Kiwi attracted over a "pterodactyl" today!

[Kiwibird]

No joke, Kiwi's stunning plumage and charming nature attracted another dinosaur over today (I don't call him the tyrannosaurus K for nothin!), I guess you never know what you'll see in the great Pacific Northwest...

Anyways, me n Kiwi were enjoying a smoothie on the patio and all of a sudden we get buzzed by this utterly MASSIVE flying beast from out of nowhere. I think poor little Kiwi just about leapt out of his feathers (I know a few words of an... inappropriate nature escaped my lips:54. I rushed Kiwi inside and snagged my camera to capture 'proof' of said "birdzilla". Got covered in stickers since I jumped into the overgrown yard/forest behind the house, but I got some awesome shots! I'm actually not sure what it is, maybe a heron? Whatever it was, I think it was after the smoothie, because it buzzed my head AGAIN while I was photographing it

What I captured flying away from my deck:

I wanted to get his attention, so I started whistling and making kiss noises. This is how birdzilla responded:

He was absolutely massive, and way up a tree by the time I got outside with my telephoto lens:

Buzzed again by the bird from the land before time:

For comparisons sake:

 

[henpecked]

Great Blue Heron baby ? Very cool, i bet Kiwi was ducking for cover. I know jake would have freaked out.

 

[Kiwibird]

Let's just say one second he was happily on my knee, the next he was trying to crawl up my shirt to get away from it. I wish I had my camera (when will I learn to have it on me at all times???) because it was on the deck for a second.

 

[babybirdie]

wow, that think looks very scary :0 just be glad that that dino didnt grab kiwi

 

[Anansi]

WOW! That thing was freakin' huge! No hyperbole there, huh?

Love the pterodactyl comparison photo! Haha!

 

[4dugnlee]

Awesome pictures! I can never get good pics! It looks somewhat like the herons we have here in Ohio...but I've never seen one close up before. Poor Kiwi...that will be a story you will laugh at many times over the years!...Lol. Thanks for sharing!

 

[Kiwibird]

wow, that think looks very scary :0 just be glad that that dino didnt grab kiwi

I don't think it was a predatory bird, but it was HUGE and very responsive to my calls.

WOW! That thing was freakin' huge! No hyperbole there, huh?

It was very very large. The biggest bird I've seen yet are hawks and crows, which are about the size of Kiwi. Thats why this flying giant took me by utter surprise. I know big water birds exist, but I've never actually seen one before, and certainly never been in close proximity to one

Awesome pictures! I can never get good pics! It looks somewhat like the herons we have here in Ohio...but I've never seen one close up before. Poor Kiwi...that will be a story you will laugh at many times over the years!...Lol. Thanks for sharing!

In other news, my neighbors may think I'm bonkers because I was out in a patch of blackberry bushes whistling and making kiss noises and hollering because I wanted it to look at me:20: My legs are all scraped up and full of stickers, but there is no way I was going to let that sucker get away without a photo. Especially since it "started it" Never would have noticed (in the dense forest here) if it was just sitting in a tree, but it came down to say hello.

 

[thekarens]

They aren't predatory and captain is right, that's just a baby. Great photos!

 

[RavensGryf]

I was gonna say baby Blue Heron also. The guy looks so fuzzy! He probably just fledged Cute baby Pterodactyl! I love how he flys with legs straight out like the Pterodactyl...

 

[henpecked]

I wouldn't say they aren't a predator. great Blue Herons will eat about anything they can choke down. Things i have personally seen them eat,,, snakes,2 lb fish,small turtles, baby sea turtles, baby alligators, small birds,frogs,lizards and even baby quail and ducks.

 

[Allee]

Wow, you got some fantastic shots of the baby pterodactyl. Next time you and Kiwi go to the balcony, you should make a smoothie for the baby blue heron too. You have a beautiful view from your balcony. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Birdman666]

Yep! That's a heron.

Very cool birds, EXCEPT if you own a pond... I had a white one that hung out in my yard in Cali and ate all my fish.

 

[Kiwibird]

Yep! That's a heron.

Very cool birds, EXCEPT if you own a pond... I had a white one that hung out in my yard in Cali and ate all my fish.

Lol, well you set up a buffet what did you expect Maybe this one will hang out in our yard and eat all the slugs! Theres lots of fat juicy ones for it

Wow, you got some fantastic shots of the baby pterodactyl. Next time you and Kiwi go to the balcony, you should make a smoothie for the baby blue heron too. You have a beautiful view from your balcony. Thanks for sharing.

I can see it now Kiwi on one knee, birdzilla on the other BOTH pilfering my drink and making a mess

I wouldn't say they aren't a predator. great Blue Herons will eat about anything they can choke down. Things i have personally seen them eat,,, snakes,2 lb fish,small turtles, baby sea turtles, baby alligators, small birds,frogs,lizards and even baby quail and ducks.

Just so long as Kiwi is too big for it, than I'm not worried about it. As mentioned above, lots of fat, juicy slugs in out yard for such a creature to gulp down

was gonna say baby Blue Heron also. The guy looks so fuzzy! He probably just fledged Cute baby Pterodactyl! I love how he flys with legs straight out like the Pterodactyl...

That makes sense it was a baby, since it did come quite close to us and looked absolutely bizarre. Probably wasn't sure what me n Kiwi were and wanted to find out (though it's brightly colored bird "friend" surely didn't want to find out more about the pterodactyl lol)

 

[Birdman666]

The great white heron that hung out in my yard was so not afraid of people that he would actually get to about two arms lengths of you.

He actually had a really huge and funny personality. I would chase him out of my pond, and he would fly off in a circle. You'd see him on the roof, hiding behind the chiminey, peeking out the side to see if the coast was clear to resume fishing...

So I'd tell him I saw him up there, what did he do?

Circled around again, and a few minutes later, a little face was poking his head around the corner of my garage...

He was kind of fun. I ended up stocking the little pond with feeder goldfish to keep my "lawn ornament" around (wait, holy crap is that thing real?!), and building tunnels for the koi fish to hide in, to keep them alive.

Between the heron and the raccoons, I lost a lot of goldfish.

 

[thekarens]

The great white heron that hung out in my yard was so not afraid of people that he would actually get to about two arms lengths of you.

He actually had a really huge and funny personality. I would chase him out of my pond, and he would fly off in a circle. You'd see him on the roof, hiding behind the chiminey, peeking out the side to see if the coast was clear to resume fishing...

So I'd tell him I saw him up there, what did he do?

Circled around again, and a few minutes later, a little face was poking his head around the corner of my garage...

He was kind of fun. I ended up stocking the little pond with feeder goldfish to keep my "lawn ornament" around (wait, holy crap is that thing real?!), and building tunnels for the koi fish to hide in, to keep them alive.

Between the heron and the raccoons, I lost a lot of goldfish.

There's no such thing as great white herons. There's great egrets, which are white or great blue herons, which have a white morph, but even those are great blue herons

 

[Birdman666]

Great egret - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

We always called them great white herons, but I guess you're right it was an egret...

 

[EnglishMuffin]

Herons are more scavengers than predators...I'm very surprised it came right up to you, normally they are quite shy. He's a beautiful looking baby though! Poor Kiwi haha!

 

[MissLarissa]

Those are VERY DANGEROUS! I live in Missouri and we see them every once in a while. I would say it is a blue heron and they are VERY dangerous. There are plenty of documented cases of them trying to eat people and they will attack anything that poses a threat. Be careful. I KNOW it's all cute and fluffy, but it will try to hurt you if they think you pose a threat.

 

[thekarens]

There's no way it's going to attack a human unless you're threatening it or its chicks. In fact, it's most likely to fly away than attack. As previously stated, they are pretty shy.

 

[Kiwibird]

Um, just saying, but if a WILD bird tries to attack me, and it's going to find itself in an unfortunate confrontation with my foot, fist or whatever else is handy. But I don't think that's even a remote possibility. It flew off the second I got up because it was scared. I think it only dropped in on us because it was curious but a human is an unknown "predator" to a bird. As mentioned, they probably aren't going to stick around unless you're threatening their young.