The Curious Compendium 2023 Tour Finale: Herding breeds!

Beautiful toucans, especially the 2 repainted figures

Fantastic aviary Paige, I wish I have enough free time and energy to repaint a few toucans too

Thank you everyone!

And now we start penguins!
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Emperors are the deepest diving birds; 565 meters deep for up to 32 minutes. And we all have seen how they shoot out of the water! Apparently this is because they fill their feather gaps with air gaps which allows for some bouyancy; this is what gives them a boost when returning to the surface.

A beautiful colony!

Very nice

Thank you both. :)

Mixed penguins!
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Yellow-eyed penguins (also called a hoiho by the maori) are some of the tallest out there at 22-31 inches! They are also believed to be some of the oldest penguin species still extant. Penguins as a group evolved about 62 million years ago; this species is the last of its genus, and its population has decreased some 60% since 1996.

So many nice Penguins

Lovely penguins!

Nice tribe again Paige, I think I have enough penguins in my collection but I will surely make an exception for the Toymany Yellow-eyed penguin

The Yellow-eyed penguins is a really sad story, I hope we will provide them a great solution, the world is so better with them alive

Thank you everyone!

Last mixed penguins!
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]
An Adélie penguin colony of 5 million birds can consume as much as 8 million kg (17.6 million lb.) of fish and krill per day! They are also known for a unique behavior of rocking back on their heels and using their tail in a tripod like balancing position.

More great penguins! Safari's chinstrap is my favorite penguin figure

Sorry for the delay, I have been traveling.

Ducks and more ducks!
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]
Apparently, male mallards don't quack, only females do. Males make a rasping sound instead. The oldest male mallard recorded in the wild was 27 years and 7 months. This species is well known for hybridizing with other wild and domestic breeds of duck.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]
Common goldeneye ducks are often called "whistlers" because of the sound their wings make when they fly. They nest in tree holes and the highest from the ground recorded is 43 feet up! Lastly, I red that when they eat crayfish they shake them vigorously until the pincers break off, and them they swallow the rest.

Magnificent duck pond!
I'm especially delighted by the AAA ducks, large and small.

Congratulations, nice collection, I love the AAA ones, especially the little ones like Christophe

Glorious collection of ducks!!!

Beautieful ducks

Thanks friends. :)

Mute swans!
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

All mute swans in North America descend from captive animals brought here in the mid 1800s to adorn parks, zoos, and estates; some escaped and established wild breeding populations. There are two "morphs" for these birds; Royal, these chicks are gray in down and have black feet as adults, and Polish, chicks are white downed and adults have pink, brown, or gray feet.

Nice swans

Wow, you have some beautiful figurines! The ducks are lovely especially the mandarine variety!

Thank you everyone! The ducks are some of my very favorite of the birds. :) 

A few more swans and some geese:
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Trumpeter swans are the largest waterfowl species in North America and the largest swan in the world. They have a beautiful honking call, that sounds like a French horn; hence their name. Where I grew up these guys could be seen sometimes (they are still a rarer species to see) but always a pleasure to observe in the wild at Yellowstone National Park!