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Category Archives: Birds and Such

Innocent Until Proven Guilty

11-Jan-08
Innocent Until Proven Guilty
“I do not steal shiny objects!”

I’m still conjuring up crow images.

In the process of researching crows I remembered something I had long forgotten. They are pretty smart and they like shiny objects. In fact they find ways to steal them so they can hoard them away.

Reminds me of Emelda Marcos and her shoe compulsion — I’m sure they were shiny.

Anyway, I got to thinkin’ about how a crow might react to the media circus that would result if he were indicted on felony burglary charges. I mean indicting a crow would certainly be a first and the media jumps all over first time court cases.

What Would The Usual Suspects Do?

Nancy Grace would have an Ivy League legal expert on her show offering up his opinions on whether the case was even constitutional. Then she’d have an experienced female behavioral expert chime in on whether this was an in-born behavior or a choice the crow made. And of course the male legal expert and the female behavioral expert would get into a heated debate on the moral aspects of incarcerating a crow for in-born behavior — something he couldn’t help.

Now, since the crow is black, the NAACP would demand equal time on the airwaves and stage a peaceful protest outside Nancy’s studio.

If the case were in fact prosecuted and won by the feds, a precedent would be set and in short order every crow would be caught stealing, filling up our prisons with yet another apparently singled out group — ripe pickings for the American Civil Liberties Union and The Sierra Club — a Save The Crows coalition would be initiated by them.

People in large SUV’s would be driving around with little magnetic black ribbons on the back with “support our crows” written across them.

Then you’ve got your big money crows. The white collar burglars. They would assemble a team of flashy, high profile attorneys, most likely Parrots and Cockatoos. Each case would be a security nightmare because of all the socially deprived stray cats trying to get in and execute their own form of vigil ante justice on the rich bastards.

And The Big Question…What Would Oprah Do?

I can envision Oprah interviewing a defendant whose case was found to be a miscarriage of justice after spending ten years in prison. Eventually freed after the real perpetrator was uncovered, it turned out the poor crow was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Oprah would naturally shed a few tears upon hearing his story told to America on her show — think tight close-up of Oprah here. Then, in an act of total generosity, in front of millions of American viewers, she would give the crow all her jewelry, free and clear, to hoard away any way he likes. The audience would rise and cheer and America would witness another first, a crow balling his eyes out in gratitude.

Bless her heart!
Bless his heart too!

Mmm, Mmm, Mmm…this is what I do in my idle minutes.

Seen Any Worms?

06-Jan-08
Seen Any Worms?

Do you think there are “conversations” that go on in nature?

If there are, we certainly aren’t privy to them.

So that means there aren’t any right? I mean if there were, we’d surely know about them by now. I mean we WOULD know because we know everything…right?

Seems to me these questions fall into the category of:
Is there a Bigfoot?
Is there a Loch Ness Monster?

If one day we actually DO find a Bigfoot, Nessie…etc.
Then I would most likely be inclined to think these conversations, out in the woods, when nobody is around, between crows and toadstools, cows and ducks…heck pretty much everything…probably do go on.

And we will all simply be walking around saying “I’ll be dad burned!” when we find out about it.

Crow Bar

04-Jan-08
Crow Bar

A Play on words.

Ever wonder if other languages have the luxury of built-in humor in them?

I mean a crowbar is a tool. And a crow bar is a bar where crows get drunk.
At least the redneck crows get drunk.

I’m sure there are some cigar smoking, skirt chasing, “gentleman” crows that don’t exactly get drunk.
On second thought…they probably do get drunk but don’t let on.
They would be the lawyer crows naturally.

And then you would have the ravens that frequent Crow’s Place. They would be the politician, judge, doctor, professor, poet and artist crows of course. They aren’t going to be satisfied being called a crow. And they are going to drink expensive wine and talk about it a lot. Most likely they won’t get drunk though. Ravens are too sophisticated for that.

But I digress…

The language thing. I know zero about other languages so I do wonder if they have words that are the same but can be used in different contexts so as to make a pun or play on words…like crowbar and crow bar.

I’ve tried making plays on words with various foreigners whom I’ve met. That’s how I test their knowledge of the language. Most often they look at me oddly. Of course they smile politely, but that look is a dead give away that they didn’t get it.

I get the same result from them if I use colloquialisms in talking to them.

For Example:
I recently had a concrete block retaining wall built here at my house. Naturally, the four guys doing the work were Mexicans and the one supervisor (read translator) was an evil white Anglo Saxon male.

The wall was going along fine until I stood on the property in such a way that I could see it was leaning a teeny bit. Not good. Better to have them fix it early in the process.

So, I said to the four Mexicans working on the wall…”hey, that wall is leanin’ towards Miss Jones’es” as I swung my hand and arm in the appropriate direction.

They all looked at each other for support, then they all looked at me, and in unison said, “¿Que?”.

I went and got the translator. Obviously they didn’t know Southern.

See? Colloquialisms are a great test of whether a foreigner knows the language. Try it.

Now, if any one of you dear readers knows whether other languages are set up and ripe for puns, colloquialisms and plays on words, I’d like to know.

And if you don’t want to participate in educating the author, you might enjoy bidding on the illustration over at eBay if you think you’d like to have it as a souvenir.

French Fry Watch

28-Dec-07
French Fry Watch

We have a bunch of crows in our neighborhood that wake me up every morning. I’m not appreciating that fact right now because they usually start cawing about an hour or two before I intend to get up.

This has set me to paying attention to crows a bit. I’ve never really watched them much.

Not far from me is a McDonalds…the one that can never get the tea order correct.
I was sitting in the parking lot enjoying my items from the dollar menu…and lo! I spotted a Crow waiting for a french fry.

How do I know he was waiting for a french fry? Because I tossed one out the window and he immediately swooped down and flew off with it.

It suited my mind at the time to believe I had communicated with the Crow in some sort of mental stream of silent man-to-bird consciousness, discerning that he wanted a french fry. And thus I gave to the Crow what he so longed after, fulfilling my repressed feelings of wanting to commune with nature on a level that our Native American brethren must have commanded when they lived here alone on this continent, in the wilderness, centuries ago.

That of course is B.S.
Truth be told, I could have thrown a five pound chuck roast out the window and he would have tried to fly off with it as well. Crows will eat anything.

But hey…it makes for a good story doesn’t it?

Bird Watcher

03-May-07
Bird Watcher

Our hotel room in Destin had a nice little balcony overlooking the boulevard, and beyond, a spot or two of ocean peeking between condo hi-rises.

As I sat there in the morning, drinking a cup of coffee, I realized I was being watched from above.

All about were these little sparrows flitting. We were four floors up so I was a bit confused as to why they were up there. Then I looked up and saw one of the little stinkers guarding the entrance to his nest…in the eave.

At the corner of the terra cotta roof there was a cavity. And in it, a nest, the straws of which were barely visible. When I moved my coffee cup to my mouth, the little fellow popped into the cavity.

I took a look at all the other eaves within sight and those too had nests in the cavities at the corners.

Later on, I put a few crumbs on the banister and they of course lit there and flew away with the booty…sometimes to the nests.

The roofing system seemed well made and well thought out. The entire front of the roof, where it ended along the fascia, was blocked off with a black piece of aluminum or plastic the exact shape of the undulating terra cotta tiles. But at the corners, no such thought had been given.

This of course was quickly found out by the sparrows. And feeding the sparrows became amusement for hotel guests (I being one).

It is an interesting maintenance battle that builders and architects have waged over the ages against nature. Just when they think they have it licked, nature finds a way ’round it.

I suppose some maintenance manager will requisition some of those large fake owls for the corners of the building before long. Thus putting a bit of a damper on the “vision” the Architect had for the place.

Martin’s Landing

13-Sep-06
Martin

Here is that rough sketch of the opposite bank of the Chattahoochee mentioned in the previous post…

ACEO Art Card, Baby Hummingbirds

26-Jul-06
Baby Hummingbirds

Baby hummingbirds are about the size of one’s thumb tip. They look like little lumps of coal except for their tiny pink beaks and young, iridescent green plummage starting to emerge. It has always amazed me that these little birds can be so aggressive and hostile when they grow up.

We have hummingbird feeders all around the deck and each year a couple of hummers fight over the feeders. That is to say each feeder gets a couple of different hummers squabbling over it.

They actually make squeaky noises as they fight and can be fairly loud. In reading about them, I found that during battle, they have been known to harpoon each other with their beaks. And yes, death results. See what I mean by hostile?

Makes me kinda nervous when I’m on the deck reading the paper and one comes up beside me and hovers…just looking at me. I tend to unconciously place my hand over my jugular and ignore the little bugger.