The Urban Pantheist

New improved enclosed peacocks

On tumblr, where I spend an increasing amount of my online time, I keep seeing a post about Gouldian finch chicks. It claims that these birds have phosphorescent spots on the sides of their bills to help guide the parents to the baby's food hole. We have, and breed, Gouldian finches where I work, and I'd never heard of this. Surely if we had baby birds with glow in the dark spots on their faces someone would have mentioned it to me.

So when I was at Bird's World recently, I told the keepers there about this ridiculous tumblr post. "Yes," they said in chorus, "you can see it right now if you want."


So a coworker pulled down a nest box, opened it up, and let me see the glow.


The effect is even more striking when the chicks' mouths are open, but you get the idea. However, a quick side trip to wikipedia quashes our fantasies of a bioluminescent bird:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gouldian_finch
"Very young birds, like many other species of Australian cavity-nesting finches, have a variety of odd features in and around their mouths including a "palate marked in the fashion of a domino" and several "prominent rounded tubercles" with an "opalescent lustre" at the back of the gape. These tubercles are commonly (and incorrectly) described as phosphorescent in spite of much scientific evidence to the contrary.[4] It is believed that these tubercles simply reflect light and are not luminescent.[4] Scientists have hypothesized that this domino-like palate and striking tubercles may facilitate feeding within the dark confines of a nest cavity, although no experiments have been conducted to support this idea."

footnote [4] is: http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/2421636?sid=21105707320511&uid=4&uid=2

A house sparrow on her dragon mount.

Lily cuddles into Sarah's sweatshirt.

The new peacocks have been reliably staying near Bird's World lately. It could be the food, or it could be the heater. Watch out for the deathcicle, guys!

A pair of North American ruddy ducks in the Bird's World Jungle River exhibit.

Our old tree kangaroo exhibit is being modified for our new mystery animals.

This is National Zookeeper Week, so AAZK ZNE is presenting training sessions with some of our animals to show what it is we do, other than feeding and cleaning. Here Sarah is training Inti the Andean condor. Such a smart animal and an able trainer.

Parking my bike next to the Bird's World bike.


Lunchtime basking on the roof of the Tropical Forest.

The Bird's World building--the oldest building at Franklin Park Zoo.


Winter-blooming witch hazel, through my misty lens.