Open Thread – Semi-Creepy Yet Fascinating Dino-Bird
OK, it’s still bugging me weeks later. I saw this bird last month in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. I was sitting on a bench, enjoying a moment in the warm sunshine, looking at a beautiful little water feature with a bridge. There were laughing children nearby, and people out enjoying the idyllic day. And I was entertaining myself by looking at the waterfowl. I’ve done a bit of birding, but I’d never seen anything quite like these black “ducks” with the white bill that seemed to be having just as good a time as the people.
Then, perhaps assuming I’d have some sort of edibles to share, they started paddling in my direction. And as the group of five or six emerged from the water, I noticed them – first the red eyes, and then… the feet! All of a sudden, the innocent little “duck” gazing at me with its dragon eye, revealed its vaguely Jurassic and kind of creepy ginormous toes. They almost looked like some kind of prehistoric plant. Hinged in the middle along the toe bone, the sides of the toes acted like flaps and folded down when the foot was raised up, then splayed out flat as the foot found land. It was obvious how this unorthodox assemblage would actually work in the water, cutting through the water with little resistance as it advanced, and then becoming paddle-like as it pulled back. But visually it was jarring to say the least.
With saucer eyes I snapped a couple pictures, none of them very good… perhaps because I was so mesmerized by the feet of the advancing hoarde that I didn’t pay much attention to my camera settings, or even my focus for that matter. And now weeks have passed, and it’s still bugging me that I don’t have a name for this exotic fellow with the unexpected digits.
So now, I resort to “crowd sourcing.” Yes, that means you. I’m using my “blog a friend” option and asking for an ID on my little creepy friend. First one to identify him gets a standing ovation from me in Anchorage Alaska as I drink my coffee in the morning.
we have many coots here in the Netherlands. They make floating nests in the canals and some folks make a nest of woven twigs placed on a pole in the canal, it is sort of gourd shaped with one end open for the birds to enter. It gives more protection that the floating nests made by the coots which are subject to wind and currents.
Someone must have told you by now that this is most likely an American Coot, except the head shield does not appear riddish-orange in the photo. They aren’t creepy, they are cute.
I wonder if coots are particularly fascinating to Alaskans. Your colleague Steve of the Alaskan blog “What do I know?” posted a photo of a mystery coot a couple months back, also asking what it was, having visited and seen them in California. We have a lot of coots along the coast here, so people don’t find them that remarkable. But their feet ARE completely remarkable, big, bluegreenyellow and lobed.
Well, it’s official…Debbie Wasserman Schultz is the new chair of the Democratic National Committee!
I don’t know much about her except what I’ve seen of her on political television shows, but I’ve been very impressed with how smart she is and that she seems pretty tough and determined. She also appears to be very well versed on a variety of issues. I’d say about 98% of the comments on Huffpo are positive, and the most enthusiastic are the ones from her constituents…which always is a good sign! She seems destined for a long and successful career in politics and I think she’ll be excellent for the DNC.
Congratulations, Rep. Wasserman Schultz and go Dems in 2012!
The rape issue has to be reinforced by the repubs in order to hang on to their far right Christian following.
Here’s a picture of Osama’s hide out. Think Pakistan missed any telltale signs?
http://www.csmonitor.com/var/ezflow_site/storage/images/media/images/cartoon-images/2011/05/cartoon110504/10053348-1-eng-US/cartoon110504_full_600.jpg
The only thing wrong with that cartoon is that all the trash was burned, none collected. So the trash
can would not be there. Snark!!!
Ted Nugent is a Nut Case! Maybe he and Sarah should have an old fashion –bang bang–shoot out! Or maybe Nugent should join the military—–see how BRAVE he is then! He would probably fill his pants!
dear Heaven for once i am almost but not quite speechless. Regina over at Palingates has a before and after picture of Bristol Palin.
i am so sad and angry. sad for Bristol a
nd angry enough to take Sarah’s head off at the kneecaps.
http://palingates.blogspot.com/2011/05/so-sad.html#disqus_thread
I love you, AKM, but I don’t believe for a nanosecond that you just “accidentally” took a picture of a mudhen and didn’t know what it was! 😎
Jim Wright at Stonekettle has a new post up i believe some folks here might enjoy it:
http://www.stonekettle.com/2011/05/handy-man-special.html
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it seems Ted Nugent gave a rollicking speech last Sunday night. here is a bit:
You need to fix everybody in your lives to be absolutely pro-gun, You need to talk guns all the time. You need to talk hunting all the time… If it was up to me, if you uttered the word ‘gun control,’ we’d put you in jail. Does anybody not know that the most dangerous place in the world is a gun-free zone?
The most dangerous place in the world is a gun-free zone.
If you mention gun control, you should go to jail.
The quote above was from the Motor City Madman himself, Ted “Bang Bang” Nugent, speaking to the National Rifle Association last Sunday night in Pittsburgh. He got a standing ovation and then rocked out a heavy metal version of the Star Spangled Banner from a stage festooned with assault rifles, hunting bows, and the skulls of various big game.
You mention gun control, we put you in jail, because the most dangerous place in the world is a place free of guns.
Interesting.
Truly frightening!
Like I really place any value on the words of a man who pooped in his pants to avoid the draft.
I sometimes get confused about the correct use of terms in the English language. That said… If a psychiatrist boots a patient out of his practice because of that patient’s “aberrant behaviour,” would that be considered: irony? Would that be the correct term to use? beth.
Now the Wasilla whombat is slamming the decision not to release the photos:
http://thehill.com/blogs/twitter-room/other-news/159253-palin-not-releasing-bin-laden-photo-pussy-footing-around
The comments are not to be missed!
(I had a very snarky comment about bin Laden’s death photos, the woman who was shot in Arizona, and The B**ch, but I refrain from making it because I refuse to lower myself to The B**ch’s level of unmitigated insensitivity, ignorance, and ugly. beth.)
It doesn’t matter what the issue is, Whatever side Obama is on, you can count on Ms. Wasilla to jump to the other side. How Childish. Hope she looks before she leaps on occasion or she will end up in the ditch.
Can you imagine her consternation after finding out she’d categorically denied what Obama had said about her had an ounce of truth, only to find that he’d praised her! (Not that that would ever happen, but . . .) 🙂
“it’s part of the mission” says the commander of 140 characters on twitter. hahahahahahaha! shhhh, don’t tell her that her jealousy is showing
“pussy-footing” dog whistling moose knucklehead or did she mislike the gif? [mine]
Is she squirmishing in her mandations awaiting the May 24th release of “Blind Allegiance”?
Wish I’d seen this sooner. You have a photo of an American Coot, or as Mrs. WC calls them, Ivory-billed Mudsucker. They are not ducks; they’re closer to wading birds, as those extraordinary long toes show. American Coots are pretty cosmopolitan, occurring across the Lower 48 and southern Canada. In the autumn, you can find incredibly large rafts of them on place like Cascade Lake in Idaho.
Alaska State Troopers serve a search warrant on the Wasilla Police Dept.
Interesting…….
Okay, here we go again. The wrong-wingers are back to the “forcible” rape BS:
http://motherjones.com/politics/2011/04/redefine-rape-hr-3-abortion-stealth
“Republicans offer no evidence—not even a footnote—for the committee report’s claim that Hyde distinguishes between statutory and “forcible” rapes. And no such evidence seems to exist. Congressional Quarterly’s summary of the legislative history of the current version of the Hyde Amendment contains no mention of statutory rape. If lawmakers at the time had intended for statutory rapes to be ineligible for Medicaid funding, they don’t seem to have said anything about it.
“There is absolutely no legal basis to this claim,” says Sara Rosenbaum, a health law expert at George Washington University law school. “The Amendment itself would need to clarify such an important limitation, and there is no evidence that affected federal agencies have interpreted or applied the law in this way.”
The majority staff of the House judiciary committee, which produced the report, declined to provide any evidence for the claims in the report or to comment on the subject….”
Gaaaahhhhhh!!!!
Thanks for sharing, Zyxomma. 🙂
Rep. Don Young,
Round two. Ding. The end run around. You minsunderestimate me, Sir. [purposeful sic]
Rape is a violent crime. If you wish to tell me otherwise, then you, Sir, please have the courage to stand up and own it. Look me in the eyes and say the words.
We’ve been down this “redefinition of rape” road. It’s not only beneath contempt, but this time it reflects exactly why this country is fed-up with Congress. We have matters to attend to in our nation and your party, the GOPTP, is focused on this, again??! Why? This will not pass the Senate, President Obama will not sign it, and it would not make it through the appeals process, so stop it. Just, stop it.
Jobs, Sir? Education, Sir? Energy, Sir? ………………No, the House Republicans are focused on rape victims, or rather, it would appear, victimizing them again by redefining their pain.
2011 – redefining rape is a Republican top priority – wow. Say the words, Don, own your party’s gravest concern; forcible vs. statutory rape. Own it, Republicans.
.
Now they’re really focusing on statutory rape victims, who would seem to be even more victimized because of their age, not that rape at any age is anything less than despicable. But we all know that 13-year-olds who are raped by 25-year-olds MUST have been asking for it, right????
I don’t understand why the Republicans seem to be going out of their way to make such a public point of how completely and utterly cruel and heartless they are. They suddenly acquired a conscience about killing bin Laden (ONLY because it was accomplished by Obama after 8 years of failure by Bush), but don’t feel any guilt about forcing a 12-year-old to have the baby of an adult man who pressured her. Wow…
How DO they sleep at night?
When this came up before, I wrote to our congressman, a Republican and now Chair of the House Ways and Means Committee, and said that men should not be allowed to define rape or discuss abortion at all because they are the perpetrators. Of course, our congressman voted with his neanderthal colleagues to redefine rape. I wasn’t surprised; he also supports “the unborn” all the while not supporting the “already” born and he consistently votes against programs that help children and promote their general welfate and, just as consistently, votes for wars to send them into once they turn 18. What is in the water these idiots drink!!!???
It’s a coot, but not an old one.
Yeah, but I am not getting any younger, zyx.
Uh-oh! It’s one of the new genetically engineered ninja ducks. They usually travel in packs. You don’t know how much danger you were in, AKM!
youse are all wrong! that’s a Lower East Side turkey if i evah seen one; and i did see one just last night in the bodega. it was buying a six pack of beer and a bag of potato chips. they adore potato chips.
Never heard of a “coot.” And I grew up in the south. Is this where we get the expression: “you old coot” from?
More signs of intelligence in the US: 60% of voters say no to Palin or Trump
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/05/04/us-usa-campaign-poll-idUSTRE7434EC20110504
Trump was eviscerated by Obama in a cheerful, dignified way at the correspondents’ dinner. Sam then ground the entrails into the dirt. If Sarah was watching and has any brains, she won’t put herself in any position to get any notice from him and thank her lucky stars he ignores her.
The timing of the long form birth certificate was no accident. The types of jokes he told about the Gary Busey decision keeping him up at night was specifically there to play off of the next night’s real sit room decisions. Trump handed his head to Obama on a silver platter.
Are there sensible people in Arizona?
Yes.
http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2011/0503/Fed-up-with-Phoenix-Tucson-talks-secession-from-Arizona/(page)/2
Yeah, that’s kinda how Southeast Alaska sees things sometimes, too. Bust away and make yourselves a new state with two senators.
I live in Arizona. I’m pretty sensible. My neighbors aren’t though. 😉
It’s a coot (mud he’d) Klinger rooted for the Toledo Mud Hens in MASH.
On another note, help spread the truth about a quote going viral that’s been misattributed to MLK:
http://www.csmonitor.com/Innovation/Horizons/2011/0503/How-Osama-bin-Laden-s-death-sparked-a-fake-Martin-Luther-King-quote
Love me some new info..each and every day..and one certainly gets it here..without fail. Thanking ya all..and..having always seen them mucking about on water or mudflats (..;)… had not had a good scan of their feet. I love the design..and that..plus another cuppa coffee..will propel moi..into my day. More thanks..for a ..spiffin morning all! 🙂
The only place we’ve ever seen coots is in the Copenhagen zoo and that was in 1994. They were waddling around just like the people zoo visitors or taking shortcuts across the various ponds. We took some photos and asked our Danish friends who knew right away and looked up the English name. So the American variety has a Danish cousin, probably a German and French one as well. . . .
It’s a coot….they have red eyes..also called mud hen … considered a trash bird in the South, the only worthwhile meat is the breast… the hunting limit is about twice that.for ducks use to chase them on the St Johns River in Fla, in a Sears jon boat and a 3 hp kicker until they tired out and scoop them out of the water… ( hey! I was 15 at the time in the 60′s !) then release them. A few other stories/experiences with them, which I will save for another time…
hhmmm.. first reply in moderation ????! it’s a coot.
Edited by Snoskred to add –
You went there because you forgot the D on your name.. 🙂 So the blog thought you were a brand new person. I sent you an email also too. 🙂
HI SNOS !!!
It’s a coot….they have red eyes..also called mud hen … considered a trash bird in the South, the only worthwhile meat is the breast… the hunting limit is about twice that.for ducks use to chase them on the St Johns River in Fla, in a Sears jon boat and a 3 hp kicker until they tired out and scoop them out of the water… ( hey! I was 15 at the time in the 60’s !) then release them. A few other stories/experiences with them, which I will save for another time…
Yep. You’re right; it’s a coot. I grew up in south Florida and still spend part of the year down there.
it may be a coot, but we call ’em Water Chickens.
Yep, coot. We see them here in breeding season.
This is pretty funny (and sadly astute): a patriots guide to taking all credit away from President Obama re: bin Laden’s demise:
http://www.salon.com/news/osama_bin_laden/index.html?story=/politics/war_room/2011/05/03/osama_reactions_guide
Has anyone ever seen McCain’s toes? He’s about the creepiest old Coot I can think of.
EEEUUUUWWWWWW……….
oh boy. LOL funny.
Is that a black scoter?
I think it is too!
Why, it’s a red-eyed creepy-toed muck-stalker, of course!
🙂
Aaaa…. I thought so too. 🙂
LOL…I used to go there all the time…that dino bird is a Coot…odd little things aren’t they?
We certainly share the planet with some interesting creatures.
Too funny — the other common name for coots in the Midwest is Mudhen … sorta fits, doesn’t it?
Ha!
Trying to think of a punny comment on old coots, but brain dead right now. Anyway, this link gives you an ID.
http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/american_coot/id
*stands, and claps for AKaurora* *does the wave* *toasts you with coffee* Thank you!
And thanks to all others who identified this little guy. Well done!
I don’t know if your dino-bird is listed here or not but it’s a pretty good resource site on the GG
http://www.towhee.net/birdsf/ggp.html
Baby swan? The GG is notorious for its swan culture… so just a guess.