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MabelJane
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« Reply #300 on: 21:32:14, 30-06-2008 » |
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My mum and dad had a ginger female called Molly staying with them recently until her owner found new, cat-friendly accommodation. And I remember my violin teacher's mother's cat being a ginger female too - so maybe not quite so rare! |
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Merely corroborative detail, intended to give artistic verisimilitude to an otherwise bald and unconvincing narrative.
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Mary Chambers
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« Reply #301 on: 21:48:57, 30-06-2008 » |
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I wonder if male tortoiseshells are rarer.
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MabelJane
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« Reply #302 on: 22:12:32, 30-06-2008 » |
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Oops, we'd better stop posting about cats here...  I'm pleased to report there's a pair of song thrushes living near the school - they sometimes appear after 3.30 when it's quiet. |
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Merely corroborative detail, intended to give artistic verisimilitude to an otherwise bald and unconvincing narrative.
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Andy D
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« Reply #303 on: 22:27:22, 30-06-2008 » |
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Oops, we'd better stop posting about cats here... |
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Ron Dough
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« Reply #304 on: 22:56:25, 30-06-2008 » |
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In answer to Mary's question, male tortoiseshells are very rare, and almost always sterile: not all female gingers - which are much rarer than male gingers - are fertile either.
That'll be be my last comment on cats here....
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Mary Chambers
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« Reply #305 on: 06:40:08, 01-07-2008 » |
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Oops, we'd better stop posting about cats here... Sorry, Andy  (but cats are interesting). |
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harmonyharmony
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« Reply #306 on: 09:25:34, 01-07-2008 » |
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I was in Durham with my parents this weekend for my graduation and we went on a couple of walks. The first one (near the Beamish Open Air Museum) took us near Causey Arch (oldest surviving railway arch apparently) and we think we saw a dipper (only my second dipper ever) and then on Saturday we were walking near Washington (where the Wear is tidal) and saw a tern. That's not terribly exciting but I haven't seen a tern in that neck of the woods before.
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'is this all we can do?' anonymous student of the University of Berkeley, California quoted in H. Draper, 'The new student revolt' (New York: Grove Press, 1965) http://www.myspace.com/itensemble |
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A
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« Reply #307 on: 10:10:19, 01-07-2008 » |
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I am pleased to notice that longtailed tits seem to be becoming regular visitors to our garden. Saw 3 this morning and a flurry that could have been more!  A |
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Well, there you are.
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Mary Chambers
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« Reply #308 on: 10:11:56, 01-07-2008 » |
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In answer to Mary's question, male tortoiseshells are very rare, and almost always sterile: not all female gingers - which are much rarer than male gingers - are fertile either.
That'll be be my last comment on cats here....
And this will be mine, I promise. Come to think of it, my standard female tortoiseshell's mother was a ginger female. I'm beginning to think they're quite common - not in a social sense, of course  . I'm desperately trying to think of something to say about birds. We have fewer goldfinches and greenfinches this year, but quite a lot of long-tailed tits (my favourites) and sparrows/spudgies. |
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Ruby2
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« Reply #309 on: 10:28:50, 01-07-2008 » |
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Hi all, I'm looking for opinions on blackbird song. I've noticed recently that the bird who sings in my back garden at dawn intermittently does a few little "wow wow wow" type noises that sound for all the world like modern police sirens. Do blackbirds ever imitate sounds from their environment, or is it just a coincidence? I live within earshot of the High Street, so it would certainly be exposed to that sound on a fairly regular basis. Mary - it's interesting that you say you have fewer goldfinches this year, I've got a pair hanging around for the first time since I've lived here! Beautiful song to get up to. |
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"Two wrongs don't make a right. But three rights do make a left." - Rohan Candappa
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harmonyharmony
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« Reply #310 on: 10:36:00, 01-07-2008 » |
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Do blackbirds ever imitate sounds from their environment, or is it just a coincidence?
In my experience, they're fairly good mimics. I remember a period of a few years where there was a blackbird who had a phone ring down to a fine art. Very annoying! I've heard them imitate computer games as well. For a number of years, we heard a blackbird who had picked up my next-door neighbour's characteristic whistling. It was a little eerie when the bird continued to reproduce it after his sudden and untimely death, but somehow comforting. |
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'is this all we can do?' anonymous student of the University of Berkeley, California quoted in H. Draper, 'The new student revolt' (New York: Grove Press, 1965) http://www.myspace.com/itensemble |
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Ruby2
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« Reply #311 on: 10:50:39, 01-07-2008 » |
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Do blackbirds ever imitate sounds from their environment, or is it just a coincidence?
In my experience, they're fairly good mimics. I remember a period of a few years where there was a blackbird who had a phone ring down to a fine art. Very annoying! I've heard them imitate computer games as well. For a number of years, we heard a blackbird who had picked up my next-door neighbour's characteristic whistling. It was a little eerie when the bird continued to reproduce it after his sudden and untimely death, but somehow comforting. Really? Well that's very interesting, as I've been hearing little bursts of a car alarm recently too, for possibly about a second, and I'm now wondering if that's the blackbird too, as it seems to happen at dawn and dusk. How fabulous - love it! Thanks for that hh. |
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"Two wrongs don't make a right. But three rights do make a left." - Rohan Candappa
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Eruanto
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« Reply #312 on: 17:51:17, 01-07-2008 » |
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I've just discovered I have baby blackbirds directly beneath my window. The adults have been going back and forth for weeks, along with some robins for a while, but this is the first time I've heard any tweeting. It's a very sheltered spot, with ivy growing rampant that's come over from next door. The only trouble is that it's gradually turning the window opaque, and I can't chop it now, not with babies around. |
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"It is not our part to master all the tides of the world, but to do what is in us for the succour of those years wherein we are set"
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Andy D
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« Reply #313 on: 00:21:05, 05-07-2008 » |
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Starlings were notorious for imitating sounds they'd heard. But now that there are relatively few starlings around, I don't often get the chance to hear if they still do it. Saw lots of starlings at the Oxford services on the M40 the other day - don't know why they should be so common there.
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MabelJane
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« Reply #314 on: 12:08:27, 05-07-2008 » |
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A small flock of excitable starlings has been visiting the lawn outside my classroom window this summer. Also some very chirpy sparrows there on the fence every day (I can hear ours here at home as I type) and as mentioned before the very elegant pair of song thrushes. Oh and pied wagtails are always in the playground - except at playtime of course! My sister has huge flocks of starlings up in Orkney. They inhabit an old barn by her house.
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Merely corroborative detail, intended to give artistic verisimilitude to an otherwise bald and unconvincing narrative.
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