I've mentioned before on Birds2blog about the book stall often on Market Street in Lancaster where KT finds some good second-hand books and occasionally buys them on my behalf.
This 'Wild Birds of the Americas' is now one of the latest additions to my library thanks to the stall and KT.
According to the introduction in the book published in 1977, Terence Michael Shortt is claimed to have probably seen and sketched from life more species of the worlds birds than any other person alive. Well I'm not too sure about such a claim, but thats not the purpose of this post. I chose a couple of colour plates from the book, the first of which is the Blue-footed Booby.
Blue-footed Booby. Terence Michael Shortt.
There are a couple of reasons why I chose this illustration, the first of which is because of the explanation why this species is so called. They suffer the maligning appellation of booby, 'a silly dull-witted fool' because the guileless birds often alighted on the deck or rigging of ships allowing themselves to be added to the ships larder, the implication being that any animal that has no fear of man is stupid....a sorry indictment of the human race I'd say.
The second reason I chose the 'booby' is because it reminded me of a rather large one which befell someone somewhere today when a Brown Booby was reported this morning to be later claimed as a being a Gannet. Take heart all ye who hath fallen into the trap of mis-id, a club I'm man enough to admit being a member of....are you!!
Peregrine Falcon. Terence Michael Shortt.
There are a number of excellent colour plates by this man and the Peregrine Falcon is another example.
Peregrine Falcon. Brian Rafferty.
But BR has achieved some excellent images of the Peregrine Falcons nesting on a church in Preston.
Peregrine Falcon. Brian Rafferty.
I think this is a brilliant photograph of the juvenile which appears to be looking skywards to its parent and wondering if the next meal is on its way. You can see more of these stunning birds on BR's website HERE
Pete. Great read as always. I will have to come and have a look at your library one day !!
ReplyDeleteThanks for showing my latest shots of peregrine falcon. I didn't divulge the site in my blog but it isn't really a secret. It is actually in Chorley and has been in the local press recently. They actually put some of my images in the Lancs Evening Post yesterday.
Take care and have a good week. Better weather after today's downpours.