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Cool small stuff you saw today

Holdfast

Holdfast

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So I was driving along and saw two large crows sitting on the roof of a house, one on the TV aerial and the other next to it on the chimney. It's a pretty windy day, and when a strong gust came along, they simultaneously took off by jumping vertically upwards and facing beak-forward into the wind.

Then they flew backwards for a few feet by banking their wings, before straightening up to fly forwards again and re-alight on their previous perches. Almost all through changing the angle/shape of their wings rather than needing to flap. It was like watching a Harrier or Sukhoi jet flying backwards.

Pretty damn cool. Wish I could have video'd it, but I was driving at the time and didn't have a chance before it was over.

I thought only Hummingbirds could pull off this trick, and even they need to flap their wings to do it. The crows did it just through the gust of wind and wing-shape, and all apparently just for kicks. :cool:

That's the cool shit I saw today. What about you; what did you see?

Oh, and no fucking stories about plastic bags floating around in the wind.
 
We had a bad blizzard here a couple of weeks ago and there were about two dozen crows all perched in the highest, bare branches of a large tree across the street. The wind was blowing like crazy and the snow was almost blinding in the way it was coming down. Occasionally, another crow or two would come in to join the group or one of the perched crows would take to the air, but they had to struggle to keep on course against the strong gusts of wind.

All the time, they were all calling out in those ragged, hoarse 'caws'. The group seemed to almost be complaining very loudly to each other about how bad the bad weather was. It was a very neat scene, and made quite an impression on me. When this murder of crows flew off to a new location, the air became so quiet in that muffled, midst-of-a-snowstorm way.

It was very cool. Interesting that your cool small stuff had to do with crows, too, Holdfast!
 
I have a soft spray hose nozzle (please, let's keep this civil) that I use to water the roses. I was holding it this morning at about the level of my head, standing very still and spraying the tops of a plant. A hummingbird came out of nowhere and hovered about a foot in front of my face. It took two quick jabs into the water, I'm guessing to get a drink, then raced right through the spray and disappeared again. It was amazing to see it that close and hear the wings buzz so clearly.
 
Holdfast said:
The crows did it just through the gust of wind and wing-shape, and all apparently just for kicks. :cool:
Click to expand...

Are you sure they weren't just losing their balance in the gusts, and having to jump to avoid being blown over?
 
Jadzia said:
Holdfast said:
The crows did it just through the gust of wind and wing-shape, and all apparently just for kicks. :cool:
Click to expand...

Are you sure they weren't just losing their balance in the gusts, and having to jump to avoid being blown over?
Click to expand...

Seemed pretty deliberate to me; they looked steady on the chimney beforehand. But I was driving past, and didn't have long to look. So I prefer to believe. :p

Robert D. Robot said:
We had a bad blizzard here a couple of weeks ago and there were about two dozen crows all perched in the highest, bare branches of a large tree across the street. The wind was blowing like crazy and the snow was almost blinding in the way it was coming down. Occasionally, another crow or two would come in to join the group or one of the perched crows would take to the air, but they had to struggle to keep on course against the strong gusts of wind.

All the time, they were all calling out in those ragged, hoarse 'caws'. The group seemed to almost be complaining very loudly to each other about how bad the bad weather was. It was a very neat scene, and made quite an impression on me. When this murder of crows flew off to a new location, the air became so quiet in that muffled, midst-of-a-snowstorm way.

It was very cool. Interesting that your cool small stuff had to do with crows, too, Holdfast!
Click to expand...

Mutai Sho-Rin said:
I have a soft spray hose nozzle (please, let's keep this civil) that I use to water the roses. I was holding it this morning at about the level of my head, standing very still and spraying the tops of a plant. A hummingbird came out of nowhere and hovered about a foot in front of my face. It took two quick jabs into the water, I'm guessing to get a drink, then raced right through the spray and disappeared again. It was amazing to see it that close and hear the wings buzz so clearly.
Click to expand...

Cool bird-related stories. :techman:

I can almost see Tippi Hedren looking furtively into the sky...
 
B.J. said:
So.... *diving* along, or two large *cows*? :lol:
Click to expand...

Cows
biglaugh.gif
 
Indeed, Q, that would have been large :rommie:

When I was imagining how one of those could sit on an aerial the mental image broke down and I realised I had to read the sentence again...
 
Holdfast said:
Jadzia said:
Holdfast said:
The crows did it just through the gust of wind and wing-shape, and all apparently just for kicks. :cool:
Click to expand...

Are you sure they weren't just losing their balance in the gusts, and having to jump to avoid being blown over?
Click to expand...

Seemed pretty deliberate to me; they looked steady on the chimney beforehand. But I was driving past, and didn't have long to look. So I prefer to believe. :p
Click to expand...

I get quite a lot of jackdaws in my garden (as well as a myriad sparrows, pigeons and blackbirds), and from my watching them interact with the garden and with other birds, I'd say that they are most careful to avoid damaging their wings.

If there's any risk of impact or injury, they will jump and take flight, if only to stabilise themselves in the air and land straight after. I see that frequently. I would guess that fear of being blown over qualifies as risk of wing damage.

As for flying backwards ~ it's all relative to the air. By facing into the wind, they're feeling the air as they would if they were flying, and their wings are designed to operate like that. It may appear as flying backwards to a land creature, who thinks in terms of solid ground. But it is only the relative movement of the air that matters to a bird in flight.
 
I posted this in the Picture thread but then noticed this thread, and it goes perfectly here! This wonderful snowman sprung up overnight in the yard of St Mark's Church in the East Village:

photo-5.jpg
 
Jadzia said:
If there's any risk of impact or injury, they will jump and take flight, if only to stabilise themselves in the air and land straight after. I see that frequently. I would guess that fear of being blown over qualifies as risk of wing damage.
Click to expand...

Yeah, makes sense...

... but I'm still go to anthropomorphosise them and claim they were just having fun. :p

thestrangequark said:
I posted this in the Picture thread but then noticed this thread, and it goes perfectly here! This wonderful snowman sprung up overnight in the yard of St Mark's Church in the East Village:

photo-5.jpg
Click to expand...

That's just amazingly brilliant. A snow-octopus (or is it a snow-squid); who'd have thunk it? :lol:
 
With the three to four inches of snow in the DFW area we got a good bit around here.

There are trees behind our house and the snow on them and my backyard was lovely this morning.

In the midst of this brown and white world a vivid, scarlet male cardinal perched on a branch and just sat for a time. A splash of color in the blank tones of winter's beauty.

Note to self...must get a camera.
 
Nothing today.



But a couple years ago...

Two of the homeless kitties I visit at a local park went up to these big, fat ducks (maybe mallards) that were waddling around (without fear of the cats), I guess looking for food.

These ducks are about three times bigger than the cats. The two kitties were a couple feet away, just watching, tails twitching -- pondering if they could pull it off.

Finally, one of them sneaks up to a waddler. The duck flaps its wings out big in a quick fashion. The cat ... does a freakin' backflip and dashes off.
 
I saw a Porsche Panamera on the road for the first time today. Looked good.

Yes, that's my cool shit i saw today. A car i haven't seen before.
 
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