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 crochety 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."