Friday has rolled around again, with startling alacrity.
At the Dead Zoo it’s been another busy week of decanting, with our whale skull being crated up and ready to roll:
All the decant work plus post-Christmas catching-up activity hasn’t left me much time to hunt down mystery objects, but I had this cutie in my office and I thought it might be a nice little challenge:
Any idea what it might be?
As always, you leave your questions, thoughts and suggestions in the comments below. Have fun!
Zygoma 
A little hunter from the east
that feasts on juicy dragonflies
In black and white is smartly dressed
No colours seen on legs or chest
Who is this with the panda eyes?
That of its sort, is not the least
Nice roasted but better pied, I con net think how to cook it!
I agree with you
Microhierax latifrons
I am going to have to go with the Pied-piper on this one – there is too much black for a latifrons…
I mean there is too much black ON a latifrons…
Pied Falconet, Microhierax melanoleucos
2.5/5 ⭐️ Bit harsh! It’s pretty cool for a bird!
The Microhierax genus contains one of the world’s smallest birds of prey (a vertebrate-eating flying bird is a bird of prey?), although this M. melanoleucos isn’t that: “The black-thighed falconet (Microhierax fringillarius) is one of the smallest birds of prey, typically measuring between 14–16 centimetres (5.5–6.3 in) long, with a 27–32 centimetres (11–13 in) wingspan, which is a size comparable to a typical sparrow.”
However, the Elf owl (Micrathene whitneyi) is even smaller. “The mean body weight of this species is 40 g (1.4 oz). These tiny owls are 12.5 to 14.5 cm (4.9 to 5.7 in) long and have a wingspan of about 27 cm (10.5 in).”
Thinking about my definition of what constitutes a bird of prey, I should’ve said land vertebrates (not toads). But then again, big storks, etc, will eat anything – I seen it! Roadrunners eat snakes(?), but they probably not birds of prey. How about a bird of prey being a bird that can hunt other birds on the wing? Can a Microheriax even do that? I imagine there’s some birds that hunt other birds in flight, but they’re still not birds of prey.
I think there’s a definition, or two, of ‘birds of prey’, but I didn’t read it as it was clearly a made up thing.