Playful Discussion of Birds and Names related to Falcon

[AudubonB]

That's a good point. With the use of Merlin and Raptor I guess SpaceX is looking to stick with actual birds of prey. While attempting to relate this to BFR, I looked up the largest known falcon in the world. It's called the Gyrfalcon (Jeerfalcon?). Unless your an Audubon member or ornithologist it might be too esoteric for the Falcon series. Although with Elon, guess we can never rule anything out!

Hello?

Yes, "gyrfalcon" is indeed pronounced "jeer..."

Howifinever...........that fantastic creature very often is referred to solely as a "gyr". Wherein we then can see some setup whereby SpaceX dubs one of its craft "Gyr" as a moderately subtle way of jeering at - who? ULA? NASA? Dunno.

PS: We're one of the lucky, lucky very few people on earth to have gyrs as backyard birds. True!

 

[Brass Guy]

PS: We're one of the lucky, lucky very few people on earth to have gyrs as backyard birds.

Pic? Slightly off topic, but I don't care!

 

[Nikxice]

PS: We're one of the lucky, lucky very few people on earth to have gyrs as backyard birds. True!

+1 for pic. Annual Christmas bird count starts Friday. Photo evidence for a Backyard Falcon Report?

 

[AudubonB]

Way OT - I'll try to dig up our Home list. It's a doozy...but it's taken me two dozen years to compile. Don't do an annual list.

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

+1 for pic. Annual Christmas bird count starts Friday. Photo evidence for a Backyard Falcon Report?

OT, but someone else started it ...

I think the bird count would go something like:
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 ... what the!? ... 1. (Falcon).

(My brother in the UK does backyard bird counts when they do a survey. With seed, fatballs and a bath, they normally they have a good count in the small back yard. Numbers are significantly reduced if a raptor visits.)

 

[winfield100]

Hello?

Yes, "gyrfalcon" is indeed pronounced "jeer..."

Howifinever...........that fantastic creature very often is referred to solely as a "gyr". Wherein we then can see some setup whereby SpaceX dubs one of its craft "Gyr" as a moderately subtle way of jeering at - who? ULA? NASA? Dunno.

PS: We're one of the lucky, lucky very few people on earth to have gyrs as backyard birds. True!

whats really nice ,is right after mowing tall grass, seeing a bird of prey stoop in, hit a snake, and do a heavy lift back up with a 4-5 ft writhing in its claws,

 

[winfield100]

View attachment 360345

i seem to recall a vehicle called a "Sunbeam Tiger" tho.........

 

[AudubonB]

And now back to BIRDS -

We have our yard list on our website - look under the "About the Area" drop-down. Not on there is one of the more recent, which is the first record of a warbling vireo in a part of the state that is the size of Texas. I captured a good song sequence of it. It does have one of my gyr pix, too - the antepenultimate photo shown. I've just about stopped taking bird pix since I eschewed cameras for an iPhone.
The list is at least 103 species which, I will brag, is pretty good! for a non-coastal site in North America. For me, the best yard sighting ever is when I discovered a harlequin duck nest. This bird is so secretive and perfectly camouflaged that only about a half-dozen nests ever have been revealed. She was sitting that close to my foot....i might tragically have trampled the eggs.
Quite a few of the ones on the list are species that North American listers drool over. Lucky me!

And if you can't find our website....there's no hope for you. But I do ask that it is not posted directly - thanks.

 

[AudubonB]

Besides, they got there first!
NASA has proof: NASA revelas bizzare 'giant bird footprints' on Mars | Daily Mail Online

I'll get back to you once I figure out just what "revelas" means.....

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

Besides, they got there first!
NASA has proof: NASA revelas bizzare 'giant bird footprints' on Mars | Daily Mail Online

I'll get back to you once I figure out just what "revelas" means.....

It means "fail", as in Daily Fail.

 

[Nikxice]

Resurrecting this thread on the thought that DM-2 might soon get a name. In the past astronaut crews have christened their capsules by naming them. The second NASA/Boeing crew has done this with their OFT Starliner, "Calypso", still designated to fly as the first operational flight. Their explanation referenced Jacques Cousteau's ship, which would seem to make more sense for an ocean worthy SpaceX capsule, but whatever! I suppose Dragon 2 crews might be inclined to go with the names of mythical creatures, but I think that's for the birds. SpaceX will still be launching crews on Falcons, so I'm going to suggest Ruppell’s Griffon. This endangered vulture is considered the highest-flying bird in the world.
Ruppell's griffon vulture