PROVINCETOWN — There’s a red-headed vagrant with a big mouth and colorful outfit turning heads in town these days. And it’s not an outlandish Commercial Street performer.

A stately sandhill crane has been spotted foraging for a good meal around a soccer field near Route 6 and the airport a few times over the past week or so.

The long-legged crane with a distinctive crimson forehead and white cheeks has area bird enthusiasts flocking to the Cape’s tip for a gander at the species not seen too often around these parts. "It is a strikingly good-looking bird," said Joseph F. Cavanaugh III, a Mashpee attorney and bird enthusiast who photographed the crane Sunday morning.

Online bird-sighting message boards have been buzzing with posts about the crane, with some folks even organizing carpool excursions to go see it.

"They are real crowd-pleasers," said local bird expert E. Vernon Laux, a naturalist for the Linda Loring Nature Foundation on Nantucket and a Times columnist.

Adult sandhill cranes are big birds — standing about three feet tall and having a wing span of around six feet. Large, grey and rusty-orange colored feathers are hallmarks of their plumage.

The sandhill crane’s prolonged appearance in Provincetown is rare for the Outer Cape, but sightings of the species in the region have increased over the past five years, Laux said.

There have been reports of a few sandhill cranes spending the winter in places such as Cummaquid and Wareham.

A sandhill crane has been spotted at a Provincetown soccer field over the last week or so. It is not common to see this type of crane in the area.

Bostonherald.com

http://php.democratandchronicle.com/blog/birds/?p=3574

This was one of literally hundreds of White-throated Sparrows foraging in Badgerow Park


It’s hard to miss White-throated Sparrows this time of year.
They are easily the most abundant migrant songbird in woodlots and wood edges with plenty of brush and undergrowth.
Let your ears, not your eyes, be your guide.
A thin little “seepâ€� emanating from a visually impenetrable understory of green, followed by another “seepâ€� a short distance away, and then another, is usually your first clue that White-throated Sparrows are foraging nearby.  Continued

     That's way cool Bobbie! I want one of those helicopters with a little camera on it so we can follow the falcons wherever they go!   

The falcons would have that for lunch MAK!

Pretty cool Bobbie.

Pink to make the boys wink: The rare pink hippopotamus was spotted last week in the Masai Mara in Africa

Wading through the muddy waters this rare pink-o-pottamus stands out from the crowd.

British brothers and wildlife photographers Will and Matt Burrard-Lucas captured these images of the brightly coloured hippo in the Masai Mara, Kenya, last week. 

How cute but I wouldn't want to come upon one!! No way!

Thanks jeanne!

[Yellowish]

< Looks a little Yellowish tonight.

(doesn't that yellow hurt your eyes)?

Orville's Song

"All by myself!  Don't want to be all by myself anymore!"   

Oh man, now I feel bad for Orville. Maybe you can bring him home for the Winter months!

[This just (insert bad word) pisses me off.]

Malta has been shamed yet again by its illegal bird hunters, who have blasted a number of Spoonbills this week which were passing through the islands on migration from Europe to Africa.

A flock of 22 Spoonbills were observed roosting in the north of Malta, but horrified birdwatchers scanning the flock the following morning saw that three of them had blood-soaked feathers after being shot by illegal hunters. Of the original 22 birds, only nine continued their journey to Africa, while five have remained at a nature reserve, including the three injured birds. Two of the injured birds have now been taken into care by the authorities.
The RSPB's Grahame Madge, who has witnessed the horrors of illegal hunting in Malta, said: "The Spoonbill is a conservation icon across Europe. This year in the UK, the Spoonbill enjoyed its best year for several centuries, with 10 young being reared. However, it appears that Maltese hunters have killed or injured more Spoonbills than this in one night's orgy of slaughter."

Currently, the RSPB's partner in the islands — BirdLife Malta — is dealing with a high level of incidents of protected birds of prey being shot and targeted.

"The targeting of protected birds during the night invariably takes place every time rare species roost in the islands," said Dr Andre Raine, BirdLife Malta Conservation Manager. "This is clear indication of just how ridiculous the illegal hunting situation in Malta is, and it is about time that the government accepts the situation for what it is — a serious international conservation problem."

One of the injured Spoonbills, shot by illegal hunters, Malta, September 2010 This just (insert bad word) pisses me off.

"This was no boating accident."

Neither is Rfalconcam's latest feature.

Now that's cool Shaky, I always relied on the nest cam for weather. Anymore tricks up your sleeve?

Chief Brody: "You're gonna need a bigger boat."

The best line in "Jaws" 

    so sad but so cute.

Ponds of mud!  Geysers of mud!  Pool needed to be drained.  Yup!  No landscaping in the back and no stones yet - it's a mess, but no where near what it could be! 

Eeek!  Ever see a pool float?  Scary 
Carol

I've seen them collapse from too much rain but never float. There's always a first. My brother's pool, the walls caved in from too much rain 1 year. What a mess. It was in ground!

[Good luck with the "MUCK", have it here too. My gutters can't handle it all! It's a soggy mess out there! Soggy birds too but the Cardinals just sing sing sing, as in "I'm singing in the rain".]

Ponds of mud!  Geysers of mud!  Pool needed to be drained.  Yup!  No landscaping in the back and no stones yet - it's a mess, but no where near what it could be! 

  Good luck with the "MUCK", have it here too. My gutters can't handle it all! It's a soggy mess out there! Soggy birds too but the Cardinals just sing sing sing, as in "I'm singing in the rain".

Sheesh, where have all the birdies gone? Great info Bobbie. Thanks.

     You better build a raft my friend!   

I'll be   to work later!

[RAIN]

RAIN and lots of it! 6 inches or more....oh, how we shall flood!