Birds - Endlessly Fascinating

[snoringdog]

Hello Mental Fairy,

Yes, birds do seem steeped in superstitions.
https://ca.audubon.org/news/13-bird-superstitions

I however, welcome them all!

Migration is starting here. This morning I saw three Palm warblers, which are among the early ones.

https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Palm_Warbler/id

palmWarbler.png (141.67 KiB) Viewed 3304 times

(Ducks are a pencil sketch BTW)

Hope you are well.

SD

[snoringdog]

So, there was a news story about how listening to birds can be soothing and helpful to one's state of mind. Well, DUH... This is news?!

I recently came across a few old CD's that I have with natural soundscapes ("Relax with ..." series), and did a search for "Relax with birds", and there's a lot of stuff on the web now.

Reminds me of the relaxing with sheep postings that were popular during Covid lockdowns.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZ1sa-r7gPM

(Baaaa'ing of sheep... snoring of dogs, all is right the world....)

Mental Fairy - I imagine that being in NZ, all you need to do is open your window for this...

[Mental Fairy]

Hi SD

That caught me off guard, your last comment. It never occurred to me that bird song is not right outside many peoples windows. I recall living in London and I moved within two weeks to find somewhere where I could be around wildlife. I admit I do take it for granted.

I went for a walk around the lake Mangamahoe again yesterday before todays storm and it was deafening to hear all the birds battling for solo. There is something very relaxing about laying in a park full of playful fantails.

Sheep however…….possibly. However I don’t mind a good moo! I do live in dairy region.

[snoringdog]

Whoo Hoo! - Good job Mental Fairy and any other Kiwis here!

The reintroduction of Kiwis into urban areas seems to have been successful, with at least a couple of hatchings.

The story made the front page of the NY Times

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/04/world/australia/kiwi-birds-wellington-new-zealand.html

Kiwi_Chicks.JPG (91.4 KiB) Viewed 3059 times

[Mental Fairy]

Oh my gosh I want to rub my face in the gorgeous little buggers. Oh I do love a kiwi.
A few years ago I was staying in a hut on the rangers of our hill (mountain, for SD) I heard this unfamiliar noise and low and behold there goes a kiwi past the long drop. Adorable, only one I’ve seen in the wild like that. Stunning birds.

Such innocent looking birds but if that beak got stuck up your arse you would know about it!

[manuel_moe_g]

Such innocent looking birds but if that beak got stuck up your arse you would know about it!

Ha!

[snoringdog]

Here's one for you Mental Fairy - Wild Kiwi

https://www.reddit.com/r/interestingasfuck/comments/1an3bfu/rare_footage_of_a_kiwi_bird/

And one of the comments -

I used to have a job sitting in the bush counting how many calls were made during breading season for them for a population count.

Creepy sounding things them alongside the pūkeko are scary things at night

[Mental Fairy]

There is something beautiful about a bird sound. Today I was geocaching in bushland, the symphony of birds was absolutely beautiful.

[snoringdog]

Even a sound like that! (I'm sure it was an alarm call).

Gonna look up Kiwi calls now...

[snoringdog]

And here they are!

https://savethekiwi.nz/about-kiwi/kiwi-facts/kiwi-calls/

I'd love to go camping in NZ. Maybe no sleep... Sounds wild!