Wednesday, November 18, 2009

on the wings of a song

those hard-working ornis at cornell have postulated (and through the clever application of lasers, proven) that birds can "sing" by using their wings. or at least this one can. it's a club-winged manakin, found in south america (possibly peru?).

i think it's my new favorite bird. it's beautiful, and that little trick he does with his wings puts him right over the top. i also like how he puffs up after his little wing song, like he's saying, "that's right…with my wings. you wanna see it again?"

enjoy. (and it looks like you might have to go full screen to do that…not sure what's up with the incredible shrinking player…)




4 comments:

Mary said...

I'd like to see that bird...

dugfresh said...

me too. i'm finishing up a book about birding, a book that's turning out to be pretty amazing, actually. it's about an avid birder and his journey to becoming a big lister, with insight into the psychology behind why listers do what they do. at its heart, the book is a biography of the author's father and their relationship (his father was the lister). but when the book delves into the lengths listers go to in order to check another bird off their list is sometimes jaw-droppingly insane. one well known big lister spent over $2 million in her quest to see over 8,000 birds. anyway, that's what i think of when i see this bird, knowing it's in peru.

it's friday and i'm exhausted, thus the strange reply to your comment.

Mary said...

Not strange at all! Listers, big listers, listers, I can't figure them out. I want to know what you think, OK?

I attended a birding and nature festival last spring and roomed with 8 other nature bloggers including one lister. She was a lister of birds, events, groceries, more birds, bugs, and so on.... And, that's what she did for seven days. Listed, in a regular notebook. Dates, times...

I'm tired, too.

dugfresh said...

i think i'll do a post about listing...

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