upworthy

wildlife

Science

12 birds that are so bizarre-looking it's hard to believe they're actually real

Mother Nature's weirdos bring unending delight to oddity-lovers everywhere.

Photo credit: Canva

Some birds make you look twice.

Many of us see birds every day and don't give them much thought, but as 1 out of 3 Americans consider themselves "birdwatchers," it's clear our feathered friends pique a lot of people's interest. Maybe it's our ongoing fascination with the mechanics of flying. Maybe it's the diversity of bird song ranging from lovely melody to annoying alarm clock. Maybe it's beautiful colors and patterns of their feathers.

Or maybe it's that among the beautiful and majestic birds in the world there are also some oddballs, just absolutely bizarre-looking bird species who seem more like cartoon characters than actual animals. Ever see a bird you just can't look away from because it's so strange? You're about to.

Here are 12 bird species that seem too weird to exist but actually do.

King Vulture

king vultureKing vultures are colorful, that's for sure.Photo credit: Canva

On the one hand, the King Vulture sports some beautiful bright colors. On the other hand, well…yeah. There's a lot going on here and so many places for the eye to go, but I can't stop looking at what appears to be a raw chicken bursting from its chest all Alien-like. Yeesh.

Bearded Reedling

"Why is your face in the middle of your body sir?" Scroll through and see the way the Bearded Reedling holds himself in the splits between two reeds. He's like a little mustachioed Jack Black—round but surprisingly flexible. Or for the "So I Married and Axe Murderer" fans, "Like Sputnik—spherical but quite pointy at parts."

Shoebill Stork

shoebill storkThe Shoebill Stork's stare is disconcerting.Photo credit: Canva

This is not the stork I imagine bringing babies. This is the stork that imagine eats babies and then haunts my dreams. Why do its eyes look so human-like and yet also animatronic? I can't decide if this bird looks extra real or extra fake. My brain can't take it in.

King of Saxony Bird of Paradise

King of Saxony Birds of ParadiseImagine having to haul these long head wires around all the time.markaharper1/Wikimedia Commons (left), Photo credit: Canva (right)

Male King of Saxony Birds of Paradise have two unusual features: One is their two extremely long plumes—modified feathers referred to as "head wires"—that extend from their brow and get swung around to woo the ladies. The other is the strange sound that they make in their home habitat in New Guinea, which sounds almost electronic.

Magnificent Frigatebird

magnificent frigatebirdBest name ever.Photo credit: Canva

"Ah, you Magnificent Frigatebird, you." The name just invites admiration and respect, doesn't it? Better than Water Balloon Breasted Freak of Nature Bird, which seems more fitting.

Rhinoceros Hornbill

rhinoceros hornbillRhinoceros Hornbills look like they have an extra beak like a spare tire.Photo credit: Canva

"Excuse me, you seem to have a beak…on your beak." What is the point of this? Does it bother them? Do the other birds make fun of them? It just seems so arbitrary, like there were a bunch of beaks leftover that Mother Nature didn't want to go to waste so she just plopped them on their heads.

Secretary Bird

secretary birdSecretary Birds are oddly leggy.Photo credit: Canva

The headdress is one thing. Bold. Attractive. But zoom out to the full picture and the term "all legs" comes to mind. Why "secretary" though? Funnily enough, it's because they look like male secretaries of old who wore gray tailcoats and short black pants and always had pencils tucked behind their ears. You can see how the resemblance resulted in the name.

Tufted Puffin

tufted puffinsTufted Puffins almost look human with their hair swooshes.Photo credit: Canva

Draco Malfoy? Donald Trump? The Tufted Puffin resembles different people depending on who you ask, but there's definitely a human element to those bleach blond tufts all swooped back.

Marabou Stork

marabou storkMarabou Storks are not the most attractive birds.Photo credit: Canva

Hard not to stare at the air sac of the Marabou Stork, isn't it? I don't even know what to say other than "Wow." Just all around, "Wow."

Western Parotia

western parotiaThe Western Parotia doing its fancy mating dance.JJ Harrison/Wikimedia Commons

If you've ever watched "Our Planet" with David Attenborough, you probably recognize this guy. The Western Parotia is a gorgeous fellow, especially when he makes himself a skirt during his whirly twirly mating dance.

Greater Sage Grouse

greater sage grouseThe Greater Sage Grouse puffing up his sacs.Bureau of Land Management (Public Domain)

Is it an urchin or a bird? Hard to tell. And what the heck are those things popping out of its chest? Are they eggs? They look like eggs.

You can see what's happening in the video below, but be sure to have the sound on because it's an audio-visual display the Greater Sage Grouse is known for. (Yes, it's a mating thing.)

- YouTubeyoutu.be

And last but definitely not least, we have the giggle-worthy Blue Footed Booby.

Blue Footed Booby

blue footed boobyYes, their feet really are that blue.Photo credit: Canva

What makes our booby friends' feet that beautiful color? The blue comes from the nutrients of fresh fish they eat, according to the World Wildlife Fund. The brighter the blue, the healthier they are. Still hard to believe that's really what their feet naturally look like, though. So wild.

Seriously, who needs AI generated images when Mother Nature gives us such delightfully strange oddities in the real world?

From Your Site Articles
nature
Joy

Chatty animals get 'interviewed' with a teeny tiny microphone, and boy is it entertaining

Here to answer all your burning questions, such as "may I touch your snoot?"

YouTube

Freya from Maya Higa's YouTube video.

Ever wonder what an ideal date for a lemur would be? Or a lizard’s favorite Disney princess?

Thanks to one YouTube poster with a passion for animals and an endearing sense of humor, all questions shall be answered. Well, maybe not all questions. But at the very least, you’ll have eight minutes of insanely cute footage.

In a series titled “Tiny Mic Interviews,” Maya Higa approaches little beasties with a microphone so small she has to hold it with just her thumb and forefinger. And yes, 99% of the animals try to eat it.

There’s Ginger, the pig with a lot of stored up resentment toward the big bad wolf. She ain’t afraid to talk about it, either. Or so her passionate snorts would indicate.

Then there’s Brazilian porcupine Boris (at least, I think that’s what Boris is after Googling, I’m no zoologist), who is asked to name his favorite food. For the record, it’s corn. And no, you may not touch his snoot.

Godzilla, the itsy bitsy turtle that fits into one hand, gets asked, ironically, “what’s it like being land’s fastest animal?” Though Godzilla remains stoically silent, an image of super cool speedster sunglasses gets superimposed onto his face, along with the words “I am speed.”

The best part to me is a bird, aptly named Giggles, gloriously laughing at a cheesy joke. In fact, here’s a nod to all the birds with impeccable names in this video.

Mordecai, Costello, Bartholomew (these include stars from Higa's first interview) … I’m looking at you.

Though these critters provide some top notch entertainment, there’s plenty of valuable information being thrown into the mix as well.

All the exotic “interviewees” are part of Zoo To You Conservation Ambassadors, a permitted facility in California, Higa informs her viewers. Rescued or surrendered from the illegal pet trade, or permanently injured, these animals receive permanent care and become a part of Zoo To You’s education program. Pretty sweet gig, right?

Higa herself is a wildlife rehabilitator, falconer and streamer who focuses a lot of her content on conservation. Though her online persona veers toward the upbeat and positive, she isn’t afraid to shed light on some darker facts around certain threats many species face.

"The natural world that these animals come from is being absolutely decimated,” Higa states in another video. “The UN estimates that over one million plant and animal species face extinction today. Pollution, habitat loss, climate change, the wildlife trade, exploitation, general human intervention…is causing us to lose species at rates unprecedented in human history. We’re experiencing a mass extinction.”

Wanting to be part of the solution, Higa has founded her own nonprofit organization called Alveus, which, like Zoo To You, acts as an exotic animal sanctuary and virtual education center.

If you’d like to support Higa’s sanctuary, you can do so by donating to donate@alveussanctuary.org via PayPal.

And if you’re already jonesing for more adorable “Tiny Mic Interviews,” you’re in luck! You can find even more on Maya’s YouTube channel here.


This article originally appeared on 09.02.22

From Your Site Articles
animals
Science

Cemetery captures a bluebird couple's beautiful family life with camera-equipped birdhouse

The 2-minute video of their 48-day nesting cycle has been viewed 33 million times.

Photo credit: Canva (representative photos)

Bluebirds tend to mate for life.

A cemetery is usually a place we associate with the end of life, not the beginning of it, but a Pennsylvania cemetery has flipped that script entirely with a sweet 2-minute video.

The Historic Easton Cemetery in the small town of Easton, Pennsylvania, has built a huge fan base with its viral footage of two bluebirds building a nest and raising a family over the course a month and a half. The cemetery shared that it had installed a birdhouse equipped with a solar-powered camera in the spring, and soon a bluebird couple showed up to check it out.

Clearly deciding that the house had good bones, the couple began building a nest, bringing in twigs and arranging them in a circular pattern, with the female creating a round spot to lay her eggs. On Day 13, she laid her first egg, then another, then another and another. On Day 30, the eggs began to hatch, and for the next couple of weeks we see the mom and dad take turns bringing the babies food.

It's so simple, yet completely engaging to see the nesting cycle in its entirety—48 days edited down to just a few minutes. Watch:

The reel cut off due to time, so the cemetery posted the Part 2 video showing the fledglings leaving the nest as well:

The birdhouse was the brainchild of Mike Pearsall, whose grandmother loved bluebirds and had birdhouses. She's buried in Historic Easton Cemetery and he built the camera-enabled birdhouse in her honor. He told WFMZ that he assumed sparrows would primarily use it, so he was thrilled when the bluebird pair showed up and claimed the house first.

People can't get enough of the bluebirds and their little family

Bluebirds tend to mate for life, which makes seeing this pair setting up house and caring for their babies extra special. The first day, it's almost as if they were genuinely house hunting—you could almost hear the, "What do you think, hon? Should we get it?" And then to see them working together to build their nest and feed their young was truly heartwarming.

People found the videos delightfully riveting.

"Thank you for sharing. This is heart happiness right here! 🩵💙"

"I didn't realize how fast the eggs hatch! Neat :) Beautiful birds."

"How sweet they work together 💙💙"

"Thank you for your beautiful reel… made me smile. I feed my cardinals and jays everyday. Never thought to do anything like this."

"It’s just amazing how animals/birds instinctively know how to care for their babies."

"I never knew they laid 1 egg each consecutive day like that… idk why but I thought it would be an all at once scenario??"

"I love that new life is being born in a cemetery."

Birds are surprisingly fascinating to watch

There's a reason birdwatching is a thing. Humans have always found birds intriguing (they can FLY, for the love), but when the birdwatching bug gets you it can take you by surprise.

The world saw a big birdwatching boom during the COVID-19 pandemic, when social distancing gave us the time and the desire for such outdoor activity. People who always wondered how "watching birds" could possibly be considered a hobby found out why people who do it love it so much. In fact, according to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, 35% of Americans age 16 and older now identify as birdwatchers.

@wbupalospark

#springmigration2023 #wbupalospark #birdnerd


But you don't even have to be an avid birder to appreciate seeing the natural cycle of a bird family. Bird's nests are usually built where it's hard for humans to see them, and even if we can, none of us have the time to sit and watch for a month and a half to see how the nest gets built, the eggs get hatched and the babies get taken care of.

Stationary cameras like the one in the top of the birdhouse allow us to observe bird behavior without disturbing their habitat. Similar cameras are sometimes set up near hawk or eagle nests to help facilitate wildlife research and conservation as well as to educate the public. The more connection we have with nature, the more we understand the importance of protecting the environment and the more responsibility we tend to take to care for the Earth. Connection with nature might look like hiking through the woods, getting to know the squirrels in your backyard or witnessing the nesting cycle of bluebirds at a cemetery in Pennsylvania, but it all leads to the same place—an appreciation of the beauty and wonder of the natural world and an urge to see it thrive.

You can follow Historic Easton Cemetery on Instagram.

From Your Site Articles
wildlife
Science

A wild goose was taken to an animal hospital. His mate knocked on the door to find him.

"We opened the door and gave Arnold his flow-by oxygen in the doorway. His mate immediately calmed down and began to groom him through the door."

Cape Wildlife Center/Facebook

As if a Canada goose named Arnold isn't endearing enough, his partner who came looking for him when he was injured is warming hearts and having us root for this sweet feathered couple.

Cape Wildlife Center in Barnstable, Massachusetts shared the story on its Facebook page, in what they called "a first" for their animal hospital.

"We often have people ask if they can visit the patients they dropped off, but today we had our first animal visitor!" they wrote. "For the safety of our patients we do not accommodate visitation requests, but in this case we had to make an exception!"

Arnold is a Canada goose that lives on a pond near the facility and is part of a mated pair of wild geese that have been together for several years. The center said the geese usually keep to themselves, but one of their staff noticed that Arnold was walking with a "significant limp" and kept falling over. They were able to capture him and bring him into the hospital for examination.

wild goose

A goose visits its mate at the Cape Wildlife Center

Image Via Cape Wildlife Center/Facebook

"Upon exam our veterinary team found that he had two open-fractures on his foot," they wrote. "This means that the tissue and skin has been pulled away leaving the bone exposed. Our best guess is that a Snapping turtle or other predator attacked him while swimming."

To save his foot and help him survive, the staff knew they had to amputate one of the digits and suture the other wound closed. They gave him antibiotics and pain meds and prepped him for surgery the following morning.

Then his mate came knocking.

"Today, as we prepared to sedate Arnold and get him ready for surgery, we heard a faint tapping at the clinic door," the center wrote. "We turned to see that his mate had waddled up onto the porch and was attempting to break into our clinic! She had somehow located him and was agitated that she could not get inside. She remained there throughout the entire procedure, watching us work, never moving from the doorway."

Aww.

Surgery went well, and once Arnold woke up the staff decided to let him recover by the doorway so he and his mate could see each other.

"We opened the door and gave Arnold his flow-by oxygen in the doorway. His mate immediately calmed down and began to groom him through the door. They both seemed much more at ease in each other's presence."

AWWWW.

"Arnold will likely need several weeks of treatment in our hospital before he is ready to rejoin his mate in the wild," they added. "He will need to be kept inside for the majority of this time in order to keep his wound sterile and prevent infection. We will do our best to get him back out quickly and will perform bandage changes and treatments in view of the doorway when possible so that his mate can check up on him. ❤️"

While attempting not to anthropomorphize too much, it's so sweet to see animal partners show such genuine care for one another. Canada geese mate for life, and they are known to mourn in seclusion when they lose a mate. Seeing Arnold's mate coming to find him and comfort him during his treatment is just too lovely.

Feel good story of the day, indeed. Wishing you a speedy recovery, Arnold!


This article originally appeared on 07.22.21

From Your Site Articles
Trending Stories