I'd love to claim that I'd taken this picture when I was fortunate enough to see one of these beautiful birds on Tuesday - unfortunately mine came out so blurred and out of focus that even I'm struggling to identify the brown blob at the centre of the screen as a bird. This is a picture of the now-famous Dipper, a bird which I think has a pretty strong claim to be adopted as the official bird of Readers Recommend. If you've ever had the honour (and it really is an honour) of watching one in action, you'll agree that it does exactly what we do - constantly seeking out new pleasures, bobbing up and down to the music that's surely in its head, twitching its tail in time to the rhythm, and dipping in and out of the water, trying out this and that.
ToffeeGirl and I are off on another walk this afternoon - we're crossing the Forth into the Kingdom of Fife (aka Blimpyland) but only just. A short stroll around North Queensferry is the order of the day - hopefully more interesting bird sightings to report back.
A question for you all: if not the Dipper, which bird/animal should be adopted as the official RR mascot?
EDIT: Thanks to ejd for starting a moon-themed post above. Can we transfer our moon-based activities up there - much as I appreciate the 'traffic', I fear that my poor little dipper's in danger of being eclipsed!
EDIT #2: Apologies to everyone for my revisionist approach to history. I've moved all the non-Dipper/RR familiar comments up to ejd's post above. Sorry if I've lost anything important and sorry if it's made anyone feel at all discombobulated. Particular apologies to Chris whose comments I moved mid-conversation as it were ...
20 comments:
With all due deference to sowc and his blue dawg, I thought the domestic cat had already assumed this postition. In the way that they do....
Yes Chris, I think you're right but were we to widen the goalposts and start admitting foreigners to our elite group I'd stick with birds and add a couple of my own.
1. The Mockingbird, an absolutely fabulous songbird, he gets his name from stealing quotes from every other bird he hears. Some people hate 'em because they often get very vocal round about midnight, that's when I love to hear 'em when it's dead silent and then suddenly this amazing 'solo' starts, he'll go on all night, always fortissimo.
2. The Hummingbird, I think they're almost tame, I've many times had one hover a foot in front of my nose looking straight into my eyes and with that 3" dagger it's a bit un-nerving. Also the tongue is amazing, I've seen what seems like several inches sticking out.
3. Hawks and all raptors, the most regal of all birds, we have a pair of red-tailed hawks that come back every spring to nest in one of our trees and the screeching and aerial gymnastics are wonderful to see and hear.
The Spengwarbler?
Lesser or Greater Spotted?
In honour of DarceysDad and many others, something nocturnal ! A tawny owl, not that I'm knowledgeable about different species.
To-whit-to-Drive-By-Truckers-too-whoo !
But actually I'm with you on the Dipper, as a dipper in-and-out myself.
Donds for dippers. We used to see them - maybe once or twice a holiday - on childhood trips to the Brecon Beacons.
Mention of the Spengwarbler reminds me that I wanted to share the name of the mortgage consultant I spoke to the other day: Brian Spong. It wasn't easy to take him seriously.
Why's no one listening to my AOTW then, huh?
Back from a very pleasant walk around along of the Fife Coast Path. No particularly exciting birds but a couple of Oystercatchers on the shoreline and the strangely incongruous sight of a wren hopping around on some huge beach boulders were the highlights.
It's almost like being on Twitter (twitter! birds? geddit!!?? oh, please yourselves...)
Toffeeboy - We went birdwatching in Edinburgh. One of my fondest memories EVER.
Is everyone else making a list of moon songs? I don't like when it goes up early but you can't actually comment.
I want Sun Moon Stars - Mos Def
Blue Moon of Kentucky - Bill Monroe
and so so many others.
Bird wise I'd be tempted by Kea- extremely inquisitive- Magpie, or Cuckoo, but I think the Bellbird is best- equipped with an incredible range of songs, and can copy nearly any other one it hears which it doesn't already know.
I like the Dipper. Sounds perfect. Did you see the birdsong clock advertised in the Grauniad today? A different bird every hour on the hour ... bet they haven't got a Dipper, though.
Fife ahoy!
@barbryn: I'm listening to it right now!
I've seen a dipper. once. thrilled I was.
My parents have a birdsong clock; they got it from France, so I don't know if it's the same as the one on offer (it does have various exotics). Drives me up the wall within three hours of arriving in their house, mind you.
Strongly inclined to skip this weekend on the Mothership altogether: Midnight Feeding Frenzy with six hours or so to prepare just doesn't bear thinking about. Sorry for being grumpy; long day, tomorrow not looking a whole lot better.
Abahachi, you've been known to nip in with something when it's all calmed down, and make the A-list, which has been shown statistically to be not easy. But I often get all RR-ed out and have to rest for a few weeks.
I hope the outlook is less grumpy soon....
How about the Canada Goose. They fly in organized fashion and rely on teamwork. Is this the socialist press blog? oops, sorry - as you were
OK, since I'm here anyway, surely we'd have a song-related bird. Has that been a topic yet? I'll vote for the Paradise Bird, you know the one someone wishes would fly up some guy's nose.
Or the crow. I like crows. People give them a hard time, but not really their fault they are the way they are, is it? We should treasure them as differently-abled birds.
Differently abled? But crows are very smart.
How about the Giant Ouzalum Bird which disappears up its own posterior when frightened?
That doesn't sound too hygenic. People might wonder what we are saying about ourselves.
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