picturesofspiderman's Favorites

This bird landed behind me while I was snorkelling. It repeatedly came close up to me, within 1m, which was quite imposing as it was a large bird. This bird hung around for the remaining three days we were at the reef. I guess the bird was hoping to get a feed.

A REQUEST:
When recommending an identification, please adhere to current standards of taxonomy as deployed by iNaturalist at this time — as opposed to identifying and classifying organisms based on personal beliefs about what taxonomy can, should, or of right ought to be in opposition to iNaturalist’s current taxonomy. Comments noting such taxonomic disagreements, however, are welcomed and encouraged. I prefer my observations to be inline with current taxonomic standards as deployed by iNaturalist (as opposed to my personal beliefs) so that this and other observations are readily accessible to iNaturalist users with greater efficiency and usability. Thanks!

If you have any questions regarding this observation, feel free to contact me or leave a comment below!

Janson Jones,
http://floridensis.com.

The mating display for this bird involves the male flying high in the air and dropping from the sky like he is dead, he then picks up his wings and flies away when he is about to hit the ground. It was really fun to watch. Not so great to photograph, video would have been better.

I saw this bird walking in front of my car and my window was cracked so I thought I'd be silly and say "Hello" but I was not expecting the bird to actually respond in any manner. Made for a good photo though!

A common bird on the Daintree river , but one of the most amazing fishing birds. This birds can fish from a spot quite far above the water and hang upside stretch their neck out and successfully catch a fish. When first observed no one can believe they can fish from that height. To watch them go totally upside down is absolutely amazing.

This is an interesting story with a happy ending. My friend David Ferry and I were driving along Hwy 87 at 60 mph near Crystal Beach, Texas, when I glimpsed what I thought was a Least Bittern standing on the very edge of the road with cars whizzing past. I made a U turn and went back where we indeed found a Least Bittern, resting back on its tarsus joints within inches of passing traffic. I picked up the bird and we stood on the side of the road to examine it. My best guess is that (1) it took a glancing blow off a car windshield, perhaps, or (2) It was totally exhausted from migrating across the Gulf of Mexico. It did not seem to be badly injured and its wings did not seem to be broken. Rather than just leave it here on the road to be crushed and killed I decided we would take it to a nearby marsh area off the roadway where it could die in peace and dignity. So we drove off with Dave holding the bird in his lap and heading to a marsh well off the road where I know Least Bitterns were present. We put the bird down on the edge of the marsh and it just stood there looking at us. I was about to just drive away and let nature take its course, but decided to take a few more shots of the bird. I got down low to the bird's level and it went into the characteristic bittern pose by stretching its neck high and trying to look like a swaying bit of marsh grass. It kept a watchful eye on me from both sides of its raised bill and image 1 shows this action. The bird then started slowly walking away from us. I bent down to take another shot and the bittern took flight and flew out into the marsh and out of sight. I choose to believe it recovered and is doing well.

near Crystal Beach,
Galveston Co., Texas
26 April 2018

Pair mating, running and bounding all over the shop, frantic and fast. Not sure to what extent she was being dragged and/or he was being carried, seemed fairly even, in fairness. Managed a few shots when they stopped occasionally, before leaving them to it.