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Help me identify this bird

EpiEpi Registered User regular
edited April 2011 in Help / Advice Forum
scary-bird-2.jpg

It's plumage and beak made it look so dramatic I just wanted to know more about it.

However, my google-fu seems inefficient. Any ornithologists out there with an idea as to the species?

Epi on

Posts

  • EshEsh Tending bar. FFXIV. Motorcycles. Portland, ORRegistered User regular
    edited April 2011
    Is that thing even real? I ask because of the background and the fact that its feet don't actually appear to be even grasping the branch. It could be stuffed and mounted I suppose...

    Esh on
  • JebusUDJebusUD Adventure! Candy IslandRegistered User regular
    edited April 2011
    It could have just been jumping off too. Looks like some kind of raven.

    edit: probably not a raven, wrong colored beak. Maybe some kind of Corvid though.

    JebusUD on
    and I wonder about my neighbors even though I don't have them
    but they're listening to every word I say
  • Susan DelgadoSusan Delgado Registered User regular
    edited April 2011
    what other info do you have about the pic? Location, etc.
    I've got a sibley guide right here and trying to see if I can find anything like it.

    Susan Delgado on
    Go then, there are other worlds than these.
  • EpiEpi Registered User regular
    edited April 2011
    All I have is the photo.

    I've got no background on it because, honestly, I just ran across it in a google image search for "scary bird" which could definitely lean it towards not being a real bird.

    The beak is what threw me off. I flipped through some wikipedia articles on birds of prey and vultures/buzzards/ravens but couldn't find a positive id.

    American Black Vultures seemed to have close-ish plumage but the legs and beaks don't match:

    http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/02/BlackVulture2.JPG

    Epi on
  • Susan DelgadoSusan Delgado Registered User regular
    edited April 2011
    The closest I could find is a white faced ibis in its first winter or non breeding plumage... but I'm probably wrong.

    Susan Delgado on
    Go then, there are other worlds than these.
  • toasterplugtoasterplug Registered User new member
    edited April 2011
    Oystercatcher -torea- ? Black-Phase--Variable-Oystercatcher--Stewart-Island--New-Zealand--2009--002--Scaled.jpg

    Thinking it might be it beak and feet look right but doesn't seem as shaggy.

    toasterplug on
  • JebusUDJebusUD Adventure! Candy IslandRegistered User regular
    edited April 2011
    Beak is wrong for an Ibis.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Heron

    Flickr_-_Rainbirder_-_Black_Egret_%28Egretta_ardesiaca%29.jpg

    That's pretty damn close.

    edit: you can't see in this pic, but the claws look right too.

    JebusUD on
    and I wonder about my neighbors even though I don't have them
    but they're listening to every word I say
  • EpiEpi Registered User regular
    edited April 2011
    Hmm. The white faced ibis is noted for having red eyes and red legs as an adult, which coincide with the original picture. The neck could be obscured by the wing as well. But the beak doesn't seem quite right, and the head and neck feathers are more present here.

    The more I look at it, the more I wonder if perhaps the image is manipulated/fabricated to just create one badass looking bird...

    Epi on
  • EpiEpi Registered User regular
    edited April 2011
    That does seem pretty damn close:

    4280458319_1521680231.jpg

    Epi on
  • JebusUDJebusUD Adventure! Candy IslandRegistered User regular
    edited April 2011
    Well, it is almost certainly some type of Heron, if it is real. Looks like what matches up the best.

    JebusUD on
    and I wonder about my neighbors even though I don't have them
    but they're listening to every word I say
  • IrukaIruka Registered User, Moderator Mod Emeritus
    edited April 2011
    I found the flicker page:
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/koltregaskes/845894683/in/set-72157603557573898

    If the person in the comments is correct, its the Abdim's Stork, (Ciconia abdimii) in the london zoo. I cant find it all puffed up, but the face looks right
    Abdims-stork-side-profile.jpg

    Iruka on
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  • EpiEpi Registered User regular
    edited April 2011
    Agreed.

    Thanks for the assistance. I learned something new today.

    edit: Score! Iruka, you nailed it. The face and legs look spot on and this one's plumage seems pretty accurate:

    blackstork-ciconianigra2.jpg

    Epi on
  • wakkawawakkawa Registered User regular
    edited April 2011
    Yup shes right. When I first saw it I knew it was either a stork or a heron, but the heron's face is slender and not so colorful.

    Its hard to tell because of the angle hiding the white on the wings. But if you look close enough you can see a bit.

    wakkawa on
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