Dear Birding Friends,
I hereby institute a new feature of T4B which I am calling “Birding Word of the Week.” I am not promising perfect consistency, but I will try to post something most weeks. These words (or phrases) will be taken from a delightful book, The Birding Dictionary by Rosemary Mosco, which I purchased recently at the Winged Migration Expo (formerly Pacific Flyway Festival) on Mare Island. The Birding Dictionary defines itself on the front cover as:
noun A tongue-in-cheek guide for people who find themselves obsessed, against all logic and reason, with birds.
So, this being Week 1 of “Birding Word of the Week,” I’ll pick a word beginning with “A”:
American Robin: noun A device that converts worms into 100-decibel songs outside your bedroom at 4am.
And, just for the heck of it, I’ll do another “A”:
Altricial: adjective Hatching out naked and helpless. An altricial chick is unable to walk, care for itself, or perceive the world in a meaningful way. Like a human baby, it’s a feeble lump that can only yell and defecate, and yet it is still somehow incredibly cute.
David