UPDATE: Reader Charlie Brown saved the day with a last-minute photo of a roadrunner, the most dinosaurian of all birds. His notes:
Submitted for your review and approval: Geococcyx californianus photographed on my patio wall in Mesa, Arizona.
This bird – I’m not sure of the sex – has been appearing in our backyard for the last few months but it was only yesterday that I finally had my camera with a long telephoto lens outside with me when the bird appeared and I could finally capture a decent shot. We have a large population of lizards, a favorite food of roadrunners, in our yard so I assume they are the the main attraction.
Sadly, I have no time to put up a genuine readers’ wildlife post today, but Diana G. sent me a quiz from the Washington Post which asks readers to spot the difference between real wildlife and fake robotic wildlife used by the government to catch poachers (you can see a few specimens at The Daily Mail, but don’t look if you’re going to take the Post quiz).
Diane got 11 out of 12, but, sadly, I can’t even see the damn quiz because I’ve used up my allotment of ten free Post articles for the month. But if you have access, go here, take the quiz, and report back.
From the Daily Mail:
When a poacher gets caught hunting illegally, it’s often too late; the poacher in question may be fined, but by then, the animal is already dead.
Now, American wildlife law enforcement officers are turning to robotic decoys, using a remote-controlled task force of deer, foxes, and other animals to trap poachers before any harm is done.
Robo-animals are difficult to differentiate from real ones, and can move their heads, tails, and legs – and with a Styrofoam core, they’re difficult to kill.
. . . Decoys include deer, elk, bears, turkeys, foxes, and wolves, and they can be very convincing.
These robotic replicas are in high demand, Jim Reed of the Human Society Wildlife Land Trust explained to The Washington Post.
When officers are tipped off about illegal hunting, be it in the wrong place or season or just illegal altogether, they set out with a remote-controlled decoy.
Then, they stake out the area from a concealed spot, like a bush or nearby truck and wait for poachers to catch the bait.
‘Decoys are placed in a vulnerable setting (like an open field), and nearby officials manipulate them with remote controls so that they move just like living animals,’ the Human Society’s website explains.
I suspect they use real animal skins over a foam core, but the article doesn’t say. Here, from the Mail, is a robo-deer, and if you click on the screenshot, you’ll go to the article with the video, and will be able to see it move.
He shoots, he scores!
Yes, smug git that I am, 12/12…
I chose poorly.
“… I’ve used up my allotment of ten free Post articles …”
Try deleting the cookies, this is often how they track the article count.
Or open a private window.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Privacy_mode#Support_in_popular_browsers
10/12. BTW, just clean the cookies from Washington Post and you should be able to start your article count again.
Just what I was about to recommend.
Some of the robots were very obvious, but over all I pretty much sucked at that.
I didn’t do so well. 7/12. Only thing kept me above .500 was realizing there was no reason to have a robopanda.
Me too, exactly same score, same reason.
Though on reflection I’m not so sure about the robopanda being unnecessary. Hunters being hunters.
You just stand there looking cute
And when something moves, you shoot
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQyoSLOlglw
cr
The bad news, 6/12. The good news, I could probably sneak up on some robo-wildlife for a realy good photo.
😀
Every so often someone on my bird forum posts a pic of a decoy in the ID sub-forum. (They’re often told it’s a Duckus plasticus.)
I suck at this, 7/12. But this means those are damn good decoys.
And there’s the silver lining!
(7 here also, but I was a bit disappointed with the diversity of ‘wildlife’ – no reptiles or birds, only eutherian megafauna)
11/12. The robots generally have an unnatural look to them I thought (the one I got wrong was actually real but I said it was fake). Of course, it might be harder out in the woods with a less clear view, poorer light, movement of the ‘animal’ etc.
If this helps stop people shooting game illegally then I’m all for it.
11 out of 12 – but I still think that bear is phony; just look at the eyes.
On to roadrunners: That was a cool picture. These are amazing birds. I have only seen them from afar.
I’ve only seen one once, in Texas. But I love their co-familiars which we get up here in MI–Yellow-billed and Black-billed Cuckoos!
(The whole family’s cool!)
Oooooh roadrunner!
Meep meep!
Hey… I just couldn’t resist.
Glad you got there before me. Now I have to get my Acme nuclear device ready for it.
It’s okay, we were all thinking it 😉
The Secretary Bird of Africa and the Hoatzin of S. American are as dinosaur-like or more so than the Roadrunner. However, the Roadrunner is still a totally cool bird.
I was going to nominate the cassowary – the whole blue head and enormous T-rex type feet (and the ability to disembowel victims with a kick)
11/12. I missed on the first fox. That was fun.
The article explains that the decoys are made with real hides. I expect that after they are shot, they must be patched up and used again, but I suppose after a time the hides have to be replaced.
The road runner is awesome. My state bird. In my opinion, the most awesome state bird and the most captivating bird to watch of all birds.
Serene killing machine. I love them. Full of power, cunningness, and unforeseen agility. Ancient blood definitely flows through them.
Ditto. We see roadrunners all the time and they are in reality tough cookies. We have a resident Cooper’s Hawk and one day it tried to attack a road runner. The road runner fought off the hawk.
8/12 Impressive decoys. I think the eyes give away the most. I wonder how big a problem poaching is in America. I know it’s bad in Africa.
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Police (Bush Cops, we called them, fine men and women all) have used deer decoys for many years to catch illegal hunters. Their original models were quite primitive, but they worked. Before I retired, I used to love going out with them to assist. It was fun.
I’m guessing that roadrunners prefer Acme lizards.
Saw a phrase in that article I’d never seen before: “once-living materials”. Why would someone coin this? Is it some attempt to be P.C.? They go on to take great pains to explain that the hides were acquired legally- why would that matter? Wouldn’t it be a far better use of a confiscated, poached deer to make a replica to catch more poachers, than to simply dump it?
I’m reminded of the article I read years ago about some deer hunters who were fooled by a plastic replica (not a robot)- conservation agents watched as they repeatedly shot the dummy, then, in frustration, ran it over with their truck! I suspect alcohol was involved….
There is probably an etymology behind that generic mane.
Oh, educational, but not as interesting as I’d hoped.
Oh, I dunno…I think it’s pretty interesting that our tail bones were named after a cuckoo’s bill!