drawing of a supercilious SNOWY

 
Dale

OH PATTI those are STUNNING!

In contrast, a horridly fuzzy one -
STILT - I took this in Rotorua, NZ, where it was wading in the warm thermal pools (not the seethingly hot ones - no scalded stilt ankles here).
I don't know what flavor stilt this is.
Stilts are related to avocets, apparently.
dale

this is a replay from 2006, but maybe everyone has memories as bad as mine:

dale

I never do get used to the way those squabs look. It's just too weird.
Thanks for posting more bizarre-looking babies. Sheesh.
dale

Annette, splendid picture of a European Roller.

I did an image search to find the photographer and found the photo in a terrific gallery of shots of birds and other animals in the act of being predators (i.e., eating folks). Great gallery!!!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/lalassie/galleries/72157622889302240/

Dale

Great drawing, Dale.  And we know who prevailed in that confrontation!  Gayle 

we do, don't we ;)

I have had many intense interactions with redwing blackbirds, such as being attacked by them while running. This one lunatic male near Northwestern University used to whack runners on the head, from behind.

Since Paul reminded me of robins, here is that PARTIAL ALBINO ROBIN I was visiting a few years ago. He lived just a few blocks from my house.

those spoonbills are so science fiction.

Here is a drawing I did a number of years ago, from a TERRIFIC photo by Chad and Chris Saladin - a confrontation between a RED-TAILED HAWK and a peregrine falcon.

Dale

I allowed myself to look one up from that list, just because I liked the name.
A hawk found in Brazil, French Guiana, Guyana, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago and Venezuela, the Rufous Crab-Hawk:  http://www.oiseaux.net/photos/marc.chretien/buse.buson.5.html
He's rufous, all right.

Gayle!!!

That top red-faced cormorant photo, the one with another bird flying? is INCREDIBLE!
ACTUALLY, these are all stunning photos! Look at that one on a cliff wall!
You're goooooood...

Since so many of these "Rs" are R-for-RED, check out this outstanding rufous list on wikipedia:
(I'd have pasted the list in here, but that seemed RUDE)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rufous

dale

Patti - great Santahummer!

Is Rudy still around? how's he doing?

Unfortunately, he was stepped on by a horse in the barn where he lived, which broke a leg badly - I saw him with his leg all bandaged up - they spent a bundle on that rooster - but I don't know the latest. 

REDPOLL -

I've seen one but have no photo documentation, so for all you know I am lying about that.

Here is a Wikipedia photo of one (by Cephas), and a rather nice passage from the same source:

"All redpolls are northern breeding woodland species associated with birch trees. They are small dumpy birds, brown or grey-brown above and with a red forehead patch. The adult male's breast is washed in red, but in females and young birds the buff breast and white belly are streaked with brown. The bill is small and yellow. Some birds, particularly young ones, are difficult to assign to species.
They are primarily seed-eaters, and often feed acrobatically like a tit; their diet may include some insects in summer. They have a dry reeling song and a metallic call. They lay 4-7 eggs in a nest in a tree or, in the case of Arctic Redpoll, a large bush. They can form large flocks outside the breeding season, sometimes mixed with other finches."

Dale

since Scratch ended up in "P" for Plymouth Barred Rock,

here's one more of Herself:

The plovers are all beautiful.

PRAIRIE CHICKEN, people!!!

Wikipedia: "The Greater Prairie Chicken, Tympanuchus cupido, is a large bird in the grouse family. This North American species was once abundant, but has become extremely rare or extinct over much of its range due to habitat loss. There are current efforts to help this species gain the numbers that it once had. One of the most famous aspects of these creatures is the mating ritual called booming."

dale