Results tagged “bird” on Earth Touch Blog
Flickr group: pic of the day – southern yellow-billed hornbill Jun 5 2008
Southern yellow-billed hornbills (Tockus leucomelas) are medium-sized birds, with distinctive large yellow bills and red skin around their eyes.
Tags: africa, bird, hornbill, photograph, photography, southern yellow-billed hornbill, vertebrateFlickr group: pic of the day – red-winged blackbird May 30 2008
Red-winged blackbirds (Agelaius phoeniceus) are native to the Bahamas, Belize, Canada, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Trinidad and Tobago, and the United States.
Tags: bird, flickr, north america, photograph, photography, red-winged blackbird, united states, vertebrateFlickr group: pic of the day – rockhopper penguin May 29 2008
Rockhopper penguins (Eudyptes chrysocome) are native to Argentina, Australia, South Africa, Chile, the Falkland Islands, Uruguay and New Zealand. There are also vagrant populations in Antarctica and Brazil.
Tags: africa, antarctica, argentina, australia, bird, brazil, falkland islands, flickr, hile, new zealand, penguin, photograph, photography, rockhopper, south africa, south america, uruguay, vertebrateCormorants roost on shipwreck May 21 2008
As the sun began to set at Melkbosstrand on the West Coast of South Africa, close to Cape Town, the Earth-Touch crew filmed cormorants flying in to roost on an old shipwreck.
Tags: africa, bird, blyde canyon, botswana, cape cormorant, cormorant, darter, okavango delta, reed cormorant, south africa, western cape, white-breasted cormorantTwo bulls in the valley May 21 2008
On a late afternoon in the Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Game Reserve, in South Africa, the Earth-Touch crew encountered two lone bulls: an African buffalo (Syncerus caffer) and a nyala (Tragelaphus angasii).
Tags: africa, african buffalo, bird, hluhluwe, imfolozi, mammal, nyala, pied wagtail, south africaFlickr group: pic of the day – emu May 20 2008
Emus (Dromaius novaehollandiae) are large, flightless birds native to Australia, although farmed in many other countries.
Tags: australia, bird, emu, flickr, photograph, photography, vertebrateDid you know? Marabou stork May 14 2008
Beautiful they are not, and we humans find some of their habits less than attractive too. Yet these birds have to be respected for their survival skills.
Tags: africa, bird, botswana, flamingo, marabou, namibia, okavango, scavenger, storkFlickr group: pic of the day – guira bird May 13 2008
Guira birds (Guira guira) are a type of cuckoo, found only in South America. They are common in their native countries which include Argentina, Aruba, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay.
Tags: bird, flickr, guira, photograph, photography, south america, vertebrateHornbills feed in banyan tree May 12 2008
On a cool, breezy morning in Khao Yai National Park, Thailand, the Earth-Touch crew visited a banyan tree (Ficus benghalensis) to watch birds and other wildlife feeding on the fruit.
Tags: banyan, bird, eagle, fig, forest, gibbon, hornbill, khao yai, mammal, monitor, pigeon, reptile, snake, thailand, treeDid you know? African penguin May 12 2008
Formerly known as the jackass penguin, the African penguin (Spheniscus dermersus) got its original name from its call, which is uncannily similar to that of a donkey.
African penguins are endemic to the Southern African countries of South Africa and Namibia, and mostly occur within a few kilometeres of the coastline. Non-breeding birds spend most of their time at sea.
Tags: africa, african penguin, bird, call, cape, conservation, dive, eat, fish, jackass, namibia, ocean, penguin, sea, south africa, swim, threatened, waterFlickr group: pic of the day – woodland kingfisher May 9 2008
Woodland kingfishers (Halcyon senegalensis) are found widely throughout most of Africa. They are a common species, identifiable by their two-tone beak.
Tags: africa, bird, flickr, kingfisher, kruger national park, photograph, photography, south africa, vertebrate, woodland kingfisherDid You Know? Vultures May 7 2008
White-backed vultures (Gyps africanus) are aggressive scavengers and can fill their crops with up to a kilogram (2.2lb) of meat in less than five minutes.
Tags: bird, cape, carcass, feed, fly, lappet-faced, scavenge, vulture, white-backedEgrets follow lechwe May 6 2008
The ridged and lyre-shaped horns of male red lechwe (Kobus leche) can be put to lethal effect in the breeding season, but when the Earth-Touch crew came across a herd in the Moremi Game Reserve, in Botswana, the effect was more decorative.
Tags: bird, botswana, egret, floodplain, graze, horn, lechwe, mammal, moremi, okavangoFlickr group: pic of the day – great white egret May 2 2008
The great white egret, also known simply as the great egret Ardea alba, is the world’s largest egret.
Tags: africa, aggression, america, argentina, asia, australia, bird, brazil, canada, egret, europe, flickr, great egret, great white egret, group, heron, large, namibia, protect, white, youngThe Earth-Touch baby album Apr 30 2008
Over the months, Earth-Touch has been privileged to witness the early days, survival struggles and playful moments of many young animals. Here is a selection of these video clips.
Tags: africa, baboon, baby, bath, bird, botswana, burrow, calf, cape, chick, coast, colony, cub, delta, den, dog, egg, elephant, endangered, fish, fly, foal, giraffe, herd, hluhluwe, imfolozi, juvenile, karoo, kite, kwazulu-natal, lion, mammal, meerkat, monkey, moremi, mud, okavango, piglet, reef, sodwana, south africa, thailand, tree, trunk, video, warthog, water, western cape, whale, young, zebraFlickr group: pic of the day – gentoo penguin Apr 24 2008
Gentoo penguins (Pygoscelis papua) are an easily recognisable species, because of the distinctive white stripe across their foreheads. According to the International Union for Conservation, they are native in Antarctica; Argentina; Australia; Falkland Islands (Malvinas); French Southern Territories (Crozet Island, Kerguelen); Heard Island and McDonald Islands; South Africa (Marion and Prince Edward Islands); South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. They are currently classified as near threatened.
Tags: africa, antarctica, argentina, australia, bird, flickr, gentoo penguin, penguin, photograph, photography, south africa, south america, vertebrateFlickr group: pic of the day – snowy owl chick Apr 18 2008
The snowy owl (Bubo scandiacus) is a large, white and speckled bird with a rounded head, yellow eyes and black bill.
They are found fairly widely in the Arctic and neighbouring areas of the northern hemisphere, including Canada, China, Denmark, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
Tags: arctic, bird, canada, china, denmark, flickr, northern hemisphere, owl, photograph, photography, snowy owl, snowy owl chick, united kingdom, united states, vertebrateWildlife news from around the world
Darwin and the jungle fowl gene Apr 14 2008
Evolution theorist Charles Darwin believed the domesticated chicken descended from the red jungle fowl (Gallus gallus) only, but new research shows there’s more to the story.
Tags: asia, bird, chicken, colour, evolution, forest, fowl, genetics, india, jungle, skinDid You Know? Papyrus Apr 14 2008
The newest Earth-Touch film location is the Moremi Game Reserve, situated in the heart of the Okavango Delta in Botswana. One of the most common sedge grasses found in this region is papyrus (Cyperus papyrus), the plant used by the ancient Egyptians to make the world’s first primitive paper.
Tags: africa, bird, botswana, egypt, grass, heron, moorhen, moremi, okavango delta, papyrus, plant, squacco, swamp, vegetation, waterbird, wetlandDid you know? Elephants and marula berries Apr 11 2008
Elephants are notoriously destructive feeders, breaking off branches, debarking trees and even uprooting or pushing over whole trees. But they also play an important role in the life cycle of trees, by dropping seeds of their favourite trees in their dung as they move from place to place. Birds such as hornbills eat their favourite seeds off the ground, and so the distribution process continues.
Tags: bird, dung, eat, elephant, feed, fruit, hornbill, mammal, marula, savannah, seed, tree, vertebrateDelta animals keep watch for each other Apr 10 2008
The Earth-Touch crew in Botswana’s Okavango Delta recently found antelope, baboons, vervet monkeys and birds mingling in a riverine forest, using each other’s senses for safety.
Tags: africa, alert, baboon, bird, botswana, delta, hear, impala, lookout, mammal, monkey, mopane, moremi, okavango, predator, see, sense, squirrel, vegetation, vervet, warn, waterbuckFlickr group: pic of the day – bald eagles Apr 10 2008
Bald eagles (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) are large, powerful, high-flying birds found in North America.
Tags: bird, canada, environment, fish, flickr, group, photography, river, talon, waterFlickr group: pic of the day – keel-billed toucan Apr 9 2008
Keel-billed toucans (Ramphastos sulfuratus) are also known as a sulfur-breasted toucan and rainbow-billed toucan. They are found exclusively in Central and South America.
A fruitful wait at the river pool Apr 8 2008
Sometimes, it pays just to sit and wait. When the Earth-Touch crew arrived at a pool in a tributary of the Black Umfolozi River in South Africa’s Imfolozi Game Reserve, they decided just to enjoy the view and see what happened.
Tags: africa, antelope, bird, black umfolozi, call, forage, hamerkop, imfolozi, kwazulu-natal, mammal, marking, mocking cliff-chat, nyala, pool, river, riverine forest, south africaFlickr group: pic of the day – Roseate spoonbill Apr 3 2008
Roseate spoonbills (Platalea ajaja) are found in the south-eastern states of the United States such as Louisiana and Florida, down through the Caribbean and Central America, and into South America. They feed in shallow and coastal waters on small fish, frogs and other water creatures.
Tags: argentina, bird, caribbean, central america, coast, coastal, feed, fish, flickr, florida, lake, louisiana, north america, pink, roseate spoonbill, shallow, south america, spoonbill, waterDid you know? Red-eyed dove Apr 3 2008
Tags: africa, bird, call, colour, dove, eye, forest, plumage, red-eyed, south africa
A tough day at the office Apr 2 2008
It’s official: I have the worst job in the world.
Tags: bee-eater, bird, fish, indian ocean, mammal, meerkat, whale sharkEye to eye with a giraffe Apr 2 2008
A female giraffe’s long eyelashes, whiskery mouth, tufted horns and patterned coat take on new interest when viewed close up.
Tags: acacia, bird, browse, eat, giraffe, hluhluwe, imfolozi, kwazulu-natal, mammal, oxpecker, parasite, savannah, south africa, treeWild dogs and buffalos meet at the river Apr 1 2008
Vulture activity in the Imfolozi River valley attracted the attention of the Earth-Touch crew, and they watched as a pack of African wild dogs followed a herd of African buffalos and a pair of rhinos to the river. A group of vultures bathed nearby.
Tags: bird, buffalo, hluhluwe, imfolozi, kwazulu-natal, mammal, river, south africa, vulture, wild dogFlickr group: pic of the day – mandarin duck Mar 28 2008
The mandarin duck (Aix galericulata) is a medium-sized bird, closely related to the North American wood duck. The adult male as shown in this picture is recognisable because of its vivid and unique colouring.
Tags: bird, duck, england, europe, mandarin, mandarin duck, richmond, richmond park, surrey, united kingdom, vertebrateFlickr pic of the day – cedar waxwing Mar 24 2008
This photo of a cedar waxwing (Bombycilla cedrorum) was taken at the Morgan Arboretum in Ste-Anne-De-Bellevue, Quebec, Canada, by Earth-Touch Flickr group member Hikerboy45.
Tags: arboretum, bird, breed, camera, canada, cedar waxwing, flash, flock, forest, hikerboy45, morgan arboretum, quebec, spring, trees, waxwingBats emerge at dusk Mar 20 2008
With a sound like rushing water, overlaid by squeaking, thousands of bats pour out of a cave and into the evening sky. In flight, they look like a whiplash across the sunset.
Tags: bat, bird, cave, fly, hunt, khao yai, mammal, thailandFlickr group: pic of the day – violet sabrewing Mar 17 2008
This macro shot of a violet sabrewing (Campylopterus hemileucurus) was taken by Flickr Earth-Toucher, ChipM2008, in Costa Rica.
Violet sabrewings are large hummingbirds native to Mexico and Central America.
Tags: bird, central america, costa rica, hummingbirds, vertebrate, violet sabrewingThe week’s most viewed stories Mar 14 2008
The most popular stories on Earth-Touch in the past week (from Friday 07 March to Thursday 13 March 2008) were:
Tags: aliwal shoal, asia, bird, fish, food, forest, forest fever-berry, hornbill, mate, moss, nest, popular, shark, south africa, thailand, tiger shark, tree, trunkFlickr group: pic of the day – superb starling Mar 10 2008
This photograph of a Superb starling (Lamprotornis superbus) has been chosen as our Earth-Touch Flickr group “picture of the day”.
Tags: bird, serengeti, starling, superb starling, tanzania, vertebrateFlickr group: pic of the day – pelican Mar 5 2008
This capture of a great white pelican (Pelecanus onocrotalus) has been chosen as our Earth-Touch Flickr group “picture of the day”.
Tags: bird, great white pelican, pelican, vertebrateFlickr group: pic of the day – northern cardinal Mar 3 2008
This closeup of a northern cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis) has been chosen as our Earth-Touch Flickr group “picture of the day”.
Tags: bird, canada, cardinal, green belt, northern cardinal, ottawa, vertebrateDid you know? Bee-eaters Feb 28 2008
Bee-eaters belong to the family Meropidae. There are 25 species in the family and they are found throughout tropical and subtropical Eurasia, Africa and Australasia.
Tags: bee-eater, bird, botswana, fly, hunt, little bee-eater, okavango delta, southern carmine bee-eaterDid you know? Collared pratincole Feb 22 2008
Collared pratincoles migrate to the Okavango Delta in Botswana every summer to nest in small scrapes in the ground.
Tags: bird, botswana, collared pratincole, flock, floodplain, habitat, okavango delta, pratincole, wetlandThis week’s most viewed stories Feb 15 2008
The most popular stories on Earth-Touch in the past week (from Friday 8 February to Thursday 14 February 2008) were:
Tags: aliwal shoal, berry, bird, blactip shark, dive, flame lily, flower, fruit, goose, grass, indian ocean, lily, mistletoe, pygmy goose, sea, shark, south africa, tiger shark, underwaterFish life in shallow Okavango waters Feb 14 2008
The Okavango Delta in Botswana, the world’s largest inland delta, is home to more than 80 fish species.
Tags: barbel, bird, botswana, delta, fish, okavangoDid you know? Wattled crane Feb 11 2008
There are less than 10 000 wattled cranes (Grus Carunculatus) left in the wild.
Wattled cranes feeding Feb 6 2008
The Okavango Delta in Botswana is one of the last wetland breeding grounds available for the wattled crane (Bugeranus carunculatus).
Tags: bird, crane, flood plain, forage, wattled crane, wetlandBirds in a feeding frenzy Feb 5 2008
The Earth-Touch crew came across a frenzied feeding scene in the Okavango Delta, Botswana.
Tags: bee-eater, bird, okavango, okavango deltaFledglings prepare for flight Jan 30 2008
Yellow-billed kites (Milvus migrans parasitus) are opportunistic feeders. They glide through the air, scanning the ground for carcasses of dead animals, or for small live prey such as lizards, locusts and frogs.
The adult kite that Earth-Touch has been tracking attends to its chicks’ needs, but soon it will be vital for these young fledglings to learn the ultimate survival skill, flight.
Tags: amphibian, bird, carcasse, chick, fly, frog, glide, kite, kwazulu-natal, lizard, locust, nest, prey, reptile, south africa, wing, yellow-billed kiteDid you know? Oxpeckers on the back of mammals Jan 30 2008
Oxpeckers are often seen on the backs of animals like hippo, buffalo and kudu. They feed off parasites such as ticks and bloodsucking flies that live on the mammal’s skin. These birds have a mutual relationship with mammals, removing parasites in exchange for observing the surroundings from an aerial viewpoint and alerting them of danger.
Tags: adaptation, bath, bird, bloodsucking fly, buffalo, cattle egret, ear, egret, elephant, fly, groom, hippo, kudu, oxpecker, parasite, red-billed oxpecker, skin, south africa, tail, tick, trunkCapturing spirit of place Jan 29 2008
Guest Blog By Diane Hossick
Back in the 1970s, the novelist Lawrence Durrell (brother of naturalist Gerald Durrell) presented a memorable BBC TV series entitled Spirit of Place. Beautifully shot, it matched Durrell’s inimitable use of language with landscape, flora, fauna, and people, focusing on European and North African places of great beauty: towns, villages, coast and countryside.
The snow hunter Jan 29 2008
The great grey owl (Strix nebulosa) is one the largest in the world and in North America it is the tallest owl with the largest wingspan. Yet there are other owls that weigh more and have bigger feet.