This game of tic-tac-toe is going to take forever.

I am certain that, even in infrared, coots are terrible parents.

In infrared, flamingos look like sinister mob groups working to fix the next election and/or boxing match.

In reality, flamingos actually do work to fix elections and sporting events. Their pinkness is a form of protective colouration, ’cause no one expects the pink mafia.

Edit: After googling, I now know that “pink mafia” is a sexist and/or homophobic term. This is another way that you can tell that flamingos are evil, as they deflect attention away from them towards disadvantaged groups.

Shrikes are evolution in action. According to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology (or “CLoO!” as probably no one calls it), “[The shrike] is a songbird with a raptor’s habits”. Basically, it likes to eat meat, but it doesn’t have talons, so it swoops down to grab a little lizard or something, then skewers it on things like barbed wire, cactus thorns, etc so it can eat it without holding on to its prey.

I may never get a photo of one hunting, but I am glad to have gotten a photo this good of one sitting.

I think cranes have neat eyes.

OK, fine. Here’s the male, being superb and hiding from the camera a bit.

This is a superb bird-of-paradise pointing out that it’s unrealistic to expect to be superb all the time.

Those little things hangin’ there be the wattles.

They’re important ’cause you can’t wattle without them.