These Tui are quite remarkable -- their "songs" very diverse!   A in T[/color]

What I liked in the rainforest was that peculiar metallic, echoing bell-like sound that repeats and repeats, like a punctuation mark. But what amazes me in the mimicking ones is that low, rough, very human and very un-parrotlike voice.

I loved those little guys in New Zealand!  I found that not only did they not fear us, but that "pishing" brought them right up in our faces, along with the fantails.  They wouldn't hold still for the fractions of a second it would take to get a good photo however.  The first time I saw one of those New Zealand birds somewhat off in the distance, and "pished" to bring it closer, I about jumped out of my skin as it made a fast beeline straight at me, landed about a foot from my face, and proceeded to flit around curiously.Patti

aha. so it's true. This one on the screen just did not FEAR me at ALL. I thought maybe he was sick or crypto-DEAD, since I had never met a bird (with whom I was not previously acquainted) that didn't fear me like that.

Patti - why is your wild turkey so different from my wild turkey?
Is it the light or that pesky genetic business?

OK...I am stumped.  Browsing through Sibley, wikipedia, and several other sources, I discovered that turkeys are sexually dimorphic, so it's possible that we've got two different genders.  There are also multiple subspecies that are somewhat different, but it's not very clear to me whether it's likely ours would be different subspecies or not.  Oh well...it will remain a mystery unless a real expert is around to weigh in.

Patti

well, they're both total dinosaurs, in any case.

a real Takahe parent and juvenal (wikipedia, photographer "Avenue")
I find their feathers just breathtakingly beautiful

Another bird from my Kepler Track hike in NZ:

TOMTIT

I found this tiny little itty bitty thing (what, 10 grams or so) stuck tenaciously and fearlessly (They are known for not fearing Us) to the screen door of the "hut" in the morning - on the mountain.

dale

[T]

T is for Townsend's Solitaire. 

It looks like a Bird. Like, if you'd ask me, what does a Bird look like, I'd describe it pretty much exactly like that.
OK, Maybe bluer.   
Maybe with looooonnngggg fabulous feathers coming out of every part of his anatomy.
But he'd sing just like that.
And look just like that.

song:

http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Townsends_Solitaire/sounds

Patti - why is your wild turkey so different from my wild turkey?
Is it the light or that pesky genetic business?

TAKAHE

From 1898 to 1948 the TAKAHE was thought to be extinct; but they aren't quite… there are 225 left:
 
"We returned to where we had found the tracks on our last trip. Suddenly, quite near this spot, a large blue-green bird stepped out from among the snow tussock. And there, no more than twenty metres away from us stood a living Notornis, the bird that was supposed to be extinct."   Dr Geoffrey Orbell, November 20, 1948.

It's a flightless blue NZ bird, a relative of the Pukeko - Purple Swamp Hen I posted about in "P" -

I took this silly photo in Te Anau, NZ, where Orbell rediscovered the TAKAHE and where the few existing ones hang out.

Dale

Turkey again.

Carmel Valley.

dale

I've been waiting for this one!

TUI !!!!
THE hands-DOWN COOLEST bird I've EVER HEARD!
The cotton-ball thing they wear for a bowtie is awfully slick, too..

I listened to them for hours and hours while hiking through the rain forest in NZ.
 
They rearrange the song elements as they see fit, it seems; this is some of the elements I was listening to (not all):
http://www.xeno-canto.org/sounds/uploaded/BPSDQEOJWG/Tui_song_Ulva_Island_2004-12-18.mp3

this one has visuals too (Listen long enough for him to get warmed up):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8diWFGM6sQ

Matt Binns photo - wikipedia

and (!!!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GT-FJHWwRnA&feature=related

…AND… THIS is what they can do when they MIMIC!!!
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kt8dpQSS1QM&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TqF33vc_q68&NR=1

Dale

Strangely enough, last Friday I was downtown and, walking by, took a deep breath and went into the Oppenheimer Gallery to look at the Audubon prints. As much to be appalled at the prices, actually, as to see the gorgeous prints. Hundreds and hundreds of them.  And it's a good exercise to go into places like that and not let them intimidate you. Good shot of outrage gets the old blood pumping, doesn't it. Because the prices are indeed appalling. And the prints are indeed splendid and astounding. But who would buy one and live with it hanging there while people are hungry?  There's something really wrong about it.

Framed, many cost in the hundreds of thousands of dollars; unframed, most cost tens of thousands per page. And they have a full book, enormous, enclosed in a big clear case.

I've ventured into that gallery three times in my life. They're pretty severe. I ignore that, look to my heart's desire (almost) and make pleasant comments. Never have squeezed even a smile out of those done-up shrews. The book is enormous - very old and very intimidating. I asked if people used gloves to look through it; the woman sitting there said, grimly, "NO, they just wash their hands first" - it's not like I was going to ask if I could manhandle it or anything - I just wanted to know how people could touch it without having a heart attack.  You could get an ulcer in there, honestly.

dale

http://www.audubonart.com/

couple more swans, one with friends. Prague, I believe.

This one's for you, Aafke - I took this one at the Berlin Zoo as well.  dale

Egyptian GOOSE

I think

Took these at the Berlin Zoo

dale

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)