I don't know much about birds. I can't identify them by call or appearance, except in a few specific cases. For example, I can recognize a nightingale, because I don't know any other birds that sing at night. However, if a thrush decided to sing at night, I would happily identify it also as a nightingale. Similarly, I can identify crows because they caw. Any other birds that caw, I call crows. They could probably be any other branch of the Corvidae.
These examples are chosen specifically because, in the trees next to my apartment, there reside a nightingale and a crow. All night long, the nightingale sings his little heart out outside my bedroom window. All. Night. Long. When he's done, his buddy the crow takes over. And caws. All morning. Sometimes, like right now, their shifts overlap.
I am reminded of the old Looney Tunes cartoon where the two sheepdogs punch a time clock to indicate when it's whose turn to abuse the poor coyote, who just thought that sheep would make a nice change from never actually catching roadrunners. Thankfully, there are no roadrunners living outside my window. The constant beep beep noise they make would drive me nuts-er than I am now. Plus I couldn't stand the exhaust fumes that always appear when they start running.
Have I mentioned that I don't really know much about birds?
3 comments:
mockingbirds sing at night too . . .
Ah, but as you will see if you follow the link, the "American Nightingale" is actually the same thing as a mockingbird.
record their songs, then ask the nice lady over at: http://sheswingingit.blogspot.com/
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