Birders' Nest

[owlice]

Marvellous. The series invites captions, but I can't think of anything.

Or as PG Wodehouse would have it: The word goes around the clubs: 'Elgarian is lost for words.'

Definitely looked like an awkward conversation! 

~~
And finally, no story, no landscape, just birds:


Hamerkop


Red-winged Starling


Golden-breasted Bunting

[Elgarian Redux]

Definitely looked like an awkward conversation! 

Oh certainly. Something may occur to one of us yet ...

And finally, no story, no landscape, just birds:

Hamerkop

You know me - I don't want to quibble - but behind that very strange Hamerkop (isn't it weird?) is something that looks very like a landscape. [Falls about laughing at his own daft joke.]

Red-winged Starling

"Get yer flick-knives ready, lads."

Golden-breasted Bunting

Oh look at that! I love our reed buntings, but that is a Bunting with a capital B.

[Elgarian Redux]

Inspired by Elgarian's comment "And essential context for your bird & animal photos: we need to know where you see these creatures - where and how they live.", which is very indulgent and kind of him, I went looking through photos for a few that include context. Ya know, landscape with animals. These were the most easily found:

Kitties!!


City kitties!! Nairobi is in the background; Nairobi National Park is right there in the city.


Ground Woodpecker. Does he look smug? He'd mated just minutes before.

These three pictures add a new dimension to the word 'Fabulous'. They show so clearly how context can change the way we see these creatures.

[owlice]

"Get yer flick-knives ready, lads."

hahahahahahahaha!! Making me laugh here!!

[owlice]

These three pictures add a new dimension to the word 'Fabulous'. They show so clearly how context can change the way we see these creatures.

You're very kind, Elgarian!

Don't you feel like calling out, "Here, kitty kitty kitty!" so you can scratch one of the cats under the chin?

I've got kitties on my mind because I've been watching Big Cats 24/7 on my local PBS (Public Broadcasting Service) station. Makes me kind of wish I'd gone into animal science.

Oh, thread tax... ::rummages through the photo box::  Ah, I found just the thing...


Gray Catbird (my yard)

[Elgarian Redux]

You're very kind, Elgarian!

Don't you feel like calling out, "Here, kitty kitty kitty!" so you can scratch one of the cats under the chin?

Oh yes indeed. There's a strange sort of mental tension between their apparent kitty-kitty harmlessness, out there on the land, and the knowledge that they'd have you for dinner like a shot.

I've got kitties on my mind because I've been watching Big Cats 24/7 on my local PBS (Public Broadcasting Service) station. Makes me kind of wish I'd gone into animal science.

Is that a fleeting thing, or do you really wish it?

Oh, thread tax... ::rummages through the photo box::  Ah, I found just the thing...


Gray Catbird (my yard)

What a bird to get in your yard!!! Mostly grey, black cap, and scarlet rump? And doesn't he look intelligent? He's probably thinking about something Schopenhauer said about the Noumenon.

[Elgarian Redux]

I'd like to share these two Arrow-marked Babblers. I cannot look at these photos without laughing! The story is in their eyes and body language; you may need to embiggen them to catch the tenor of their interaction.

Babbler 1: Hey! Why are you sitting there doing nothing? Let's go and eat.
Babbler 2: I have been reading Schopenhauer and I am contemplating the Noumenon.

Babbler 1: Oh come on! It's lunchtime!!!
Babbler 2: Lunchtime!? If Schopenhauer is right, then the Noumenon is undifferentiated and there IS no lunchtime!

Babbler 1: But I'm hungry you daft fool! Oi! Come on. Let's grab some aphids!
Babbler 2: Leave me, Babbler 1. I would be alone in the Noumenon.

[Iota]

Kitties!!

Oh, the fearless swagger of a top predator in nature is something quite magnificent to see! (.. though something very ugly to see in human society, outside of athletic etc parameters imo. And in the natural world no doubt, zebras, water buffalo etc have similar feelings about their own ..)

Hamerkop

Extraordinary! That looks like something that might turn up in Area 51 ..!

Oh, thread tax... ::rummages through the photo box::  Ah, I found just the thing...


Gray Catbird (my yard)

That's a gorgeous looking bird! The blue grey colouring is absolutely entrancing! What a lovely visitor to get in one's backyard!

I singled out only these few, owlice, but as ever great shots all!

[Iota]

Babbler 1: Hey! Why are you sitting there doing nothing? Let's go and eat.
Babbler 2: I have been reading Schopenhauer and I am contemplating the Noumenon.

Babbler 1: Oh come on! It's lunchtime!!!
Babbler 2: Lunchtime!? If Schopenhauer is right, then the Noumenon is undifferentiated and there IS no lunchtime!

Babbler 1: But I'm hungry you daft fool! Oi! Come on. Let's grab some aphids!
Babbler 2: Leave me, Babbler 1. I would be alone in the Noumenon.

Hahaha, brilliant, Elgarian! I was thinking along the lines of a mother nagging her teenage son who'd just turned up with a punk haircut, but yours as ever is so much better! 

[Elgarian Redux]

I was thinking along the lines of a mother nagging her teenage son who'd just turned up with a punk haircut, but yours as ever is so much better! 

No, no. I like the punk haircut idea, it would fit well. Besides, the trio of pictures is worthy of multiple efforts!

[Elgarian Redux]

Suddenly, just when you think you've enough pheasants in your life, this happens:

[owlice]

Oh yes indeed. There's a strange sort of mental tension between their apparent kitty-kitty harmlessness, out there on the land, and the knowledge that they'd have you for dinner like a shot.

Indeed!! Even knowing that, I fear my last words may be something along the lines of "Here, kitty kitty."

Is that a fleeting thing, or do you really wish it?

I'll admit I think more about it than I used to...

What a bird to get in your yard!!! Mostly grey, black cap, and scarlet rump? And doesn't he look intelligent? He's probably thinking about something Schopenhauer said about the Noumenon.

The vent is more dark orange than scarlet, but yeah, does come across as scarlet in that pic, and maybe in this one, too:


And yes, they are nice birds to have in the yard, though often sound like small whiny children! (Took me forEVer to realize that long-ago neighbors did not have children, but did have catbirds in their fenced yard!  ) They are common birds in suburbia here, though can be shy. I'm glad you and Iota find them handsome!

Oh, the fearless swagger of a top predator in nature is something quite magnificent to see! (.. though something very ugly to see in human society, outside of athletic etc parameters imo. And in the natural world no doubt, zebras, water buffalo etc have similar feelings about their own ..)

All of that, yes!

Extraordinary! That looks like something that might turn up in Area 51 ..!

There's literally nothing else like them! From iNat/Wikipedia:

"The hamerkop is sufficiently distinct to be placed in its own family, although the relationships of this species to other families has been a longstanding mystery.... Recent studies have found that its closest relatives are the pelicans and shoebill."

I singled out only these few, owlice, but as ever great shots all!

You're very kind; thank you!

Gentlemen, I'm very amused by your thoughts on the Babblers! Thanks for them!

Elgarian, you don't have pheasants... you have pheasants! Congratulations!!! 

You inspired me to look for a similar shot I have of guineafowl all over the road, but I got sidetracked by a dawning realization that I ... I .... I never got around to IDing literally hundreds (maybe even thousands) of photos from last year's travels. I ... I now feel a little woozy.

[Elgarian Redux]

And yes, they are nice birds to have in the yard, though often sound like small whiny children!

If I'd been reading Schopenhauer on the Noumenon for as long as he had, I think I'd sound like a small whiny child too.

Elgarian, you don't have pheasants... you have pheasants! Congratulations!!! 

Their behaviour, when you try ever so gently to drive past them, beggars belief. You keep wanting to shout 'Hey, you've got wings - just flit over into the grass.' But do they listen?

You inspired me to look for a similar shot I have of guineafowl all over the road, but I got sidetracked by a dawning realization that I ... I .... I never got around to IDing literally hundreds (maybe even thousands) of photos from last year's travels. I ... I now feel a little woozy.

When you get around to it, at least you know you'll have an appreciative audience.

[owlice]

Pigeons in context:


Non-IDed bird:

My field notes from that day have sightings of Desert Cisticola and Pale Prinia, but nothing else in Cisticolidae. iNaturalist suggests Rattling Cisticola and Buff-bellied Warbler (both in Cisticolidae), neither of which appear (to me, anyway) to have such an orange eyering, and the tail seems a bit long for at least the Rattling. It has a Prinia kind of look to me. Cisticolas are hard; so many of them look alike, and diagnostic field marks... ? Dunno. Maybe it'll turn out to be a Rattling, though, despite the long tail, but Rattling are common enough that if we'd seen any that day, my notes should say so.

[JBS]

Non-IDed bird:

My field notes from that day have sightings of Desert Cisticola and Pale Prinia, but nothing else in Cisticolidae. iNaturalist suggests Rattling Cisticola and Buff-bellied Warbler (both in Cisticolidae), neither of which appear (to me, anyway) to have such an orange eyering, and the tail seems a bit long for at least the Rattling. It has a Prinia kind of look to me. Cisticolas are hard; so many of them look alike, and diagnostic field marks... ? Dunno. Maybe it'll turn out to be a Rattling, though, despite the long tail, but Rattling are common enough that if we'd seen any that day, my notes should say so.

I tried Google Lens.
Thus answered the Oracle.

The bird in the image is a red-fronted prinia (Prinia rufifrons).
The red-fronted prinia is a small bird found in dry savanna habitats across parts of Africa, including Chad, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda.
It is known for its gray-brown upperparts, whitish underparts, and a distinct rufous (reddish-brown) forehead.
This species is insectivorous, feeding on insects found in foliage or on the ground.
It is a discreet bird that can be approached and is known to emit a repetitive song from an exposed perch while wagging its tail.

So if you didn't take this in Africa, you've demonstrated the complete futility of AI.
If you did take it in Africa, you obviously know a Prinia when you see it.

[Elgarian Redux]

I tried Google Lens.

I didn't even know that Google Lens was a thing, so to me, you're the oracle, old chap.

Anyway I Googled it, and got it, and then ... what? I couldn't find out how to send it an image, to try it out. I couldn't even see what it was - there was just a webpage that eternally told me to 'Try Google lens', whenever I clicked on the 'Try Google lens' button. It did show me a picture of a phone, but with no way I could recognise for using it.

Thinks: is this only for people who have a mobile phone? (I am not of their number.)

[JBS]

I didn't even know that Google Lens was a thing, so to me, you're the oracle, old chap.

Anyway I Googled it, and got it, and then ... what? I couldn't find out how to send it an image, to try it out. I couldn't even see what it was - there was just a webpage that eternally told me to 'Try Google lens', whenever I clicked on the 'Try Google lens' button. It did show me a picture of a phone, but with no way I could recognise for using it.

Thinks: is this only for people who have a mobile phone? (I am not of their number.)

I am doing it on my phone: Chrome for Android.

When I click on an image, one of the options, along with "open image in new tab", "download image", etc is "search image with Google Lens".

I don't have a computer anymore, so I don't know how to do it on a desktop or laptop.

ETA

A quick Google (what else?) indicates Google Lens is a built in feature of the Chrome browser, so if your computer has Chrome, you can use it, but otherwise not.

[Elgarian Redux]

I am doing it on my phone: Chrome for Android.

When I click on an image, one of the options, along with "open image in new tab", "download image", etc is "search image with Google Lens".

I don't have a computer anymore, so I don't know how to do it on a desktop or laptop.

Ah, I see. Thanks. A desktop is all I have, so it seems I am self-deLensed.

[JBS]

Ah, I see. Thanks. A desktop is all I have, so it seems I am self-deLensed.

See my edit.

[Elgarian Redux]

ETA

A quick Google (what else?) indicates Google Lens is a built in feature of the Chrome browser, so if your computer has Chrome, you can use it, but otherwise not.

Aha! I posted too soon. So if I wanted, I could install Chrome and be among the Google Lensers. I might be tempted.