Friday, August 22, 2014

Kingfisher



I was struck with how beautiful these birds are. And how small, almost like hummingbirds. And how arrogant. 

24 comments:

The Dude said...

They are not small birds - the smallest in the world is 4" long, the largest, 18".

Where I used to live I saw them all the time - those were close to robins in size, but with very different proportions.

Great fun to watch, I will agree with that.

I was just thinking the other day that they don't seem to live around here - herons, sure, but on my river I have yet to see a Kingfisher.

Chip Ahoy said...

I thought they were big too, but the pictures I'm seeing look like they're catching minnows. Little bitty minnows. And people holding the birds in their hands. Maybe they're babies. Or possibly giant hands. I also notice a large range of color intensity. That could be HD photography too.

The Dude said...

Kookaburras! Which reminds me, some woman took the plush kookaburra I brought back with me from Oz. Those are some big danged Kingfishers.

And those minnows? Those are salmon.

Eric the Fruit Bat said...

I assume the kingfisher has to somehow account for the diffraction of light.

Archerfish do it too but in the other direction.

They both spit.

Different reasons, I should imagine.

chickelit said...

Ah, the halcyon daze of my youth -- also a damn good beer. Also, someone to follow on twitter.

The Dude said...

As a youth I used to watch Kingfish.

Unknown said...

Amazing how the little guy can fly back out of the water.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

It's been really difficult to pick something post in the last few days.

I want to blame the beheading story but this is not the first time it has happened.

Everything seems so trivial and inconsequential.

The Dude said...

So write about Foley - who did he work for, why was he there, whose side was he on?

ricpic said...

Arrogant?! An arrogant bird? Anthropomorphism. Blatant anthropomorphism. That's right, having looked the word up I can spell it!

ricpic said...

Hey Sixty, did those women who took your kookaburra, did they like stroke your kookaburra first?

The Dude said...

I agree - they can't help it that they are the best - arrogance got nothin' to do with it! Take that, fish! BAM!

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

"So write about Foley - who did he work for, why was he there, whose side was he on?"

He was a journalist... covering the wrong people at the wrong time... could have been some other 'unlucky' sap.

A follow of mine posed a question yesterday, maybe I should poste it.

The Dude said...

Lem wrote...

"A follow of mine posed a question yesterday, maybe I should poste it."

What? Try that again in English.

Most journalists are profoundly anti-American and if that was the case, fuck him, he is just the latest casualty in a war this country refuses to acknowledge we are in.

If he didn't hate this country, well, then he paid the ultimate price for duplicity and fecklessness in every level of our governance. He won't be the last, not by a long shot.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

A follow is someone I follow.

'Someone I follow' seems too wordy.

I follow a fella who fell in a well.

Trooper York said...

I thought the "Kingfish" was some homeless black guy who kept asking for reparations?

The Dude said...

Great, so now you are writing in slang. Whatever.

What the fuck is a "poste"?

You went postal on a postee who had a post-it note, I suppose.

Calypso Facto said...

I'm not so quick to jump to conclusions as Sixty (is anyone?). Foley's photojournalism appears to be pretty even-handed. Also he appears to have at least once been a good Catholic boy who got a degree from Marquette and had a brother in the Air Force (which is one reason he was singled out for torture and killing).

The Dude said...

Hey, I was just asking. Fourth estate or fifth column - that is the question.

rcocean said...

Arrogant, I would prefer "confident".

You want Arrogant? Cf: Hummingbirds

Unknown said...

Influence from your new
French friends?

rcocean said...

There's a million hit youtube video about Hummingbirds. The little characters are very popular.

Evi L. Bloggerlady said...

They are beautiful. They are small but sturdy and robust. Like little flying Jack Russels.

Ron said...

My ears are burning...