Bird Call

Bird-Nerd Words: Hamulus & Ramus

[HAM-ya-lus] & [RAY-mus]

Test your bird-nerd vocabulary with this quiz. (Relax. It won’t affect your grade.)  : )

Answer True or False—

Hamulus and Ramus are:

           I. Founders of Rome.   __________________   True or False

         II   Nominative declension.  ______________  True or False

         III  Characters in a Board game  __________   True or False

         IV   An organic zipper.  __________________  True or False

Answers:

I    False. But on topic. Romulus and Remus were fed by a woodpecker. (That was after the wolf.)

II    True enough. I think. I took Latin in high school. And passed. I think.

III    True. Collectable figures in Navia Drapt. Though the Ramus figure is hard to come by.

IV    True. The Hamulus is a tiny hook. They (the Hamuli) latch onto their neighbor feathers extending from the Ramos. That way birds can fix ruffled feathers by simply running their beaks down them as they preen.

The rest of the feather is made up of Barbules (tiny specialized feathers), a Rachis (shaft) and a Calamus (quill). The parts are structured this way:

        The Hamulus connected to the Barbule.

        The Barbule connected to the Ramus.

        The Ramus connected to the Rachis.

        The Rachis connected to the Calamus.

        And that’s the quill, that’s the quill. : )

 

And what's the importance of all this? (Besides for birds)? Quill pens.

We can thank feathers for the Magna Carta,The Declaration of Independence and The Constitution. That’s what.

Not to mention, without it Ben Franklin couldn’t have paid his bills. : )

Lewis's Woodpecker

The Lewis’s woodpecker’s odd for its kind.

It has too many s-es and it’s all black behind.

This woodpecker doesn’t look, sound, or act like the others

He’ll chase insects and not peck when he’s given his druthers.

He peeks to inspect under branches of trees 

And then hangs upside down to look under the leaves.

His calls are not like Woody Woodpecker’s twitter

They more resemble ET’s phone-home transmitter.

There’s a dingy white ring about where his neck should be

And pink on the front that’s not very woodpeckery.

He has red on his face like a bunch of dead roses

And black on his head but just not like a crow’s is.

Instead there’s a sheen that is green when you spot it.

(Good luck with that. Please write when you’ve got it.)

So what if Lewis thought it a bird-nerd sensation?

But Clark more sensibly sensed consternation.

So he let poor Lewis send the sketch and remarks.

Knowing otherwise the woodpecker might now be “Clark’s.”

ebird Occurrence Map

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The Birding Hall of Fame

I read in the paper recently that Bob Krell of Syracuse New York had been inducted into The National Air Duct Cleaners Association Hall of Fame.  

Well. You might imagine my thoughts:

There has to be birder hall of fame. But I looked. And looked.

The sad truth is: there isn’t one. Nada. Zippo. Nichts. Is Nichts right? German for not even so much as a stinking list?

So it appears it’s fallen to me.

And for the first election there are three nominees: Pliny the Elder, James Bond and Meriwether Lewis.

 Here are their credentials:

Pliny the Elder was a Roman natural scientist. A pioneer of birding who studied and disseminated a widely held theory about cranes. He postulated cranes migrated south to wage war on pygmies who were armed with bows and arrows. And mounted on goats. [I’m not making this up.]

The first century was a long time ago. So he deserves some credit. But the fact remains. He was just a wee bit too wide of the mark. (I think Elder was used politely.)

James Bond was an American ornithologist in the 50’s recognized as an expert on birds of the Caribbean. Again true. Ian Fleming, an avid birder, read Bond’s field guide and liked the name.

In fact Bond was a bona fide birder and a good one. Plus he has that famous name. But only because of Ian Fleming. So I’m afraid he doesn’t make the cut either. He may have been James Bond. But he was no 007.

Meriwether Lewis of Lewis and Clark was a naturalist and explorer who was the first non-native to discover, catalog and describe many western species. Like this.

Its dark coloring gave it the nickname crow woodpecker, but the original Latin name meant Woodpecker with Necklace.

I think we have a winner. Lewis will be the first inductee into the Birder’s Hall of Fame. Congratulations Meriwether.*

*But one final note:

Lewis’s bird descriptions were very detailed. That took intense and careful study. So he shot them.

A practice frowned on by today's birding etiquette.

So his name will be entered with an asterisk. :)

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