biRDS

hello! just your everyday harpy aesthetic blog. i wouldn't say i'm a kin blog necessarily, but if you feel any sort of kin-related attachment to anything on this blog, feel free to follow! mostly for personal use and reference for when my harpy phase swoops in.

[simplified-birds]

Simplified bird #124 - red-shouldered hawk

( requested by @buteonine )

[theramseyloft]

If I may ask. Why are you breeding May? I thought it was generally a bad idea to use feral birds because we don’t know their genetic history

Of course! It's a great question.

It's because feral pigeons have a type of intelligence that can't be ethically sourced any other way.

There is a huge difference between maintaining intelligence over generations and building it up in the first place.

The same way Racing Homers are more structurally sound and fitter, with a much more robust and adaptable immune system than any other pigeon, because they are bred to race hundreds of miles and thousands of them from all over the country are exposed to each other all at once and then to the wild when they are transported to a race and then released.

No other breed has that kind of strength or stamina, and no other breed has to endure exposure events of such magnitude.

Ferals have the single most rapid uptake of new information and highest learning flexibility of any pigeon breed because they survive entirely on their wits.

Racers are the second most intelligent breed, capabpe of independent decision making, with a very long memory.

But they are extremely rigid thinkers. Once something becomes a habit for a racer, they can't unlearn that habit with new information they way ferals can.

No other breed comes close to a Racer's intelligence.

I have Rollers and Tumblers in the program because generations of working with their breeder (looking to him to be called in away from a hawk or storm) have made a very biddable bird, but they are not intelligent enough to think as independently as a racing homer, because there is no pressure to.

There is no humane way to recreate the pressures that built feral intelligence.

So, the best way to get feral intelligence into the project is to breed from a healthy feral, and then figure out what mental exercises can be done to keep that keenly reactive, adaptable intelligence into future generations.

[herpsandbirds]

Agami Heron (Agamia agami), family Ardeidae, order Pelicaniformes, Costa Rica

photograph by Nancy Elwood

[ostdrossel]

This is something you may see on hot days - this Blue Jay is not injured, it is taking a sunbath. It is done for skin care and grooming and helps with parasites. I always love seeing it because it feels like they have to feel perfectly safe when they do it.

[cookiedoves]

pudgy pigeon 🌸

[strategypillar]

Messing with her design a bit, seeing what sticks

[beardedmrbean]

[hometoursandotherstuff]

How I found out that my cockatiel was a girl.

[life-on-our-planet]

eepy mourning dove cupping its wings under its belly for cushion ©Ella

[wolfythewitch]

My piece for the Sing O Muse zine! Its coming out in July so keep an eye out for the tag :]

[crowboy-bebop]

unauthorized fucking thing!!!!!!

(warning: loud chirping throughout)

source: hellgate osprey cam

[curlicuecal]

[what-the-floofin]

Vsun and Amarth, the besties of bros

[kavohh707]

Was lucky today being able to watch a dipper dip for quite a while. Such a cute bird.

[experiment41]

perfect nest honestly. 0 notes

[awkward-parabuteo]

Today is his 7th hatchday!

[saritazoo]

Happy International Vulture Awareness Day!

It’s about time I got the chance to draw my favorite animal for this account! This is the Bearded Vulture (Gypaetus barbatus), a scavenger of scavengers, the only known vertebrate whose diet consists of 70–90% bone! In order to digest bone, the Bearded Vulture’s stomach acid has a pH concentration of 1, about as acidic as battery acid! The Bearded Vulture can swallow bones up to the size of a lamb’s femur whole, or, it will break them into smaller, more manageable pieces. It does this by flying them to a height of 50–150 m (160–490 ft) above rocks and then dropping them so that they fall at a precise angle. They may need to repeat the drop multiple times if the bone does not break sufficiently. This learned skill requires extensive practice, and can take up to 7 years for the bird to master. They can fly with bones up to 10 cm (3.9 in) in diameter and weighing over 4 kg (8.8 lb), nearly equal to their own weight!

Bearded Vultures are also one of the few animals known to use cosmetics. While their head, chest, and leg feathers are naturally a cream color, they will bathe in iron-rich dust or mud to dye them red, orange, rust, or pink! They will also transfer this coloration to their eggs.

The Bearded Vulture has been declining severely in Europe over the past several decades, and has also seen declines in Asia and Africa. Threats include loss of habitat, collisions with powerlines, poisoning (intentional and unintentional), and trophy hunting.

Bearded Vultures are one of the more charismatic species of vulture, but on this Vulture Awareness Day let us remember how important all vultures are. As highly effective scavengers with strong stomachs, vultures help clean the earth and stop the spread of diseases such as rabies and anthrax. They return nutrients that other organisms would miss into the cycle of life, and they do not need to hunt and kill to eat. This is one of the most imperiled group of birds, and without them, ecosystems around the world would collapse.

[theramseyloft]

https://www.facebook.com/share/r/1BrkvmZyum/ i dont know if this is something you have considered once you start hatching again

For those who are not on facebook and cannot see the short, it depict a plastic racer nest with a flat, fabric pad.

The breeder shoos mom off, picks up the nestlings, takes the soiled pad, replaces it with a fresh one, and returns the nestlings.

No.

Honestly, I hate these.

Every aspect of a racer's set up is minimalist in the extreme because they raise thousands of birds and need to spend only a few seconds on each pair in order to care for them all and keep everything sanitary.

That is not better for the birds, it is just convenient for the care taker.

One of the core tenants of Animal Welfare is that they need to have every possible opportunity to safely express natural behaviors.

A deep nest box filled with straw (and places where they can forage nest bedding) allows the parents to express the natural behaviors of packing their nest and digging out a nest cup.

A nest formed this way gives the nestlings a natural texture they can grip for the first few weeks of life while their rubbery little bones harden.

Gaps in the straw drain moisture away from sensitive naked bodies and prevents them from just sitting directly on their own wet poop.

Lacking that structure can weaken and deform their toes, and they are more prone to skin infection if they are stuck on their own wet poop.

A few babies with weak feet or messed up toes is considered an acceptable loss, as long as the bulk of the flock is at least of average fitness.

When you are one person raising thousands of birds in a season with maybe a few employees or family members helping, the most important thing for the flock is to keep things as efficiently sanitizable as possible, so they are not just cruelly depriving their birds for the love of the proverbial game.

It takes time to spot clean and refresh a deep nest that one or a few people with thousands of birds just don't have.

If they tried that method with that many birds, the lofts would get dangerously unsanitary in just a few days, and they would risk mass deaths by ammonia poisoning and disease.

I have a very small number of birds for a reason.

I only want to hatch what I am certain that can spend enough time bonding with and training, and I want each and every one of those hatchlings to have the best possible support.

My cap of eight breeding pairs ensures that I will have plenty of time to carefully spot clean and refresh straw that gets soiled as the nestlings grow.

And my very strict hatch control policy keeps the flock from outgrowing my capacity to provide them the care most conducive to their physiological, psychological, and emotional development.