Bird Words: fledge, fledgling
- Fledge: a bird is said to fledge when it is able to fly.
- Fledgling: a young bird that is partly or wholly covered in feathers. It is also used of a young bird when it first begins to fly.
Fledgling birds can be very easy to see because they are still learning to fly and will hang around more than more mature birds. However, they are sometimes not as easy to identify because their plumage has not fully developed the adult colours.
Willie Wagtail (baby)
One big plus for identification is the feeding habits of the parents. If you remain quiet and still a short distance away, the parents will often come up to feed the new fledgling bird, making your identification much easier.
Except in the case of young cuckoos; that’s a whole new ball game.
New Holland Honeyeater (baby just out of nest)
Birding Bloopers #12
This is number 12 in a series of bloopers shared by contributors to the Birding -Aus forum. It has been fascinating to record the lengths some birders go to in order to be embarrassed. It has also been great the number of birders willing to share their birding mistakes with the world.
I was with my family visiting South East Queensland a couple of years back, and we were on our way to dinner with Sue and Terry. Passing the MacDonald’s at the river crossing just south of Labrador I noticed something on the roof, perched in amongst a number of white ibis. I just had to check it out.
It was raining, but using my binoculars I could make out a definite owl of some description. I dropped Jan and Emma at the caravan park where we were staying and made my way back on foot. I carefully crept up to the building, somewhat out of sight of the customers, and my suspicions were confirmed. A definite owl – but with horns! Sensation!
However, after a short reality check I decided that what I was looking at was not a first for Australia, and neither was it an exquisitely carved banana peel, but rather a plastic owl. What it was doing there is anyone’s guess – if it was put there to keep the ibis away it was having no effect.
It’s probably still there.
Thanks to Bill for giving me permission to post this here.
To read more birding bloopers, click here.
Question for readers:
When did you experience an embarrassing birding moment? Perhaps it was a mistaken identification. Perhaps you didn’t look carefully enough and were later proved wrong. Maybe the bird itself fooled you in some way.
I invite readers to submit their birding bloopers in the comments section below. If it’s good enough I might just feature it in a post of its own, with a link back to your blog (if you have one).
Bird word: hackles
Hackles: long, prominent feathers on the throat or neck, as in ravens and crows.
In the Australian Raven, our largest species of corvids, the throat feathers, or hackles, are quite prominent. In fact, this can be very helpful when identifying this species. I do not yet have a photo of an Australian Raven. In the Little Raven, the common species in our district, the throat hackles are far less obvious, as you can see in the photo below.
Little Raven
As Sick as a Parrot
I have been writing about various idioms on my writing blog. Some of these relate to birds in some way. Today I discuss an idiom I don’t ever recall hearing before.
This week’s idiom: “As sick as a parrot.”
It may seem strange but this is one idiom I don’t think I’ve ever come across before reading it in a book of idioms. “As sick as a dog” I am familiar with but that has a different meaning. To be as sick as a dog is to be very sick.
Meaning:
To be as sick as a parrot is to be very disappointed or depressed.
Origin:
This saying may have several origins. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries people were said to be as “melancholy as a (sick) parrot.” In thinking about this, I have a theory. Parrots are fairly uncommon in Europe. Some early collectors of birds would have returned to chilly Europe, a climate quite unsuitable for tropical parrots, for example. Naturally the parrots would not have been happy on two or three counts, the cold climate, being in captivity and most likely alone. Can one blame them for being ‘melancholy’ and even becoming sick?
Another origin could have been in relation to a disease called psittacosis, or parrot fever, a common illness in cage birds. This disease is transferrable to humans. Since the 1970s this has been something of a problem for aviculturalists.
A third possible origin relates to its common usage in a sporting context. It has been suggested that this phrase was coined by an imaginative footballer describing his utter despair at losing an important game.
Example:
I was as sick as a parrot when my team lost the Grand Final.
Photo:
I have included below a photo of a very healthy parrot, a Sulphur Crested Cockatoo, a common species here in South Australia and one kept world wide as a pet. This one was very much active and healthy and in the company of a small group of other parrots. It did not look at all melancholy for it was investigating hollows in this tree with the aim of nesting.
Disclaimer: no parrots were hurt or became sick in the making of this article.
Sulphur Crested Cockatoo
New Design for this blog
6 Comments »3rd March, 2007; Category: General
Welcome to a completely new design for this blog.
My son Sim’ (The Rhyme of Sim‘) does all the technical stuff on my three blogs and he has completely redesigned the layout and look of each blog. I love what he has done with the photo of the Sulphur Crested Cockatoo in the photo above. Let me know what you think in the comments.
He has also done a facelift of my other two blogs.
Check them out here:
- Trevor’s Writing – my blog about writing, reading, blogging and hints for writers.
- Trevor’s Travels – my blog about my travels in Australia, Thailand and Nepal.