlings this can be really funny-looking, like, "HEY, mister! Yeah, YOU! Give me something to eat! "

HOODED CROW

I always saw lots of them in Russia and in Ireland, and they always comported themselves like perfect gangsters.

Here are a couple from Berlin.

Hooded Crow (Corvus cornix) ... is a Eurasian bird species in the crow genus. Widely distributed, it is also known locally as Scotch Crow, Danish Crow, and Corbie or Grey Crow in Ireland, which is what its Welsh name, Brân Lwyd, translates as. Found across northern, eastern and southeastern Europe, and the Middle East, it is an ashy grey bird with black head, throat, wings, tail and thigh feathers, as well as a black bill, eyes and feet. Like other corvids it is an omnivorous and opportunistic forager and feeder. (wikipedia)

Our Hooded Crows - called "Hoodies" - are perfect gentlemen (women)! They wait politely while other corvids wreck the place in their quest for tidbits. They sit right there on the wire as their relatives - the magpies, jackdaws and rooks - argue incessantly. Then down they come, usually as a pair, choose their bit, and head off. Must be a higher-class neighbourhood.

Dale, what a beautiful looking bird. Thanks for posting.

Bobbie, Hoodies??? LOL. I have a few but they are wearable!