Five Unique Birds From Around The World !
08 Jun 2010 Leave a Comment
in Uncategorized Tags: beautiful, Birds, Captivity, Cockatoos, Creatures, Deemed, Five Unique Birds From Around The World, Helmeted Hornbill, Hoatzin, Hoopoe, macaws, Resplendent Quetzal, Sri Lanka Frogmouth, Unique, World
With a world full of flight taking creatures there are bound to be some that are out of the ordinary. There are birds that are deemed beautiful by avid bird watchers, because of the way they take flight or their plumage and then there are birds we catch and raise in captivity that can be deemed just as beautiful. From parakeets to cockatoos and even macaws these birds are all raised in captivity and beautiful. There are also birds that can be deemed as the weirder bunch of birds.
Resplendent Quetzal
This bird is found in the Mexico and western Panama regions. This bird is only fourteen inches long and an added twenty five inches for the tail when they are male. They only weigh about seven ounces. They have what looks to be a puff ball on their heads and they come in a variety of colors.
Gay Swans Set Up Nest At World's Only Swannery In Dorset
16 Apr 2010 Leave a Comment
in Uncategorized Tags: Abbotsbury, Area, Birds, Companions, Couple, Dorset, eggs, Feathers, Gay, Happy, Homosexual, John Houston, Love, Nest, Reserve, Ruffled, swan, Swannery, Territory, World
Two male swans have ruffled feathers at the world’s only swannery in Dorset after they set up a love nest together.
The happy couple at Abbotsbury Swannery are the only homosexual swans among more than 1,000 birds at the reserve.They are believed to be only the second male pair ever to hook up at the reserve. The pair show no interest in their female companions and only have eyes for each other.
Dave Wheeler, from the swannery, said: “The two birds both hatched in 2002 and are sort of together.”They have been together for several nesting seasons and basically keep territory as if they are a nesting pair.”The twosome flock together at the start of the nesting season in March and perform rituals associated with a breeding couple.Manager of Abbotsbury Swannery, John Houston, said: “The swans have been nesting together like this for several years and they get together every nesting season and form a nest together.
“They sit on the nest and act in every way as if they were a pair expecting to lay eggs.”It is quite sweet.”Like most couples, the swans are known for the occasional lover’s tiff, but are quick to sort out their differences.”They just always stay together and I hear that they have some spectacular fights with each other, but they always make up and get back together,” said Mr Houston.”We have more than a thousand swans here in the reserve and they are the only two doing this. We don’t know of any others acting in this way in the area.
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Fat Birds Have More Sex
01 Mar 2010 Leave a Comment
in Uncategorized Tags: Birds, colleagues, Fat Birds Have More Sex, garden warblers, Italian island, migrations, researcher, Sex, studying, Sylvia borin, temporary adhesive radio transmitters, Ventotene, wobblebottomed group, Wolfgang Goymann
Researcher Wolfgang Goymann and colleagues were studying the migrations of the garden warblers (Sylvia borin) when they discovered an interesting nugget of information:
While pockets of flab accumulated over the winter months may be a source of frustration for some, it can be a cause of joy for others …The researchers fitted ten fat birds and ten lean birds on the Italian island of Ventotene with temporary adhesive radio transmitters. [...]
Monitoring their test subjects using the stick-on surveillance bugs, the German boffins found that the more rotund ones had sex sooner and generally slept only one night in any given location. Plumpness led to sexual success for the wobblebottomed group, while their spindly counterparts took longer to get any action – and tended to make longer stays of more than one night, too.
A Different-Kind-of-Dog Fight
20 Feb 2010 6 Comments
in Uncategorized Tags: A Different-Kind-of-Dog Fight, amazing pictures, Birds, Cute, Squirrel, walnut
Well hellooooo, little birdies! Oh, do you see something you like…? Is it this delicious walnut? Too bad the tastiest treat on the planet is jusssst out of reach…
Oh my. OK, I did not foresee this seriously terrifying hopping and pecking. How about we go split-sies?
Chicken Owner Knits Wooly Jumpers For Birds
10 Jan 2010 1 Comment
in Uncategorized Tags: Ann Duran, Birds, Chicken, Dionne Jenkins, Knits Wooly Jumpers For Birds, South Wales
Crafty Ann Duran, 55, took pity on hens left featherless after being rescued from a battery farm.And she came up with eggs-actly the right answer to keep them warm – hand-knitted tanktops. Ann said: “Some people think I am a little bit crazy but I didn’t like to think of chickens shivering through the winter.”The feathers will eventually grow back but until then my jumpers will keep them warm.”Chickens lose their feathers after being cooped up in hot sheds at battery farms.
Ann, of Neath, South Wales, heard about the featherless birds from friend Dionne Jenkins who saves retired battery hens.And she roped pals to form the Helping Hands knitting circle – making jumpers for bald chickens across the country.Dionne, 26, said: “It is quite upsetting to see chickens without their feathers – but Ann has solved the problem.”Three of my birds modelled them and they fit really well. I think the chickens look really sweet in them.”
Female Canaries Sing Sexily With Testosterone
12 Dec 2009 Leave a Comment
in Uncategorized Tags: Birds, Canaries, Female, Sexily, Testosterone
Testosterone gets female canaries singing. Dutch researcher Tessa Hartog knows how you can make a female canary sing using testosterone and the protein BDNF. Normally, female canaries don’t sing, but with a few tweaks, the females’ brain structure can be altered in a way that lets them burst into song. Their singing can even be considered sexy.
The influence of hormones on the brain, and on learning and memory processes, is complex and difficult to measure, but canary song is a good model for analysing these types of process. Hartog analysed which substances played a part in the singing behaviour of female canaries and how these substances altered the anatomy of the brain.
Multifunctional testosterone Previous research had already shown that testosterone influenced singing behaviour. It gave rise to new neurones (nerve cells) in the area of the brain that controls singing. However, the extent to which other proteins, such as BDNF, also played a part remained unclear. Hartog established that BDNF could get the females to sing, even if the female birds had not been treated with testosterone. Moreover, combining BDNF and testosterone allowed the females to master the art of ’sexy’ song structures, normally reserved for virile male birds.
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Rhea Chicks Burrow In Their Father's Feathers
22 Nov 2009 Leave a Comment
in Uncategorized Tags: Birds, Burrow, Caring, Chicks, Dedicated, Fall, Father, Feathers, Hallager, Instance, Male, National, Papa, Park, Reason, Rhea, Smithsonian, species, Years, Zoological
Three of the four new rhea chicks at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo nest in the feathers of their father. The chicks hatched on Apr. 20 and were the first rhea chicks to hatch at the National Zoo in 30 years. Dedicated fathers, it is the male rhea who incubates the eggs and protects the chicks after they hatch. The Zoo is now home to a total of seven rheas: a male, two females, and the four new chicks.
Male Bird at National Zoological Park Has Special Reason to Celebrate Father’s Day How will the only male rhea at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo spend Father’s Day? He will spend it much like he has spent the past eight weeks: as a proud papa nurturing and caring for his four chicks that hatched April 20. This is the first time in some 30 years that rhea chicks have hatched at the Zoo.
Rhea Chicks Burrow In Their Father's Feathers
22 Nov 2009 Leave a Comment
in Uncategorized Tags: Birds, Burrow, Caring, Chicks, Dedicated, Fall, Father, Feathers, Hallager, Instance, Male, National, Papa, Park, Reason, Rhea, Smithsonian, species, Years, Zoological
Three of the four new rhea chicks at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo nest in the feathers of their father. The chicks hatched on Apr. 20 and were the first rhea chicks to hatch at the National Zoo in 30 years. Dedicated fathers, it is the male rhea who incubates the eggs and protects the chicks after they hatch. The Zoo is now home to a total of seven rheas: a male, two females, and the four new chicks.
Male Bird at National Zoological Park Has Special Reason to Celebrate Father’s Day How will the only male rhea at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo spend Father’s Day? He will spend it much like he has spent the past eight weeks: as a proud papa nurturing and caring for his four chicks that hatched April 20. This is the first time in some 30 years that rhea chicks have hatched at the Zoo.
Gov't Says Brown Pelicans Are Endangered No Longer
17 Nov 2009 Leave a Comment
in Uncategorized Tags: animals, Birds, Brown Pelicans, Endangered, Florida
Much like its death-defying dives for fish, the brown pelican has resurfaced after plummeting to the brink of extinction.Interior Department officials on Wednesday announced that they were taking the bird off the endangered species list, after a nearly four-decade struggle to keep the brown pelican population afloat.
The bird now prevalent across Florida, the Gulf and Pacific coasts and the Caribbean was declared an endangered species in 1970, after its population — much like those of the bald eagle and peregrine falcon — was decimated by the use of the pesticide DDT. The chemical, consumed when the pelican ate tainted fish, caused it to lay eggs with shells so thin they broke during incubation.
The pelican’s recovery is largely due to a 1972 ban on DDT, coupled with efforts by states and conservation groups to protect its nesting sites and monitor its population, Interior Department officials said.
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Gov't Says Brown Pelicans Are Endangered No Longer
17 Nov 2009 Leave a Comment
in Uncategorized Tags: animals, Birds, Brown Pelicans, Endangered, Florida
Much like its death-defying dives for fish, the brown pelican has resurfaced after plummeting to the brink of extinction.Interior Department officials on Wednesday announced that they were taking the bird off the endangered species list, after a nearly four-decade struggle to keep the brown pelican population afloat.
The bird now prevalent across Florida, the Gulf and Pacific coasts and the Caribbean was declared an endangered species in 1970, after its population — much like those of the bald eagle and peregrine falcon — was decimated by the use of the pesticide DDT. The chemical, consumed when the pelican ate tainted fish, caused it to lay eggs with shells so thin they broke during incubation.
The pelican’s recovery is largely due to a 1972 ban on DDT, coupled with efforts by states and conservation groups to protect its nesting sites and monitor its population, Interior Department officials said.
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