Shake that thing!

20 thoughts on “Shake that thing!”

1. This is not an owl but a wryneck (a kind of woodpecker).

   1. Jynx torquilla, then.

      According to the pfft of everything, this behaviour is part of its nest defense and caused people to associate it with witches and curses.

      Hence jinx.

2. Wow. looks like a home improvement tool of some kind.

3. Screech owls or big horned owls can do this, also. You walk behind the owl sitting on a branch, starting from the front. The owls turn their heads until about 190 degrees, then turn their heads 360 degrees to pick up observer. That is when you take the picture. The head is a blur.

   1. Cool!

4. Looks like a case of evolution inventing the propeller.

   1. Or the cordless drill.

   2. Evolution needs to invent the “slip ring” electrical contact first. And it’s hydraulic equivalent.

5. It’s a whirlybird!

   1. I remember those.

6. very funny!

7. Thunderbirds are go! (Yes, I’m that old.)

   1. That would make it a Mole then.

8. More evidence for my conjecture that owls don’t have unusually flexible necks compared to other birds.

9. I believe it’s a Colaptes auratus – Northern Flicker. Coincidentally (or not!!) I had one of these lovely and somewhat uncommon dinosaurs in my yard today.

10. What’s great about that shot is that the axis of rotation is perfectly steady. No wobble.

11. Reblogged this on Mark Solock Blog.

12. Ben Wielstra is correct: this is a wryneck. It cannot be a flicker, not least because it lacks the black chest crescent.
    If we were to be told where the shot was taken, that would clinch it.

13. It’s a blurd.
    *cough*

14. I support the northern flicker hypothesis.

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