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Post by pippsheadache on Sept 10, 2023 20:11:10 GMT -5
Just to pick up on the bird chatter from the game thread -- definitely miscellany, and one of my favorite topics. Yes, doves and pigeons all belong to the order columbidae, they are the same family. The common names dove and pigeon are just arbitrary, and what we call the pigeon (or rock dove) is just an urbanized and less desirable brother of the mourning dove or the white-winged dove or the ground dove, to name a few of the more common ones in the US. The extinct passenger pigeon -- the last one died in 1914, even though as late as the mid-nineteenth century they were more numerous than pigeons -- looked a lot like a mourning dove, but with a redder breast. Yep, ravens are larger than crows as Inger noted. They are rarely seen in the Eastern US, mostly west of the Mississippi. Unlike crows, they have a distinctive croak rather than a caw, and they also have a kind of goatee hanging from their neck. Also unlike crows they normally travel in pairs rather than in large groups looking to pick a fight like crows do. There is one other common US crow, the fish crow, which is normally only along the Atlantic Coast and Gulf Coast. They are smaller than crows and their call is more of a nasal honk. Crows, jays and magpies are all in the order corvidae. They are probably the most intelligent of all bird families and they have an elaborate language of sounds that ornithologists spend a lot of time studying. One trait they all seem to have in common is that they are rather aggressive, at least compared to most bird families, and love to gang up on birds of prey like hawks and owls. And the business about buzzards. This is another area where the common name, which in the US is often applied to vultures, is misleading. Actual buzzards belong to the order buteo, which in the US includes well-known hawks like the red-tailed hawk, broad-winged hawk, red-shouldered hawk and ferruginous hawk. Vultures in the US include the turkey vulture (most common), black vulture and California condor (very rare.) One of the most amazing things about a turkey vulture is that it can smell dead meat from as much as eight miles away. They're ugly and have disgusting habits like vomiting as a defense mechanism, but they do a lot of good by getting rid of the rotting carcasses of dead critters. That post was for the birds. Just kidding pipps.  I can empty a room pretty quickly when it comes to our fine feathered friends. Ever notice how many bird names have negative connotations? Who wants to be known as a pigeon? Or a turkey? Or a chicken? If we crow about something, it's hardly considered a virtue. Same when we parrot an opinion. An undeserving pitcher vultures a win. Someone can be crazy as a loon. Moe often referred to Curly as "birdbrain." Of course, there is always the lucky duck, I suppose. |
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Post by kaybli on Sept 10, 2023 20:13:56 GMT -5
That post was for the birds. Just kidding pipps. I can empty a room pretty quickly when it comes to our fine feathered friends. Ever notice how many bird names have negative connotations? Who wants to be known as a pigeon? Or a turkey? Or a chicken? If we crow about something, it's hardly considered a virtue. Same when we parrot an opinion. An undeserving pitcher vultures a win. Someone can be crazy as a loon. Moe often referred to Curly as "birdbrain." Of course, there is always the lucky duck, I suppose. lol.
There's always our old friend, Greg Bird. |
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Post by BillyBones on Sept 10, 2023 20:33:43 GMT -5
That post was for the birds. Just kidding pipps. I can empty a room pretty quickly when it comes to our fine feathered friends. Ever notice how many bird names have negative connotations? Who wants to be known as a pigeon? Or a turkey? Or a chicken? If we crow about something, it's hardly considered a virtue. Same when we parrot an opinion. An undeserving pitcher vultures a win. Someone can be crazy as a loon. Moe often referred to Curly as "birdbrain." Of course, there is always the lucky duck, I suppose. I hadn't thought about the usually negative connotations related to birds until you brought it up. but even the entire group being called fowl (foul) says something, I guess. One positive usage is "He has an eye like an eagle". |
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Post by BillyBones on Sept 10, 2023 20:38:41 GMT -5
I can empty a room pretty quickly when it comes to our fine feathered friends. Ever notice how many bird names have negative connotations? Who wants to be known as a pigeon? Or a turkey? Or a chicken? If we crow about something, it's hardly considered a virtue. Same when we parrot an opinion. An undeserving pitcher vultures a win. Someone can be crazy as a loon. Moe often referred to Curly as "birdbrain." Of course, there is always the lucky duck, I suppose. lol.
There's always our old friend, Greg Bird. Then there's the infamous finger sign known as the bird. That went back past Casey's time as a player, and was the basis for his releasing a sparrow from under his cap to respond to the boos of the crowd, instead of getting in trouble by using the finger sign. That's my understanding, anyway. |
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Post by rizzuto on Sept 10, 2023 20:50:00 GMT -5
That post was for the birds. Just kidding pipps. I can empty a room pretty quickly when it comes to our fine feathered friends. Ever notice how many bird names have negative connotations? Who wants to be known as a pigeon? Or a turkey? Or a chicken? If we crow about something, it's hardly considered a virtue. Same when we parrot an opinion. An undeserving pitcher vultures a win. Someone can be crazy as a loon. Moe often referred to Curly as "birdbrain." Of course, there is always the lucky duck, I suppose. Another positive is being eagle-eyed or as wise as an owl. And, as Harper Lee wrote, "it is a sin to kill a mockingbird." So many on the other side of the fence, though: silly goose, for the birds, and my father used to refer to bluejays as "butcher birds." He would get angry when they would steal kibble from the dog's dish, "Damn, butcher birds!" he'd yell disdainfully. Also, I remember Sheriff Andy Taylor on The Andy Griffith Show referring to a character as a "mean old buzzard." |
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Post by inger on Sept 10, 2023 22:21:34 GMT -5
Just to pick up on the bird chatter from the game thread -- definitely miscellany, and one of my favorite topics. Yes, doves and pigeons all belong to the order columbidae, they are the same family. The common names dove and pigeon are just arbitrary, and what we call the pigeon (or rock dove) is just an urbanized and less desirable brother of the mourning dove or the white-winged dove or the ground dove, to name a few of the more common ones in the US. The extinct passenger pigeon -- the last one died in 1914, even though as late as the mid-nineteenth century they were more numerous than pigeons -- looked a lot like a mourning dove, but with a redder breast. Yep, ravens are larger than crows as Inger noted. They are rarely seen in the Eastern US, mostly west of the Mississippi. Unlike crows, they have a distinctive croak rather than a caw, and they also have a kind of goatee hanging from their neck. Also unlike crows they normally travel in pairs rather than in large groups looking to pick a fight like crows do. There is one other common US crow, the fish crow, which is normally only along the Atlantic Coast and Gulf Coast. They are smaller than crows and their call is more of a nasal honk. Crows, jays and magpies are all in the order corvidae. They are probably the most intelligent of all bird families and they have an elaborate language of sounds that ornithologists spend a lot of time studying. One trait they all seem to have in common is that they are rather aggressive, at least compared to most bird families, and love to gang up on birds of prey like hawks and owls. And the business about buzzards. This is another area where the common name, which in the US is often applied to vultures, is misleading. Actual buzzards belong to the order buteo, which in the US includes well-known hawks like the red-tailed hawk, broad-winged hawk, red-shouldered hawk and ferruginous hawk. Vultures in the US include the turkey vulture (most common), black vulture and California condor (very rare.) One of the most amazing things about a turkey vulture is that it can smell dead meat from as much as eight miles away. They're ugly and have disgusting habits like vomiting as a defense mechanism, but they do a lot of good by getting rid of the rotting carcasses of dead critters. If I recall my elementary school history, didn’t the columbidae discover America?… Thanks for the additional bird information! |
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Post by pippsheadache on Sept 11, 2023 8:52:48 GMT -5
I can empty a room pretty quickly when it comes to our fine feathered friends. Ever notice how many bird names have negative connotations? Who wants to be known as a pigeon? Or a turkey? Or a chicken? If we crow about something, it's hardly considered a virtue. Same when we parrot an opinion. An undeserving pitcher vultures a win. Someone can be crazy as a loon. Moe often referred to Curly as "birdbrain." Of course, there is always the lucky duck, I suppose. Another positive is being eagle-eyed or as wise as an owl. And, as Harper Lee wrote, "it is a sin to kill a mockingbird." So many on the other side of the fence, though: silly goose, for the birds, and my father used to refer to bluejays as "butcher birds." He would get angry when they would steal kibble from the dog's dish, "Damn, butcher birds!" he'd yell disdainfully. Also, I remember Sheriff Andy Taylor on The Andy Griffith Show referring to a character as a "mean old buzzard." Not to drag this out forever -- but another positive connotation, at least as Red Barber phrased it, is being in the catbird's seat. Of course in golf a birdie, eagle and albatross are all desiderata. On the other hand, an albatross around one's neck is not something to be sought, so maybe that one's a wash. Not good -- being an old coot. To quail in fear. To be cuckoo. To be sent to the booby hatch. Canary in a coal mine? I guess that can go either way, but it's not a job most of us would want. I'm going to fly the coop on this topic now. |
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Post by inger on Sept 11, 2023 11:55:07 GMT -5
Another positive is being eagle-eyed or as wise as an owl. And, as Harper Lee wrote, "it is a sin to kill a mockingbird." So many on the other side of the fence, though: silly goose, for the birds, and my father used to refer to bluejays as "butcher birds." He would get angry when they would steal kibble from the dog's dish, "Damn, butcher birds!" he'd yell disdainfully. Also, I remember Sheriff Andy Taylor on The Andy Griffith Show referring to a character as a "mean old buzzard." Not to drag this out forever -- but another positive connotation, at least as Red Barber phrased it, is being in the catbird's seat. Of course in golf a birdie, eagle and albatross are all desiderata. On the other hand, an albatross around one's neck is not something to be sought, so maybe that one's a wash. Not good -- being an old coot. To quail in fear. To be cuckoo. To be sent to the booby hatch. Canary in a coal mine? I guess that can go either way, but it's not a job most of us would want. I'm going to fly the coop on this topic now. A ball player can be tossed from the game for chirping from the bench. I remember that for some unknown reason my mother used to despise the starlings when they would flock in migration season and stop in our yard for a rest. She’d say they were crowding out all the little birds… |
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Post by rizzuto on Sept 11, 2023 12:05:36 GMT -5
Not to drag this out forever -- but another positive connotation, at least as Red Barber phrased it, is being in the catbird's seat. Of course in golf a birdie, eagle and albatross are all desiderata. On the other hand, an albatross around one's neck is not something to be sought, so maybe that one's a wash. Not good -- being an old coot. To quail in fear. To be cuckoo. To be sent to the booby hatch. Canary in a coal mine? I guess that can go either way, but it's not a job most of us would want. I'm going to fly the coop on this topic now. A ball player can be tossed from the game for chirping from the bench. I remember that for some unknown reason my mother used to despise the starlings when they would flock in migration season and stop in our yard for a rest. She’d say they were crowding out all the little birds… Your mother would have really hated the grackles in Texas. Around October, they congregate in store parking lots, very confident birds and unafraid of humans it seems.  |
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Post by pippsheadache on Sept 11, 2023 12:16:23 GMT -5
Not to drag this out forever -- but another positive connotation, at least as Red Barber phrased it, is being in the catbird's seat. Of course in golf a birdie, eagle and albatross are all desiderata. On the other hand, an albatross around one's neck is not something to be sought, so maybe that one's a wash. Not good -- being an old coot. To quail in fear. To be cuckoo. To be sent to the booby hatch. Canary in a coal mine? I guess that can go either way, but it's not a job most of us would want. I'm going to fly the coop on this topic now. A ball player can be tossed from the game for chirping from the bench. I remember that for some unknown reason my mother used to despise the starlings when they would flock in migration season and stop in our yard for a rest. She’d say they were crowding out all the little birds… Your mother was right. For years we had a whole battery of bird feeders -- something for every taste, including suet for the woodpeckers and orange slices for the orioles. When we weren't fending off the squirrels, we had to deal with aggressive mobs of starlings and grackles who would sometimes invade by the hundreds and clean us out in no time. Eventually we limited their flash mobs by getting feeders that made it more difficult for them to gobble down the food so easily and they went off looking for easier pickings. When we put on a new deck a few years ago we reluctantly decided that as much as we loved the wide variety of birds who dropped by, we were getting less tolerant of constantly cleaning the inevitable mess they made. Now we're just down to hummingbird feeders, but they provide so much entertainment with their endless territorial wars and getting right in our faces when the feeders are getting low that it helped ease the transition. They are amazing creatures, not much bigger than hornets (at least the ruby-throated, which is what we have in the east) and much more combative. |
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Post by pippsheadache on Sept 11, 2023 12:18:07 GMT -5
A ball player can be tossed from the game for chirping from the bench. I remember that for some unknown reason my mother used to despise the starlings when they would flock in migration season and stop in our yard for a rest. She’d say they were crowding out all the little birds… Your mother would have really hated the grackles in Texas. Around October, they congregate in store parking lots, very confident birds and unafraid of humans it seems. Yep. Grackles are the hardened criminals of the bird world. |
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Post by Renfield on Sept 11, 2023 12:48:54 GMT -5
Another positive is being eagle-eyed or as wise as an owl. And, as Harper Lee wrote, "it is a sin to kill a mockingbird." So many on the other side of the fence, though: silly goose, for the birds, and my father used to refer to bluejays as "butcher birds." He would get angry when they would steal kibble from the dog's dish, "Damn, butcher birds!" he'd yell disdainfully. Also, I remember Sheriff Andy Taylor on The Andy Griffith Show referring to a character as a "mean old buzzard." Not to drag this out forever -- but another positive connotation, at least as Red Barber phrased it, is being in the catbird's seat. Of course in golf a birdie, eagle and albatross are all desiderata. On the other hand, an albatross around one's neck is not something to be sought, so maybe that one's a wash. Not good -- being an old coot. To quail in fear. To be cuckoo. To be sent to the booby hatch. Canary in a coal mine? I guess that can go either way, but it's not a job most of us would want. I'm going to fly the coop on this topic now. To stop now would be a cardinal sin. |
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Post by pippsheadache on Sept 11, 2023 12:53:54 GMT -5
Not to drag this out forever -- but another positive connotation, at least as Red Barber phrased it, is being in the catbird's seat. Of course in golf a birdie, eagle and albatross are all desiderata. On the other hand, an albatross around one's neck is not something to be sought, so maybe that one's a wash. Not good -- being an old coot. To quail in fear. To be cuckoo. To be sent to the booby hatch. Canary in a coal mine? I guess that can go either way, but it's not a job most of us would want. I'm going to fly the coop on this topic now. To stop now would be a cardinal sin. This whole thing started out as a lark, but now I'm sitting here with my heron fire trying to force out a few more. |
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Post by inger on Sept 11, 2023 13:34:24 GMT -5
A ball player can be tossed from the game for chirping from the bench. I remember that for some unknown reason my mother used to despise the starlings when they would flock in migration season and stop in our yard for a rest. She’d say they were crowding out all the little birds… Your mother would have really hated the grackles in Texas. Around October, they congregate in store parking lots, very confident birds and unafraid of humans it seems. I don’t know if we’ll see grackles in this valley, but we did in Pueblo West. I like them. They’re only there for a short while. Actually, my mom used to call the grackles starlings in a case of misidentification. I had forgotten that. I only learned many years later that they were grackles… |
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Post by inger on Sept 11, 2023 13:42:48 GMT -5
You know how I can be. I could keep puffin on for hours, but at the moment I have to be a roadrunner and head to town… I hope I can do so safely. Let osprey…
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