tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8278510471239667560.post1113354463002898219..comments2024-03-29T01:41:15.713+00:00Comments on Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park birds: Ralph Hancockhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11686354797977020917noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8278510471239667560.post-13229194664197230082017-08-01T21:29:59.408+01:002017-08-01T21:29:59.408+01:00Thanks for the clips. They look heavy but powerful...Thanks for the clips. They look heavy but powerful. I note the projecting chest necessary to support the massive flight muscles necessary to keep these enormous birds going.<br /><br />It was my father's friend Aylmer Tryon who did the first reintroduction of Great Bustards to Salisbury Plain, a thinly populated upland thought to be the most suitable place for them. I think we're on the third reintroduction after the first two petered out. Let's hope they reach critical mass eventually.Ralph Hancockhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11686354797977020917noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8278510471239667560.post-21750239280336481392017-08-01T18:24:54.442+01:002017-08-01T18:24:54.442+01:00Yes they are, as much as by a third at times. I...Yes they are, as much as by a third at times. I've seen very large males clearing quite steepy hills though. <br /><br />These two clips are nothing to write home again, but they show the flight mechanics. The first one shows a mixed band taking flight (it is right at the very beginning of the clip; if you blink, you'll miss it):<br /><br />https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMQ_OimPSkA<br /><br />Mute the sound! The background music is quite irritating.<br /><br />The second one is a short clip of an adult male in flight:<br /><br />https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dAgkL1wE4QI<br /><br />Wasn't your own father involved in re-introducing the Great Bustard in Salisbury Plain? I think I am not alone in my wish to be told more about your father's efforts.Tinúvielhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04794275230697959519noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8278510471239667560.post-88891093442160962322017-08-01T04:08:57.697+01:002017-08-01T04:08:57.697+01:00Have often wondered about the digestive systems of...Have often wondered about the digestive systems of the Anseriformes, who seem to get plenty of nourishment out of low-energy foods without having an onboard distillery like a cow.Ralph Hancockhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11686354797977020917noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8278510471239667560.post-53216187664770179802017-08-01T01:42:08.100+01:002017-08-01T01:42:08.100+01:00One problem for swans is needing proportionately m...One problem for swans is needing proportionately more gut for their mainly plant diet. Pterosaurs and also Pelagornis weren't held back by this. JimAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8278510471239667560.post-77192987874086042662017-07-31T23:48:50.707+01:002017-07-31T23:48:50.707+01:00Thanks. The females are much smaller than the male...Thanks. The females are much smaller than the males, aren't they? We've only got a handful of Great Bustards here, reintroduced on Salisbury Plain not very successfully and they have to keep getting more.Ralph Hancockhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11686354797977020917noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8278510471239667560.post-87195066044476636912017-07-31T21:46:44.637+01:002017-07-31T21:46:44.637+01:00They are easy to see flying here (not so long ago ...They are easy to see flying here (not so long ago a handful of female birds flew parallel to the highway almost directly side by side with my car). They are slow and hesitant to get airborn, but once in the air they are very powerful and quite swift for their size (there are no good clips at youtube to link to - if I should find a good one, I'll post the link). Monk and Griffon vultures, which are also quite heavy, are marvels at taking off from the ground: they take a couple of leaps and get airborn almost vertically. I think that perhaps Mute Swans may be limited by their webbed feet.<br /><br />There were very heavy flying eagles in the past like Haast's Eagles, which were apparently good flyers. Perhaps they were like the Antonov-225: something that ought not to fly, but does.Tinúvielhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04794275230697959519noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8278510471239667560.post-79327181316527261192017-07-31T20:51:05.938+01:002017-07-31T20:51:05.938+01:00Seeing Mute Swans close up, with their waddling ga...Seeing Mute Swans close up, with their waddling gait, tremendous efforts to get into the air, and grave problems with manoeuvrability once airborne, makes you realise that they are near the size limit for a flying animal. Great Bustards may be graceful on the ground, but I have never seen one fly. No one has much idea about how the giant pterosaurs flew, and probably they could only take off by jumping off cliffs. Even now we have birds that can't easily take off from a level surface: albatrosses and swifts.Ralph Hancockhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11686354797977020917noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8278510471239667560.post-36354321276993432592017-07-31T20:29:29.419+01:002017-07-31T20:29:29.419+01:00Ps: The Long-tailed Tit reminds me of the adorably...Ps: The Long-tailed Tit reminds me of the adorably terrifying bird in A Bug's Life.Tinúvielhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04794275230697959519noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8278510471239667560.post-42539292120829845372017-07-31T20:20:47.372+01:002017-07-31T20:20:47.372+01:00The Black Swan is the picture of elegance, even in...The Black Swan is the picture of elegance, even in his sleep. <br /><br />I always thought of Mute Swans as very graceful and elegant(I mostly saw them in pictures and films when I was little, I had very little experience of them in real life). But they really aren't, are they? It's not that they are stumpy or clunky, it's that they are hulking by virtue of their size. They are (un)gentle giants. Funnily enough, the heaviest flying bird in existence, the Great Bustard, is quite graceful and even dainty in its gait and general deportment.<br /><br />Poor baby Grebe. The picture of the lovely young Robin takes the teeth out of the sadness, though.Tinúvielhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04794275230697959519noreply@blogger.com