"Carl's Lounge" (Off-Topic Discussion, Traditional Knife "Tales & Vignettes")

[Will Power]

A murmuration, clutter or constellation of Starlings. From "An Asylum of Loons"

I was out feeding the birds earlier, and there was a huge amount of bird noise. They took off and the sky was full of them. I wasn't quick enough to get a pic. They came back though.

I took these shortly after. It was beginning to feel like a Hitchcock movie.......

Have a great weekend! Be safe!

It's a full-scale invasion

Starlings are a fair mimic too and can manage all sorts of weird whistles & sounds, murmuration indeed

 

[Ramrodmb]

None has been more destructive to native wildlife as the European Starling. They push out native cavity nesters like bluebirds, owls, and woodpeckers. Large flocks can damagecrops, and their waste can spread invasive seeds and transmit disease. They're loud and annoying, and they're everywhere.Mar 9, 2016

National Audubon Society › news
Birdist Rule #72: It's Okay to Dislike Some Birds | Audubon

 

[Peregrin]

None has been more destructive to native wildlife as the European Starling. They push out native cavity nesters like bluebirds, owls, and woodpeckers. Large flocks can damagecrops, and their waste can spread invasive seeds and transmit disease. They're loud and annoying, and they're everywhere.Mar 9, 2016
View attachment 1460489
National Audubon Society › news
Birdist Rule #72: It's Okay to Dislike Some Birds | Audubon

That's all true. I don't like seeing them around. Particularly in the quantities I saw the other day!

 

[veitsi_poika]

It's Okay to Dislike Some Birds

I said they were pretty, I didn't say I liked them , sort of like The Spice Girls Whenever the Starlings stop by our house on their migration paths, we don't fill up our feeders until they move on.

 

[screened porch]

That's all true. I don't like seeing them around. Particularly in the quantities I saw the other day!

I believe our European ancestors used to eat their thigh and breast meat. Non-vegans, arise!

 

[Jack Black]

Vast flocks of starlings fly around the skies of the town and cities here. We get quite a few on Leeds market, and they usually check out the tools on my mate's tool stall

 

[Headwinds]

None has been more destructive to native wildlife as the European Starling.

The worst of it is - the starling was deliberately brought into North America in 1890 by a genius who thought it would be neat to have all of the birds mentioned in the plays of William Shakespeare represented over here. Sort of like the idiots who think it’s neat to bring Burmese pythons into Florida.

 

[screened porch]

The worst of it is - the starling was deliberately brought into North America in 1890 by a genius who thought it would be neat to have all of the birds mentioned in the plays of William Shakespeare represented over here. Sort of like the idiots who think it’s neat to bring Burmese pythons into Florida.

And Nile monitor lizards.

 

[Jack Black]

The worst of it is - the starling was deliberately brought into North America in 1890 by a genius who thought it would be neat to have all of the birds mentioned in the plays of William Shakespeare represented over here. Sort of like the idiots who think it’s neat to bring Burmese pythons into Florida.

Someone mentioned this in the Guardians thread the other week! Just about caps it all in terms of stupidity Here's a pic of a red-eared terrapin I saw sunning itself by the side of Leeds-Liverpool canal a few years back, about the size of a dinner plate

 

[Jack Black]

And Nile monitor lizards.

For a moment there, I was trying to think of which Shakespearean play Nile Monitor Lizards were mentioned in!

 

[JB in SC]

Not much worse than Kudzu...the plant that ate the South.

 

[Prester John]

For a moment there, I was trying to think of which Shakespearean play Nile Monitor Lizards were mentioned in!

Wasn't it The Tempest?

 

[Jack Black]

And there was a reason Australia needed the Bunny Knife

 

[Headwinds]

Not much worse than Kudzu...the plant that ate the South.

But it seemed like such a good idea at the time.........

 

[meako]

Jack Black and Prester John ..Historically ,Shakespeare is a swampy area at best ...perfect habitat for large monitors...as this recently discovered page from one of his notebooks proves...the text is much faded and the pages torn but it has been deciphered to read:
Romeo:what light on yonder wndow breaks?' Tis Juliet and the ..WHHAAOOO!!! YOWWW! A FRIKKIN NILE MONITOR!!!.
Juliet: Nay Romeo my love be'st not afeared tis not a Nile Monitor ...but methinks 'tis more like a Lace Monitor ir Goanna from the shires of New Hollan...AAAAAHHHGG CHRRRIIIIST! ROMEOOO...do something ! It climbeth up the vine ..KILL IT!....

The transcript is vague after that.....but the rampant reptile appears briefly again in this early copy of Julius Caesar..

Caesar: Friends Romans Countrym...JEEEEEZUS look at size of that thing....its gotta be 7ft and look at those claws..

Sounds a lot like a large monitor to me.

 

[JTB_5]

Jack Black and Prester John ..Historically ,Shakespeare is a swampy area at best ...perfect habitat for large monitors...as this recently discovered page from one of his notebooks proves...the text is much faded and the pages torn but it has been deciphered to read:
Romeo:what light on yonder wndow breaks?' Tis Juliet and the ..WHHAAOOO!!! YOWWW! A FRIKKIN NILE MONITOR!!!.
Juliet: Nay Romeo my love be'st not afeared tis not a Nile Monitor ...but methinks 'tis more like a Lace Monitor ir Goanna from the shires of New Hollan...AAAAAHHHGG CHRRRIIIIST! ROMEOOO...do something ! It climbeth up the vine ..KILL IT!....

The transcript is vague after that.....but the rampant reptile appears briefly again in this early copy of Julius Caesar..

Caesar: Friends Romans Countrym...JEEEEEZUS look at size of that thing....its gotta be 7ft and look at those claws..

Sounds a lot like a large monitor to me.

I thought all of the large monitors in Shakespeare were bawdy innuendos; large lizards entering dark caves to claim as their lairs and hatch little lizards, and such.

 

[Jack Black]

Jack Black and Prester John ..Historically ,Shakespeare is a swampy area at best ...perfect habitat for large monitors...as this recently discovered page from one of his notebooks proves...the text is much faded and the pages torn but it has been deciphered to read:
Romeo:what light on yonder wndow breaks?' Tis Juliet and the ..WHHAAOOO!!! YOWWW! A FRIKKIN NILE MONITOR!!!.
Juliet: Nay Romeo my love be'st not afeared tis not a Nile Monitor ...but methinks 'tis more like a Lace Monitor ir Goanna from the shires of New Hollan...AAAAAHHHGG CHRRRIIIIST! ROMEOOO...do something ! It climbeth up the vine ..KILL IT!....

The transcript is vague after that.....but the rampant reptile appears briefly again in this early copy of Julius Caesar..

Caesar: Friends Romans Countrym...JEEEEEZUS look at size of that thing....its gotta be 7ft and look at those claws..

Sounds a lot like a large monitor to me.

 

[Jack Black]

I thought all of the large monitors in Shakespeare were bawdy innuendos; large lizards entering dark caves to claim as their lairs and hatch little lizards, and such.

 

[Will Power]

I believe our European ancestors used to eat their thigh and breast meat. Non-vegans, arise!

Not sure about that, Starlings are rather feral. Songbirds, Buntings, Thrushes, Larks are still netted in the thousands in parts of Europe as a 'delicacy' one cruel 'tradition' that needs ending...

 

[screened porch]

Not sure about that, Starlings are rather feral. Songbirds, Buntings, Thrushes, Larks are still netted in the thousands in parts of Europe as a 'delicacy' one cruel 'tradition' that needs ending...

My maternal grandfather in London used to catch sparrows in a net to eat. I don't know about the thrushes and larks.