Dream Wallpapers: birds

Showing posts with label birds. Show all posts

Cute Bird - Long-tailed tit

© H. Schmidbauer/Offse

As their name suggests, these tiny, round-bodied birds are distinguished by their long, narrow tails. In fact, the tails account for most of their body length—just over 5 inches, body, tail, and all. They’re gregarious creatures, forming flocks that range from just a few birds to as many as 30. Their nests are small flexible sacks with round holes on top, and are made of lichen, feathers, moss, and spider egg cocoons. They hunt caterpillars and other insects, and are found across the temperate climate zones of Europe and Asia.

Indian peacock, Yala National Park

Indian peacock in Yala National Park, Sri Lanka

(© Kevin Schafer/Minden Pictures)

Though native to South Asia, and especially India, the peafowl has been introduced all over the Western Hemisphere, Australia, and even in South Africa and Madagascar. The male, known as a peacock, has become a symbol of exotic beauty and its feathers have been used in fashion design for centuries.

Peacocks figure into various Eastern mythologies, with prominent roles in Hindu lore. A peacock, for example, is the steed of Kartikeya, the Hindu god of war. And, as if to demonstrate how far the peacock is distributed throughout the world, Viking warriors were sometimes buried with peacock feathers, and medieval knights of Europe sometimes wore peacock plumes on their armor.

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Black grouse males, Bergslagen, Sweden

Black grouse males, Bergslagen, Sweden

(© E. Haarberg/Corbis)

Just before the sun rises each morning in spring, male black grouse gather on open meadows in the wooded moors and bogs they call home. They puff up their feathers and march around in plain view of the female black grouse, in a competitive display called “lekking.” If the prancing doesn’t get the attention of the ladies, the mating call might. In the western European portion of their range, a black grouse lek may involve only a few dozen birds. But in the Russian reaches of their territory, more than 100 males may assemble to strut their stuff.