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#81368 09/21/02 06:39 PM
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Dear WW: there must be a lot of interesting words about birds. If the birds like ostriches,
moas,casskwaries, kiwis, and emus are "ratites" meaning they run, what is the term for birds that hop, jumping
with both feet toegether?
Today at park there were herons perching in trees, which I have never seen before.
And a new flock of white pelicans, in oval formation, stalking a school of fingerlings, and
in unison siddenly upending to catch them. I've never before seen birds use teamwork llike that. Is
there a special word for that?


#81369 09/21/02 06:46 PM
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I'll return to a search here, wwh, after returning from the Ruritan barbeque.

I must add that I saw on the island of Captiva huge flocks of pelicans at night seemingly float in to roost in the pines around the island. They dotted the rocking limbs like stars in the fading light. One of the prettiest, most calming sights in my experience.


#81370 09/21/02 07:03 PM
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Dear WW: my dictionary says that "columba" originally meant just a gray bird.
Guess what a columbary is? a dovecote.
And a columbarium? A tomb with niches on the wall for funerary urns.


#81371 09/21/02 07:19 PM
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Not abird word, but descriptive of incidental experience, seeing the pelicans using teamwork
was an adventitious added pleasure to the walk around the pond in the park.


#81372 09/21/02 08:50 PM
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wwh, I just noticed on the woodpecker thread the adjective scansorial, meaning climbing -- scansorial birds.

There's a bird term to add to the list of (now) two.


#81373 09/21/02 09:07 PM
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Here's another term, but I don't quite get it. In fact, I don't get it.

Having the bill cleft beyond the horny part, as in the case of swallows and goatsuckers.

The word is: fissirostral


#81374 09/21/02 09:12 PM
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Oh, there's raptorial. Those are the birds with the big-bad-boy-of-the-neighborhood attitude.


#81375 09/21/02 09:23 PM
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And, coincidentally, Langtolang's word of the day is vulture:

vulture

Turkish: akbaba
German: Geier
French: vautour
Italian: avvoltoio
Spanish: buitre




#81376 09/21/02 10:07 PM
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Dear W: Here is URL to a lot of bird pictures. http://www.mbr-pwrc.usgs.gov/id/pictlist.html

I think the "fissirostral" adjective means the part of the beak that joins the skull is forked,
that is skull is pointed anteriorly, and beak has notch at base that fits over this.

It's been years since I saw a nighthawk. They were numerous on Boston streets kn late
evening. Site I visted says they like to nest on flat roofs, and eat insects at night,
including mosquitoes. Anything that easts mosquitoes gets my vote.


#81377 09/21/02 10:34 PM
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#81378 09/22/02 12:08 AM
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My vision is too terrible to spot birds, but I've heard the nighthawk--easily identifiable shrill cry.

Now that drawing of a goatsucker, Faldage. That be scary and I no like the thought of him lurks in the night.


#81379 09/22/02 12:20 AM
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Dear WW: I lived for a year in cottage at TB san where a whippoorwill sat just outside
my bedroom window and "whipped poor Bill" for hours without a letup. You should see
the mouth on one of those guys. They evidently strain bugs out of air at night. Very
rare now, pesticides got em I guess.

Here's a URL to a picture. The injured whippoorwill I saw back in early fifties had horrid
black bristles around mouth to trap flying insects. I see none in this picture.
http://royal.okanagan.bc.ca/newsletr/v3n2/v3n2p7.html

whippoorwill (Notice the Latin name!)
n.,
pl. 3wills# or 3will# 5echoic of its cry6 a dark, insect-eating, nocturnal nightjar (Caprimulgus vociferus) of E North America



#81380 09/22/02 12:31 AM
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We have whippoorwills out here at the farm.

I think I've told this story on AWAD before, but probably nobody paid it any mind, so I'll tell it again.

My Granddaddy Percy's name was William Percy Elder. On the mailbox on the old dirt road to his farm was a mailbox with "W. P. Elder" painted on it.

I was about three years old, learning to read by sounding out letters, and I remember thinking that W. P. Elder on his mailbox stood for "Whippoorwill Elder" because of the whippoorwills out here. The "William Percy" connection I missed completely. Story of my life. Miss the obvious and fill-in-the-blank with the fantastic.


#81381 09/22/02 10:48 PM
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Passerines:

"n] perching birds mostly small and living near the ground with feet having 4 toes arranged to allow for gripping the perch; most are songbirds; hatchlings are helpless."

Edit addition: buceros: horned like ox; of the hornbills--and they're perching birds, too, but not of the passerine order, curiously enough.

#81382 02/14/05 04:50 AM
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Symmanchiotheresis, perhaps? (I just made that up!)

I'm sure there is a word; I'll look into it...


#81383 02/14/05 11:47 PM
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You mentioned herons landing in the trees. On Quadra Island near my Mom's there was a grove where 7-12 great blue herons came in to land every night. An amazing sight with the massive wings slowing the great birds down gradually as they reached their chosen tree. Then they would reach out with those long legs to grasp the very tip top of the tree and when their body caught up to the feet they simply - stopped. It seemed to defy gravity that such a big bird did not make the treetop bend like Charlie Brown's Christmas tree. Yet land they did with not a wobble.


#81384 02/15/05 12:31 AM
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> Yet land they did with not a wobble.

this gets my vote as sentence of the day.





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#81385 06/27/05 03:57 PM
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Hello there,
It is now the end of June and my first day attempting to figure out how to use this forum. I stumbled across it quite by accident this morning, and in the process, came across the bird chats. I have recently moved to a new neighborhood (one which is on the local city crow ' fly-way' ) and I have over the past few months become a full fledged crow lover. We walk together along the beach at dawn each day and often around the local pond in early evening.
I have had some of the most incredible crow related experiences and would love to talk with someone who is interested . . .especially if you have crow knowlege to share.
You will have to be as patient with me though, as crow-mother's are with their young . . . I am finding it a bit difficult to find my way through the new terminology and directions.

O.K,, test time . . .can anyone out there see me?

Linda in Vancouver



#81386 06/27/05 04:29 PM
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Consider yourself spotted, Lindabird.

Rm


#81387 06/27/05 04:57 PM
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and with another crow lover. I have always liked crows, and ravens, and rocs. I think ever since reading the Hobbit...

welcome, and you'll get the hang of this place in your own good time.



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#81388 06/27/05 05:20 PM
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Welcome, absent soul. Are you of Portuguese or Brazilian descent?


#81389 06/27/05 05:44 PM
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Me too! I eat it all the time!!

And ditto your feelings toward the 'wee folk'...

Rm

PS: to the Spotted-crowphilic Ladybird - be sure to check out the FAQs to answer many questions this recent 'newbie' learned, and the old hands are a great source of advice and support. Ask for help from anyone with [Carpal Tunnel] under their name. The other two recent posters (AnnaS and etaoin) are quite helpful (and seem nice to boot!). There are some less nice, which will become obvious soon enough.

Welcome a-board!


#81390 06/27/05 06:14 PM
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Gotta recommend a book - The Mind of the Raven. A lot of it is the author's anecdotal experience with corvids he's befriended, but it goes into quite a bit of detail about the parts of their lives that we never see. The boyf is a bit of a crow fanatic, so I got him this book for his birthday last year - worth a read!

Oh, and even though I'm not around much, I'm one of the nice ones.


#81391 06/27/05 06:38 PM
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is this the one?
http://tinyurl.com/7rue6

heh. Vermont...



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#81392 06/27/05 08:06 PM
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Hello mon RM,

Ah yes, it is actually beginning to make some sense already. Who would have thought. Thank you for the advice, which I am sure I will soon be able to put to good use. I am off to do a mid-day crow walk because it is Jazz Festival time in Van. and I am off this evening, to The Cellar. I will tell my 'biker's of the sky' that you said hello!
Linda


#81393 06/27/05 08:43 PM
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This is a lovely place to hang out, Linda.

Try your hand at some of the games - these folks are amazing!

Rm


#81394 06/27/05 09:00 PM
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these folks are amazing!

Like the barmaid said to the stamp-collecting customer who offered to show her his collection:

"Philately will get you everywhere!"


#81395 06/27/05 09:08 PM
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AnnaS, you philatle me!


#81396 06/27/05 10:57 PM
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Hi Linda
No crow stories today but a friend from Inuvik said that the ravens up there (Arctic with looong, COLD winters) learned to perch on the streetlights so that their feet covered the light sensors. The automatic lights would then turn on and keep their feet warm.
Welcome to the board
PS if you're up in Marpole keep an eye out for the pair of jays that have just moved to the area.



#81397 06/27/05 11:11 PM
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> pair of jays

what's this about, Zed?



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#81398 06/28/05 09:51 AM
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Of course, by now, everyone has heard of the crows that were being tested for ability to use tools. The humans had made a hook-shaped took for crows to use to get goodies out of a container. The male stole the female's hook. The female found a length of wire and bent it into a hook shape and went right back to pulling the goodies out of the container.

Also, the Japanese crows who routinely place nuts under the wheels of cars stopped at red lights and back off till the light changes; the cars drive over the nuts, cracking the shells and the crows go back to reap the rewards.


#81399 06/28/05 03:33 PM
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a PBS special on crows/ravens points out that they are the only birds known to fly closer to the sound of a gun shot.

they have learned that human's who are shooting, (and eventually sucessfull) will 'field dress' the game..and leave the liver and other tasty entrails for the crows to feast on.

(not that i am much of crow lover myself. i used to hate them.. but i miss them now. West Nile Virus was very hard on NYC's crow population--other birds didn't seem to suffer as much as the crows did)


#81400 06/28/05 04:16 PM
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Ah, tis true, tis true they are very smart! I began doing my morning crow walks ( with my pocket full of peanuts ) when it wasn't getting light until much later than it does now . . . so first I would go to Cuppa Joe's to read the Globe and have my morning cup when it opens at six.
Well of course it wasn't long before my crows were waiting outside my door at the crack of dawn . . . which was earlier and earlier. I pretended not to see them sitting on the wires as I made my way to the coffee shop, which is the opposite direction from the beach, where I feed them.
Guess what? They started dropping pebbles on me to get my attention. It is true, and it was sometime before I could establish some healthy boundries around our whole relationship. Now there are two 'sentinels' posted outside my apartment to watch my comings and goings . . .but no Tom-foolery unless I head for the shore. < : I love them . . .they are smart, funny, quirky . . .and absolutely fascinating.



#81401 06/28/05 04:30 PM
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what a great story, Linda! thanks for sharing.



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#81402 06/29/05 11:05 PM
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> pair of jays

what's this about, Zed?


The blue jays are recent arrivals. I've never seen them in the neighbourhood before and I enjoyed watching them. But they were really a slim excuse for a sort of in-joke. Linda signed herself "from Vancouver" and Marpole is my neighbourhood in Vancouver.



#81403 07/14/05 12:25 PM
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We were graced with a family of six magpies in our garden (US: yard ) recently, parents and four young almost as large as the adults, but scruffy. Funny to see all six in a beak-inward squabbling circle tugging at a piece of rye bread.

Now I'm waiting for the gold to arrive.


#81404 07/15/05 07:32 PM
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Does anyone know the whole sequence of magpie omens? 6 for gold apparently and ? for luck. I knew it once upon a time.


#81405 07/15/05 07:54 PM
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there's a magpie omen sequence?

edit:
huh. whadya know.
One for sorrow, Two for joy, Three for a girl, Four for a boy, Five for silver, Six for gold, Seven for a secret never to be told.

from:
http://www.electricscotland.com/poetry/redmond6.htm


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#81406 07/16/05 09:48 PM
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There's a fine congregation of magpies that arise squawking in alarm from my red gooseberry bushes in the morning - I leave at least one bush unpicked to share the bounty, but the clever sods have been raiding *my especially ripe and easier-to-pick ones recently! Crows are also wonderful to watch in their family groupings and tribal gatherings - immensely sociable birds, and extraordinary communicators. Their range of distinct sounds make an obvious sense, and watching mass 'flying school' for the young fledglings is a great experience each year.


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