Review and images by ALeahgator; edited by bmathison1972
The emperor penguin, or Aptenodytes forsteri, is an iconic winter-themed animal and also a popular symbol of Antarctica. It would be hard to think of an animal more iconic of Earth’s polar regions, except for the woolly mammoth which is now extinct.
Happy Halloween! I got the special date this year, so I’m bringing you thrills and chills…in the form of the Schleich common raven, Corvus corax, item number 14241. The way ravens are closely tied to all things sinister and spooky was already well-covered a few years ago, an animal well-established throughout the northern hemisphere.
It’s October again, and that means for the entire month we’ll be featuring spooky creatures and creepy crawlers here on the blog. Halloween is big in my household. Decorations go up in September, apple cider is well stocked in the fridge, pumpkin scented candles burn, and horror movies play every night.
Review and images by Sam; edited by bmathison1972
The blue and gold macaw (Ara ararauna) is one of the world’s most popular parrots. These beautiful birds come from Central and South America and the Caribbean, and are a resident in the countries of Panama, Trinidad and Tobago, Colombia, Suriname, French Guiana, Venezuela, Guyana, Peru, Brazil, Bolivia, Ecuador, and Paraguay.
The Everglades is a subtropical and tropical wetland spanning 7,800 square miles (20,000 km2) in central and south Florida in the United States. Water from the Kissimmee River south of Orlando feeds into Lake Okeechobee and then continues south into Florida Bay. Although mostly marsh and flooded grassland the Everglades also run through cypress swamps, hardwood hammocks, pinelands, coastal prairies, and mangrove forests.
I officially started birding in late January, 2021. One of my first ventures up City Creek Canyon, the canyon immediately behind my neighborhood in the foothills of Salt Lake City, Utah, was in mid-March of that year. As I was walking up the canyon, two birders were coming down the canyon and asked me, ‘have you seen it?’ Now, for those of you that are not birders, when you are in the field and a fellow birder asks ‘if you’ve seen it’, the ‘it’ is usually something rare that’s been reported in the area, and it’s assumed that if you are birding in that spot, you are there to see ‘it’.
Edited by bmathison1972
The emperor penguin (Aptenodytes forsteri) is the largest species of penguin in the world and also nearly everyone’s favorite. This small emperor penguin plush by Douglas Cuddle Toys has become my new favorite animal. Penguins are popular. Late 90s and early 2000s kids may remember Pingu the Penguin from PBS, and later in 2005 came the penguins from Madagascar–who can forget Skipper, Kowalski, Rico and Private?
The bald eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) and the golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos) are not closely related, at least not within the context of the family Accipitridae. The latter is considered a ‘true’ eagle whereas the former is a buteonine hawk. Yet, the two birds have similar breeding and nesting habits.
Review and images by Suspsy; edited by bmathison1972
Currently, there are more than 200 species of owl inhabiting our planet. They reside on every continent save for Antarctica and range in size from the tiny elf owl to the mighty eagle owl. But if there is one species that can truly be said to represent the owl family as a whole, it is most likely the great horned owl (Bubo virginianus) of the Americas.
Some of my favorite birds are the spoonbills of the genus Platalea within the Threskiornithidae family. Spoonbills are wading birds found on every continent except Antarctica and characterized by the broad, flatted tip on their bills. Sweeping their bill back and forth underwater, spoonbills use their bill tip to gather up small invertebrates, amphibians, and fishes.
Review and images by Suspsy; edited by bmathison1972
The sulphur-crested cockatoo (Cacatua galerita) of Australasia is nearly as iconic a parrot as the macaws of South America. It is also one of the smartest and longest living of all birds, with some captive individuals lasting well into their 70s, and a few even surpassing 100 years.
My recent review of the Safari blue-footed booby motivated me to review another Suliforme bird that I featured in a comparison photo in that review, the 2020 Papo cormorant, which is also my most recent acquisition.
Cormorants, along with shags, make up the Phalacrocoracidae family, made up of about 40 species.
The barn owl is, in my opinion, one of the most beautiful birds of prey in the world. With its white, golden-ash plumage, and uncannily silent flight, there’s an otherworldly allure to these birds; undoubtedly this is why the bird is also nicknamed the ghost owl, and how it’s managed to spook many a farmer or unwary traveler throughout history.
This miniature in the ChocoEgg Series 6 by Furuta is usually listed under the broad name “hummingbird”, so that’s how I’m listing it in the title here, but some websites specify it as the swallow-tailed hummingbird, Eupetomena macoura, a species of hummingbird from South America. However, since the figurine lacks many of the distinctive characteristics of that specific bird, not least a forked swallow-like tail, something is clearly amiss, and that’s why I was reluctant to adopt the specific name at face value.
At the start of the year, I received an email notification from Safari Ltd. that they would be having a 50% off sale on their already discounted, discontinued figures. Not only were some of these figures now up to 75% off but this was also my last chance to get them, I didn’t squander it.
