show me your best are you looking at me shots

Lame-Duck wrote in post #19302220
First time I've ever viewed a magpie goose. Very different from anything I've ever seen. Very nice shot, Pippan!

Thanks LD. It's goose-hunting season here in the Northern Territory's Top End and sadly while photographing at Fogg Dam the sound of shotguns discharging in the distance means that some of them won't make it back to their families. Their red meat does taste great though and has been a staple part of the diet here for thousands of years.

Pippan wrote in post #19302127
Magpie goose at Fogg Dam, NT.

Hosted photo: posted by Pippan in
./showthread.php?p=193​02127&i=i66401137
forum: Wildlife

Nice shot, that's an interesting looking goose.
"What do you get if you cross a vulture and a goose?"

Capn Jack wrote in post #19302282
"What do you get if you cross a vulture and a goose?"

And the answer to this quiz is........????????

Rosy-Faced Lovebird...

A Mallard hen.

Photo from fotoi's gallery.
Image hosted by forum (1041370)

Tom in Arizona wrote in post #19302348
Rosy-Faced Lovebird...

Hosted photo: posted by Tom in Arizona in
./showthread.php?p=193​02348&i=i251333163
forum: Wildlife

What a beauty, Tom! Great light, beautiful color.

fotoi wrote in post #19302363
A Mallard hen.

Gallery photo (hosted):
posted by fotoi originally in forum: Birds

Fantastic hen mallard shot, fotoi! Very lifelike image.

Capn Jack wrote in post #19302282
Nice shot, that's an interesting looking goose.
"What do you get if you cross a vulture and a goose?"

Thanks Capn, as in Monopoly, they might just win 2nd place in a beauty contest. They use that hooked beak to dig out water chestnuts from the mud under the shallow waters they frequent at this time of year, to fatten themselves up for the breeding season that starts when the big rains come in January.

Lame-Duck wrote in post #19302486
What a beauty, Tom! Great light, beautiful color.

Fantastic hen mallard shot, fotoi! Very lifelike image.

Thank you, Mike.

Pippan wrote in post #19302489
Thanks Capn, as in Monopoly, they might just win 2nd place in a beauty contest. They use that hooked beak to dig out water chestnuts from the mud under the shallow waters they frequent at this time of year, to fatten themselves up for the breeding season that starts when the big rains come in January.

Thanks for the information about that beak. I also learned from you that water chestnuts grow in Australia. I associate them with Chinese cooking.

Capn Jack wrote in post #19302534
Thanks for the information about that beak. I also learned from you that water chestnuts grow in Australia. I associate them with Chinese cooking.

Yes they are the same species, Eleocharis dulcis, that is used in Asian cooking, though those here are smaller. I assume that in Asia they've been selectively bred for increased size.

There are many species of plants, quite a few birds and a few animals that are common to both northern Australia and south-east Asia. There has never been a land bridge from Asia to Australia but during ice ages the distances across the seas have not been very far.

Many of the birds migrate seasonally between the two regions. Even Crocodylus porosus have been satellite-tracked swimming across to New Guinea and the closer Indonesian and Timorese islands.

Buff-banded rail