Friday 26 April 2019

Birds


Seagulls are anxious, jealous, nosy, competitive, greedy, cunning and persistent.

Crows are watchful, collaborative, playful, patient, intelligent and inclined to withdraw.


They are both highly observant: “Watch and learn.”

All the above characteristics mean it is a lot easier to get a close-up photo of a herring gull than a crow.





I prefer crows.

7 comments:

Suzan said...

I found English seagulls to be huge. Their calls are one of my strong memories.

Pen Wilcock said...

They are enormous — especially ours, he necks down as much food as we care to give him.

Usually when we feed our seagulls — Meep and Mrs Meep — they fling back their heads and emit a victory cry before tucking in. But one day Meep wasn't there, and Mrs Meep ate it all very quietly without saying anything.

Bean said...

My personal favorite bird is the Mourning Dove, such a restful call, and so pretty.

My husband calls sea gulls flying rats LOL.

Bean

Nearly Martha said...

I once spent a lunch hour in companiable silence with a seagull while he waited for me to throw him the last bit of my sandwich. This had to be done when no one was looking as people get a bit iffy about feeding seagulls round here. It was one of the most beautiful things I had ever seen. Dazzling white contrasting with jet black and slate grey. I know they are stroppy but I quite like that.

Pen Wilcock said...

Bean — what an interesting and peaceful sound. If (like me) you don't know the call of the mounting dove, friends, here it is:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Km-jtXueTw

Nearly Martha — yes, they always say not to feed seagulls, don't they? Personally I always find seagulls (like all birds) quite courteous and respectful; like your seagull waiting politely for you to throw him the last bit of the sandwich.

Julie B. said...

My favorite bird is the Northern Cardinal. We don't see them much in Northern Minnesota, but when I hear their calls (wi-CHEER! wi-CHEER!), I feel very blessed. My granddaughter Vivienne asked for a crow feeder for her 13th birthday and her daddy made her one. She has researched crows and loves how intelligent they are, how they recognize and remember human faces. So far, the squirrels have raided the feeder consistently and Vivie is rethinking how to attract crows. Most birds, including my little periwinkle colored parakeet Phoebe, bring me pure delight. God bless you, Ember. xoxo

Pen Wilcock said...

Oh! Tell Vivienne from me, patience is rewarded. Crows are VERY intelligent. I have now reached the place where our main crow understands that I will protect him from cats and seagulls and that in order for this to happen he must be brave enough to land right at my feet to collect his food. Crows can count too, and he knows I will wait for him to make 4 flights to and from his nest to ferry his food home. So now the seagull can be standing nearby muttering and the cats just the other side of me, and so long as I am standing there he will come for his food. Makes me happy. And tell Vivienne, there is a sound they know and trust. If she can make with her tongue a sort of whirring that sounds like the whirr of a little bird's wing in flight (you vibrate the tongue against the roof of the mouth just behind the front teeth, they will recognise that sound even from several trees away, and know you are calling them; it signals an OK. Then when they are there, of you make tiny clicks — like a "tut!" again with the tongue against the top front teeth, it reassures them while they are eating, because they make a similar sound. They will sometime announce their presence if they appear behind you with a similar click — comes out like a "TCHA!" — and you can do the same to call them. Magpies recognise it too because it sounds like their call.