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ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

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    Comment by 'pbgrebe' in media 'Great Egret'

    WOW!!! Great photo of this classy egret!
    • pbgrebe
    • Gallery comment
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    Comment by 'pbgrebe' in media 'Incomparable'

    Great photo of this immature pelican...and rather timely from my perspective given that I recently wrote a post about brown pelicans in the "Bird Behavior" forum. As I noted there, pelicans remind me of pterosaurs when in flight and your photo gives a good illustration of this.
    • pbgrebe
    • Gallery comment
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    An Interesting Detail Regarding Feeding by Brown Pelicans

    I meant to attach these photos with my original post but couldn't locate the correct file at that time. This is a photo sequence of a brown pelican strectching its amazing, elastic pouched beak, ending with it fully stretched. Pelicans are way too cool and they remind of pterosaurs when in flight!
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    An Interesting Detail Regarding Feeding by Brown Pelicans

    Back when I first saw brown pelicans hunting I noted a curious aspect about their feeding process. Brown pelicans utilize several different hunting methods. On that occasion they were using their spectacular high aerial dive method. As I observed various individuals engaging in dives I was...
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    Call at night -- fox? (Cottbus, Germany)

    Yes, a typical red fox call which can be described as a cross between a bark and a scream.
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    New Sea Otter Book

    This new book examines sea otter life in a manner that’s different from any of the others that I’m aware of. If you’re curious about what the daily life of a sea otter is like, this book provides an intimate picture and is worth checking out. The book is about a behavioral case study that...
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    An interesting wood duck food item

    During this seasonal period in my locale the wood ducks here eat a food item that, offhand, you might not think they would bother with. We are currently in the season here during which the cottonwood trees disperse their seeds. Those of you who live in areas which have an abundance of cottonwood...
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    Osprey flying round and round with fish?

    Given the time of year this could be breeding related. However, I’ve had observations of this behavior which indicate that it may also have a function besides just courtship. These were observations that occurred well outside of the breeding season and when only the one osprey (i.e., the one...
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    Gulls in a northern elephant seal rookery

    Gulls are amazing opportunists and are great at finding ways to take advantage in various settings and circumstances (and oftentimes in some surprising ways). I saw a good example of this during the times that I observed the annual, large, seasonal northern elephant seal birth/breeding rookery...
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    Memorable Red Kangaroo Encounter

    While going over some old photos of my visit to Australia I came across two that reminded me of a unique encounter that I feel is worth sharing. My flight arrived in Melbourne and from there my first destination was Mutawintji NP. Shortly after arriving there I went for a hike in the campground...
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    Comment by 'pbgrebe' in media 'House Finch, probably female with some form of albinism.'

    There seems to be an issue with semantics here. “Albino” is one of those terms that have come to acquire multiple meanings and usages. There are basically two interpretations of the term: a popularized (or more common, classic) one, and one that is scientifically/medically based. The more...
    • pbgrebe
    • Gallery comment
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    Comment by 'pbgrebe' in media 'House Finch, probably female with some form of albinism.'

    Thanks for posting this photo of this finch rarity! The dark eyes tell you right away that it's not an albino. It appears to be leucistic. I've seen many, many house finches from coast to coast but never a leucistic one like this so it appears that this condition is very uncommon among this species.
    • pbgrebe
    • Gallery comment
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    Parrots in California?!

    No, this photo of a pair of Black-hooded parakeets (aka Nanday parakeet/conure—Aratinga nenday) perched in a Eucalyptus tree wasn’t taken in Brazil or Australia. Instead, it was taken in Zuma Canyon in southern California where an introduced feral population of this South American avian species...
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    Making electricity poles safer for birds

    I spent several years working in the California condor reintroduction program and power lines and poles are also a source of mortality for these large, magnificent birds—this is both by electrocution and by striking power lines while in flight. There are those within the program who have pushed...
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    Eurasian jay mimicking birdsong

    Your post reminded me of one of the coolest instances of mimicry in the wild that I’ve heard. It occurred in California and involved a Steller’s jay that mimicked the call of a red-tailed hawk (I jokingly referred to this individual as a red-tailed Steller’s jay). What was particularly...
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    An Uncommon Sighting of a Common Bird

    Thanks for posting this photo--great look at its legs and feet. As I noted in a previous post, while observing it as it paddled about the legs and feet looked to be greenish and grayish and this confirms it. In other words, this color variant has the leg and foot coloring that is typical of...
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    An Uncommon Sighting of a Common Bird

    Pinwrench, that's just the place where I saw this white American coot--the northernmost of the back ponds in the Tingley Beach area (I live in Albuquerque). Good to know that it's been hanging around. I'll be going back to that area on Monday so I hope that rare beauty will still be there.
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    An Uncommon Sighting of a Common Bird

    I was also curious about the color of its legs and feet. I was only able to observe them while the coot was in the water paddling about but I could see that they looked to be the greenish to grayish color that is typical of American coots. They most certainly weren't lacking in pigmentation.
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    An Uncommon Sighting of a Common Bird

    Yes. I obtained a very good look at this coot and it’s definitely leucistic. As noted in my original post, it’s white with some dark patches, has the typical eye coloration of coots, and definitely isn’t an albino. I didn’t use the term “leucistic” (especially since I didn’t have any photos of...
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    An Uncommon Sighting of a Common Bird

    I returned to the location where I saw this white American coot to see if it was still there and and found that it was. Unfortunately, I do not currently have a working camera. However, while there I met a woman (Susan Hunter) who did have have one. I asked her if she would please take some...
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    An Uncommon Sighting of a Common Bird

    Today I saw something that I've never seen before: a white American coot. The coot is white, not an albino (its eyes are dark colored and it has some black patches and spots). I've seen many coots over numerous decades all across the U.S. and parts of Canada and this is the first white one that...
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    Penguin books and documentaries

    Yes, penguins are amazing, endearing birds! I spent a year working in Antarctica and got to see Emperor and Adelie penguins during my time there. Here are a couple of books about the Adelie penguin that I highly recommend: The Adelie Penguin: Bellwether of Climate Change by David Ainley. I had...
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    An unusual avian Christmas e-card

    While cleaning out files from my computer I came across one that I made during the period when I worked on the California condor reintroduction project that I had completely forgotten about. During the holiday season in one of those years I had been playing around on my computer and, just for...
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    A Coot Mugging

    Yes, there are lots of interesting examples of this type of behavior. Various gull species are particularly known for engaging in thievery. One of the coolest such instances that I’ve observed quite a few times involved gulls chasing and relentlessly harassing ospreys who had just captured a...
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    A Coot Mugging

    Numerous instances of thefts by individuals within and between avian species have been observed. Here’s one that I recently observed again that isn’t as popularly known. In this instance an American wigeon was observed following and hanging close around an American coot. Its reason for doing so...
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