I love your rambles, Melanie. I am a terrible (but attentive) birder. I constantly forget which bird makes which call, but watching them (and reading you discuss their calls) gives me great joy. I love Tolkien and the detail about Tinuviel is convincing. I have never had much love for Eliot, but I have a feeling you are going to win me over. If you ever host a reading group for the Wasteland, I would be in. Thank you for another delightful read.
Thanks so much for reading it all and commenting, Abigail. I'm pretty forgetful as well, but I keep persevering and I'm slowly learning. Having my daughter as a good teacher helps.
I once tried to blog my way through The Waste Land line by line on my old blog; but I didn't even get through the first part before I gave up; but I'd like to think someday I might dust it off and keep going. It was a ridiculously ambitious project. Maybe a reading group would be a better way to go about it. I'm also hoping to write about the Four Quartets, but that also feels like a very ambitious project.
The Merlin bird ID is a great app for learning bird calls and songs, Melanie. That's awesome that you've got a neighbourhood Mockingbird going through their songs as well. I would hope to hear one someday.
I hope you get to hear one someday too, Neil. Their range has been expanding northward and I think they've been spotted in the Maritimes, Ontario, and even as far north as Alaska.
As someone who is fond of poetry and birds, this was so fun. I suspect that Merlin Bird ID is successful at pegging mockingbirds because they repeat each song two to three times and then move on to the next song. When we were in a condo in Memphis we had a mockingbird who spent his nights right outside our bedroom window. I enjoyed hearing his song in the late winter/ early spring. They aren’t common in this part of Colorado, so I enjoyed them when we could see them.
I am not great at sound identification of birds, so I use Merlin and then try to spot the bird as well so that it can “count”. I don’t know why I am so fastidious since I don’t submit my lists or even share them. ..
I enjoyed your discourse on bird onomatopoeia in poetry. I have a collection of bird poetry, though I haven’t started it yet. You are tempting me to pack it for our next trip. 🤣
I've found that Merlin will usually identify a mockingbird from the first note, it's pretty accurate, so there must be some quality of their song besides just the repetition that is unique. I'd love someone who understands how it works to explain it.
I definitely understand wanting to spot the bird for it to "count". When we were in Lake George, New York last summer there were a few rarer birds that we only heard and could never spot and it felt like a bit of a cheat to count them.
Delightful essay. Has me thinking of what a friend of mine, a nightclub bouncer of Albanian origin, told me many years ago. He said the reason Albanians make such good bouncers is that Albanians don't hear birdsong! A bouncer can go home after the club closes (generally 5:00 or 6:00 a.m.) and is able to sleep because he is oblivious to the twittering of the birds! Don't know if this is true, but remember my friend telling me that years ago.
I love your rambles, Melanie. I am a terrible (but attentive) birder. I constantly forget which bird makes which call, but watching them (and reading you discuss their calls) gives me great joy. I love Tolkien and the detail about Tinuviel is convincing. I have never had much love for Eliot, but I have a feeling you are going to win me over. If you ever host a reading group for the Wasteland, I would be in. Thank you for another delightful read.
Thanks so much for reading it all and commenting, Abigail. I'm pretty forgetful as well, but I keep persevering and I'm slowly learning. Having my daughter as a good teacher helps.
I once tried to blog my way through The Waste Land line by line on my old blog; but I didn't even get through the first part before I gave up; but I'd like to think someday I might dust it off and keep going. It was a ridiculously ambitious project. Maybe a reading group would be a better way to go about it. I'm also hoping to write about the Four Quartets, but that also feels like a very ambitious project.
I look forward to you convincing me to enjoy Eliot, reading group or otherwise. :)
The Merlin bird ID is a great app for learning bird calls and songs, Melanie. That's awesome that you've got a neighbourhood Mockingbird going through their songs as well. I would hope to hear one someday.
I hope you get to hear one someday too, Neil. Their range has been expanding northward and I think they've been spotted in the Maritimes, Ontario, and even as far north as Alaska.
Good to know and will keep my ears and eyes open for one. :)
As someone who is fond of poetry and birds, this was so fun. I suspect that Merlin Bird ID is successful at pegging mockingbirds because they repeat each song two to three times and then move on to the next song. When we were in a condo in Memphis we had a mockingbird who spent his nights right outside our bedroom window. I enjoyed hearing his song in the late winter/ early spring. They aren’t common in this part of Colorado, so I enjoyed them when we could see them.
I am not great at sound identification of birds, so I use Merlin and then try to spot the bird as well so that it can “count”. I don’t know why I am so fastidious since I don’t submit my lists or even share them. ..
I enjoyed your discourse on bird onomatopoeia in poetry. I have a collection of bird poetry, though I haven’t started it yet. You are tempting me to pack it for our next trip. 🤣
I've found that Merlin will usually identify a mockingbird from the first note, it's pretty accurate, so there must be some quality of their song besides just the repetition that is unique. I'd love someone who understands how it works to explain it.
I definitely understand wanting to spot the bird for it to "count". When we were in Lake George, New York last summer there were a few rarer birds that we only heard and could never spot and it felt like a bit of a cheat to count them.
A collection of bird poetry sounds like fun.
Such fun to sing with you on this flight of an essay, Melanie! Thank you.
Thank you, Elizabeth. I'm so glad you enjoyed it. And thanks for re-sharing as well.
As a bird lover, a poetry lover, a Tolkien lover- I thoroughly enjoyed this! I would love to get my hands on a copy of The Bat Poet.
Thanks Christina. I hope you're able to find a copy of The Bat Poet. I think it's out of print, but there are pretty cheap used copies online.
Delightful essay. Has me thinking of what a friend of mine, a nightclub bouncer of Albanian origin, told me many years ago. He said the reason Albanians make such good bouncers is that Albanians don't hear birdsong! A bouncer can go home after the club closes (generally 5:00 or 6:00 a.m.) and is able to sleep because he is oblivious to the twittering of the birds! Don't know if this is true, but remember my friend telling me that years ago.