Can a pigeon be a champion?

Founded in 1920, the National Pigeon Association is an all-breeds pigeon club with an International membership. Encompassing all varieties of domesticated pigeons, the NPA promotes, educates, and acknowledges the efforts of fanciers in the continued development and care of our "favorite feathered friends!"

Yes, a pigeon CAN be a champion, because the NPA holds a yearly exhibition to select the best of the best.

The NPA 2010 Grand National was held in Salt Lake City Utah. There were 3,721 entries representing 26 breeds. Exhibitors came from every state in the USA and Canada.

These pigeons are NOT your average scavengers, you know. Twisted Sifter, in "Bizarre Gallery of Grand National Champion… Pigeons!?!" has collected 30 photos of some of the winners from the Grand Nationals.

Below are a couple of my favorites.

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Today's awwwwwww

Photo: Eloy Alonso / Reuters

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The cutest thing you'll see today

(via techno! techno!)

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Revisit the robin's nest

In 2005, a robin built her nest in the best spot - on top of a rose trellis, under my bedroom window.

From May 14, 2005 through June 10, 2005, I took a photo every day and watched as the eggs were laid, protected and cared for and guarded. I took a photo daily as the little hatch-lings emerged and grew. Sadly, I took a photo of the empty nest as they grew up and left the nest.

I posted the photos of the robin's nest on a webpage, one which receives several hundred visitors each day. Now that spring might actually be coming (!) I thought we'd take this opportunity to

VISIT THE ROBIN'S NEST

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Real angry bird

Photograph by GERARD GIRLING
(via Twisted Sifter)

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Cute or not? Hyacinth macaw

Photo: Rouelle Umali / Reuters

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Have you ever seen a baby eagle hatchling?

Watch webcam
(http://www.ustream.tv/decoraheagles)

DECORAH, Ia. - As many as 100,000 people have logged-in at any given time on their computers to watch two bald eagles incubating three eggs in a nest, 80-feet high in a cottonwood tree in Iowa.

People from more than 130 countries have logged on to watch, and teachers across the country are using it in their science classes.

Since the cameras were set up, the web site has had more than 10 million hits.

The parent eagles have been together for four years and have successfully hatched eaglets every year.

Their nest is almost 6 feet across and weighs about one-and-a-half tons.

Photo

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Chickens for vampires?

Photograph courtesy University of Edinburgh

The naked neck chicken—also dubbed the churkey or turken—has a chicken-like body but a turkey-like head atop a long, deep-red neck. The mutation first arose in domestic chickens in northern Romania hundreds of years ago.

Scientists have cracked why the Transylvanian naked neck chicken has a featherless neck—and it isn't to give vampires easier access.

The Transylvanian bird's naked neck results from a random genetic mutation that causes the overproduction of a feather-blocking molecule called BMP12, a new DNA study shows.

Source

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Rockhopper penguins in danger on Nightingale Island

A cargo ship crash has oiled hundreds of rare rockhopper penguins on a remote Atlantic island—a ''grave environmental disaster,'' experts say.

On March 18, two days after it had run aground, the Malta-registered "M.S. Oliva broke her back in the force of a relentless swell," leaking oil that spread into an 8-mile (13-kilometer) slick.

Some 65,300 tons of unprocessed soybeans also spilled into the ocean, and the vegetables oil's impact to the sensitive marine environment are unknown. Hundreds of oiled birds are washing ashore, and a preliminary estimate suggests up to 20,000 birds may have been affected.

"The scene at Nightingale is dreadful," Trevor Glass, the conservation officer for the territory, said in a statement.

The oil spill may endanger not only penguins, but also millions of nesting seabirds and other wildlife.

Experts also warned of a "twin environmental catastrophe" if rats, which may be aboard the wrecked vessel, escape onto Nightingale Island, which is rodent free.

"If rats gain a foothold, their impact would be devastating."

Nightingale Island, part of the British territory of Tristan da Cunha, is home to 200,000 northern rockhopper penguins, half the world's population. The International Union for Conservation of Nature lists the bird as endangered, due to its mysteriously rapid decline in the past three decades.

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Have you ever seen a kakapo?

Once common throughout the three main islands of New Zealand, there are now approximately 62 kakapo left.

The kakapo is one of the rarest parrots in the world. It’s flightless, it’s the world’s heaviest parrot, it's possibly the oldest living bird and it has a subsonic mating boom that can travel several kilometers. It looks like an owl, hops like a sparrow, growls like a dog and has a very unique smell.

Read more

Photo Credit

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Bird is mom again, at 60

The oldest known wild bird in the U.S. is a new mother.

Wisdom, a Laysan albatross, is at least 60 years old. As part of the North American Bird Banding Program, a U.S. Geological Survey scientist first banded Wisdom as she incubated an egg in 1956. She was estimated to be at least 5 years old at the time. The albatross has since worn out five bird bands.

Source

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Mascot owl killed on soccer field

Soccer team's mascot owl lands on field.

Owl hit by kicked ball.

Opposing team member kicks owl.

Owl dies.

Kicker says, “I was not trying to hurt the owl. I did it to see if it would fly.”

Of course, no one believed that, so Colombia's soccer officials announced they will suspend Luis Moreno for two games and fine him $560.

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Today's awwww

Flickr, katie de bruycker

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Please dont pet the cassowary

Australians trying to rebuild in the wake of Cyclone Yasi have been warned to stay away from cassowaries – huge flightless birds with claws that can disembowel a human – on the hunt for food after their habitat was destroyed by the storm.

Residents of communities around Mission Beach, on the north Queensland coast, which was almost flattened by the category five cyclone earlier this month, have been advised to beware of the 6ft tall birds, which are known to attack if they feel threatened.

In 2007 cassowaries were named the most dangerous birds in the world by the Guinness Book of Records.

Source

Photo credit: Robert South

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Video: Pigeon Gaming

via Blame it on the Voices

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The world’s rarest birds through caught on camera

The winners of The World's Rarest Birds international photo competition have just been announced. The competition, launched in 2010, aimed to secure images of the 566 most threatened birds on Earth for a new book highlighting their plight.

Thousands of images were entered into the competition and hundreds will be featured in The World's Rarest Birds to be published in 2012 by the ethical publishing company WILDGuides. Profits from sales will go to BirdLife International's Preventing Extinctions Programme to help support conservation projects worldwide.

The winner in the "Endangered (372) or Data Deficient (62) species"
is Quan MinLi: a beautiful photo of a flying Asian Crested Ibis from China.

Asian Crested Ibis (ENDANGERED)
A medium-sized water bird that once bred in Russia, Japan and China but underwent a major population crash. It is now restricted to Shaanxi province in central mainland China, where just 250 individuals survive.

PHOTO: Quan MinLi

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Video: The Penguin Dilemma - Translation

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Got lots of spare time?

from Paper layers can create stunning art

via Reddit

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Drug-Smuggling Pigeon Nabbed

Colombian police say they have captured a carrier pigeon that was being used to smuggle drugs into a prison.

The bird was trying to fly into a jail in the north-eastern city of Bucaramanga with marijuana and cocaine paste strapped to its back, but did not make it.

Police believe the 45g (1.6oz) drug package was too heavy for it.

Police, who believe the bird was trained by inmates, say they've caught other pigeons attempting to carry phone cards into the jail.

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Jim Carrey to star with penguins

Think penguin movies peaked about five years ago when March of the Penguins and Happy Feet were playing?

Hollywood believes audiences will come waddling back on Aug. 12, when 20th Century Fox releases the big-screen adaptation of the 1930s children's book Mr. Popper's Penguins, starring Jim Carrey, Angela Lansbury and a half-dozen real-life, flightless water fowl.

Audiences will be watching the real penguins for roughly half the movie. In some scenes, CGI animals were used.

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