These Are Your Birds of the Week
These Are Your Birds of the Week
Welcome to our new series, where we talk about the best birds of the week.
Hello, and welcome to the inaugural edition of Bird of the Week, where we feature our favorite bird of the week. Why are we doing this? Because, as our logo shows, we love birds. Let's get to it!
Today, since this is the first edition, we're featuring multiple birds. Wow! The first bird is the Kirtland's Warbler. Look at this bird.
That yellow...the dignified perching stance...the regal expression....A+ bird. We're also featuring this bird because it is one of the rarest birds in North America, and also because Caitlin's dad has actually spent time publicly advocating for it to become the state bird of Michigan. Who are we to oppose such an incredible idea?
Let's get in one more pic of this majestic creature.
Caw freaking CAW.
OK, on to our next two birds. These birds come from Discourse Blog reader Meave Gallagher, and they are great birds.
First Meave bird: the mousebird.
Meave says: "You can see them eating fruit on the Allen Birdcam, streaming live from Pretoria, South Africa. The mousebirds are clearly socialists: They share their fruit with their fellow mousebirds — one will come, check out the scene, make sure it's safe from the extremely rude doves, then signal for their brethren to come and feast — and they wait their turn to ensure their interspecies fruitarian comrades have eaten their fill before descending upon the oranges and apples. They may be plainly colored, but their accessories — long tails, adorable fluffy crests — are charming, and they are apparently among the birds today considered 'living fossils,' which is a real feat considering how good we humans are at causing extinction events." Hell yeah!
Second Meave bird: the little blue penguin.
From Meave: "They are cute as hell and you are allowed to watch them come home to nest at night in some places. Also they deserve to be treasured since Australia, in an effort to save some Tasmanian devils who were also endangered by some deadly face cancer (?), rehoused them on an island that was already a refuge for little blue penguins, ignored them for 12 years, at which point they were like, oh right, what about those devils — and surprise, not one of the 6,000 penguins who had been living there was left. Humans are real, real stupid. Justice for little blue penguins."
Thanks to Meave!
A reminder: you can check out our complete Bird of the Week list here, and get in touch with your bird suggestions at hello@discourseblog.com.
See you next time!