[pete-tarmigan]

LOL! Considering their purported ancestry, anything is possible. As long as it does'n qualify for superman, then its a bird . Oh, and this is Africa, all kinds of weird things pop up from time to time.

A small flock of Yellow eyed Canaries- Pilanesberg

Sold in pet stores in North America as "Yellow-fronted Canary" and "Green Singing Finch". I'll stick to calling it Serinus mozambicus regardless of its vernacular names.

Oh -- birds are animals, as are reptiles, amphibians, fish, mammals, Crustaceans, molluscs, worms, corals, etc.

Also, the "birds as feathered dinosaurs" hypothesis has no credible evidence support it. It's the product of wishful thinking and self-promotion by dinosaur palaeontologists that ignores bird anatomy, embryology, and the laws of physics. To quote bona fide bird palaeontologist Storrs Olson of the Smithsonian Institution:

The idea of feathered dinosaurs and the theropod origin of birds is being actively promulgated by a cadre of zealous scientists acting in concert with certain editors at Nature and National Geographic who themselves have become outspoken and highly biased proselytizers of the faith. Truth and careful scientific weighing of evidence have been among the first casualties in their program, which is now fast becoming one of the grander scientific hoaxes of our age -- the paleontological equivalent of cold fusion.
1999, Open Letter to Dr. Peter Raven, Secretary of the Committee for Research and Exploration, National Geographic Society

Although written a few years ago, that letter is no less true today. The existence of dinosaur fossils from China with "proto-feathers" is a hoax (actually decomposed skin collagen fibers), and the flightless, feathered fossil creatures found there are all secondarily flightless birds.

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Last edited by pete-tarmigan; 11-07-2018 at 12:41 PM.

[noelcmn]

Oooh, that is one loaded post of interest. Had no idea those birds were ever even exported. In South Africa, you have to have a permit to keep them or breed them.
And even more interesting the bits about feathered dinosaurs!

[WPRESTO]

Disappointing to read pete-tarmigan's post, but to paraphrase "the neat thing about science is that it is true, whether you choose to believe it or not."

I think this is a social weaver, although almost camouflaged against the tree trunk.

[photolady95]

I'm thankful for what Pete said about the feathered dinosaurs, mainly because my brother who reads/hears these things thinks they're true. I can now show him, they're not. LOL

[noelcmn]

Some juxtaposition with barbed wire and Lesser Striped Swallows

[WPRESTO]

My attempt at lesser striped swallows.

[noelcmn]

I spy you there!

[WPRESTO]

Kudu, so dignified.

[noelcmn]

A near universal opinion. And probably the reason it was chosen as the emblem of the SA National Parks

A Rhino from Pilanesberg

[pete-tarmigan]

I'm thankful for what Pete said about the feathered dinosaurs, mainly because my brother who reads/hears these things thinks they're true. I can now show him, they're not. LOL

Just look for publications on the topic by Storrs Olson, or by Alan Feduccia of University of North Carolina. Olson's publications have the added benefit of bits of humour inserted here and there. Some of those publications are technical (e.g., homology of the phalanges), but their reviews of scholarly books (published in scholarly journals) don't require as much technical background.

[WPRESTO]

FYI: The fossil commented upon by Storrs Olson was known to be a fraud by professional paleontologists before National Geographic published its non-peer reviewed "scoop." The fraud was perpetrated by a Chinese farmer who put pieces of several specimens together knowing it would enhance it's value. It was purchased and smuggled out of China by an amateur dinosaur enthusiast who is also an artist (he does not have a professional degree). It was given over to a professional paleontologist who immediately realized the specimen was a composite and probably a fraud. The amateur who paid $80,000 for the specimen nevertheless tried to get a paper published in Nature and then in Science, two highly regarded science news publications both of which rejected the articles. National Geographic irresponsibly went ahead and issued a publication featuring a restoration of the fake on the cover, much to the shame of NG. Ironically, one piece of the four different specimens that went into the fraud is a partial specimen of Microraptor, a tiny dinosaur that does have flight feathers on both the fore and hind limbs (= it had four wings, but they were probably used for gliding as they are not adequate for flapping flight). Several excellent specimens of Microraptor are now known.
For the full story of the fraudulent specimen and the disgraceful way that non-scientists handled the it, GOOGLE "Archaeoraptor"
Also GOOGLE "Microraptor" to see what one of the more famous, legitimate feathered dinosaurs looks like.

[CharLac]

Well, you know the secret... I am highly envious of the wildlife in your turf than I am prepared to admit! I get to see Cougar, bears, raccoons only at my local Zoo! Bring it on Austin

Well I have never had the good fortune to see a cougar in the wild (although the folks who bought our house in the country saw one in their back yard a few months after we moved. Bears, I have seen (and heard) a few over the years but typically they don't stick around for a picture. The only critter in that list I have seen way too many of is that destructive monster on your list - the garbage bandit.

[CharLac]

Baboons, mother & offspring each preoccupied with its own food.

One day I will have to dig up my slides from a Spanish wilderness park. A bear had somehow got into the baboon area and was stealing their food. They were none too happy about it but it did not seem to bother the bear one iota.

[CharLac]

A different treatment of a giraffe's head, this one has an advisor, or is the bird just whispering sweet nothings in the ear?

A devil bird perhaps?

[WPRESTO]

Elephants from the air. For getting wildlife photos, a balloon is much better than a 'copter.