Um something has come up... HOOOOOLLLYYY SHIIIITTTTTTT

December 22, 2021 9:48 AM

The Christmas Bird Count (which does not happen on Christmas) has been going on this week. Birders in Massachusetts were treated to a very rare view of a Steller’s sea eagle (whose habitat is the Eastern coast of Russia) which has been traipsing around the US and Canada and was seen, a huge muppet-ass looking bird, loitering in a tree with some plain old bald eagles. Please enjoy The Birdist's eight-tweet thread of waking up in Maine for a normal CBC, only to hustle down to Massachusetts to hope to glimpse this bird.
posted by jessamyn (31 comments total)

The aviary in Pittsburgh has two Steller's sea eagles, and do not underestimate their size. I've seen them walk up to the glass and stare down a five year old like "you look pretty tasty young friend." They're amazing.

This fall, one of them named Kodiak, escaped. For the bird lovers among us it was a pretty big deal. For people who weren't sure why there was a pterodactyl sized shadow soaring overhead, it was a pretty big deal. He's home safe now, staring down toddlers again. We're incredibly lucky to have him (and his terrifying claws).
posted by librarianamy at 10:05 AM on December 22, 2021 [14 favorites]

I heard about the Pittsburgh escapee (they're my favorites at the Aviary) but I hadn't heard they got him back, so I was not surprised by the sightings until I realized it's an honest to goodness wild one!
posted by rikschell at 10:12 AM on December 22, 2021 [1 favorite]

Love how in that photo in the Twitter thread, the bald eagles seem to be afraid to make eye contact with the Giant Russian Eagle.

something something Trump-era metaphor something.
posted by martin q blank at 11:13 AM on December 22, 2021 [5 favorites]

Man, even the wildlife in Russia is metal.
posted by kitten kaboodle at 11:41 AM on December 22, 2021 [3 favorites]

Steller’s sea eagle are very cool but what does "muppet ass" mean?
posted by Ashwagandha at 12:11 PM on December 22, 2021 [1 favorite]

I'm a very avid birder, but I'm not an avid chaser of rare birds, for a variety of reasons. This one tempts more than most, and I know people from my state (New Jersey) who tried (and failed) to find it already, but unless it comes to my state, I'm going to have to take a pass on trying for it.
posted by mollweide at 12:18 PM on December 22, 2021 [1 favorite]

what does "muppet ass" mean?

Muppet-ass
posted by sriracha at 12:24 PM on December 22, 2021 [3 favorites]

It means someone thinks that Steller’s sea eagle looks like a muppet character? Sorry just not familiar with -ass as a prefix used like that.
posted by Ashwagandha at 12:29 PM on December 22, 2021 [1 favorite]

[To me] it means someone thinks that Steller’s sea eagle really looks like a muppet character.

A productive-ass suffix
Also
posted by trig at 12:36 PM on December 22, 2021 [2 favorites]

English is weird.
posted by Ashwagandha at 12:41 PM on December 22, 2021 [2 favorites]

I'm sorry, but that bird does not qualify as "muppet-ass". The only true muppet-ass predatory bird is the goofy yet majestic Blakiston's Fish Owl (previously), which leaves the Steeler's Sea Eagle as merely muppet-keister.

(Before anyone suggests that the term might also apply to the secretary bird, please remember that the secretary bird's idea of a quick tasty snack is swooping out of the sky to stomp a deadly snake into bite-sized morsels. The only thing I'd call a secretary bird is "Sir".)
posted by scruss at 1:03 PM on December 22, 2021 [7 favorites]

Yes I believe people think that the Steller's sea eagle looks like Sam the Eagle, who is a muppet. I can see the resemblance but mostly I thought it was a funny turn of phrase. English is, indeed, weird. MeFi post about the muppet-ass fish owl.
posted by jessamyn at 1:22 PM on December 22, 2021 [4 favorites]

Ismo basically made his career describing the American ass situation.
posted by asok at 1:28 PM on December 22, 2021 [1 favorite]

...but mostly I thought it was a funny turn of phrase.

1. Considering the mechanics of how muppets are controlled by their muppeteers, it is a rather infelicitous turn of phrase.

2. Also, from the context, one might that your third and fifth links were perhaps transposed.
posted by y2karl at 1:42 PM on December 22, 2021

A note on the 21st century USA 'ass' suffix situation. Think of it as similar to the British English use of 'bloody' as an emphatic. A bloody big house isn't covered in gore; it's simply very big. It's a big-ass house.
A sharp-ass knife. A stupid-ass idea.
'hey, check out this muppet-ass looking bird'
posted by bartleby at 1:51 PM on December 22, 2021 [11 favorites]

So says Bert Handupmee. Sharp-ass makes sense as does stupid-ass. But unless one completely ignores the physics of terry cloth hand puppet manipulation, muppet-ass is at the very least extremely iffy.
posted by y2karl at 2:06 PM on December 22, 2021 [3 favorites]

Boris Johnson has a muppet-ass haircut.
Which corporations have their hand up Boris Johnson's muppet ass?
The hyphen can matter.
posted by bartleby at 2:12 PM on December 22, 2021 [2 favorites]

But unless one completely ignores the physics of terry cloth hand puppet manipulation, muppet-ass is at the very least extremely iffy.

Maybe leave this alone in this thread about a cool bird?
posted by jessamyn at 2:29 PM on December 22, 2021 [9 favorites]

C O O L B I R D
! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !
posted by rrrrrrrrrt at 2:31 PM on December 22, 2021 [6 favorites]

Apologies. Resume the dope-ass birdnerdery.
posted by bartleby at 2:45 PM on December 22, 2021 [1 favorite]

In response to the pictures of the fish owl, concerning mupped-assedness: Fizzgig
posted by JHarris at 4:57 PM on December 22, 2021

There are in fact a lot of muppet-ass birds out there and I for one would love a twitter thread of these birds.

This bird is very cool. I hope it is getting some good stories for the birds back home.
posted by wemayfreeze at 5:10 PM on December 22, 2021 [6 favorites]

Sam would definitely agree that he is a stellar eagle. But he would also disagree about his being from Russia. It would ruin his career!
posted by not_on_display at 8:44 PM on December 22, 2021

On a side note, I have found a great icebreaker with young children is to say 'Hey! You're Bert, I'm Ernie!' Which leads to a back-and-forth of several rounds of 'No! You are! It's like a human equivalent of a dog's play bow for the 5 and under set.
posted by y2karl at 9:58 PM on December 22, 2021 [2 favorites]

Wait, this eagle is fantastic, but I thought we all agreed that the most muppet-ass bird was the shoebill stork.
posted by deludingmyself at 8:06 AM on December 23, 2021 [5 favorites]

Yay, dinosaurs!
posted by pol at 8:07 AM on December 23, 2021

Shoebills are the most Sid & Marty Krofft-ass birds.
posted by scruss at 8:48 AM on December 23, 2021 [3 favorites]

One thing I love about Seattle is the bird-on-bird action. If you hear crows or seagulls kicking up a fuss, you look up. Seagulls mob Ospreys, Crows mob Bald Eagles -- and, man, do we have Bald Eagles.

Not to mention mention male Anna's hummingbirds who attack each other plus everything else in feathers. Their collective noun is a charm but in truth it should be a combat. Gram for gram they are the fiercest of all birds.

But a week or so ago, I was startled to hear one solitary crow in Danger, Will Corvidson! alarm caw mode and looked up to see it dogging a Great Blue Heron who was doing an equally alarmed pterodactyl impression in response.

Of Great Blue herons we also have an extreme abundance but they usually stay on the lakes. But a few have learned to fly over Capitol Hill because backyard khoi ponds. Which have become delis for the discerning heron.
posted by y2karl at 12:14 PM on December 23, 2021 [4 favorites]

Bird is now in Maine.
posted by jessamyn at 3:47 PM on January 2, 2022 [2 favorites]

This is so cool.
posted by y2karl at 1:37 PM on January 3, 2022

There’s a Bird and Moon comic!
posted by zamboni at 9:27 AM on January 11, 2022 [3 favorites]