March 2016

The Overly Successful Starling

  From Middle English starling, sterling, sterlinge, from Old English starlinc, stærlinc (“starling”), from stær (“starling”) + -linc, -ling (diminutive suffix). Cognate with Middle Dutch sterlinck (“starling”). The European Starling’s scientific name is Sturnus vulgaris, which some think is very appropriate. Maybe the name is not fascinating, but the bird is. The European Starling was …

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Birds in Winter

Winter is a tough time for birds. Most insect-eating birds have made their way to the tropics of Central or South America, others have migrated down from higher latitudes or altitudes to winter in the valley, and some birds just stay put. The non-migratory species around northern California such as the Western Scrub Jay, Spotted Towhee, …

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The Black Phoebe- one of the common birds of the west

One of the more common birds around households in the west, the “phoebe”, pronounced “fee-bee”, comes from the high pitched short, thin whistled call of this bird (listen). In Greek mythology, Phoebe is the “moon goddess”, but I doubt if that had anything to do with the bird’s naming. Black and white, it is usually seen …

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Why Birds?

Hopefully you have paid a bit more attention to birds since I suggested that you try to spy them during your daily activities. Humans have paid attention to them for hundreds of thousands of years and incorporated their images into various symbols and art forms. Now look around your environment and see what bird-related objects you see. …

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Carrier Pigeons

Although we don’t use carrier pigeons to send messages anymore, they were once used extensively. With a short rolled up message inserted into a little tube attached to their leg a pigeon could deliver a message by simply returning “home”, wherever that might be. The system wasn’t perfect as birds occasionally got lost or taken …

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