This dead cedar waxwing was found with a berry still in its mouth.Ā Waxwings will eat berries to get a little tipsy, but its possible the cold brings out the toxicity even more in the berries. A possible explanation for the waxwingās death is alcohol poisoning. But thereās no definite answer.Ā
My all time favorite animal.
The red-bearded vulture.
The bearded vulture, or lammergeier, lives on a steady diet of bones (more specifically the marrow) and dyes its own feathers blood red.
Bearded vultures come in various shades, from pure white to orange-red. Soils stained with iron oxide give the birds their fiery appearance. Lammergeiers apply the dirt with their claws and then preen for about an hour to ensure a bright orange/red glow. They are also attracted to other red things, like leaves and red wood. Captive birds also partake in this behavior, which suggests the activity is instinctual, not learned.
The soil doesnāt have any practical purposes; it certainly doesnāt make for good camouflage (though the birds have no natural predators anyway). Scientists have noticed that the birdsā age and size are directly correlated to the intensity of color. It is theorized that the hue is a status symbol. More soiled feathers indicates that the lammergeier had the time and resources to find an adequate place to bathe; the brightest-colored vultures should have the most territory and knowledge of their surroundings. Interestingly, these baths are done in secret, so most of the information gathered has been through spying on captive birds.
Bearded Vultures are most commonly monogamous, and breed once a year. Sometimes, especially in certain areas of Spain and France, bachelor lammergeiers will join a pre-existing couple to create a polyandrous trio. Females accept secondary mates because it increases the chances of producing offspring and doubles her protection. The birds usually donāt lay more than three eggs, so they can use all the help they can get.
These giant birds can grow up to 4 feet tall. They have a wingspan between 7 and 9 feet and usually weigh around 10 to 15 pounds.
In other words, this bird is awesome and I love it forever.
This is it. This is the moment I have found my patronus. I love these vain fluff faces forever.
HE IS SMOOCHING THE DEATHMUPPET!!! Iām so jealous!
I would like to share with you all one of my biggest fearsā¦ the feet of the Eurasian Coot. Do they make anyone else feel a sense of impending doom? This is the most repulsed Iāve ever felt. I saw this image on my break and Iāve had nervous diarrhoea twice since then
I keep thinking Iāve seen all the weird birds the world has to offer, then tumblr insists on finding me more.
Parrot caught singing let the bodies hit the floor
I was so done when it whisperedā¦I would shit bricks if I heard that when I got up to get a drink in the middle of the nightā¦
āLet the bodies hit theā¦.FLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOR!!!ā
oh my god heās so into it
metal
Every so often I watch something and it makes @dadhoc and I both laugh so hard that we know immediately that it has already entered into the collection of private jokes by which we communicate.
Since I stopped the video he has already whisperedĀ ālet the bodies hit the flawwwwwwwhā to himself twice.Ā
Sable(left) the barn owl has melanism – a 100,000-to-one gene mutation that makes her the opposite to an albino. Black owls are usually killed as chicks by their mothers who reject their colouring. Pictured at Hereford Owl Rescue with Petra, a normal barn owl, survived because she was born in captivity. She is one of only three in Britain.
I was reading about Vortices and after hours of research online, out of the blue I stumbled upon this amazing bird. This is the Red Necked Phalarophe and from the looks of it seems to have put vortices to a really productive use – catching its prey.
By rotating around ~60-80 times a minute, it produces an upward vortex that sucks out insects/bugs/crustaceans from the water, which it swiftly picks up with its beak and eats. ( This one would have aced the Fluids class for sure š)
This is analogous to tornadoes sweeping up cars and houses along its way in an upward swirl.
Mind Blown!
** The actual dynamics of vortices of course is waay more complicated. š
Theyāre sunning! These are turkey vultures – you can tell because the underside of their wings look grey when theyāre backlit, like two of the three on the bottom. They tend to stop to rest / roost pretty high up because they generally like to fly on warm thermals, so this is totally normal sunbathing behavior for them in a nice warm spot.Ā
bit by Mocha, my hognose snake, yesterday
ā
please if you have or plan to get a hognose BE AWARE THIS CAN HAPPEN
even though Mocha is the sweetest hognose he mistook my hand for food, it happens.
Iām not mad, Iām not scared of him, Iām not adopting him out
however my hand is so swollen I canāt move it
this post is to show you what you have to be willing to suffer if you want a hognose
Iām not saying this will happen to everyone, itās very rare to be bit but know this is the aftermath!!! you have to be prepared and willing to take on the worst situation possible when dealing with ANY venomous animal
Agreed! Their āvenomā is basically the equivalent of a bee sting-it is defined as toxin non deadly to humans, but some people have more extreme reactions than others. When Coco was under 10 inches long she got a feeding hold on my finger for 10 minutes, my finger didnt swell nearly to that equivalent size. On the other end, hognose groups on facebook have examples of a bite making a large part of some peopleās arms swell.
Hognoses make wonderful pets but its recommended that you look elsewhere if you have a suspicion you may be allergic to something like a bee sting, or if you do not have the resources to go to a hospital in the worst case you find out the hard way
This reminds me of when my rat bit me. I put my hand in-between two boys who were about to brawl and the result was āa death biteā. I think Harley was trying to kill my other rat. (He held on even as I was screaming and it took a good 10 seconds before he let me go which he has NEVER DONE)
My hand swelled 3 times the size (exactly like this picture), he caused nerve damage (I still canāt feel my index finger and this was LAST YEAR) and I have two scars where his teeth went in.
This was a RAT.
All animals with teeth or sharp beaks could do this. Be aware that extreme cases like this CAN happen. They are very rare but itās possible. Rats donāt have venom but they do have bacteria. Learn your pets body signs so you can at least try to predict if something is gonna happen.
*I knew I could get hurt putting my hand in between two fighting rats. I didnāt care because I wanted to keep my rats from getting hurt. I took the worst bite Iāve ever experienced (instead of my rat getting it). I donāt regret it, but I do wish it didnāt happen.
Which is why Iām adding on. So y’all know itās not just snakes. Its not just āvenomā. It can be a rat with a powerful bite. It can be an allergic reaction from a cat scratch. It doesnāt have to break the skin either. Some birds have strong enough beaks that they can cause massive damage just from pressure.
š„ There is beauty in destructionš„ 