Gayle, tufted puffin is WILD-looking. He could have it out with Darth Vader any day and probably win; especially if he gets extra credit points for his nicely alliterative name!

To quote Patti, I'll see your penguins and raise you one:
I already posted a few African PENGUIN shots from Boulders Beach SA (yes, under "J" for "Jackass") -
but here are FAIRY (LITTLE BLUE, Korora) PENGUINS - from NZ.
 

buncha PELICANS  from far away

Near Cape Town SA; I think this was at the Cape Flats Water Treatment (i.e., sewer) Works.

dale

I would like to take this opportunity to say something I've never said here before...

PURPLE SWAMP HEN!!!

PUKEKO is the Maori name for the PURPLE SWAMP HEN
  
I took these in Rotorua, NZ, in a house's back yard and in a public park.

** to see mama PUKEKO holding bread in her foot and feeding her chick -- and to see the SIZE of that FOOT (both very cool), PLEASE check out the photo at this link:  
http://www.treknature.com/gallery/Oceania/New_Zealand/photo20112.htm

dale

OH! OH! first I was blown away by the way the iridescent feathers look like metal - but then  - the ones with their beaks open, the tongues, and the water...and the ones flying with fluff!!!  and the bathing one with his tail all up...and what is the deal with the one lying down? Is he or she OK? And the RED!!! I have to say that one of my very favorites is the one getting in a good scratch with his right leg. Somehow a thing you know all birds do, but you never think of a hummingbird that way.
Thank you for this!  dale

Dale,

This is a great idea!  Your pictures and words are an important part of the Rochester Falcon History.  We would be honored to include them.  Thank you.   

Carol P.

well, I more meant that they would be useful in helping us remember some of the funny stuff, but whatever you want to do with them is fine. So the history doesn't get too dry. I mean, if a fledgling did something really stupid or funny, that could go in too!  Whoever is working on the mid-2000s M&K era can let me know and I'll send all of the raps (there were a LOT!) in a word file.

Carol,

I don't have volunteer time now, but what I do have is DJ dale's falcon raps, which feature a lot of quirky M-K-and-eyas-related events and characteristics of at least a couple of years mid-decade. If any of that can be useful, do remember to let me know. I have that readily accessible. (I also have jpgs of falcon drawings from several years -- the 2005 ones, and maybe more, are actually labeled by name of eyas - but I can't imagine that would be of use in a history)

Actually, they would surely be useful as reminders of events!!  WhenI read them I am blown away at all the stuff I'd forgotten!!


Good idea.

Dale

Patti - 

the american oystercatcher looks like he's trying to decide if he can patent this thing or not.

I didn't know what a fully-dressed sea urchin looked like.

dale

Patti-

it's at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum 14 miles from downtown Tucson, in the desert. http://www.desertmuseum.org/
"The Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum is a world-renowned zoo, natural history museum and botanical garden, all in one place! Exhibits re-create the natural landscape of the Sonoran Desert Region so realistically you find yourself eye-to-eye with mountain lions, prairie dogs, Gila monsters, and more. Within the Museum grounds, you will see more than 300 animal species and 1,200 kinds of plants. There are almost 2 miles of paths traversing 21 acres of beautiful desert."
Terrific place. They have raptor free-flight shows; I had also signed up for the raptor experience, and then the others who had signed up (a family) all got sick and didn't show. So I got LOTS of time with the birds. Flew the Barn Owl and Harris Hawk and got to spend time up close and personal with other owls, hawks, a kestrel, etc.
They also have a walk-in aviary that is unforgettable.
That place is where a hummingbird kept coming back to harvest fuzz off of my hoodie for the nest it was building. People gathered around to watch the hummingbird return and pick stuff off of me.

Anne - that isn't photoshopped or in any way altered - just cropped. they have other critters in with the big birds.

dale

and a GHO (with a mouth full of mouse) and a screech owl, also in tucson.

dale

both Oxpecker and Oystercatcher need to be cut off by the caffeine bartender.
Check out those eyes. They are wired and overserved.

Owls, Patti?

the spectacled owl is EXCELLENT

I've got owls...barn owl in tucson

dale

OSTRICH #2

Here are some more ostriches that I photographed at the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago.
Look carefully.

dale

Gayle, thanks for posting oxpeckers. I was fixing to ask.

OSTRICH!!!

We read about the harrier that flew alongside Aafke's car; here is an OSTRICH that RAN alongside of my car for quite a distance outside of Cape Town, SA.  I saw one down at the Cape of Good Hope too - that one was in breeding plumage.

dale

Anne,

Thank you for being honest and giving your angle on the changes. My angle is different, but I do hear and understand yours.

There was something wonderful and very special about the old group that bound me to it for a long time - it was a unique conjunction of really wonderful people from all over, and a shared love. It inspired me to hang out in late-night chats with a terrific bunch of nightowls, write long silly poems, make jokes, create falcon drawings by the score, and do elaborate photoshop collages. Aafke's ABCs threads have some of that old feeling, for me.  Most important, though, I am still, every day, immensely grateful for the cherished acquaintances and real friends I made as a result of that particular unexpected community --  which, yes, has to some extent gone as people, good people, disappeared.

This forum is an entirely new creature. It developed a new hierarchy to replace the Kodak one; it has more cams, more resources, and still, without a doubt, TONS of passion on the part of on-the-ground watchers, internet watchers, and fans. It still is very important for LOTS of people.
But no, it is not the same at ALL. It's much better for some people, impossible for others.  

In any case, I think that it is important and admirable that you have had the passion to say outright how you miss the old community, as a community.  I don't think things like that can be reversed, per se, but if individuals care enough and are brave enough to observe and publicly speak out when they find some "soul" they cared about has been lost, who knows, maybe some new soul can be found - or appear.

dale

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! "

Gayle, I really like the photo of the pooping murres and I wish you had posted a picture of yourself on a Zodiac toting a gun. That'd be just fab.

Anne, I really appreciated your Mute Swan post. As I figure, about my cardinals here and that robin that sings all night every night, when a bird is a pain in the butt, I do have the right to say so.

Dale