Friday, September 19, 2008

Beak of the Week!

Last week's fish-loving beak of the week was correctly identified by anonymous as a pelican. I don't know if this is the same anonymous who won the B.O.W. of the week before, but if so, you are on a roll! Either way, excellent guess. The beak of the American White Pelican belongs to Scoop, or, as he likes to be called, His Majesty. Scoop is an awesome guy.

This week's beak is native to Africa as well as India, Russia, Siberia, portions of the middle east, and more! The sound that comes out of this particular beak is hoarse, sharp barking “kyow” and boy do I hear it a lot at the ETC. Sometimes he talks with his mouth full. Here's a rare picture of his beak closed:



In the wild, these beautiful eyes search the desert, semi-desert, steppes, and open savannah for food:

These powerful talons often pirate food from other raptors. They kill their prey on the ground as opposed to in the air:

This week's bird is extra difficult, in my opinion, so I'll give you a little cheat. The scientific name for this bird is Aquila rapax. How well do you know your Latin?

Good luck, happy guessing, and I'll see you here next week!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

This would be a Tawny Eagle :)

Anonymous said...

p.s. I'm a new anonymous who identified this beak. :)