Birds

Birds Animals There

Wisdom, the 74-Year-Old Albatross

I was rather shocked to learn that an Albatross can live this long; researchers are surprised she's still laying eggs: World's Oldest Known Wild Bird Lays Egg at 74. Amazing.

Birds Animals Video Anecdote Alert There

Each Fallen Robin

Fantastic info and accompanying video footage of a Robin and their chicks.

Anecdote Alert

One morning, while hiking with my dog, I crossed Parkside Drive to enter Toronto's High Park when something in the sky drew my attention. It was a bird, but it wasn't flying; it was falling, and it hit the ground, hard. It was a Robin, choking on a worm.

I scooped it from the road before a car could squish it and I slowly pulled the worm from its throat. I waited while the bird lay motionless on its side. A few seconds passed and it regained consciousness, slightly stunned. It looked at me and I at it and we sat there for a moment, both of us thinking: Well, that was something!

The bird started to hop but seemed reluctant to fly. It took cover in some brush and stood there, looking at me. I picked up the worm and laid it near the bird, waiting to see if it would eat it again, but it didn't. It just stayed there, blinking. I imagined it was experiencing satori.

I rose, and Shakedown and I continued our walk.

That was four years ago, but I think of that bird every day because I pass that same stretch of road daily.

I like birds. I've always liked them. There is a Heron that watches over me called Gilgan that I've seen in six countries in one form or another. One day, I'll have a her tattoo'd on the top of my left hand. Two years ago, I swiped right on a Tinder profile because of a woman named Wren. It was a small movement, but one of the most impactful in my life, for we became great friends. Before meeting her, the word Wren summoned Auguries of Innocence, which I always incorrectly recall as "He who'd harm the little Wren / Can never be a friend of men."

Of course, the poem also mentions the robin:

To see a World in a Grain of Sand
And a Heaven in a Wild Flower
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand
And Eternity in an hour
A Robin Red breast in a Cage
Puts all Heaven in a Rage
...

My other associations with the bird are Leonard Cohen (I can't keep track of each fallen robin), and this:

Do robins walk or hop?

This is a question from the smash-hit 80s board game Trivial Pursuit. My family played it often and one time this was the winning question for me. I concentrated as best I could, trying to decide. I'd seen plenty of robins, but I have minor aphantasia, meaning I cannot create moving pictures in my mind's eye. Think! How do robins move?

The sand in the timer was running out, so I figured I'd just guess and have a 50/50 chance of winning.

"Hop," I said.

My stepbrother-in-law, who was a monster of a man, was delighted to tell me I'd got it wrong. He showed me the card. The answer was Yes.

Apps Birds There

Merlin — Bird ID App

I've been using the Merlin Bird ID App a lot lately and have been surprised at the number of people who haven't heard of it. So I'm recommending you download it for yourself.

I mostly use it to identify birds I can hear but not see during my morning dog walks. Just yesterday in High Park I ID'd a Easter Screech Owl and a Red-shouldered Hawk, both uncommon in the area.

You can download the free app on the Merlin site.

Animals Yaren Birds Odd Friendships Livestream There

Gilgan

I've often joked that there's a Heron that watches over me. In LA, Spain, Vanuatu, The Dominican, and here in Toronto. I'd swear it's the same bird.

And then there's Yaren, a Stork that lives half the year in Africa and half the year in this livestreamed nest in Turkey.

Yaren not only returns to Turkey every March, she returns to the same friend, a Turkish fisherman named Adem Yılmaz. They've spent each Spring and Summer together since 2010.