The pale-faced sheathbill is the only land bird native to the Antarctic continent. I photographed this one in the Falkland Islands. Also known as the snowy sheathbill, greater sheathbill and paddy, it’s certainly not going to win any beauty contests. That said, its looks are perhaps its most charming characteristic. Not having webbed feet, this shorebird does not fish but instead finds its food on land by scavenging. It will eat almost anything, including but not limited to regurgitated food from penguins, penguin eggs, and if the opportunity presents itself, penguin chicks. But that’s when it’s living clean. It will also eat carrion, animal feces, and, if and when available, human waste. It has even been known to eat tapeworms that have been living inside a penguin’s intestines. There’s probably a reason, I’ve never posted a pale-faced sheathbill. Tomorrow I promise to return with something slightly more adorable. Nikon D800 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 330mm) ISO 800, f/5.6 at 1/1250th of a second.
I had no idea such a species of bird existed. One must certainly give the pale-faced sheathbill credit for its diet of survival. None of it sounds like the sort of cuisine I might care to eat, but it has been thriving on that very diet for a millennium. As a physician once mentioned, “we crave what we eat”. If all the other food suddenly disappeared, the pale-faced sheathbill would have a leg up on the competition while all other species frantically tried to adapt to a new way of eating.
——- It’s not only at the ends of earth
——- Would such strange things occur
——- A place for Tolkien’ s Gollum
—— And a ghostly Birddum retturng
——-From his Sepulchre.
——-As our river of detritus surges to
——- FLOOD TIDE .0
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I had no idea such a species of bird existed. One must certainly give the pale-faced sheathbill credit for its diet of survival. None of it sounds like the sort of cuisine I might care to eat, but it has been thriving on that very diet for a millennium. As a physician once mentioned, “we crave what we eat”. If all the other food suddenly disappeared, the pale-faced sheathbill would have a leg up on the competition while all other species frantically tried to adapt to a new way of eating.
——- It’s not only at the ends of earth
——- Would such strange things occur
——- A place for Tolkien’ s Gollum
—— And a ghostly Birddum retturng
——-From his Sepulchre.
——-As our river of detritus surges to
——- FLOOD TIDE .0