Hummingbirb

Day 111: On the "Birb Checklist," hummingbirbs such as this female Anna's are small, round in repose, cute and sometimes silly and therefore qualify on all counts. They are also aggressive and foul-mouthed (one nameless ornithologist reportedly said that "a hummingbird's vocabulary consists of 90% swear-words"). If you've ever heard two or more males debating territorial claims, you'll immediately know what I mean. Taken in total, that's four points toward birbiness and two points off, but in my birber's opinion, "small" and "cute" heavily weight the score toward birbiness, and if you want to take up the issue, we can discuss it behind the barn. I'm warning you. I have a lot in common with hummingbirds, even if "cute" doesn't apply.

Birb

Day 110: What is a birb? According to the Audubon Society (and they have sourced the term thoroughly), the guidelines suggest smallness, roundness, cuteness and/or silliness, although these qualifications are open to quite a wide range of interpretation. There are limits. Big raptors (hawks, eagles) are not birbs. A Great Blue Heron is not a birb, although a Green Heron is. Puffins and Penguins are definitely birbs. The visitors to my yard are almost all birbs, but some are "birbier" than others, particularly the Chickadees, whether Chestnut-backed or Black-capped. Steller's Jays are not particularly birby, no, and neither are adult Ravens, but baby Ravens can be hilariously birby until they learn the seriousness of maturity. Perhaps the birbiest of all are my Evening Grosbeaks despite their frowny yellow eyebrows and crotchety dispositions. A dozen or so showed up a few days ago, had a quick meal, and I haven't seen them since. In any event, any time I need cheering up, I go birbing. Not "birding," birbing. In the words of the Audubon, the ultimate authority, "Now, one might reasonably ask why it matters which birds qualify as birbs. Strictly speaking, of course, it doesn’t. But viewed sidelong, it becomes a taxonomic game, akin to 'is a hot dog a sandwich.' These sorts of debates are fun partially because they reveal real fault-lines in our operational definitions. It’s a chance to take stock, not just of what we think about birds, but how we think about them. Defining 'birb' also means interrogating our impressions. It’s not only about rating them: It's about reminding us that—regardless of birb-status—all birds are good."

Just Plain Adorable

Day 84: No matter how dreary the day (and believe me, they've been pretty dismal for the last couple of weeks), it is impossible to be glum when you have Chickadees around. I have to admit to a fondness for birbs (little round birds) of all sorts: chickadees, nuthatches, bushtits, titmouses (titmice?), kinglets, siskins, wrens, creepers, and even warblers, although the "wobblers" annoy me because all too often I can only hear and not see them, but 'dee-dees hold a special place in my heart because they're so friendly. It took me years to coax them into my yard, but once they'd established themselves and claimed their territory, it wasn't long before I literally had them eating out of my hand. They made themselves rather scarce during the summer months, but once cooler weather arrived, both Black-capped and Chestnut-backed (above) returned to the yard in droves. Some remembered me from years past and immediately took seed from my palm, although the newbies in the group held back, waiting to see if I was a bird-getter. To date, we have not had snow, but I'm hopeful because food scarcity tends to make bold even the most timid 'dee.

Nut Birb

Day 152: The internet has spawned many new words, but none with quite as much personal appeal as "birb." The Reddit definition of a birb per Audubon is a bird which is "funny, cute or silly in some way." Audubon expands by adding roundness and smallness to the equation, but specifies that lacking these characteristics does not necessarily exclude a bird from birbiness. A case in point is the Shoebill, which is neither small nor round, but is nonetheless hilarious in appearance. Therefore, the ungainly, top-heavy Shoebill is a birb, although a Great Blue Heron is not. Still, some birds are birbier than others, and in this writer's opinion, the Red-breasted Nuthatch (here affectionately known as "Nut") is about as birby as they come. Round? Check. Small? Check. Funny? Absolutely. Cute? Definitely. Silly? One only has to watch them hanging upside-down to eat to see the point. On all counts, the Red-breasted Nuthatch (Sitta canadensis) is a capital-B Birb, a Nut Birb. In the interest of taxonomic clarity, I propose that the scientific name should be changed to Sitta nuxbirbia since the species is not exclusive to Canada.

Forever Birbs

Day 19: There is going to be a major shake-up in the birding world. Yesterday, the American Ornithological Society announced that it would be revising up to 80 names of North American birds to alter those which reference "enslavers, white supremacists and robbers of Indigenous graves." James Audubon tops the list, a blow likewise impacting the Audubon Society. Nevertheless, I want to take you there for a moment for the official definition of a "birb," a sub-classification to which Nut (above) belongs. "Birb," says the Society, "is affectionate internet-speak for birds." It refers to a vague category of birds which are funny, cute, silly, round, small or otherwise adorable. Eagles and hawks are not birbs. Neither are gulls, geese or storks (I might argue that last one). The Society goes on to query, "Now, one might reasonably ask why it matters which birds qualify as birbs. Strictly speaking, of course, it doesn’t. But viewed sidelong, it becomes a taxonomic game, akin to 'is a hot dog a sandwich.' These sorts of debates are fun partially because they reveal real fault-lines in our operational definitions. It’s a chance to take stock, not just of what we think about birds, but how we think about them. Defining 'birb' also means interrogating our impressions. It’s not only about rating them: It's about reminding us that—regardless of birb-status—all birds are good." Given this revelation, I now ask you to re-read the first two sentences of this essay in order to better understand why the name changes are necessary.

Hanging Around

Day 118: To quote Audubon's website, "There are certain terms that embed themselves into your consciousness like a woodpecker’s beak in particle board. 'Birb' is one of them...The word began, as near as anyone can tell, when the absurdist Twitter account BirdsRightsActivist tweeted the single word 'Birb' out on November 2012; two years later, it had multiple entries in Urban Dictionary and a dedicated reddit forum." It is my strongly held personal opinion that Red-Breasted Nuthatches qualify as birbs: cute, funny, round, small...all in the classic definition of birbishness. But these characteristics don't necessarily apply to all birbs in equal measure. Any bird can be a birb regardless of its size or shape. The ineffable quality of birbishness lies in the individual's character, and character is something my resident Nut has in abundance. When he appears at the suet feeder, I invariably say aloud, "There's Nut!" Any degree of bad mood is dispelled when Nut is having his breakfast upside-down. Hearing him honk his chickadee-like scold when I'm out in the yard elicits, "I hear you over there, Nut" and a chuckle. I'm sure he thinks being a birb is serious business, but to me, he is a bright spot of humour in my day. If his capacity to amuse doesn't define his qualifications for birbishness, I don't know what else might.

Snowy Towhee

Day 61: For three seasons, I have "Screwy Towhees," the two words rhyming. In winter, however, a new species sometimes emerges: the "Snowy Towhee," distinguished by a long O in the pronunciation of the latter word. Webster's Third New International acknowledges another breed with strongest emphasis on the last "-ee," i.e., "tuh-WEE." And wowie! There is also a fourth pronunciation, "TAU-ee," although I understand that subspecies is only found in Greece. The Snowy Towhee is a more active bird than the Screwy Towhee, its feet quite sensitive to temperatures of branch and soil and therefore more anxious to move from one perch to another. It is also more birb-like in characteristics: rounder, fluffier, sillier. It expresses indignity more frequently than the Screwy Towhee, taking affront at almost every white flake which falls past its widened red eye. In number, it is as common as the Screwy Towhee here in the Pacific Northwest, although its population is packed into the shorter time span covering the months of winter. It therefore may appear more numerous when in fact, its census is simply more concentrated. Like its three-season counterpart, it feeds largely on the ground and prefers black-oil sunflower seed, and will reward observers with its scrabbling, scraping antics as it searches for food.

Birbs In Snow

Day 123: Whether or not Varied Thrush (Ixoreus naevius) qualifies as a "birb" might be a matter of some conjecture, but I will argue that the definition of "cute round little bird" can be extended to include the pair (male and female) which have come to my yard with the snow. The size of an American Robin, they might not fall within the scope of "little," but stood up next to an eagle or an ostrich, the logic of using the term would be inarguable. "Round" is unassailable; the fluffed-out feathers define as globose an object as you are likely to find in nature if you omit the tail, beak and feet. "Pudgy" would be unkind. In any event, Thrush are something of an oddity at my feeders, their customary habitat being the surrounding forests where their melodious single-note call will chime in the months of spring; not yet, although this male seems to have already selected his mate. The female wears somewhat drabber garb, her colours not so bright so that she can better conceal herself in flecked light and shadow. That said, these two images show the male's mottled orange and grey flanks, his vivid wing-bars and dark breast band which even an amateur birder could not attribute to a robin. I couldn't choose which birb pose I preferred.