I think there’s a potential joke somewhere saying in an exaggerated French accent “I don’t have egrets” (try to think of the French accent please, otherwise it’s definitely not funny. Even with a French accent, it’s probably no, but that’s another problem).
Somehow it bothers me that I didn’t catch this joke (assuming it actually existed) in the light of day. Second test, if the French accent didn’t do it for you: Think of the person who says “I don’t have egrets” (This utterance is the result of believing in the power of the internet and thinking that there must be a website that makes French accent. there. And Actually there is, though I’m a little disappointed that the word “egret” doesn’t really receive any treatment, which I hope would make it sound like a French pronunciation of “regret”).
Maybe the joke works directly in French? “Je ne aigrette rien” by Edith Piaf? That doesn’t really work either.
Anyway, this is a Little Egret.
Here’s another one.
Here is one in a tree.
Do I regret posting a picture of a very common bird? Nope. I think it should, though.
I was just skimming through “Denial”, a book by Jared Del Rosso, where he discusses (among many other, more important things) the way viewers focus on birds that are considered interesting:
“Experienced birders often redirect the attention of novice bird watchers from a common bird, the robin or starling, to the unusual warbler flying above them. Eventually the novice birder learns to give common birds but a furtive glance and leave them unreported when others ask what they are watching.”
I mean, I understand the principle, but does it have to be an af*cking warbler?
(Though a less relevant side note: To my delight, the author takes a firm anti-Trump tone, noting for example that “A president says he’s being ‘sarcastic’ then, in all seriousness, he raises the possibility of injecting Americans with bleach to control a pandemic.”)
At least the quote above gives me a good reason to show some more common birds in Shanghai … like Gray Heron …
… (a species susceptible to siblicide under certain conditions)…
… Cattle Egret …
… (in the bad old days of ornithology – in the 1970s, to be more specific – a study of the food consumed by this species was made by just shooting 365 of them – good job, Mr. Siegfried, I hope you will be proud of yourself) …
… Intermediate Egret …
… (which sometimes suffers from brood parasitism of Cattle Egrets, even in Korea)…
… Little Ringed Plover …
… (a bird that seems to attract people with a strangely specific interest even by the standards of ornithologists – witness this paper titled “Part 1: Aging and sexing the curonicus subspecies of Little Ringed Plover Charadrius was doubtful“)…
… and everyone’s favorite leg model, the Black-winged Stilt.
The species that kept the moon from being really boring were the Amur Paradise Flycatcher. They seem to have done well this year, with some chicks being taught how to handle the dragonflies, while the parents suffer through the molt. Too many pictures as usual…
A few weeks later in Nanhui, a slightly better-dressed member of the species was heading south.
In other news: juvenile Black-crowned Night Heron pretending to be a guardian of something (the underworld?) …
… Common Sandpiper pretending to be, ahem, a common wader…
… a Oriental Magpie posing as another warning of the dangers of molt …
… a Brown Shrike pretending to be a private detective…
… (oddly, the Latin species name is cristatusthough I don’t see anything like a crest, that’s what cristatus indicates)…
… and a Chinese Pond Heron posing as a punk.
Fortunately, Common Snipe still doesn’t look normal to me.
And I almost like the Red Turtle Dove. Softening with age? Or early onset dementia?
In the “birdwatching in popular culture” section, two entries this month (unfortunately, they both don’t do much for my credentials as an intellectual).
In the Jack Reacher novel “The Enemy”, the fictitious father of Mr. Reacher, a Marine, is described as a birdwatcher:
“My own father … He watches birds. He has been to most countries in the world, and he has seen many birds.”
And in season 4, episode 5 of “Killing Eve” (which turned out to be a pretty disappointing season), a character named Helen talks about one of the two protagonists (Eve):
“Someone, I thought, spends his life peering at more exotic specimens—like a bird watcher desperate to spy.”
Other highlights of the month: White-shouldered Starling …
… Siberian Blue Robin …
… some Cuckoo species that I did not dare to recognize …
… and Oriental Dollarbird.
This is the picture to mention that the first part of the Latin species name, Eurystomus orientalismeans “wide mouthed”.
The Dollarbird later flew, perhaps to Australia – perhaps this will be covered in a future post by fellow blog writer Clare.
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