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Bird #77 - barn owl
Once all grouped into Tyto alba, around 2016 it was found some barn owls were more closely related to different species of owl than they were to other barn owls! They've now been split into four species, and the western barn owl got to keep the Tyto alba name. I also can't read Tyto without thinking of Guardians of Ga'hoole.
requested by @birbb6565
prints
Bird #67 - the Bearded Vulture (NT)
I dont even know what to say about them that people wouldn't already know. It's crazy that 70-90% of their diet is bone??? I always thought they were strictly Asian birds, but they are found in many areas in Africa and Europe too (though they are extinct in much of their historic range).
Bird #88 - Schalow's turaco (LC) Requested by anon
This gorgeous (and strange) bird can be found in some wooded parts of Africa, searching for fruits and bugs. Their eBird page contains the sentence "Acts like a typical turaco, bouncing through the trees". I just think that gives a delightful mental image.
Bird #55 - the Red-tailed Black-Cockatoo (LC)
[female plumage]
You can find these noisy birds in many parts of Australia, usually in drier regions. They are apparently a pest to peanut farms - in Queensland, they've learned to pull out the plants to get to the peanuts! (if you didn't know, peanuts grow underground!)
Another fact I think is cool: Cockatoos as a family diverged from other parrots a long time ago, either right when dinosaurs went extinct 66 mya, or somewhere around 45 mya.
Requested by two anons and @keep-looking-here :>
Bird #68 - the Grey Catbird (LC) [for @chchoodle ]
This bird is named after its 'mewing' call that sounds like a distressed cat. They are found through temperate regions of North America, down to eastern Mexico during winter. Rare vagrants to Europe have been recorded too, with one bird hitching a ride on a ship all the way to Hampshire!
I was surprised that they aren't related to Turdidae at all. Their song and behaviour seems really similar to the European blackbirds I have around here.
@artsja-a This is so nice?! Almost made me cry aaa thank you
Bird #45 - the long-tailed tit (LC)
While hunting for info to know these borbs better, I saw websites describe them with words like adorable, excitable, restless and 'only about the size of a ping-pong ball'. Also, older English names for them include the bum-towel, mumruffin and bumbarrel. How can you not love them.
There is a lot of variation within this species, with a whole seventeen subspecies! The drawing doesn't show three distinct subspecies btw. It's just the general vibes of long-tailed tits in the listed regions, because I couldn't find information about specific visual differences between subspecies. They're also found in Japan and southwest Asia!
Bird #51 - the Laysan albatross (NT)
If you're out on the open ocean in the North Pacific, you might see one of these soaring past, especially if you're near the Hawaiian Islands where almost all of them breed.
I don't think this needs any extra facts, since Anon already mentioned Wisdom (btw, she was last seen December 2023!), but it seems worth mentioning that they can moo like cows and whinny like horses. Not the sound I expected from them.
everyone putting in requests are way too nice tyyy <3
Bird #53 - the tree swallow (LC)
(I have drawn it extra puffed up for my own amusement, they're more slender than this :> )
Tree swallows can be seen throughout North America, breeding in the northern regions and migrating south in Winter. They eat aquatic invertebrates in addition to terrestrial ones! When feeding, parents like to stay within sight of their nest so they can dive-bomb any intruders. (However, they won't actually strike the predators, just bluffing to chase them away!)
