Barn Owls are my favorite type of owl. These successful predators will live almost anywhere, and fly in near silence. They eat voles, mice, and shrews, but will eat small birds when its usual prey is scarce. They have many common names, my favorite, besides barn owl, is Monkey Faced Owl. They live about 2 years in the wild, but in captivity they can live up to 20 years! Part of the reason they have short life spans is their predators are very common. Possums, raccoons, and large raptors are their natural predators; however their biggest threat is the pets of humans. The females have more spots on their breast than males. The more spots a female monkey faced owl has, the less parasites she has.
Duck Billed Platypus
The Duck Billed Platypus is marsupial that lives in the eastern coast ofAustralia, from North East Queensland, to South West Victoria and Tasmania. They are carnivores, and eat worms, insect larva, and small shrimps. They swim with their eyes shut, so they locate their prey by electrolocation, sensing the small electrical impulses that their prey give off when moving. The Male platypuses have a small poisonous spur on their back feet. It is mostly used for self defense, but the venom increases during mating season. The females lay three eggs a year.
Silver Laced Polish
My favorite chicken, Little Girl
When I used to raise chickens, my personal favorites were my silver laced polishes. Polish chickens are some of the strangest chicken breeds. Their most distinctive feature is their crest, the crest is the feathers on top of their heads. Contrary to their name, the breed originated in Holland. Polishes are friendly, tame easily, lay white eggs, and don’t go broody. They were admitted to the APA in 1874.
Handy Dandy Guide: Walking Outside While It’s Snowing for Floridians
This post made me laugh, enjoy!
Handy Dandy Guide: Walking Outside While It’s Snowing for Floridians.
Rock Pigeons, or Rock Doves
Rock pigeons, also known as rock doves, are those pretty birds that you see everywhere around the city. Their droppings are seen as a nuisance now, but back in the 16th and 18th century in Europe, pigeon droppings was seen as a valuable commodity. It makes an excellent fertilizer, as well as containing saltpeter, which was used to make gunpowder. Pigeons are one of the most intelligent birds on the planet, when looking at its reflection, it recognizes itself. The pigeon is the only non mammal species that recognizes the fact that the bird it sees is just a illusion. These birds can live for 15 years in captivity, but only 3 or 4 years in the wild. Rock pigeons are one of the few birds who don’t have to tip their head back to drink; instead they use their beaks like straws.
January 2012 photos
I found a lot of blue jay feathers lying around, most of them were in bad shape.
The Superb Bird of Paradise
There are 42 different species of birds of paradise, and all of them are amazing. The one I will be posting about today is called the Superb Bird of Paradise.
Albert Einstein
A question that sometimes drives me hazy: am I or the others crazy?
House Sparrows
House sparrows will eat just about anything, but their diet is mostly composed of grains and weeds. While house sparrows don’t like water, if forced to, they can swim. Because they don’t like water, they take dust baths like chickens, but unlike chickens, they will not leave big holes in your yard. House sparrows are aggressive, and will take over bluebird nest boxes. They tend to swarm over feeders in flocks, and crowd out more “desirable” birds that would otherwise feed there. While this doesn’t make them popular with birdwatchers, these tenacious birds are still amazing in their own way.
Southern Cassowary
Southern Cassowaries live in the rainforests of northen Queensland Australia. They are huge birds with a distinctive dagger-like claw on the third toe of each foot. The Southern cassowary can grow up to 5.6 feet, and live up to 19 years. They can run up to 30 miles an hour, and while they mostly eat fruit, they are omnivores. While they are very shy of people, they will attack if provoked, and can use their killing claw to defend themselves
