Birds are really graceful creatures. I have never seen a bird botch a landing and yet this one by an albatross was a spectacular failure.
But the albatross did what anyone would do after suffering such an embarrassment. It got up, dusted itself off, and walked away as if it had planned to do that all along, hoping no one noticed, other than the chick that was there.
consciousness razor says
This one stuck the landing (the second time).
Marcus Ranum says
I saw some footage of geese coming in to land on a pond that looked glassy smooth -- until they realized it was ice. I felt bad, I was laughing so hard.
Matt G says
That bird could give any physical comedian a run for their money.
publicola says
The Buster Keaton of birds.
Mano Singham says
cr@#1,
Thanks for that video. It was wonderful.
Jörg says
Re penguin; when the people got on their feet in the small wobbly boats, I wondered how long it might take for the orcas to figure out that ramming a boat could provide them with much bigger food than small penguins.
hyphenman says
Mano,
In their element, the deep ocean, Albatrosses are magnificent birds.
My friends and I would sit on the fantail of the Bainbridge to watch them glide behind us, for hours, without a perceptible wing flap. We would actually play a game (yeah, we were often really bored) and place bets on which bird would either dive into the water or flap its wings first.
Yes, sailors will bet on anything.
Jeff