Balaeniceps-themed birthday card

I received some really nice cards for my birthday last week. But this has to be my favourite... (oh, after the one from the kids of course)...

i-de374b0891eb57e51eea4c2fd4636ab2-Balaeniceps_birthday_card_Sept-2009.jpg

I mean, how often do you see Balaeniceps rex on a birthday card? Not often enough in my view (with a nod to those who have a phobia of this daunting bird). The image is by Elizabeth Diggins. Thank you Tina!

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Balaeniceps rex: it looks exactly like its name sounds and means. Awesome.

By Kevin Schreck (not verified) on 01 Oct 2009 #permalink

People! By the way, about postcards... I decided to make a special page of my site to gather postcard sets dedicated to biological theme. Here it is:
http://www.sivatherium.narod.ru/postcard/postcard.htm
Of course, texts are in Russian, but you may read Latin names and watch pics at least...
So, if you can share scans of similar postcard sets, I'll willingly post these ones in this page. I hope it will be interesting for people of other countries to see them. Contact me for any questions.

Thats so cut, Happy birthday for last week Darren :P
I dident know that retrieverman!

By Zach Hawkins (not verified) on 01 Oct 2009 #permalink

Attenborough's "Life of Birds" has a great scene showing a Balaeniceps catching a lungfish. Feeding technique is essentially a faceplant in the mud. Which leads me to pondering the surface similarity between this and what pelicans do, except of course that water is less messy. Which leads me to pondering what an interesting clade is Pelecanus + Balaeniceps + Scopus.

By John Harshman (not verified) on 02 Oct 2009 #permalink

That is a nice sketch-and a belated Happy Birthday, Darren.

By Craig York (not verified) on 02 Oct 2009 #permalink

I used to have weird, surreal dreams about water-birds when I was a kid. I'm thinking seeing some footage or a picture of a shoebill may have had a bit to do with it - that and Dr. Seuss.

I'd much prefer a Terrorbird-thday card myself!

By Tim Morris (not verified) on 04 Oct 2009 #permalink

It looks a bit like a cross between a Titanavis and a sly Daffy Duck to me.

Happy belated birthday, Darren!

By Stevo Darkly (not verified) on 05 Oct 2009 #permalink