Drawing Birds. Written and illustrated by Maurice Wilson. Published in 1965.
Internet Archive
2K notes
·
View notes
Just as I was debating whether I wanted to specialize in genetics I found this blog. Maybe this will give me motivation to commit
String identified:
t a a atg t at t ca gtc t g. a t g tat t ct
Closest match: Falco punctatus genome assembly, chromosome: Z
Common name: Mauritius kestrel
958 notes
·
View notes
day 15
today's bird is the american kestrel!
- it's the smallest and most common falcon in north america!
- since they can see UV light, kestrels and other diurnal birds can see the urine trails of small mammals and follow them to their next meal
- unlike other falcons, kestrels cache their food year-round
867 notes
·
View notes
what if a pigeon and a falcon were girlfriends and so in love
478 notes
·
View notes
Taxonomy Tournament: Birds
Corvides. This sub-order is made up of corvids (jays, ravens, crows and magpies), as well as small meat-eating birds of the Old World, such as currawongs and butcherbirds
Falconiformes. This order is made up of falcons and kestrels, typically solitary and often fast-flying birds of prey.
272 notes
·
View notes
BOTD: Crested Caracara
Photo: Manjith Kainickara
"Related to the typical falcons, but very different in shape and habits. The Crested Caracara is a strikingly patterned, broad-winged opportunist that often feeds on carrion. Aggressive, it may chase vultures away from road kills. Widespread in the American tropics, it enters our area only near the Mexican border and in Florida. 'Caracara' comes from a South American Indian name, based on the bird's call."
- Audubon Field Guide
198 notes
·
View notes
[Images Description: A male American Kestrel and a female Merlin perch closely on a barbed wire. The American Kestrel is the smaller falcon and is rufous with blue-grey on it’s outer wings. The Merlin is dark grey-brown with a dark streaked belly. In the second photo, the male moves closer as to be touching the female and bows towards her wing while she looks at him. /End ID.]
This is an apparent interspecies pairing within the genus Falco. Another record of a wild interspecific falcon pair was published in “Hybridization between a Peregrine Falcon and a Prairie Falcon in the wild” (Oliphant, 1991).
Merlin (Falco columbarius) and American Kestrel (Falco sparverius) © Robin Gwen Agarwal, posted on iNaturalist
3K notes
·
View notes
Birdwatching
It's a nice sunny morning over in Illkirch-Graffenstaden (outside of Strasbourg) and business as usual appears to be proceeding at the peregrine falcons' nest there.
The mother (or just "falcon": males are called "tercels" due either to being a third smaller than the females, or due to an old myth that only one of every three eggs hatches out a male) just spent five minutes or so fiddling around with the twigs and junk on the platform in front of the nest. These may have been brought by the idiot pigeons that keep trying to nest there even while the falcons are in residence. The falcon's attitude at that point seemed to be one of "Where the F did this stuff come from, I don't remember bringing any of this here..."
When she got bored with that she got back into the nesting shelter and scratched the nest materials around a little: then did a bit of a squat-and-wiggle and settled herself over the egg. (There seems to be just the one: you can see it there under her wing.)
...And there she sat for a couple minutes more, until something made her get up and start observing the space around the church spire very intently. Quite soon after that she plainly saw something that concerned her, went straight to the edge of the platform, and leapt off into the air to have a better look at whatever it was. She hasn't been back since. (That was about fifteen minutes ago.)
Here's the live cam on YouTube. WARNING: turn your sound DOWN before going there. The wind noise is genuinely deafening.
ETA, 1:07 Strasbourg time: And oh FFS, here are the pigeons. We've stumbled into a bird-based soap opera.
I'm going to be sooooo interested to see what the falcon does when she gets back and finds them there. It's going to amaze me if these dingbats don't get killed and eaten, sooner or later.
...And here the tercel (whose name is apparently Valentine) comes back and sees the pigeons off. ("Lou", one of the commenters on the feed, grabbed the video...)
...Valentine then stands there shouting in indignation for a couple of minutes. Well, who could blame him.
(Also, noting the red smudge on his lower breast feathers. Looks like he may have been hunting.)
(ETA: there's another view of the nest, from inside the nesting box and above, here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99QErpXgXBU)
322 notes
·
View notes
INTERNET FEAST YOUR EYES ON THIS BIRB
It’s the most adorable thing Ive ever come across today
So much so I had to draw it
(This is an Aplomado falcon btw)
82 notes
·
View notes