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#81378 09/22/02 12:08 AM
Joined: Sep 2001
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Carpal Tunnel
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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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wwh Offline OP
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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.





formerly known as etaoin...
#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.



formerly known as etaoin...
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