|
|
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 5,295
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 5,295 |
Last word about birds. Summer now and ever since springfling the blackbird couple has chartered me for a ' feed the family ' program. They beg loudly for bread and peanut butter, a shovel of worm containing rubbish, an apple or strawberry. Mostly 4 times a day they come and urge me on for scraps.They enter the kitchen and have quickly learned not to leave in flight, but walk out safe and quietly. Only once I had to pluck the both of them from the upper window-glass. The young ones are now well able to fly and eat by themselves but they still chirp for service like babies. High time to give them a little backpack and send them on a cheap interterritorial flight. ( I'll miss them but....) I took countless pictures. The parents have lost all shyness. The young have been told to hide. So there's just one to show, half hidden on the fence. The family: The dad The dude The dame The Blackbird, Common Blackbird or Eurasian Blackbird (Turdus merula) is a species of true thrush which breeds in Europe, Asia, and North Africa, The young are fed by the parents for up to three weeks after leaving the nest, and will follow the adults begging for food. If the female starts another nest, the male alone will feed the fledged young. Second broods are common, with the female reusing the same nest if the brood was successful, and three broods may be raised in the south of the Blackbird's range.
Last edited by BranShea; 06/23/2008 6:09 PM.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 3,290
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 3,290 |
Nice photos. What we call blackbirds on the Left Coast are really starlings and red-winged blackbirds. I was surprised at the blackbirds (Amsel) when I lived in Germany. They're bigger and rougher looking. Latin turdus is cognate with English thrush and German Drossel. There's also the Jackdaw which in Czech is kavka whence the author's name Kafka.
[Edited to clear up my muddled meaning.]
Last edited by zmjezhd; 06/24/2008 12:37 PM.
Ceci n'est pas un seing.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 1,067
old hand
|
|
old hand
Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 1,067 |
...somehow I doubt it... The Blackbird, Common Blackbird or Eurasian Blackbird (Turdus merula) is a species of true thrush which breeds in Europe, Asia, and North Africa, It's also in Tasmania, where it is an exotic pest. It was introduced to Australia in 1863. They are especially annoying to vintners, who have developed measures such as timer activated cannons to scare them away from the grapes. We have them in our garden. They eat our raspberries.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 876
old hand
|
|
old hand
Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 876 |
In these parts, the Red-winged Blackbird is well-loved, for its beautiful plumage and cheerful calls. It is not considered a Starling (family sturnidae) which is considered a pest and will flock in the hundreds. The Red-winged (family icteridae) is not nearly as common. In fact, I've never taken a photo of one because they tend to frequent wide-open fields and do not usually eat at feeders. But now I have a project for this summer. I will get a pic! :0)
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542 |
I once (and only once) espied a migrating flock of yellow-headed blackbirds, whilst walking along a marsh in a suburban nature center -- quite amazing!
Last edited by tsuwm; 06/24/2008 11:53 AM. Reason: hiking, not awakening
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
In these parts, the Red-winged Blackbird is well-loved, for its beautiful plumage and cheerful calls. And as a harbinger of Spring.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 3,290
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 3,290 |
Sorry about that, I completely muddled up my meaning and posted with editing what I had written. I've corrected it. What I meant to write was that true blackbirds like the red-winged blackbird and starlings are lumped together in the folk category blackbird. (Even though starlings aren't really black, more brown mixed in.)
Ceci n'est pas un seing.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 1,067
old hand
|
|
old hand
Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 1,067 |
Here we call Starlings rats on wings. They are vermin. Western Australia is trying desperately to keep them out. The desert between the West and the Eastern States is a natural barrier to them, but they move along the seaboard and have to be trapped and shot to keep them out. Here in the East they are endemic and cause untold damage to native birds by outcompeting them.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210 |
Here we call Starlings rats on wings. grackles be like that. take over a feeder they do.
formerly known as etaoin...
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 5,295
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 5,295 |
This is de doofpot.
Last edited by BranShea; 06/24/2008 5:36 PM.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542 |
>Groetsjemeu!!!!
de doofpot!
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 5,295
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 5,295 |
De doofpot is for deafman's ears! or....
see former page.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 2,154
Pooh-Bah
|
|
Pooh-Bah
Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 2,154 |
In BC starlings were brought from England and are taking over. The only blackbirds we have in my part are the red wings who live in or near wetlands and perch on bullrushes to sing.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 5,295
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 5,295 |
Dear Zed , my last and final word about birds is that the Yellow-headed Blackbird and the Redwinged Blackbird , whether in flocks or solemly single are Not related whatsoever to my well loved blackbirds who are not called blackbirds at all but Merel, (pr. May-rhol)and have nothing to do with starlings either. They belong to the thrush family and they SING! (Except for deafman's ears.) They are no pest in lands where they have a healthy set of natural enemies. Right now at dusk, while writing this post mr. black male merel sings his heart out ! That can go on for 10 to 12 minutes. Darn de doofpot! blackbird sound
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 876
old hand
|
|
old hand
Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 876 |
Dearest Bran, You do dissemble! I don't believe for a minute that you'll never post about birds again; I certainly hope you do! I enjoy a birdly discussion now and then... I just want to make sure you understand that although our Red-winged and Yellow-headed Blackbirds are not of the same family, they are of the same order, Passeriformes, and most definitely are not pests, and do sing very pleasantly! :0) Red-Winged Backbird call Your equally bird-brained friend, twosleepy ;0)
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 1,067
old hand
|
|
old hand
Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 1,067 |
I enjoy a birdly discussion now and then... A much nicer adjective than the usual boring old mechanical 'avian'  Our blackbirds sing sweetly too but they are still introduced pests. I much prefer the unharmonious, harsh and raucous cries of our native birds such as black cockatoos, wattle birds, Australian ravens, and Kookaburras.
Last edited by The Pook; 06/25/2008 3:00 AM.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 876
old hand
|
|
old hand
Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 876 |
You better not complain about your birds! You've got some of the coolest birds on the planet flying about in your backyard airspace... The most exotic bird I get to see is the occasional Indigo Bunting. I have never even seen a Painted Bunting, and that would be closest I would ever come to a "parrot"-type bird around here. I'd probably drop my camera! But I do love the natives we have, even if their sartorial splendor doesn't stack up too high... :0)
("...gay your life must be...")
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 5,295
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 5,295 |
...and most definitely are not pests, and do sing very pleasantly! :0) You're very right. It's anyhow the whole concert that counts. All the different sounds and colors. The thing is - for backyard chicks, to survive a dozen cats, a bunch of magpies, flemish jays, crows, in short the predators; that is an achievement. But truly, even the magpie, with the ugliest sound and a fierce chick robbing appetite, has a beautiful color pattern. (Thank you also for new words ; 'birdly'and dissemble'. I was about to take the bum's rush.)( today's word) ThePook: I much prefer the unharmonious, harsh and raucous cries of our native birds such as black cockatoos, wattle birds, Australian ravens, and Kookaburras. So we all love our native birds; if the blackbirds will disappear I'll know where to get some. 
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 1,067
old hand
|
|
old hand
Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 1,067 |
You better not complain about your birds! You've got some of the coolest birds on the planet flying about in your backyard airspace... The most exotic bird I get to see is the occasional Indigo Bunting. I have never even seen a Painted Bunting, and that would be closest I would ever come to a "parrot"-type bird around here. I'd probably drop my camera! But I do love the natives we have, even if their sartorial splendor doesn't stack up too high... :0) I wasn't complaining about our native birds, just about the European birds who are displacing them. Visiting our birch tree out the front we get Green Parrots, a kind of Rosella; Butcherbirds; a Brown Falcon who likes to disembowel his prey there; and others such as Kookaburras, though they are an introduced species from the Australian mainland. The Falcon also likes to sit on the posts of the chicken run, not to attack the chickens, but the sparrows that eat the chook food. We also see Nankeen Kestrals around here and Peregrine Falcons a little further afield. Yellow Wattle Birds visit our flowering cherry in spring and the apple tree in autumn, as do various honeyeaters. We often see high above us the now rare wedge tailed eagle. And sometimes we run over on our roads the totally brainless native hens , who like to put their heads down like the Roadrunner and run flat out into the path of your vehicle. I once followed one at about 15 miles an hour down the road for about 50 yards before it turned off to the right onto another road, still running flat out down the centre of the road, silly thing! ...just to name a few. We are within 12 miles of the sea, so we get to see lots of marine and estuary birds as well, from Pacific gulls and Pelicans to Sooty Oyster Catchers and White Faced Herons. ("...gay your life must be...") How'd you know that one? I learned that in kindergarten: "Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree-ee, merry merry king of the bush is he-ee, Laugh, Kookaburra laugh, Kookaburra gay your life must be." There were variants of course, such as "Kookaburra sits on the telephone wire, Jumping up and down with his pants on fire..." Tasmania has 12 species of bird that are endemic and occur nowhere else in the world.
Last edited by The Pook; 06/25/2008 8:33 AM.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 876
old hand
|
|
old hand
Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 876 |
I wasn't complaining about our native birds, just about the European birds who are displacing them. Okay, now with the rest of that, you're just bragging! :0) How'd you know that one? I learned that in kindergarten You might not believe this, but so did I! I think many Americans know it, at least those around my age. It is used in kids' shows, especially the nature shows when they talk about the kookaburra or any australian animals. I was a little surprised that you were surprised, but how would you know? Do you know "Yankee Doodle Dandy"? I would think not, but maybe it's made its way around the world... :0)
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 1,067
old hand
|
|
old hand
Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 1,067 |
I wasn't complaining about our native birds, just about the European birds who are displacing them. Okay, now with the rest of that, you're just bragging! :0) Yup you bet. Should I list the other native birds we get to enjoy here in Tassie? Or tell you that I used to live on the mainland in an area where we had access to around one third of all Australian bird species? No, better not I guess... Do you know "Yankee Doodle Dandy"? I would think not, but maybe it's made its way around the world... :0) Of course! Never underestimate the reach of American cultural imperialism! Yankee Doodle went to town, riding on a pony...etc
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 5,295
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 5,295 |
There's also the Jackdaw which in Czech is kavka whence the author's name Kafka. What you call Jackdaw = Kavka we call Kauw.I've been thinking hard on which of our birds is actually called "black" even though we have a number of them I can't find any name nearer to black than "grauw" = grey.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 5,295
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 5,295 |
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542 |
now this sort of thing gots to be confusing to a newcomer, one being a live link and the other not. - joe (it's all in the follow-through) friday
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 5,295
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 5,295 |
It's by confusion that we learn the difference between a link and an underlined set of words. today I am the nasty one. I guess the article has still to be written.
Last edited by BranShea; 06/27/2008 6:31 PM.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400 |
as a child I went to a parochial (catholic) school in the bronx (a neighborhod made up of 60 to 70% immigrants (another 20% lived with grandparents who were immigrants, even if their parents had been first generation US)
the school had a Music teacher who came in once a week,
2 weeks we learned music (how to read, notes, g clef's and all sorts of technical stuff)
and 2 week a month, we learned songs.
one year (3rd grade? 4th grade?) we learned folk songs of the world--
french,(au claire du la luna) spanish (i forget) and other countries.
lots of english (many of these we knew) some scots, and some strine
wallsing matilda, and Kookaburra were 2 of them (later i learned more strine songs, like "here we are in New south Wales" )
the version i learned (below) is slightly different--but i still remember it.
the Bronx Zoo (with in walking distance of my childhood bronx home had almost NO animals from autralia.. (no, roo's, no koala's, no wombats, no birds)
so i never saw a kookaberrra till i was married, on my honeymoon and visited the hyde park zoo.
I was thrilled.. (and sang the kookaberra song) my ex (stupidly it took 20 years for that to happen,--what can i say, i am a slow learner) walked away from me.. I was so excited (childlike in my glee) he was embarassed by my reaction.
kookaburra sits in the old gum tree,
eating all the gum drops he can see,
Laugh kookaburra, laugh kookaburra,
and leave some there for me.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 1,067
old hand
|
|
old hand
Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 1,067 |
It's by confusion that we learn the difference between a link and an underlined set of words. today I am the nasty one. I guess the article has still to be written. I thought the implication was that it could not be written - ie there IS no last word on words.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 2,154
Pooh-Bah
|
|
Pooh-Bah
Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 2,154 |
This birdbrain used to chase cars around my Mom's place. He escaped from a farm on the island and went hippie, living wild with a a couple of hens. His tail feathers reached 30 inches and the colours seem truly metallic in the sun. When I said the pheasant had shown up my cousin, a major bird watcher, flipped and was searching for his binoculars until I pointed out that they wouldn't be needed. The bird was on our deck, pecking holes in the patio door screen. edited to (hopefully) fix the link
Last edited by Zed; 06/28/2008 8:05 AM.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 5,295
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 5,295 |
Never mind kicking in the open door, I'm not nasty any more.
(kidding)
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 1,067
old hand
|
|
old hand
Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 1,067 |
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 876
old hand
|
|
old hand
Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 876 |
Wow, Zed! That truly is a gorgeous bird! I've never seen even a pic of one before. I would plotz if one showed up in my yard! Unfortunate that it's a threatened species...
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 1,067
old hand
|
|
old hand
Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 1,067 |
Last edited by The Pook; 07/05/2008 1:10 PM.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542 |
but, truly, an ugli bird!
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 1,067
old hand
|
|
old hand
Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 1,067 |
but, truly, an ugli bird! Yeah it kinds of reminds me a little of the alien hunter in Predator. Though it has a much nicer disposition of course!
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 956
old hand
|
|
old hand
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 956 |
Yeah it kinds of reminds me a little of the alien hunter in Predator. Though it has a much nicer disposition of course! My next thought was a ballchinian* from Men in Black.
* Sorry, don't google this if you are easily offended.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 1,067
old hand
|
|
old hand
Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 1,067 |
Yeah it kinds of reminds me a little of the alien hunter in Predator. Though it has a much nicer disposition of course! My next thought was a ballchinian* from Men in Black.
* Sorry, don't google this if you are easily offended. I don't remember this from the movie but I can guess from the pseudo-etymology of the word...
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 5,295
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 5,295 |
True, I never said the last word about birds. This very cute specimen has entered the enclosed space of our city backyards.The Long-tailed Tit. A whole buch of them. Pretty sound they make too.  They live in groups. I read about them and they are just...I hope the Tit family will always stay.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 876
old hand
|
|
old hand
Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 876 |
Man, that's cute! I wish I had tits like that... ;0)
|
|
|
|
|
