Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Don't Judge A Book By It's Cover

Birds are attractive to us because, like humans, they are visually oriented, vocal, and exhibit lots of intriguing behaviors. Bizarre Beach Bird Behaviorby Dave Grant
More Birds, Just for Ginny

this is the funniest bird I have ever seen and I have no idea what kind of bird this is, but there were several hundred of them on the beach at Lido Key. Proof, not all birds are beautiful. But they were really funny to watch. they talked to each other and chased and fluttered, quite a show, and all for Free.
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To see how NOT pretty the Stork is, click on the photo. Stork is on the left. The not so pretty little one is and Ibus. We will have a post on Ibus soon.
You know I love the pelican because he is not pretty, i thought this was hilarious.
Common Moorhen, nice colors, but not really PRETTY
UPDATE: this is NOT an Anhinga, it is a Cormorant, Cormorants and shags are medium-to-large seabirds.
All are fish-eaters, dining on small eels, fish, and even water snakes. They dive from the surface, though many species make a characteristic half-jump as they dive, presumably to give themselves a more streamlined entry into the water.
After fishing, cormorants go ashore, and are frequently seen holding their wings out in the sun. All cormorants have preen gland secretions that are used ostensibly to keep the feathers waterproof. Some
Anhingas are definitely NOT pretty, close to Ugly. but so much fun to watch when they dive. Or when the spread their wings to dry off.

I leave you with my mothers advice to me
Beauty is only skin deep.Beauty is from the heart, Pretty Is, Is Pretty
does......



1 comment:

Ginny Hartzler said...

Thanks so much for this post! These birds must be commonplace to Floridians, but to us in the east, they are exotic. We rarely see them. Your funny unidentified bird is a black skimmer. So called because their lower beak is longer than the top, and they skim the water with their lower mandible slicing through it to find fish. They will also wade and jab at fish. It has a short, barking call and is a relative of terns and gulls. I had no idea storks were so unsightly! But I love the pelican picture with the sign under it! I bet that picture was a happy accident?