kestrels-and-katydids - Tumblr blog

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Egyptian Vulture

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Secretary Birds (Sagittarius serpentarius), family Sagittariidae, order Accipitriformes, Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park, Southern Africa

ENDANGERED.

These birds stand at a maximum height of 1.3 m (4 ft 3 in).

They feed on a wide variety of small animals, including venomous snakes.

Endangered due to habitat destruction.

photograph by Uwe Sandneurosen

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What the fuck

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Bomber Fly (Heterostylum robustum), family Bombyliidae, Hidalgo County, Texas, USA

This fly is in the Bee Fly family.

photograph by Craig Lipski

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Cubaris sp. Panda King, curled | micron pen, color pencils, and copic markers | March 2024 | Hazel Fricke

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Red-bellied woodpecker, male . . . Prime Hook National Wildlife Refuge, Milton, Delaware . . . 12/5/22

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Y’all, I am SO excited about this new beetle that was just discovered!!!!

The freshly-discovered new species of longhorn beetle, Excastra albopilosa. Image credit: James Tweed

Detailed photographs of the Excastra albopilosa specimen found by James Tweed. Image credits: Lingzi Zhou, Australian National Insect Collection

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Nomad Bees (Genus Nomada)

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Leaf Katydids (Subfamily Phaneropterinae)

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Opened my laptop to play stardew valley but somehow I ended up down a Wikipedia rabbit hole and am learning about hymenoptera repro

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The Heron of Dismal Bay

(Oil pastel on paper). An older piece, but this is one of my favorites solely because the lighting is very specific to a particular place on a particular trail.

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colored pencil buggies, in order of their appearance: Luna Moth, Weevil, Jewel Wasp, Goliath Birdeater, and Hercules Beetle

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incredible work!! your style is so distinctive and fun to look at :) would love to see a bearded vulture or a harpy eagle!!

day 16

today's bird is the harpy eagle!

- the talons of a harpy eagle are about the same length as a grizzly bear's claws! (i did not very accurately portray this in my drawing lmao)

- harpy eagles feed on sloths, opossums, and monkeys

- their characteristic head plumage can help direct sound waves into their ears

- they are a keystone species in their native range (southern mexico through central and south america, down to argentina)

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Could we have some secretary birds please? I love those guys.

~ 🤍

But of course! One of my favorite birds!

Secretary Birds (Sagittarius serpentarius), family Sagittariidae, order Accipitriformes, found across grasslands and arid areas in Sub-Saharan Africa

ENDANGERED.

These birds stand at a maximum height of 1.3 m (4 ft 3 in).

They feed on a wide variety of small animals, including venomous snakes.

Endangered due to habitat destruction.

photographs:  Michael Bourquet, Antero Topp, Marco Valenti, Subramanya CK

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I’ve made more bugs. They’re friends

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Do you have any cool bird facts

female raptors (eagles, hawks, falcons, etc) are larger than male raptors in pretty much all species. this happens even in groups not closely related to each other (ex: hawks and falcons), so its beneficial enough in their niche that its evolved independently a few times, though its unsure exactly what that benefit is atm (bc unlike males being larger in a lot of mammals, female raptors dont make a habit of fighting each other or using size to attract mates as far as we know). ex: heres a male and female Cooper's Hawk

somewhat mentioned above but falcons are more closely related to parrots than they are to hawks

Gray Catbirds and American Robins have been witnessed raising young in the same nest at the same time. In one instance (reported by Mulvihill and Murray), they were recorded caring for the young of both species in the nest, and when the Catbird young fledged, the adult Catbirds continued to provide food for the not-yet-fledged Robins. heres a pic of the nest from the report

the worlds oldest known bird as of 2024 is a wild Laysan Albatross named Wisdom who's 72-73 years old (at minimum, we dont actually know her birth date, just that she was at least 5 years old when she was banded in the 50s) and still raising chicks. here's her with one of her chicks

also Albatrosses have wingspans of up to 3.5m/11.5ft and have been recorded flying 49,700 miles without touching land (they do land in the water to eat tho)

this is from personal experience but if you walk around in a north american grassland for long enough, you Will get jumpscared by a Mourning Dove bc they make their nests on the ground in the grass and like to hang out on the ground in the grass and they also like to wait until youre right overtop of them to freak out and fly away from you

Bald Eagles don't get their fully white heads and tails until theyre about 5 years old

A lot of birds have been observed incorporating cigarette butts into their nests, and a study in Mexico on House Finches found that this actually results in drastic decreases in parasites affecting young compared to nests without them

Cedar Waxwings (and Waxwings in general) just look so smooth. they look like someone airbrushed them. look at this shit

in Jacanas, females lay eggs in multiple males' nests, and then the males raise the young by themself. Also they carry their babies under their wings like this

Horned Guan. Theyre endangered and live in a small area of central america. both the males and females have the little horn fez, the males just have taller ones

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"Easter Egg" Weevil (Pachyrhynchus cf. erichsoni), family Curculionidae, Mindanao, Philippines

photographs by Bald Guy With a Camera