Birbs

 

There is a thing on the internet where they will call a bird a "birb," but not just any bird can be a birb - it has to be totes adorbs. So the other day my boss messaged saying she was going on a walk, brb, which of course means "be right back," and my coworker responded with a gif of a dancing cockatoo labeled "birb." Because what could be more totally adorable? As opposed to a turkey vulture, say - not a birb.

I get these random trivia questions in my email all the time, and one today asked when "non-avian" dinosaurs went extinct: the Cretaceous, the Jurassic, or the Triassic? I knew it was the Cretaceous, but I did note their turn of phrase, because avian dinosaurs are still with us, whether they are birbs or the slightly menacing sandhill cranes I saw on campus today. It was drizzling, so the students were all hiding inside, and with them missing a pair of cranes felt bold enough to stand near the sidewalk. One started coming toward me as I walked on the sidewalk, and I didn't particularly want to interact with it, so I walked a little faster (which is probably, like, a relaxed pace for the average person). I looked behind me to see if it was following me, but it was now standing on the sidewalk and looking back toward the direction I had come from, as if making sure that nobody else was coming. On a later walk I saw the crane standing in front of the door of the building next to ours, looking like an avian bouncer. "No ID? No entry!" They are totally modern dinosaurs. Are they birbs? Mm, kind of?

Travalon went down to the dock this morning and took some photos of birbs. First are Mr. and Mrs. Ring-Necked Duck.

This is Mrs. Bufflehead. I don't know where the Mr. is.

And these, of course, are Canada geese. 

Don't call them Canadian geese. I don't know what happens to you if you do, but maybe you don't want to find out. The duck I want to see now is a Harlequin duck. People posted photos of them in Sheboygan, and they are so beautiful! Maybe even more beautiful than a male wood duck! Maybe they only hang out on big lakes like Lake Michigan, because I have never seen one around here. The birdwatching group always calls it a "lifer alert" if you see a kind of bird you've never seen before, and seeing a Harlequin duck would surely be a lifer alert for me!

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