monday open thoughts- Happy Labour Day!

The major deficiency I have found in the on-line birding sites and the bird ID books is that they are often short on descriptions of behavior patterns in certain species. So, even though behaviors can be important to distinguishing species, I have had to ID the species and then watch the behaviors to figure out what is what. Once you get a feel for a certain species' behaviors, then you can ID them much more quickly and with a less good view of them.

Also, the recordings of bird calls that are available online can be very helpful, but they are in no way comprehensive of the different calls that a species may use, they usually just have the most common song or call online. This year while carefully watching our neighborhood Mississippi Kites, I heard calls that were not available anywhere online. They have a call that seems to function as a sort of echo-locator between a mated pair. I heard it most at the beginning of the mating and nesting season when the female would sit in a treetop and wait to be fed by the male. As he approached with food, she would make this call so he would easily find her in whatever treetop she had chosen to wait for him. They also have a call that it is just a repeated first note of the two note call you can hear online. I never did determine exactly what that meant, but it seemed to be an alert that there was food or predator nearby, perhaps? Anyway, it was really cute and neat to watch the courtship and mating and then two months later see the fledgling learning to fly...

But that doesn't help us with the current question... Like I said, I'll think on it and see what else I can come up with.

"In proportion to the vigor of the individual, these revolutions are frequent, until in some happier mind they are incessant..." R.W.Emerson - Compensation

What blew me away in the latter's case, besides her voice, was her band.  I adore the Big Band sound, and didn't expect a contemporary popular singer to be using one to back her up.  So when I heard the song at my friend's pub, I had to check the jukebox to see what was playing.

Now, I think, I need to really speak with the woman who played it.  She and I clearly have similar taste in music: not just b/c of that one song, but b/c of the whole set she played.

English usage is sometimes more than mere taste, judgment and education - sometimes it's sheer luck, like getting across the street.
E. B. White  

"Indeed, if a poor man will spend a year in prison for stealing out of hunger,
how high would the gallows need to be to hang the rich man?"
~The Patrician in 'Snuff' by Terry Pratchett