Starship Asterisk*

by **Rothkko** » Sun Jun 16, 2013 1:10 pm

K1NS wrote:The bird is a Grey Heron Ardea cinerea, flying of course from left to right.

yes. forgiveness for not having appeared before.

by **geckzilla** » Sat Jun 08, 2013 2:01 pm

Hey Karim, I don't think those are sundogs but rather iridescent clouds.

by **karimphotography** » Sat Jun 08, 2013 1:53 pm

At 5pm on may 27, 2013, same day as this post was put up, I looked up in the sky and saw a Sun Dog. It was about 5pm in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
Here are the photos I took.

by **geckzilla** » Tue May 28, 2013 5:55 pm

Could be a chartreuse heron. You can't prove it isn't!

by **K1NS** » Tue May 28, 2013 3:19 pm

K1NS wrote:The bird is a Grey Heron Ardea cinerea, flying of course from left to right. By the shape of the wings and neck, this bird is surely a large heron. The only large heron to regularly occur in Spain is the Grey heron. QED.

Oh, by the way, I am quite confident that this bird is indeed a Grey Heron. It is based on 40 years experience watching birds and just as much evidence, for example, as the assertion that the Large Magellanic Cloud is a satellite galaxy of the Milky Way. Ornithologists are scientists, too.

by **K1NS** » Tue May 28, 2013 1:32 pm

The bird is a Grey Heron Ardea cinerea, flying of course from left to right. By the shape of the wings and neck, this bird is surely a large heron. The only large heron to regularly occur in Spain is the Grey heron. QED.

by **DavidLeodis** » Tue May 28, 2013 11:48 am

In the explanation it states the image was taken "during October 2012". For added interest I like to know the actual date that an APOD image was taken, so I got the image's Exif data from the properties of the APOD image and in that data it states "Create Date 2009:08:23" but also "Modify Date 2013:05:07". I am wondering therefore where the "during October 2012" comes from? I appreciate that date/time settings on camera may not be accurate but August 2009 and October 2012 is a lot of difference!

by **Beyond** » Mon May 27, 2013 9:56 pm

rstevenson wrote:
neufer wrote:
rstevenson wrote:
I have just one question: can a bird's wing tips ever point towards the front, as the near one seems to be doing?
http://naturalandalus.blogspot.com/2010 ... stork.html
Thanks Art. Such a flexible thing, a wing.

Rob

That Art, he doesn't say much, but he sure articifies a lot of allusions.

by **rstevenson** » Mon May 27, 2013 7:57 pm

neufer wrote:
rstevenson wrote:
I have just one question: can a bird's wing tips ever point towards the front, as the near one seems to be doing?
http://naturalandalus.blogspot.com/2010 ... stork.html

Thanks Art. Such a flexible thing, a wing.

Rob

by **geckzilla** » Mon May 27, 2013 6:39 pm

The bird is certainly flying with anterior facing to the right side of the photo. The wrist is clearly visible and is the most important detail for determining this:

: Click to view full size image 1 or image 2

by **MargaritaMc** » Mon May 27, 2013 6:13 pm

I've just come back to the board to discover that there has been such an informative discussion about the breed of bird!
It didn't occur to me that it could be a heron(ish) bird flying to the right rather than an unusually lonesome goose flying to the left.

By the way - not a stork: look at the Apod and you'll see that the neck is retracted, as in the photo Stephen posted (what was that a photo of, Stephen?)
Herons (including egrets, which are a related species) fly like that, I dimly remember. Storks and cranes fly with necks extended. As in the photo Art posted.
Margarita

PS. Not a pelican! - beak on the Apod bird not huge enough

by **neufer** » Mon May 27, 2013 5:24 pm

rstevenson wrote:
I have just one question: can a bird's wing tips ever point towards the front, as the near one seems to be doing?

http://naturalandalus.blogspot.com/2010 ... stork.html

by **neufer** » Mon May 27, 2013 5:13 pm

Brem2 wrote:
I'd say a Heron flying to right.
Geese don't fly alone, no Pelicans in Spain.

Heron... or stork

by **rstevenson** » Mon May 27, 2013 5:11 pm

Pixelator to the rescue, though the image isn't very HiDef to start with. Here's the boid in question, rendered at 300%...

: heripelicrane.jpg (9.44 KiB) Viewed 3233 times

I have just one question: can a bird's wing tips ever point towards the front, as the near one seems to be doing?

Rob

by **Chris Peterson** » Mon May 27, 2013 5:06 pm

Beyond wrote:
Chris Peterson wrote:
Beyond wrote:Flying left to right :?: I don't have the means to reverse it's flight, so I'm stuck with the goose going to the left. :mrgreen:
I'm sticking with a pelican flying to the right. What you are seeing as the goose's neck I'm seeing as the pelican's tail. What you are seeing as the goose's tail, I'm seeing as the pelican's bill.
After i read your post, i looked at the picture with a magnifying glass. Sho-nuff, it's one of them long legged wading birds flying to the right, with it's legs up behind it. Couldn't make out a tail, but there's gotta be one there somewhere.

I said "tail", but was really talking about tail and legs together. Tail as in the tail end, which with many of these birds in flight is mainly the legs.

by **Beyond** » Mon May 27, 2013 4:59 pm

Chris Peterson wrote:
Beyond wrote:Flying left to right I don't have the means to reverse it's flight, so I'm stuck with the goose going to the left.
I'm sticking with a pelican flying to the right. What you are seeing as the goose's neck I'm seeing as the pelican's tail. What you are seeing as the goose's tail, I'm seeing as the pelican's bill.

After i read your post, i looked at the picture with a magnifying glass. Sho-nuff, it's one of them long legged wading birds flying to the right, with it's legs up behind it. Couldn't make out a tail, but there's gotta be one there somewhere.

by **Chris Peterson** » Mon May 27, 2013 4:38 pm

geckzilla wrote:I agree with you, stephen. Even though it's possible that it could be a pelican, the legs are so long. An egret fits the profile much better.

Yes, an egret is a good suggestion. Heron, egret, pelican- all birds with big bills or keels, and legs extending behind them. Assuming, of course, we see the bird flying towards the right...

by **braspet** » Mon May 27, 2013 4:30 pm

It has the exact profile of Great Blue Heron which have been seen in Spain.

by **geckzilla** » Mon May 27, 2013 4:13 pm

I agree with you, stephen. Even though it's possible that it could be a pelican, the legs are so long. An egret fits the profile much better.

by **stephen63** » Mon May 27, 2013 4:07 pm

Mérida is pretty far inland. It might be a pelican that is lost! Maybe an egret of some sort?

Edit:

by **Chris Peterson** » Mon May 27, 2013 3:59 pm

Beyond wrote:Flying left to right :?: I don't have the means to reverse it's flight, so I'm stuck with the goose going to the left. :mrgreen:

I'm sticking with a pelican flying to the right. What you are seeing as the goose's neck I'm seeing as the pelican's tail. What you are seeing as the goose's tail, I'm seeing as the pelican's bill.

by **Brem2** » Mon May 27, 2013 3:54 pm

I'd say a Heron flying to right. Geese don't fly alone, no Pelicans in Spain.

by **Beyond** » Mon May 27, 2013 3:51 pm

Chris Peterson wrote:
Beyond wrote:In identifying waterfowl, i hate to go against someone with the title "Wild Duck", but if that's a white Pelican, then it's lost it's beak. It does look like a wild goose, though.
It's a bit hard to tell. If you assume the bird is flying to the left, it does look a lot like a goose. But if you see it flying from left to right, it appears to be pelican. I'm leaning towards the latter, myself.

Flying left to right

I don't have the means to reverse it's flight, so I'm stuck with the goose going to the left.

by **Chris Peterson** » Mon May 27, 2013 2:49 pm

Beyond wrote:In identifying waterfowl, i hate to go against someone with the title "Wild Duck", but if that's a white Pelican, then it's lost it's beak. It does look like a wild goose, though.

It's a bit hard to tell. If you assume the bird is flying to the left, it does look a lot like a goose. But if you see it flying from left to right, it appears to be pelican. I'm leaning towards the latter, myself.

by **Beyond** » Mon May 27, 2013 2:43 pm

In identifying waterfowl, i hate to go against someone with the title "Wild Duck", but if that's a white Pelican, then it's lost it's beak. It does look like a wild goose, though.

Starship Asterisk*

APOD: Bird Sun Dog (2013 May 27)

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