Really cool picture!  I'm going to take a wild guess and say it's a Puffin.   

Hard one huh?  LOL. Yes it is a Puffin. Your all correct again. On to the next.

Now that's exciting for sure Janet. Thank you and thank Gigi too.

A group of Parsippany elementary school students will be making the rounds of New York City news shows today to talk about a biodegradable dog booties invention that won them first place at the Student Inventors Day competition at the Liberty Science Center in Jersey City. Green Paws, the student's invention, is a set of dog booties made of biodegradable materials like yard waste, paste and rubbers, that slip over a dog's foot, protecting paws from injury while walking, but also keeping dogs from tracking mud and dirt into the house after being outside.
"It felt amazing. This is like one of the best moments of our life," said Littleton School fifth grader Aytana Muschajew, 10. "First place was completely unexpected." Aytana was one of 11 students in Littleton School's gifted and talented program who participated in the first-ever inventors competition for elementary school kids sponsored by the museum and TeleBrands, a Jersey-based consumer products company and creator of the "As Seen on TV" logo.

Littleton School was one of more than 100 student groups that applied to participate in the event this summer. Competing for a chance to win a scholarship for their schools, only 20 groups were chosen to present an environmentally friendly consumer product before a panel of judges, including Liberty Science Center President Emlyn Koster and TeleBrands CEO and founder, A.J. Khubani.

Khubani's company has promoted such "As Seen on TV" items as the PedEgg and Pasta Boat.

Under the guidance of gifted and talented program teacher Terrie Murphy, two teams of Littleton students entered inventions: Team Green Paws and Team Size-Up.

Team Size-Up invented a padded sock that would allow kids who are in-between shoe sizes to wear large shoes comfortably.

Team Green Paws — made up by students Samaya Pattim, Tara Kakkaramadam, Jeremy Thomas, Arjun Nagendran, Aytana and Rishi Yagappan — won the grand prize, taking back to their school a $1,000 check and having the opportunity to talk about their idea on Fox 5's "Good Day New York" and ABC's "New York Nightly News" with Chuck Scarborough.
Green Paws was an idea that Khubani thought was sellable.
"I thought it was the most marketable idea," said Khubani, who wanted to partner with the museum for the event to encourage kids to "think outside the box."
Teacher Terrie Murphy celebrated beside her students Wednesday afternoon.

"I'm so proud of them," she said. "I'm so glad that they worked this hard and they won." When asked what they think the prize money for their school should be used toward, Green Paws team members had varying opinions.

Fifth-grader Samaya thought the money should be used to bring back the Spanish program that was cut at the school. But Arjun, who modeled Green Paws after his dog Rocky, wants the money to be used to host science fairs at Littleton.

Over the top, is putting it mildly. I love them! Thanks Ei!

This baby is still clinging to life.  Now the fear is lead poisoning due to the bullets

http://www.news24.com/World/News/Baby-Koala-hangs-on-to-life-after-attack-20101110

Really, the crap heads that did this to her and her mother should have the same thing done to them.

I agree! This is so depressing. I can't handle anymore shootings of animals. Bad enough, so many deer are dead this time of year, all along the roads. Breaks my heart. I hope Frodo makes it. 

Update:

WAYNESBORO --

An important patient got a checkup in one of Virginia's more unusual hospitals yesterday.

The patient was a rare peregrine falcon injured in Richmond. The hospital was the Wildlife Center of Virginia, which treats wild animals.

"You can still see that spot," said veterinarian Miranda Sadar, peering into the falcon's right eye with an instrument called an ophthalmoscope.

The spot was the area of a detached right retina. "The retina's trying to reattach itself, but it looks about the same as it did a couple of weeks ago," Sadar said.

That was not good news.

A downtown worker found the dark-eyed, gray-and-brown falcon on the ground near Shockoe Slip on Oct. 12. It may have crashed into a high-rise window.

The crow-sized bird also hurt its right shoulder, and Sadar took X-rays yesterday. The shoulder appeared to be mending.

But would the eye heal enough to allow the falcon to be returned to the wild? "Right now -- I'm more of a conservative person -- I'd say no," Sadar said.

If the falcon can't be released, it will be used in educational programs.

Experts initially thought the bird was Harriet, a falcon that nests in Richmond. But after checking photos, the experts decided the hurt falcon was a solitary bird.

There are only 23 breeding pairs of peregrines in Virginia, and that makes a big female like the Waynesboro patient so important.

The bird had spent the past few weeks in a dog crate. After her exam yesterday, she was released into a small outdoor pen. She hopped up on a table, fluffed herself up and looked about.

"I'm sure she'll want to preen all her feathers, get them in the right place," Sadar said. "She's such a pretty bird."

October 1 update: Owl trapped in Chimney for 2 weeks

On October 1 Dr. Miranda sutured up the wounds on the owl’s wings.  According to Dr. Kelly, the owl is doing well, eating well, and has a great attitude.  The vet team found no injuries to the owl’s eyes.  The owl was moved to one of the Center’s outdoor recovery and rehabilitation enclosures on October 5 — a less stressful setting for the owl.  The veterinary and rehabilitation staff will be watching to see if the owl regains weight lost during its time in the chimney.
October 14 update

The owl continues to do well, however, his carpal wounds are proving to be difficult to treat.  Because these injuries are on the parts of the owl’s wings that stretch and move, the sutures that Dr. Miranda originally used to keep the wounds closed have popped open.  The veterinary team has changed their wound management process recently to encourage more tissue to grow over the injured area.  Great-horned Owl #10-2051 continues to put on weight, though staff expect him to gain more with his extra dinner portions.
October 20 update

On Monday, October 18th, the veterinary team decided to stop daily wound treatments and instead are providing treatments every other day.  The wound on the right carpus continues to heal more quickly than the left.  Because the Great-horned Owl won’t be handled quite as often, the staff moved the bird to a larger flight pen so that it can begin to build muscle mass.  When released into the pen, the owl made a couple of flights down the length of the pen and was able to sustain altitude to land on the perches.
November 2 update

On November 1st, the WCV veterinary team checked on Great-horned Owl #10-2051’s carpal wounds during outdoor rounds.  The wounds on both wings are healing well, and while the vets will continue to monitor the wounds and apply A&D ointment, they will now do this procedure every three days.  While the owl has been flying back and forth in his flight pen on his own, he will begin his official exercise program today.  This means that the rehabilitation staff will be making this bird fly back and forth several times while monitoring his progress.  Over the next couple of weeks, the goal will be to have the owl fly more and more “lapsâ€� in the flight pen while increasing his endurance.
November 9 update

The owl continues to make great progress and has now passed “mouse schoolâ€� — demonstrating that it is able to hunt successfully.  Center veterinarians have now cleared this Great Horned Owl for release.  Outreach Director Amanda Nicholson is now working to pin down a release site close to the place where this owl was originally rescued.  A November 2010 release is likely — possibly as early as the week of November 15.

So cool...cute little Panda, (if you can believe it is a Panda). Thanks.

[63% (4239)]

   63% (4239) Oh she's got it!  Good for you Lexie!  (4240) now!!

Today's WAI?

It's a Teal and NOT a green winged. I say y'all got it right! 

[Pics here]

To the little duckling, it may have seemed a good idea to go off exploring his pond on his own. Until this happened.
The youngster was spotted straying too far from his family by another mother mallard who immediately swam into action.
Because the duckling’s own mother wasn’t around to teach him a safety lesson, the older bird picked him up by a leg before pushing him underwater at the wetlands park in Oregon.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1328105/Duckling-gets-dunking-bossy-mallard-implements-quackdown-pond.html Poor little guy. Pics here

[E]

E is for Emu: , Dromaius novaehollandiae, is the largest bird native to Australia and the only extant member of the genus Dromaius. It is also the second-largest extant bird in the world by height, after its ratite relative, the ostrich. There are three extant subspecies of Emus in Australia. The Emu is common over most of mainland Australia, although it avoids heavily populated areas, dense forest, and arid areas.

The soft-feathered, brown, flightless birds reach up to 2 metres (6.6 ft) in height.

[E]

E is for Elf Owl



The Elf Owl (Micrathene whitneyi) is a member of the owl family Strigidae that breeds in the southwestern United States and Mexico. It is the world's smallest owl, followed closely by the Pygmy owl.[2] They are 5-12 inches tall and have a wingspan of 15-16 inches and short tails. Their primary projection extends nearly past their tail. They have fairly long legs and often appear bow-legged. They weigh 1-1.4 ounces.They can often be heard just after dusk or at sunset, calling to each other. Their call is a high pitched whinny or chuckle. The male and female dart around trees and call back and forth.

A-dorable! Wow! Thanks!