Chilean Flamingo

Whatever happened to the row of yards filled with  unseemly plastic pink flamingos or as extremely smart people call them phoenicopterus plasticus (I didn't make that up)? Even as a child, I thought why, what's the motivation for putting fabricated pink birds on one's front lawn?

I decided to find the culprit who invented these eyesores,  Don Featherstone (should his name be featherplastic) invented the bird in the 50's and currently, production persists.
Wikipedia states that sales are increasing, which insinuates that actual human beings on perceiving them in a store, generated a conscious decision to purchase the said items and import the birds home to their final resting place.
Consequently, these tawdry beauties might ultimately adorn the lawns of Mars in the distant future.

The number of birds that appear pink can be counted on one hand (plus one finger from the other hand--six in all). Most of these breeds exhibit a  patch of pink, nestled among more prominent colors.
Flamingos are unique in almost their entire appearance presents pink. The non-pink parts display their gray legs with pink patches that appear as tiny knee guards (if flamingos had knees) and a cute black beak. The old overused saying, "you are what you eat" appears apt for the flamingos as their diet (they eat assorted algae) contributes to the color of their feathers.


Both of the parents affirm how nurturing and loving birds appear as they provide excellent care of their little one (they always lay one egg at a time). Flamingos love to watch their eggs hatch, even when the chick gets older one of the parent's heads appears at eye level with their loved one.

Birds are strange, as some love their chicks, and some abandon them at birth, and some defer the burden of raising their young laying their eggs in unknown bird nests.
As a parent, I feel the most regard for birds that contain the human quality of nurturing their young, but there isn't a right or wrong way in the bird world, it 's just the nature of the beast.


Factsorama:

1. They feel at home over two miles above or right at sea level.

2. They stand on one leg to keep their body heat from escaping.

3.In Spanish, they're called Flamenco Chileno.

4.Even though they filter food from seawater through their beaks, they must have fresh water to drink.

5. They can live up to fifty years.

6. Both parents feed their young regurgitated milk, which quality appears similar to the milk of a mammal.

7. At one time, they were killed for their tongues, allowing people to show off their riches by providing this delicacy at their dinner tables.

8. Flamingos have endured our earth for fifty million years--humans have existed for two hundred thousand years.

9. The Chilean Flamingo is nearly threatened, which means that trouble looms ahead in the form of extinction, in the near future. An organization that wants to preserve these birds and make sure they don't become endangered appears at the end of this article.


10. Number ten doesn't exist, but my OCD will cause anxiety if I leave it at nine.

http://www.zcog.org/#!chilean-flamingo/c24ny

This first video isn't about Chilean Flamingos, but it shows the love of the parents.

Beltsville Small White

In the 1930's, in a secret research facility in Beltsville, Maryland, scientists worked feverishly (and often, mad scientist laughter roared from the lab) to create a new breed of animal.

The proper clarification of the bird is variety rather than breed, and the scientist were not diabolical (though there's always that one in every crowd who wants to rule the world). The cooks of America demanded a diminutive bird that accommodated their ovens, and voila, the birth of the first Beltsville Small White transpired.

The Beltsville  is a beautiful white creature with row after row of lacy feathers swathing its neck, chest and back region. The tail feathers stand up in a creamy white fan, and the face......oh, the humanity. The face and the snood (the horrible textured growths that flow off a turkey's face and neck) appear alarmingly ugly, except to female turkeys. The brighter and aggrandized the snood--generates immense sex appeal to the ladies.

Sadly, this turkey endured as a flash in the pan (intended pun), people pushed it aside for a different variety, and the Beltsville small white came close to leaving the world in the way of the dinosaur (except there wasn't a hot fiery rock crashing into our earth, forming an enormous crater, creating a tremendous dust cloud that blocked out the sun which wiped out a large portion of living creatures), and it's listed as critical on the conservation chart. Even though they were created by man, though using God's ingredients, shouldn't they have the right to continue just as any animal has that right.
There're a few farmers out there who still raise these birds, and the Beltsville Small Whites may have a chance at life (hey, they didn't ask to be born created).
I anticipate they will exceed all expectations, and perchance, a sporadic bird or two might escape to the wild to create unique adventures.

Little Grebe

The little grebe is aptly named--for it's the smallest bird of the grebe family. Grebes are fantastic birds and superb parents. Their mating habits furnish humans with extreme delight as we watch their actions of giving gifts, copying each other's extreme movements and performing a running dance on water. I found a video portraying this ritual, though the grebes shown are not Little Grebes, but hopefully an understanding may be formed of the Little Grebe rituals.

All birds in the grebe family are so loving and giving to their little chicks. They allow the little ones to ride on their backs, and are industrious fisher birds bringing their chicks food regularly.
Grebes pluck their own feathers out to feed to their babies, and it's thought the reason behind this selfless act is to coat the stomach so the fish bones will not pierce the stomach lining.

Their habitat is freshwater lakes or ponds, and they will hide if someone comes near, since they are incredibly shy. I would love to see one, but unless I travel to Europe, Asia or Africa, this will not be possible,
The best part about these lovely birds--they're least concern on the conservation status, yet all the poisons running off from lawn care may hurt them in the future.
Green lawns are not worth hurting our water and eco-system, but as long as there is money involved, then the world will continue to poison at will.

Adelie Penguin

Today, I choose to write about the Adelie Penguin, and my knowledge of this bird consists of penguins that (appear) to wear tuxedos, plus comparable to all penguins, Adele Penguins captivate us with their intense cuteness.
One physical behavior they posses (which I desire) is the belly flop. As they run along the snow and ice on their little legs and big feet, they will undoubtedly fall, and this is where the belly flop comes into play. They fall with ease, and once on their bellies they slide for a short distance on the ice, as if to say I meant to do that, and I did it with style.
I recently fell on my knee, which caused a great deal of damage and pain. How wonderful if I could have fallen on my stomach and gracefully slid across the room, at which point I could have stood up and dusted myself off and moved on without pain or embarrassment.

Some of the earliest explorers in Antarctica wrote about these little birds, and how friendly and annoying they could be. They remind me of arctic squirrels in the way they loved to taunt the sled dogs and their curiosity of the entire expeditions. Many video's on Youtube show their feet running as hard as they can to a helicopter or people nearby.

The birds live in Antarctica all their lives, yet when it's time to breed, they travel up to ten thousand miles to arrive at their breeding grounds. Even though I can't find the information showing their means of  travel--I assume that they are underwater most of the way. They can swim close to 50 mph, and this rate would take them up to a month to arrive at their destination.
They create nests out of rocks, and will fight other parents who try to steal a rock for themselves. Both parents help to raise the young, though one odd action they implement, requires their chicks to run behind them at feeding time--shown in the video below.
I would love to have one as a pet, and hug and kiss it. Every night I would tuck it into it's little ice bed, and most likely it would be my best friend.
Though that is a wonderful daydream--alas it could never be my reality, and so I will just admire them from afar.

Wandering Albatross

Wandering Albatrosses spend their entire lives in the air, and this is decisively true of all albatrosses. They would never land at all if they didn't have the built in need to spread their genes to future generations. Every two years they have a rendezvous with their mates (they mate for life) and start the circle of life over again. The process of rearing their young is an entire year long procedure from incubating to fledgling--suddenly the birds are free again to live in the air and feast on fish that are solely for their own consumption.

The Wandering Albatross has the largest wing span of the entire bird world, which ranges up to an average of 11 feet, but can exceed 13 feet. I try to picture two men who are six foot tall turning into one bird, and suddenly they could soar among the Wandering Albatrosses--their size would not be amiss and would fit in perfectly.

In my opinion, albatrosses are the most unique and beautiful birds of the world, but they are in real danger of being eradicated. One day our grandchildren will be taught that the world once held such wonders as the dodo bird, the passenger pigeon, and the albatross.
They can live over sixty years--though they have an enemy of commercial fisherman, who put out hooks that can drag for miles behind their boats. The birds get entangled or hooked when trying to fish, and an albatross dies every five minutes(that's what the reports say) from this need for greed.

There must be a better way for fishermen to fish that will not endanger so many animals, and why aren't there laws in place to protect our bird life.I don't lift my finger to make sure they are protected and I'm sure many people reading this aren't working for their preservation either.
I'll never understand the species called humans and I never will.

This is a link that tell more about the bird and how to help. There is a picture on the site of a hooked albatross--this is so sad that I can hardly think about it. Please read.

http://wwf.panda.org/what_we_do/endangered_species/albatross/

http://www.environmentalaction.net/aa_albatross.htm

Andean Teal

I wonder if there's anything as boring as reading the Taxonomy of a bird. I know that it avails a necessary function of classifying into species and subspecies, and putting animals in their proper place, and is a commitment of immense importance. I love the fact that a duck will never be classified as a parrot, yet I feel callous indifference, and I frequently maneuver away when my eyes arrive on that portion of an article, .

The sad news often occurs that the entire bird article tells the taxonomy with a few scant tidbits thrown in. I'm trying to write my own article and find what information that I can gather up, and all I'm presented with is that Anas andium andium is a subspecies of the Andean Teal. As I've previous stated, this doesn't make for fun reading, unless you're an ornithologist.

Then the work starts, searching the web and watching videos, sifting through data, and sometimes I'm lucky, though many times I'm not. This time I found a site named beautyofbirds.com and though I didn't hit the mother lode, there's bird gold here.

One item I knew from Wikipedia shows their habitat in Northern South America around rivers and lakes or many other water sources.
After mating, the male duck swims (struts) around the female duck, and stays by her side. Both parents help with raising the chicks.
They feed by upending their heads in the water leaving their duckie butts hanging in the air.

I spoke before about a bird that was so plain that no one would let it enter a beauty contest, and the same can be said for the Andean Teal. There's nothing remarkable about this bird, it's beak, feet, wings, head and feathers are just a plain brown mix, and nothing points to beauty.
Though, I actually think its beauty is in its plainness as the feathers have small highlights of different browns, plus the angles of the feathers are very interesting.
This is a bird, people would walk past without giving a second glance, yet something tells me that's exactly the way Andean Teals desire it.

Please read this article about feeding ducks. We are hurting them by giving them bread.
http://beautyofbirds.com/swandiet.html

Great spotted kiwi

Kiwis are wonderfully strange animals that do not resemble any other type of bird, because a Kiwi's wings blend in perfectly and disappear. I laugh every time I see one walk as its so unusual--it seems that two legs are missing or at the least some part of the bird's anatomy is lacking.

Kiwis lay huge eggs, and only one at a time. The egg takes up more than a fourth of the females body weight, and the entire time it stays in her body (one month) she doesn't eat or move very often. Once laid, the chick takes up to three months to hatch. After all the hard work the parents endured I thought that they would stay with the chick for quite some months, so I was very surprised to find out they abandoned the baby as soon as it hatches. Most chicks die after they leave their nest, and they are threatened with a status of vulnerable. It's not the worst grade they could have, but still very worrisome.

What if aliens came to our world and every year took away one percent of our habitat called Earth--within fifty years we would only have fifty percent of our world left and that is exactly what has happened to the Great Spotted Kiwi.
Why can't we protect our wildlife? Greed is actually the reason for this disaster that is happening today in every part of our land and sea. People want to tear down trees or build houses or whatever the reason is--they are making money off their greed adventure without a care for anything that will outlast themselves.
I'm not sure how many animals will die before we stop, and people may never stop. After killing all the animals on our world they will move to different planets and start there. It's just another example of how humans lower their standards of integrity and how the rest of us stand around and let it happen.

http://www.wwf.org.nz/what_we_do/species_/kiwi/

https://www.kiwisforkiwi.org/about-kiwi/kiwi-species/great-spotted-kiwi/