Ardeidae (herons) and picidae (woodpeckers) are my two favorite bird familes, so the great bittern and the flicker get automatic passes, even if that means ousting a tern in the process.
I spent the morning of my birthday a few years back volunteering to help researchers band young birds on Long Island. I believe all birds banded that day were black skimmers and American oystercatchers, but piping plovers were also known to nest there. As we were corralling a young skimmer, a group of kids (probably in the age 5-7 range) all came marching onto the beach, led by their camp counselor. The counselor quickly assessed the situation, realized that he needed to stop the kids from stampeding right through our efforts, and quickly told the kids to stop because of a "piping plover alert." The kids, who were clearly well trained, all stopped and started shouting "PIPING PLOVER ALERT!" to each other in the most charming way possible. To this day, I say "piping plover alert!" to myself everytime I spot one.
Watched a hooded merganser male try to impress a female by doing the full hood diplay and started laughing when she immediately swam off at full speed. Merg gets my sympathy vote.
American crow because when in doubt, go with the corvid.
Balitmore oriole vs. potoo was another tough one, but went with the oriole because I still can't belive such a brilliant shade of orange is a thing that can occur in nature.
Looks like American woodcock (a.k.a. the timberdoodle or sexy potato) has the easiest path to the semifinal.
Toughest pick for me was California condor versus cedar waxwings. Majestic scavengers brought back from the brink of extinction or absolutely fabulous drunkards?
Goddamn this is the hardest I have ever had to think while voting.
that's because this is a vote that actually matters!!!!
I am going to go on a trip around the world personally apologizing to every bird that doesn't win
Ardeidae (herons) and picidae (woodpeckers) are my two favorite bird familes, so the great bittern and the flicker get automatic passes, even if that means ousting a tern in the process.
I spent the morning of my birthday a few years back volunteering to help researchers band young birds on Long Island. I believe all birds banded that day were black skimmers and American oystercatchers, but piping plovers were also known to nest there. As we were corralling a young skimmer, a group of kids (probably in the age 5-7 range) all came marching onto the beach, led by their camp counselor. The counselor quickly assessed the situation, realized that he needed to stop the kids from stampeding right through our efforts, and quickly told the kids to stop because of a "piping plover alert." The kids, who were clearly well trained, all stopped and started shouting "PIPING PLOVER ALERT!" to each other in the most charming way possible. To this day, I say "piping plover alert!" to myself everytime I spot one.
Watched a hooded merganser male try to impress a female by doing the full hood diplay and started laughing when she immediately swam off at full speed. Merg gets my sympathy vote.
American crow because when in doubt, go with the corvid.
Balitmore oriole vs. potoo was another tough one, but went with the oriole because I still can't belive such a brilliant shade of orange is a thing that can occur in nature.
Looks like American woodcock (a.k.a. the timberdoodle or sexy potato) has the easiest path to the semifinal.
Toughest pick for me was California condor versus cedar waxwings. Majestic scavengers brought back from the brink of extinction or absolutely fabulous drunkards?
ok i love every part of this comment, thank you so much for taking us through your process!
Forgot there were this many cool-ass birds. We are truly blessed
This is the greatest election fraud in history. Go Oriole go!
you have three days left to get your people to the polls!
I am finding I have unpopular bird opinions, but I guess they won't matter when the secretary bird stomps out all of the competitors!
it's stomping my beloved bittern to death...quelle tragedy
I will continue to not tolerate this abuse of the Maryland Flag.
the truth is the truth, sry
Can't believe the randomiser would rob us of the bin chicken sweep that is deserved.
Also it lacks the competitive spirit of the bracket but I feel like this comment section would appreciate https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_Bird_of_the_Year
Shameful and embarrassed to realize I somehow missed a bunch of these bird posts. My weekend reading will be remedying this.
Whoof, there are some titanic matches already. Lammergeier all the way!