Comments on: The Passings of Remarkable Birds http://pinguinus.wordpress.com/2008/02/26/the-passings-of-remarkable-birds/ Not Bad for Being Extinct Tue, 01 Dec 2009 12:12:38 +0000 http://wordpress.com/ hourly 1 By: Jochen http://pinguinus.wordpress.com/2008/02/26/the-passings-of-remarkable-birds/#comment-85 Jochen Thu, 28 Feb 2008 11:07:02 +0000 http://pinguinus.wordpress.com/?p=48#comment-85 The eerieness goes on: "Next most likely, you’ll see a feathery explosion of WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT whistling rapidly away while you put your foot down in the spot where a Woodcock was." That's precisely how I saw my first ever Eurasian Woodcock looking for mushrooms with my grandpa, except that I was a young boy and used the expression "Shit! What was that!" (of course, the German equivalent). As with the Smew, this must be the best description of a typical woodcock (spec.) sighting I ever read! The eerieness goes on:

“Next most likely, you’ll see a feathery explosion of WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT whistling rapidly away while you put your foot down in the spot where a Woodcock was.”

That’s precisely how I saw my first ever Eurasian Woodcock looking for mushrooms with my grandpa, except that I was a young boy and used the expression “Shit! What was that!” (of course, the German equivalent).

As with the Smew, this must be the best description of a typical woodcock (spec.) sighting I ever read!

]]> By: pinguinus http://pinguinus.wordpress.com/2008/02/26/the-passings-of-remarkable-birds/#comment-84 pinguinus Thu, 28 Feb 2008 03:57:33 +0000 http://pinguinus.wordpress.com/?p=48#comment-84 @Jochen: That's kind of eerie. I hope I follow your pattern and see one alive and happy next. @ Corey: Roads are the worst. My family rehabilitated a car-clipped Red-tail one time. Bit of a delicate task, that. @Jochen: That’s kind of eerie. I hope I follow your pattern and see one alive and happy next.

@ Corey: Roads are the worst. My family rehabilitated a car-clipped Red-tail one time. Bit of a delicate task, that.

]]> By: Corey http://pinguinus.wordpress.com/2008/02/26/the-passings-of-remarkable-birds/#comment-82 Corey Tue, 26 Feb 2008 18:23:27 +0000 http://pinguinus.wordpress.com/?p=48#comment-82 Seeing as I'm not yet living in NYC (3/1!) I don't tend to see the carnage of skyscraper window strikes...instead I see the carnage on the highways. In my commute this winter I had been enjoying juvenile Red-tailed Hawks hunting the grassy areas in the middle of cloverleaf interchanges but as the winter has wore on instead of seeing the hawks hunting I've seen them dead in the road. The carnage we humans cause is unbelievable, even when it is unintentional. On a happier note: I love Timberdoodles! Seeing as I’m not yet living in NYC (3/1!) I don’t tend to see the carnage of skyscraper window strikes…instead I see the carnage on the highways. In my commute this winter I had been enjoying juvenile Red-tailed Hawks hunting the grassy areas in the middle of cloverleaf interchanges but as the winter has wore on instead of seeing the hawks hunting I’ve seen them dead in the road.

The carnage we humans cause is unbelievable, even when it is unintentional.

On a happier note: I love Timberdoodles!

]]> By: Jochen http://pinguinus.wordpress.com/2008/02/26/the-passings-of-remarkable-birds/#comment-81 Jochen Tue, 26 Feb 2008 18:03:57 +0000 http://pinguinus.wordpress.com/?p=48#comment-81 The first time I saw a Woodcock, I was standing at a parking lot at Point Pelee National Park and watched a small black dot way up in the sky doing what was some of the most remarkable combination of sound and flight I had ever seen. The second woodcock I saw got flushed by a pedestrian on a downtown sidewalk in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and I got to watch it alive for about 5 seconds until it hit one of the shop windows. I picked its dead body up and carried it to a nearby public park where I placed it underneath a tree. I just didn't feel it was right to leave it on the concrete just to be eventually disposed of in a garbage container... The next woodcock I saw was probing the soil happily at Ohio's Crane Creek. It was an exciting sight but I couldn't help feeling a bit sad. The first time I saw a Woodcock, I was standing at a parking lot at Point Pelee National Park and watched a small black dot way up in the sky doing what was some of the most remarkable combination of sound and flight I had ever seen.

The second woodcock I saw got flushed by a pedestrian on a downtown sidewalk in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and I got to watch it alive for about 5 seconds until it hit one of the shop windows. I picked its dead body up and carried it to a nearby public park where I placed it underneath a tree. I just didn’t feel it was right to leave it on the concrete just to be eventually disposed of in a garbage container…

The next woodcock I saw was probing the soil happily at Ohio’s Crane Creek. It was an exciting sight but I couldn’t help feeling a bit sad.

]]>