tio's neato nature thread

[the innominate one]

starlings evade peregrine falcon

[Timothy]

I'm glad somebody else likes starlings.

[Hugh Akston]

I'm glad somebody else likes starlings.

[Fin Fang Foom]

I'm glad somebody else likes starlings.

Fuck starlings! Kill them all.

[Warren]

I'm glad somebody else likes starlings.

Fuck starlings! Kill them all.

+ 109

[Highway]

Yeah, this time I'm on Team Falcon.

[JD]

I kind of like starlings. Yeah, they can be rude and messy, but they're interesting to watch, and they actually have nice voices. We've had a few nesting in the facade of our building for a couple years.

[the innominate one]

It's not that I'm so fond of starlings, it's that their synchronized aerial acrobatics in that video are amazing. Most importantly, they're in Europe in the video, where they're native.

I guess they're not doing much harm here in the U.S., except to people's car-detailing. I suppose they're filling the niche left open by the demise of the passenger pigeon.

[Warren]

It's not that I'm so fond of starlings, it's that their synchronized aerial acrobatics in that video are amazing. Most importantly, they're in Europe in the video, where they're native.

I guess they're not doing much harm here in the U.S., except to people's car-detailing. I suppose they're filling the niche left open by the demise of the passenger pigeon.

No. The cell phone filled that niche, ten zillion times better and a gajillion times less messy.

[lunchstealer]

I kind of like starlings. Yeah, they can be rude and messy, but they're interesting to watch, and they actually have nice voices. We've had a few nesting in the facade of our building for a couple years.

You've been spending too much time around dhex. Or Jake. Or both.

[lunchstealer]

It's not that I'm so fond of starlings, it's that their synchronized aerial acrobatics in that video are amazing. Most importantly, they're in Europe in the video, where they're native.

I guess they're not doing much harm here in the U.S., except to people's car-detailing. I suppose they're filling the niche left open by the demise of the passenger pigeon.

They're notorious nest-destroyers. In Europe they get a pass. But in North America? Kill 'em good.

[Eric the .5b]

Criminey. I'd seen some small flocks maneuvering, but never one so big or complex.

[the innominate one]

Wildlife photo contest winners:

http://www.mymodernmet.com/profiles/blo ... -year-2013

[Hugh Akston]

Wildlife photo contest winners:

http://www.mymodernmet.com/profiles/blo ... -year-2013

Those are all really great. It's hard to pick a favorite, but I like this one:

[lunchstealer]

That's because mustelids are the best mammals.

[lunchstealer]

And while they don't rival mustelids, vulpini are easily the best canids. I hadn't seen a fox about in the neighborhood for over a year, and the rabbit population is exploding, so I was worried that they'd moved out. However, I'm pretty sure I just heard an alarm bark. That or some guy decided to do a really odd, high-pitched, and throaty "woo!" for no apparent reason.

[Warren]

That's because mustelids are the best mammals.

Oh hell no. I'll give otters a pass, but weasels are vermin and the only good vermin are dead vermin.

[Highway]

We've got a bunch of foxes around here. I see as many of them running across the road as I do deer at night (there are definitely a lot more deer around, tho).

[Stevo Darkly]

I em a wild and crazy guy!

I enjoy thee foxes all thee time!

[Hugh Akston]

Dear Hollywood: this is what a good followup to Jurassic Park looks like.

[Mo]

I've always wondered why so few mammals are poisonous compared to reptiles.

[JD]

I saw a winter wren in the park the other day - the first time I've ever seen one of those, I think. My mom, who is an experienced birder, tells me that they're around, but not super-common, so it was kind of a neat sighting. Also saw a juvenile mallard, big enough that it wasn't quite a duckling anymore, and growing in that blue-green patch on the wing*, but still young enough that its proportions were not adult-like yet.

You Learn Something New Every Day, Nature Edition: that patch on a mallard's wing is called a "speculum".

[the innominate one]

Best. Mimicry. Ever.

[Warren]

I saw a winter wren in the park the other day

Little suckers can really sing can't they.

[JasonL]

Giant ass bird, hawk of some sort maybe, took out a tabby and has been eating in my side yard for a couple of days. Bird is jarringly big for what you normally see around here. Working from home, i can see passing cars pass by, stop, back up and get out to take pics.