100s of Gannets Diving for Fish 

These versatile birds thrive in the air and sea. With their six-foot long wingspan, gannets can hover, glide, soar and dive. With folded wings, they torpedo down to depths of 20 feet or more to snatch fish from the edges of the Faroe Islands shoal. 

somehow I haven’t talked about roadrunners before, but I’m sure gonna do it now!

roadrunners are ground-based speed demons most famous for condoning extreme explosives-based cartoon violence, but they’re also packing a really weird secret: these little guys are zygodactly!

which is a fancy word for: TWO TOES IN FRONT, TWO TOES IN BACK. their feet form an “x” shape when they’re laid out flat.

so why is this weird? well, zygodactyl animals tend to evolve that trait for a single purpose completely unrelated to running around real fast and going “beep beep” all the time: grip strength! 

in birds, you’ll find zygodactyl toes on real foot-crushers like owls and ospreys, and perching birds like woodpeckers. it’s beyond strange to find them on a sprinting bird, since those extra toes on the back tend to get in the way more than anything else.

so what’s going on here? 

easy! turns out that roadrunners evolved pretty recently, and they’re actually a type of cuckoo! cuckoos, for reference, are perching birds, and they all have those signature zygodactyl feet.

Keas

bird parade

The babies are hatching! As of yesterday they have five healthy fuzzballs with a possible sixth on the way. All that wigglin pays off!

Source: Nest Box Live

The kestrel shuffle! Gotta keep them eggs warm!