Otis, the Great Bustard

Otis tarda, the Great Bustard. An endangered, migratory species that once was found across the open grasslands of Europe and Asia.

Otis is the world's largest flying bird.

He also has a rather queer breeding display...

Otis stood in the center of the field, feathers ruffled, feeling proud yet slightly
ridiculous. He knew they all were laughing at him and his new outfit. It had
cost him years of hard work and energy, but he finally did it. This plumage
would set him apart from the rest of the boys. This would be his year.
This year he was gonna find a mate.

Otis is a loner. He looks really silly in that hat.
Judgmental Barn Owls would have a thing or two to say about this new 'fit.

Random Thought of the Day

Barn Swallows are pretty neat. The females select males based on the length of their streamer tails. Males with long streamers are more fit (they can dedicate more energy to growing long tail feathers), they have lower parasite loads, longer lived, disease resistant, and have a higher vitality.

They are also quite promiscuous. Barn swallows are socially monogamous, but genetically polygamous.

In other words...

they're cheaters.

Harold! I come home from a long day in the field and find you here with her?!
What the hell is this?! Am I not enough for you? Are you sleeping around with
other birds? It's because I'm molting isn't it? I'm so ugly when I'm molting!
You think I'm ugly, don't you?! My mother was right about you! She knew
our relationship wouldn't last. We met in a bar in Cabo for Pete's sake!

She caught the early train home. She gets bitchy when she molts. Avian PMS.

Random Thought of the Day

Did you know...

The Arctic Tern migrates farther than any other migratory animal in the world. Actually, they migrate from pole to pole!

Migration route of the Arctic Tern. Breeds in the Arctic (red) and
vacations in the Antarctic (blue).

 That's right, from Arctic to Antarctic and back!

Every year.

That's more than 44,300 miles!!! Holy cow. That's a long way to fly.

Also one of my favorite birds!

Mr. Edwards, the Ferruginous Hawk

No, I don't want to buy any cookies. And your pigtails are ugly.
Now get off my lawn!

I hate children.

Mr. Edwards is a Crotchety Old Ferruginous Hawk. But Who Doesn't Like Girlscout Cookies?

And I'm Back!

Hey! Finally have spare time again! Yay more blogging!

I have been wanted to blog something like this for a while now (partially inspired by Aaron's Emotional Marine Animals over at Tumblr). Hope you enjoy:

Look at Rhonda. She thinks she's all that and a bag of chips, strutting around with her
designer heels and tacky sunglasses. That boob-job did wonders for her self-esteem.
Too bad they couldn't fix her personality while they were at it.

Probably would have been cheaper.

Bitch.

Judgmental Barn Owls. Little Known Fact: Owls can get boob-jobs.

A Murder of Crows

Did you know that a group of crows is called a murder?

Did you know that crows are ranked among chimps and elephants as the smartest animals in the world?

Yeah, neither did I!

Here's a great PBS special on the intelligence of crows. I learned all kinds of fun facts about these creepy corvids! But I was most excited to learn that the US Department of Defense is funding the U of WA research with crows' facial recognition abilities!!! Isn't that crazy?! It gives me hope that one day, my avian behavior research might be important enough to receive funding from the government...

Ha ha ha! Yeah right!

Anyway, enjoy the show!

Watch the full episode. See more Nature.

No Time for Blogging!

But I still have time for SCIENCE!

In this week's news, National Geographic has announced that it officially stole my Watson Fellowship proposal and turned it into a television special.

It was my idea first!!!! Curse you Nat Geo!!!!

No, I take it back. I love Nat Geo. But they better make it up to me some day. Perhaps with my own TV show? Yes please.

Ok, back to the point. Great Migrations! I cannot even begin to describe how excited I am for this television series!!! I mean, I had proposed to spend an entire year of my life dedicated to studying massive migratory phenomena!!!

And massive animal migrations raise so much awareness for conservation issues! Animals that migrate don't adhere to our strict political boundaries. If we want to effectively prevent their extinction, we must work together and fight to conserve critical points along their 10,000 mile migration routes! Oh, it's so beautiful!

Alright, now that I've gushed about that, you should check out some of the beautiful photos from the series!

Oooooh!!!! So beautiful!
Also, I must apologize for my excessive use of exclamation marks in this post. I just get really excited about this topic...