They don't mention it in the article, but the birds were likely captured using mist nets (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mist_net). It is a standard technique:
In total, about 18 birds were found at three sites during the expedition.
The nets are much more successful in capturing all sorts of birds at once, with little effort, even in environments where you wouldn't get clear line of sight for photos and/or for species that don't sit still for long enough.
Handling the birds makes for far better identification (and more detailed pictures too), which is important for places where unknown, hard to identify or hard to detect species are likely to exist. It also allows taking measurements, banding the birds and even collecting tissue samples. So nets are a far better ROI for some scientific projects.
Ornithologists always use mist nets to survey birds. They are very widely used and rarely harm the birds when used by people who've learned how to use them. Their possession is controlled in the sorts of countries with legal systems that specify first world stuff like that.
I had the same impression. Some of the crest points of this bird seem to mutate into background leaves in a part of the photo. The eye lies in a strange place also. That photo is strange.
... But I can be wrong and is really easy to prove it.
If they really have captured the bird, they should have taken some genetic material in the process. Entangled birds lose feathers all the time.
I guess we have to be a little suspicious these days about image provenance but yall sound paranoid. A couple of famous ornithologists are going to take a 6-week expedition and then trash their careers by using DALL-E? If the grip looks weird to you, look at "The Mist Netter’s Bird Safety Handbook".
>> The leg hold, or photographer's grip (below), is used to hold birds while photographing them since it maximizes the amount of plumage in view; to transfer them from one bander's hand to another; or to examine features. For this hold, you "scissor" grip the bird's tibia between the fore and middle fingers (or between the ring and middle fingers if your hand is very small) and then clamp the bird's tarsometatarsi between your thumb and fore (or middle) finger. In this hold, the bird is securely gripped above and below the metatarsal joint, which is bent into an "L" shape. The bird will be able to flap its wings and rock backwards and forwards, but it should not be able to rock from side to side. Never hold a bird by the ends of its legs alone — they will break! Place your free hand over the bird's back to keep its wings from flapping until the photographer is ready to shoot.
“IIRC in 2012 the Earth missed a giant CME by one week, and had it hit Earth there would have been 80% casualties in the US...”
By casualties do you mean injuries/deaths (to people)? Do you have a source? From what I could find, it would be really bad for infrastructure, but not something that would outright kill or injure most of the population.
Neat idea, and the step-by-step instructions are awesome. But wow, the scenes are mind-twisters. Especially the leopards. I think one briefly sprouted wings!
https://medium.com/intigriti/how-i-hacked-hundreds-of-compan...