Birds Of A Feather Flock Together

August 20, 2015 By Anne Burwell Leave a Comment

You’re probably familiar with the saying “birds of a feather flock together”, but did you know that birds are warmblooded, meaning they are able to maintain their temperature no matter of the environment they are in? But there are times when they are forced to adapt to the nature that can be cruel when you’re forced to sleep out in the open. Get ready to have your heart melted by these cute pictures of various birds cuddling to keep warm against the cold or during a snowstorm. It appears not only humans are fond of snuggling, so start scrolling down the page to get your dose of cuteness for the day.

1. Tree Swallows Huddle Up

I warned you this article was going to be a cute overload. What we’re looking (and smiling from ear to ear) at here is Tachycineta bicolor or the tree swallow. Weighing as much as 20 grams, these birds are very social even outside of the breeding season.

2. Not a Caterpillar

If you thought this was a caterpillar, you were wrong. This is actually a flock of European Bee eaters, warming up by hugging fellow neighbors. This strongly migratory little bird can be found in southern Europe, some northern parts of Africa and even in Asia. Its plumage is richly colored, with a black beak and it can grow as long as twenty nine centimeters (eleven inches).

3. Baby Owl Pack

This photo was taken in Kanha National Park in India and it doesn’t get cuter than this. It seems like the baby owls are camouflaged in the hollow of the tree, probably dreaming about Hogwarts. They seem so peaceful, you just want stretch your hand and pet one.

4. Swallows During a Spring Snowstorm

These swallows knew what to do when they were taken by surprise by a snowstorm in mid May. They huddled together and waited it out. It appears their slow metabolism helps them slip into a state of semi-torpor, which worked wonders. No swallow was injured during the taking of this photo.

5. Cuddle birds

These tiny colorful birds don’t give me the impression they’re in danger of freezing to death, which leaves us with one more explanation for this cuddle sessions. They just like snuggles. Some birds sleep as close as their fellows as possible and who can blame them?

6. Superb Fairy Wren Chicks Cuddled With Their Dad

I kid you not, that’s how this bird is called, the Superb Fairy wren. Its bombastic name aside, this little fellow is territorial and sedentary, which could explain the look of exhaustion on the father’s face after gathering grasshoppers for its hungry babies. The Superb Fairy Wrens can be found in almost any area which has some undergrowth for shelter, but these tiny birds also seems to have adapted well to urban environments too.

7. Smooth Billed Ani

These smooth billed ani aren’t particularly fond of the morning breeze. So they huddled up to keep warm and wait for the Sun to do its job. These are large birds from the cuckoo family that can be found in Florida, the Bahamas and the Carribeans. You won’t find any smooth billed ani nestles lower than three meters from the ground. Females can lay as much as ten eggs at once and they only have to wait fifteen days for them to hatch.

8. Finch Family

This family of finch little birds are hugging for warmth on a chilly morning. They have a vivid plumage and are not migratory birds. You can see them almost everywhere in the world, except in Australia and the polar regions.

Image sources 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8

Nature Watch: The Lego Bird

August 2, 2012 By Vernon Gadson 1 Comment

[David Attenborough voice] This, dear reader, is the rarely spotted Lego bird, a species whose biological structure is curiously made entirely out of Lego toy bricks. When seen, they are typically hidden away inside a child’s bedroom closet beside a Lego box, where they sit quietly and motionless, as always. Like the penguin and the Penguin chocolate biscuit, they are flightless creatures, which is probably for the best: an ill-judged landing would most likely result in a child-unfriendly explosion of dislodged plastic bird parts.

The Lego bird’s rarity is commonly attributed to a lack of interest from Lego constructors in building birds with their toy bricks: typical Lego creations are fighter jets and spaceships, which, I think you’ll find, are naturally more awesome. But one enthusiastic creator of Lego birds is self-titled “Lego Monster” Thomas Poulsom, whose miraculous creations you will see below. In a stunning art project, Poulsom has designed many species of Lego birds, including macaws, owls, hummingbirds, blue tits (tee hee), finches and… those yellow ones with the… wings…

So, please scroll down and indulge yourself in the majestic beauty of these fine, plastic creatures while I go and snuggle up beside a fully grown male polar bear in the North Pole. Attenborough out. [Read more…]

Wire Wonderland: Woodland Critters of Twisted Steel

July 6, 2012 By Vernon Gadson Leave a Comment

You ever bend a paperclip out of shape and bend it into another, much more fun shape? I know I’ve done it a few times in the past, mostly when I was bored and on my lonesome and felt no need to bind several sheets of paper together. Most of my creations were cats and people or, to be more specific, disfigured felines (which for some reason looked like canines) and short-legged, big-headed hunchbacks, like the bell-ringer of Notre Dame. I wasn’t exactly Van Gogh with a paperclip – I was always more of a Picasso.

Hayley Dix, however, is a much better bender of bits of steel wire than I ever was, as shown in her remarkable new art project, “Wire Wonderland.” In it, the Middlesex University graduate creates deceptively simple but utterly stunning wireframes of woodland critters – birds and foxes, etc. – perched on and crawling across real-life fallen branches. And it looks marvelous.

As stated on Dix’s official website, “Almost as if to reincarnate the wood each piece displays a fragment of a story which is directly inspired by the environment in which it was found.” Below, you can check out images from “Wire Wonderland,” which has been selected for display at the 2012 New Designers One Year On exhibition in London. [Read more…]