Friday 26 February 2021

bitmap bull finch

Via Present /&/ Correct, we really enjoyed these graphics of pixelated renderings of common birds of Japan (ๆ—ฅๆœฌใฎ้‡Ž้ณฅไธ€่ฆง) and especially, vis-ร -vis a pair of our recent posts, could firstly relate to the slander and naming conventions of obvious avian defamers and secondly to more personalised labels for new electronic file folders and its source catalogue.  Much more to explore at the links above. 

Friday 12 February 2021

intermediate egret

Vis-ร -vis our last post, here’s a bit of a coda on avian nomenclature in this extensive thread of birds named by ornithologists who were clearly frightened by birds as young children and have since worked through that trauma hurling insults at select members of the group. There were too many funny names to mention them all but some of our tragic favourites were the Monotonous Lark, the Red-Rumped Bush Tyrant, the pictured Perplexing Scrubwren (our poster birb), the Rough-Faced Shag and the Smew. What’s your favourite and which would be a suitable stage name for you?

Thursday 11 February 2021

bird box

Via Waxy, not only do we learn that delightfully on classic Korean operating system and file storage utility, that a newly created folder was assigned the name of a type of bird (the Korean for “new” ์ƒˆ๋กœ์šด saelon being homonymous with bird, ์ƒˆ sae) and if one made too many folders (on the order of the hundreds) they would pled by starting to call them things like “I’ve run out of bird names,” “You’re still making folders” or “Please stop,” based on this Easter egg and programming artefact, there’s now an extension for Macintosh that draws on a list of over ten-thousand avian species at random and gives those names to new folders.

Tuesday 9 February 2021

6x6

bohemian to brocore: a non-exhaustive list of aesthetics—via Things Magazine 

billions and billions: a picture of the night sky that contains a petabyte of data 

fairy wren for scale: an ornithological chart comparing the diversity of body-size among our feathered friends

https://jeffreycombs.tumblr.com/post/622945915961065473/1-second-of-every-star-trek-tos-episode-enjoy
the hook shot: a fun and welcome example of chindลgu, the Japanese art of unuselessness 

satana lero wapezeka ndiwe edzi: the musical stylings of Gaspar Nali 

the city on the edge of forever: pictured also courtesy of Things Magazine, one second from every episode of Star Trek TOS by the franchise’s frequent guest star

Monday 7 December 2020

twitterpation

Predawn birdsong for some reason seems to peal with far more volume in the city than at home in the forest, and was noticing this fact on this dark December morn, also recalling how I’d read somewhere that more animals were becoming nocturnal to avoid human, so perhaps in the woods, our feathered friends aren’t compelled to be such early-risers, nor have they taken to our bird-feeders. So this latter sentiment from Victorian poet Oliver Herford (*1860 – †1935, born on the day that the referring article was published) coupled with the fact that ornithologists do not really know why birds sing during the winter with mating season so far off—both courtesy of Better Living through Beowulf—resonated with us as a reminder that the cold, dim days don’t last forever: 

I heard a bird sing
In the dark of December
A magical thing
And sweet to remember. 

“We are nearer to Spring
Than we were in September,”
I heard a bird sing
In the dark of December.

Wednesday 7 October 2020

little birdhouse in your soul

Spotted first at Pasa Bon!, the designation third space—which this apartment tower in Beijing also carries (2010 by architect Li Xinggang, ๆŽๅ…ด้’ข)—usually denotes a vanishing though often idealised hang-out spot that’s not work or home (Central Perk, the Peach Pit from 90210 but I think that these architectural accents, these roosts like birdhouses that project off each unit do qualify as somewhere liminal to escape to. Less like crowded apartments cheek-to-jowl, these flats seem more like stacked, vertical villas.

Sunday 4 October 2020

brother sun, sister moon

Fabulistically perhaps best-known for his ability to commune with Nature as a reflection of divinity and preaching to the birds—thus appointed patron saint of ecology in 1979 by Pope John Paul II, confessor, scholar and organiser Francis of Assisi (*1181 – †1226) is venerated on this day, the morning after having peacefully expired after receiving the stigmata from a vision of a crucified seraphim. Constituting religious orders for both men and women with significant political clout and endurance, Francis’ attempted a rapprochement with Al-Kamil, the Ayyubid sultan of Egypt, and put an end to the bloodshed of the Crusades and bring about peace. Though received graciously by the court of the sultan, the negotiations ultimately failed, although only the Franciscans were allowed to remain in the Holy Land after the fall of Crusader kingdoms as custodians on behalf of the Church.

Thursday 20 August 2020

ravenmaster

Via compatriot internet caretaker Nag on the Lake, we learn that troublingly the Tower of London’s resident corvids (see previously) are straying from their home, uncaptivated and driven to distraction by the lack of tourist traffic.
While lore holds that Charles II in 1675 just after the restoration of the monarchy (I wouldn’t take any chances either) first ordered the ravens to be cared for after receiving the prophesy that the crown and tower would both crumble if the birds departed, others source the mythology as a Victorian bit of whimsy, whom were rather probably more morbidly attracted to the spot in the first place due to all the executions and encouraged to remain because their scavenging habits that kept the place tidy. Whatever the case, I hope they’re not compelled to stray too far and that the crowds can return soon.

Saturday 16 May 2020

ranch style

We are enjoying these inspiring Mid-Century Modern backyard and balcony roosts for our avian friends crafted by Douglas Barnhard (see also here and here). Besides the standard accoutrements of feed, seed, pitch, perch and shelter there are water elements and landscaped succulent gardens for some models. See more at the link up top and at Barnhard’s shop.

Friday 1 May 2020

the kah and the coo

We very much enjoyed the referral to this series of gentle and earnest research papers from Canadian-American behavioural psychologist Wallace Craig (*1876 – †1954) examining the “voice and manners” of our pigeon and dove friends (1909 – 1911, see also), who himself displayed talent and dedication in observing and listening to these avian neighbours—including the Passenger Pigeon, which was already extinct at the time of writing but the birds’ fate was not yet known for sure. Even transcribing their calls and vocalisations in musical notation, Craig goes on further to study the pigeon’s sexual dimorphisms and differences in gait and pace and pecks. Much more to explore at the links above.

Monday 13 April 2020

a financially unstable mess but at the liquor store they call me ma’am

Matt “the Mincing Mockingbird” Adrian paints an expressive range of avian friends with a certain deftness juxtaposed with humorous titles and captions that contrasts the beauty of Nature with the humdrum complaints of human existence. Visit the artist’s website and have look through his expansive portfolio and see if you can tag yourself.

Wednesday 13 November 2019

pavlovian response

Though sadly his predictions about being up to our necks in bugs did not come to pass and by losing the insects we are losing the song birds as well and we’d prefer this method of conditioning feline instincts, I think that it was a pretty noble notion on the part of inventor and erstwhile actor Desmond Slattery to save our avian friends from our domestic ambush by associating a poaching with a violent and memorable explosion through a treacherous decoy that did exactly that. Debuting his prototype in 1968, Slattery hoped that cats and birds would going forward coexist in harmony.

Saturday 11 August 2018

tuppence a bag

I had the thought walking through the city the other day noticing the persistent scratching and pecking of pigeons amid all the rubbish on the streets and wondered if the two factors (pigeons aren’t pests, just opportunistic and very tolerable of human vermin) could be combined to achieve a solution. I don’t want to frame pigeons as underachievers but I don’t know if they can be trained—although doves seem very patient and compliant with prestidigitators and seen to have enjoyed their work as emissaries—to pick up and sort trash.
I’ll have to ask a friend who is a pigeon fancier what he thinks of my scheme. Maybe it’s simpler to train people to be decent and not litter rather than have someone else clean-up after us. In any case—that same thought has been turned into a real exercise at a historic park in France, where rangers and handlers are training rooks to spruce up the place and pick up any stray litter, human visitors being generally respectful about leaving nothing else behind, in exchange for a small morsel of bird food. What do you think? As with any intervention, there could be unforeseen consequences. Perhaps corvids are better at teaching other birds to execute clean-up missions. I think, especially with the insect population dangerously low with knock-on effects up the food chain, maybe this relieves some pressure on the competition for scarce resources by feeding the birds as a reward.

Monday 2 July 2018

post-dated post script: shore birds

We’ve returned to a very fine campsite on the southern end of Lake Garda (previously) but this time were graced with a pitch directly on the water, just behind a copse of reeds that despite the foot-traffic of campers and dogs, a variety of sea birds use as a living and breeding habitat.
There were the familiar friends in mallards and those more mysterious and wary black plumed birds with the white beaks that I called Nล theatre ducks until learning that they’re properly called bandicoots (Fulica—Latin for coot, a mud hen, apparently oder eine Blรคsshuhn) but judging by the multi-voiced chorus each morning, a crescendo of calls that formed this wall of sound, there were more sorts of birds hiding in the tall grass.
Later some sea gulls, crows, pigeons (the latter being strange candidates for cohabitating I thought) revealed themselves but we still weren’t able to identify all the cries, which was quite the persistent wake-up call with no snooze option. For warmth, growing ducklings sleep all tangled up, like a rat king.
I recall reading how in huge colonies, bats and other swarming creatures distinguish their vocal signatures by choosing unique places in terms of frequency or pitch but in situations where range is shared, I wondered how confusion was avoided—except that these diverse species seem to respect one another and wait their turns, going in a sort of coordinated, pre-arranged sequence. Here are a couple of audio samples, which became a pretty endearing accompaniment over the next few days. I wish I had taken a recording during the first few days before the weather turned stormy as the sounds seemed more distinct and there was less lapping of waves but happily all the residents and the reeds weathered the winds and driven rains just fine, if not a bit off key.
 
 

Sunday 26 March 2017

frame-rate or walk-cycle

Via Everlasting Blรถrt we are treated to more crisply animated loops (read more about the history and development of the graphics interchange format here) by South African digital art and typography studio MUTI, which has quite impressive portfolio. Check out the last of the links to see more of their work and perhaps inquire about a commission.


Saturday 24 September 2016

coop and coup

Amazingly, pigeons can be taught to read or at least spell-check, an extensive study conducted in Ruhr-University Bochum has concluded.
Building off of the autoshaping, conditioned behaviour developed by psychologist BF Skinner (which incidentally was used to pilot the first smart-bombs), researchers found the best and brightest and had them begin learning to differentiate words and pick out phoney words inserted into otherwise orthographically correct blocks of text. While they may not understand written language, they seem just as adapt as other animals whose ability and intellect is held in higher esteem and seem to pick up new vocabulary (and even conjugation and plural forms) with ease. Maybe we’d ought to look out for eavesdropping pigeons reading over our shoulders as well. They’d probably be just as quick and accurate at texting too.

Monday 6 September 2010

pigeon forge

From our balcony looking towards the little river, we have a regular display of wild birds.  Sometimes when an unusual one passes by, I try to identify it in this old children's birdwatchers' guidebook, which does a pretty good job of illustrating Germany's fowl. 
While trying to name our most recent siting, I was reading over the pigeon and dove (Tauben) section, and wondered at the caption accompanying the common, city pigeon, die Tรผrkentaube.  At first, I wondered just at the name, and then at the text, "They have lived with us since 1946," going on to describe its environment and feeding habits.  I thought, how did the pigeons know that the war was over--what a strange thing to insert in a children's book and what does that have to say about current immigration and integration reform.  It turns out that this now ubiquitous breed of pigeon, whose native range is from Turkey to Japan, was not introduced into European stocks until this time, in efforts to restore roosts and an industry damaged by years of violence.