Hey, what happened to my previous reply earlier this week?! I could've sworn I pushed the "Submit'" button... oh well...

Love the B&W of the crocs Henry. Though, not directly related to birds these days, common believe among the scientific community is that birds did evolve from reptiles. Dinosaurs to be exact. That would make the bird we see todat great^10 grandcousins of the crocs you displayed Kinda like some people believe we are all family, coming from Adam and Eve. That's kind of disturbing actually

I really like a chance to observe that Dusky, Greg. It seems like a beautiful bird!

Wow jcoffin, that's a shot I'm jealous of! What a great BIF shot. I especially like the contrast on the plumage of the geese and how they pop out to the blue background! I count 2 buttocks by the way, or 3 on a 2-headed bird

Thanks for sharing everyone!

Mark

Those of you into Bird Watching would probably enjoy this very lovely, interesting and well written book. Only mind pictures... Bird watching is an interesting world... who knew

The book is set out into loosely Twelve months in the world of British (mostly) bird watching. There is one part where he describes a VERY large flock of Starlings and some music that describes their flight. I downloaded it and listened... Thomas Tallis "Spem in Alium" sung by King's College Chapel in Cambridge.

"The Running Sky, A Birdwatching Life" Tim Dee ISBN 9781407454467

There's a fair review here http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/oc ... ook-review

I especially like #2 and #3. That is pretty funky that he is hanging upside down.

Great shot of the geese!

Go back far enough and I guess all creatures are related to amoebas or something.

California Barn Swallow in 1986 (scanned Kodachrome 64 slide)



American Avocet in California in 1994 (scanned negative)

I liked that shot of the bif geese jcoffin.
Thanks Mark, I don’t know if the Dusky is all that spectacular, it’s just that it’s very rare too see one around here, I got a bit of buck fever when there were two of them. A couple of years ago I saw one in the tree along with twenty or more Browns when it was in blossom like now, I think it might have been a youngish one as it didn’t hang around for long after being chased around by all those browns. A bit of a different story with this pair though, when a Brown tried it on it got told where to get off in no uncertain terms, quite funny too watch actually.
Yes the birds are supposed to be an offshoot of the Theropods, a sort of very small modified T-rex with feathers…still a bit of a mind jump for me but apparently they have found Theropod types that had developed feathers, probably as insulation against the cold. I thought if any dinosaur group was going to produce birds it would have been the Ornithischians with their fondness for beaky mouths and all sorts of weird horns and plates.

Hi NevHi, I might not find time to get into a book that’s probably not totally relevant too me but I do enjoy birds and all their antics that’s for sure.
Greg

Ps Mark I don’t know how many times I’ve lost a message because I’ve hit [Go] instead of [submit].

That's a cool Swallow Henry, and now I'm totally green that you've got a terrific photo of an Avocet, that one is really high on my to do list one day.
Greg

NevHi, thanks for that link. I really enjoy watching a large group of Starlings. Beautiful birds by themselves, but absolutely fantastic when they display these wave patterns as a group.

Take a look at this lovely video of photographer Sophie Windsor Clive to see them at their best!

Henry, a rare thing seeing a scanned bird image being posted nowadays. Nice bird and good capture!

Greg, these Dusky's seem pretty interesting to me, because we don't get these of birds around these parts of the world. Seems they're rare to your parts as well. I can get as excited as you if I see a bird I've never seen before. My main goal is to document every species of bird I can find in my "peck of the woods". If I see a species I've never seen before, even if they are common around these parts, I'm in heaven. Little things like that can really make my day

I found the issue with submitting. It seems that the Google Chrome frame plug-in for Internet Explorer 9 was the culprit. Don't know why, but it isn't compatible with this forum.

Mark

Oh don't get me wrong Mark there is plenty of Honeyeaters around, (it's only the Dusky that's hard to find) there's at least 20 Browns in the tree that's in bloom and White Gaped Honeyeaters, and White Throated Honeyeaters (come and go through the day), and this one below, the worlds biggest Honeyeater, the Friarbird, it loves water when it's hot and humid and really gets WET.
Greg

A100 KM100-300apo
Friarbird

Thanks for the explanaition Greg. I did get the expression honeybirds were rare in your area.

that Friarbird looks just like an ugly vulture like this Great image!

Planning to go play paparazzi and find me some bullfinches this weekend. Probably on mondaymorning as I can have the whole forrest for myself and the weatherforcast says this for that day:



Sweet!

Mark

Hey I wish you luck on the Bullfinch trail Mark.
Greg

ps Yeah the Friarbird is one ugly somebitch alright, it looks worse at the moment because it's all wet.

Thanks Greg. Hope it'll bring me more result than the Goldcrest hunt I did last week

A wonderful, wonderful thread growing by the ssecond here, everyone! Congratulations! A record-breaking performance and it's not even close to the end of the first monthof the year....

Keep it up!


As for the birds? They are all gorgeous, ofcourse. : ))


Thanks for sharing everyone,

Yildiz

As I said in the weather thread, it's far too much credit for one person! Everyone who has contributed makes for this succes. When can we see your entry Yildiz?!

I love to see whats flapping away in Istanbul!

Thanks so much,

Mark

I agree with Yildiz, a fabulous range of birds from Jcoffin, Henry, Greg and Mark. I love the range from across the globe

Those geese in flight are fabulous, it looks like you must have been flying with them!

The Friarbird reminds of the villains in Dark Crystal .