Tag: birds

Aspects of Colombia (#9 in teaser series: an atypical owl)

Published July 7, 2026 by Pelidoug

Aspects of Colombia (#9 in teaser series: an atypical owl)

This petite owl is mostly-terrestrial; it can fly, but rarely does so.

It is diurnal, not nocturnal.

Its “home sweet home” is not high up in a tree, cave, cliff-face or barn.

Burrowing owls dwell underground.

Their common name, however, is misleading; so-called “burrowing” owls prefer to take advantage of actually-burrowing animals.

They move into those other animals’ “abandoned” burrows.

I suspect that some owner-excavators’ “abandonment” of their homes would have been lethally “assisted” by members of the pictured species, Athene cunicularia.

Aspects of Colombia (#1 in teaser series: sword-billed)

Published June 18, 2026 by Pelidoug

Aspects of Colombia (#1 in teaser series: sword-billed)

Welcome to this series of single-image posts.

You are looking at Ensifera ensifera, the sword-billed hummingbird.

It is the only bird on earth with a bill that is longer than its body-proper.

Some individuals’ beaks are longer than their entire bodies, tail-feathers included.

Bird-wise, Colombia is generally recognised as the world’s most species-rich nation; the “recognised” number exceeds 1,900 – circa 20% of the global total of bird species!

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Looking down (#30 in series: approaching Taku Glacier Lodge)

Published March 15, 2026 by Pelidoug

Looking down (#30 in series: approaching Taku Glacier Lodge)

Our May 2015 dinner destination – Taku Glacier Lodge, aka “Taku Lodge” – is only 48 kilometres distant from downtown Juneau.

It is, however, genuinely “remote”.

No road reaches it; access is only via floatplane or boat.

The surrounding terrain meets any reasonable definition of “wilderness”.

It includes the world’s thickest alpine glacier, one of its most productive (wild) “salmon rivers” and part of the world’s largest substantially-intact, temperate rainforest.

All of this untamed splendour sits well within Juneau’s “city limits”, which extend to the Canadian border!

In urban reality, Juneau is one of North America’s smaller cities.

However, its designated governance “footprint” makes Juneau – notionally – the second-largest city in all of North America.

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Spring 2025 in Perth (#8 in series: Willie wagtail owner-builders)

Published October 13, 2025 by Pelidoug

Spring 2025 in Perth (#8 in series: Willie wagtail owner-builders)

Most Australian humans regard willie wagtails (Rhipidura leucophrys) fondly and encounter them frequently.

They are also well-liked in the rest of their range – Melanesia and eastern Indonesia.

On 21 September we – and circa 100 other people – enjoyed lunch at a popular Shenton Park eatery.

From our almost-outside table, just inside an open door, we watched two very industrious wagtails construct a substantial portion of their next nest.

To say the least, their choice of building materials was highly eclectic!

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Winter 2025, South West WA (#12 in series: “fairy”, just outside)

Published September 19, 2025 by Pelidoug

Winter 2025, South West WA (#12 in series: “fairy”, just outside)

At 9.11 am on 17 August 2025 the pictured individual was very close to us.

She was just on the other side of the living room window.

All of us were enjoying the morning sun, after a very rainy night in and around Pemberton.

The particular location is one where we really like to stay…and which fairywrens (and many other petite birds) also like.

(the relevant cottages are less than a five minute drive from Pemberton. They share their name with the adjacent forest, and are blessed with generous, nature-loving owners)

The hero/ine of #11 in this series – photographed the previous afternoon, less than 100 metres away – was definitely a white-browned scrubwren,

This post’s heroine is definitely a female fairywren, but her beak makes me unsure of her species.

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Winter 2025, South West WA (#11 in series: not rare, but rarely seen)

Published September 17, 2025 by Pelidoug

Winter 2025, South West WA (#11 in series: not rare, but rarely seen)

You are looking at a very shy, very small, very “busy”, mostly-insectivorous and allegedly “drab” bird.

S/he is a West Australian version of Sericornis frontalis – the white-browed scrubwren.

White-browed scrubwrens are a single species, but with many regional variations.

The alleged number of its subspecies varies hugely – from two through to ten.

Many human Australians have heard its (surprisingly loud) call, but surprisingly few have ever enjoyed a clear, full-frontal view of a white-browed scrubwren.

I have several (brief) times had a close and clear view, but until 4.13 pm on 16 August 2025 I had never enjoyed a relatively-prolonged and intimate encounter with a member of this species, in “flaunting” mode.

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Winter 2025, South West WA (#3 in series: historically, rare in urban areas)

Published September 5, 2025 by Pelidoug

Winter 2025, South West WA (#3 in series: historically, rare in urban areas)

Urban-resident Australian humans who were born after 1970 may find it very hard to believe, but this post’s headline is accurate.

Relatively speaking, Threskiornis molucca – the Australian white ibis – is a newcomer to urban life.

However, the so-called “bin chicken” was already resident on the Australian continent long before Homo sapiens arrived – let alone post-1788 humans and rubbish bins.

It is absolutely not a “feral” bird.

Contrary to what many Australians believe, it and the so-called “Sacred” or “Egyptian” ibis are entirely different species; the latter has never called Australia home.

Still, the roof of a “Federation Era” house in any Australian city – such as the Subiaco one, above – almost certainly never felt the pitter-patter of Threskiornis molucca‘s not-so-tiny feet until the final quarter of the 20th century, or the first quarter of the 21st.

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“Roadrunner” fairy wren: is he being wily?

Published August 19, 2025 by Pelidoug

“Roadrunner” fairy wren: is he being wily?

The featured image (above) was taken at 2.51 pm on 18 August 2025, near Beedelup Falls, in southwestern Western Australia’s “Karri country”.

Although not a very fine photo, it does show some very unusual behaviour.

”Flaunting it” is something to which any male member of the genus Malurus – the eleven Australian species generally known as “fairywrens” – devotes a deal of his life.

Generally, however, these “show-offs” are very wary; as soon as a flaunting fairywren senses a human’s presence, he “disappears”.

Q: So why was the pictured individual right out in the open, on a sealed roadway’s surface, and utterly unalarmed by my very obvious, very close presence?

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“Old city”, Lahore (#9 in series: bird men, with bigger birds)

Published July 5, 2025 by Pelidoug

“Old city”, Lahore (#9 in series: bird men, with bigger birds)

This post’s “bird men” are not selling birds to “benevolent” customers; in this case the feathered captives have zero chance of being freed.

These “bird men” are in the tourism/entertainment business.

In every sense, Lahore Fort is the “big one” among the walled city’s architectural/artistic gems.

It sprawls across 20 hectares; one of its various “Mughal heritage treasures” is the world’s biggest picture wall/mural.

Inevitably, a few non-heritage, merely-opportunistic “attractions” have inserted themselves into this UNESCO World Heritage Site.

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“Old city”, Lahore (#8 in series: bird men)

Published July 4, 2025 by Pelidoug

“Old city”, Lahore (#8 in series: bird men)

Cruelty. Benevolence. Illegal. Tolerated. Prosecuted. Unpunished. Accepted. Condemned. Caged. Freed. Virtue. Wrongdoing.

Q: which of the above words apply to the way in which this post’s pictured persons earn their living?

A: all of them…and it is a very safe bet that none of the pictured persons are wealthy.

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