Thursday, March 15, 2007

My favorite birds

Roadrunner
Woodpecker - and not just because of Woody
Water Ouzel
Owl (from the spotted own to the cigarbox White Owl)
Hummingbird - What's not to like?
Crow - for their color, and intelligence
Buzzards, Hawks, Eagles. . .all the raptors - Just Because
Chicken, Pigeon, Duck, Squab, Turkey, Pheasant, Quail, Goose - they're good eatin'!
Lyre Bird [1] - see this fantastic video by David Attenborough below if you doubt me on this one.
Any of the amazing birds Morris Graves ever painted


You will need to click the play button 2x (don't ask)

[1] The Lyre Bird is a fantastic mimic: it can imitate people, cars, machinery, even chain saws and pneumatic drills. According to the Wikipedia: "A lyrebird's call is a rich mixture of its own song and any number of other sounds it has heard. The lyrebird's syrinx is the most complexly-muscled of the Passerines (songbirds), giving the lyrebird extraordinary ability, unmatched in vocal repertoire and mimicry. Lyrebirds render with great fidelity the individual songs of other birds and the chatter of flocks of birds, and also mimic other animals, human noises, machinery of all kinds, explosions and musical instruments. The lyrebird is capable of imitating almost any sound — from a mill whistle to a cross-cut saw, and, not uncommonly, sounds as diverse as chainsaws, car engines, and alarms, camera shutters, dogs barking, and crying babies. Lyrebirds are shy birds and a constant stream of bird calls coming from one place is often the only way of identifying them and their presence."
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