#charadriiformes

[herpsandbirds]

Dovekie aka Little Auk (Alle alle), family Alcidae, order Charadriiformes, Iceland

Photograph by Christophe Moning

[birdblues]

Piping Plover

[snototter]

A comb crested jacana chick (Irediparra gallinacea) in Kakadu National Park, Australia

by Charles Sharp

[ornithological]

european herring gull (larus argentatus) and black-headed gull (chroicocephalus ridibundus), ireland

[uncharismatic-fauna]

Uncharismatic Fact of the Day

If any bird was going to be recognized for its pride, it would be the fabulous ruff. This bird was one of the first species in which homosexual behaviour was documented by a naturalist, Edmund Selous, in 1906!

(Image: A pair of male ruffs (Calidris pugnax) by Sulin Gopalan)

If you like what I do, consider buying me a ko-fi!

[tbalderdash-art-blog]

Happy Pied Month! Oystercatcher? More like acetercatcher!

Reference photo by JJ Harrison

[have-you-seen-this-animal]

can you do the timberdoodle bird? love those silly guys

I hadn't realized they had so many magnificent common names! They're so silly.

Some other common names include timberdoodle, mudbat, bogsucker, night partridge, or Labrador twister. A very fun variety!

[alphynix]

The mancallines were a lineage of flightless semi-aquatic birds closely related to auks. Known from the Pacific coasts of what are now California and Mexico, between about 7.5 and 0.5 million years ago, they convergently evolved a close resemblance and similar lifestyle to both the recently-extinct North Atlantic great auk and the southern penguins.

Miomancalla howardi here lived in offshore waters around southern California during the late Miocene (~7-5 million years ago). The largest of the mancallines, it just slightly beat out the great auk in size – standing around 90cm tall (~3') and weighing an estimated 5kg (11lbs).

Like great auks and penguins it would have been a specialized wing-propelled diver, swimming using "underwater flight" to feed on small bait fish. It probably spent much of its life out at sea, probably only returning to land to molt and breed.

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NixIllustration.com | Tumblr | Patreon

[awkwardbirdsdreaming]

Day 2 of january extinct birds - great auk

Auks used to be called penguins, and actual penguins are named after them! It's quite amazing that two completely different groups evolved to look and behave basically the same on two sides of the Earth. Penguins don't have that epic beak though.

[medusaswanderings]

Least Sandpiper Calidris minutilla

Order: Charadriiformes

Family: Scolopacidae

Humboldt County, California

[life-on-our-planet]

🪶🛫southern lapwing🛫🪶

bonus baby:

[herpsandbirds]

Killdeer (Charadrius vociferus) chick, family Charadriidae, order Charadriiformes, WA, USA

photograph by J. Bonello | USFWS

[birdblues]

Bronze-winged Jacana

[snototter]

A black guillemot or tystie (Cepphus grylle) in Mousa, Shetland, UK

by Gary Faulkner

[fullfrontalbirds]

Have you done timberdoodles yet? (Scolopax minora)

American Woodcock (Scolopax minor)

© Fyn Kynd

[tbalderdash-art-blog]