Amazing things are happening in the Original Plum Torte NYT Cooking App comments section
Robert Francis
@birdhistory.bsky.social
Writing about birds in people history and people in bird history birdhistory.substack.com
THE 10 GREATEST BIRD NAMES OF ALL TIME 🧵 #10: Strange Weaver On first appearances no more odd than any of the other weavers. But they’re a real freak, once you get to know them. Found in Uganda, Rwanda, and Burundi.
Robert Francis@birdhistory.bsky.social · 5mo agoThere are more than 11,000 kinds of birds. I evaluated them all and made a definitive list of the 100 greatest names. I consider myself a bird name connoisseur but these blew me away. Over the next 10 days I'll add them to this thread. This is the hardest thing I’ve ever done.
100 Greatest Bird Names, Day 9: #20 to #11 🧵 #20: Blood Pheasant We’re in the FINAL STRETCH and the birds names are going harder than is advisable. From the netherworld (or, the Himalayas, depending on who’s asking), and wears the blood of its enemies in its feathers.
Robert Francis@birdhistory.bsky.social · 5mo agoThere are more than 11,000 kinds of birds. I evaluated them all and made a definitive list of the 100 greatest names. I consider myself a bird name connoisseur but these blew me away. Over the next 10 days I'll add them to this thread. This is the hardest thing I’ve ever done.
100 Greatest Bird Names, Day 8: #30 to #21 🧵 #30: Vampire Ground-Finch A species of Galapagos finch (ie, Darwin’s Finches) that evolved the taste for blood, which it sometimes drinks by pecking open the skin of Blue-footed Boobies.
Robert Francis@birdhistory.bsky.social · 5mo agoThere are more than 11,000 kinds of birds. I evaluated them all and made a definitive list of the 100 greatest names. I consider myself a bird name connoisseur but these blew me away. Over the next 10 days I'll add them to this thread. This is the hardest thing I’ve ever done.
100 Greatest Bird Names, Day 7: #40 to #31 🧵 #40: Modest Tiger-Parrot Beautiful, not to mention accomplished, but won’t tell you about it. Females have gorgeous orange and black tiger-like barring on their chest.
Robert Francis@birdhistory.bsky.social · 5mo agoThere are more than 11,000 kinds of birds. I evaluated them all and made a definitive list of the 100 greatest names. I consider myself a bird name connoisseur but these blew me away. Over the next 10 days I'll add them to this thread. This is the hardest thing I’ve ever done.
On July 28, 1880, a woodcock flew into an auction store on 6th Avenue. They caught him, put him in a cage, and named him Dick. He got a NYT profile and crowds came to watch him. Dick was New York City's first celebrity woodcock. I told his story here: birdhistory.substack.com/p/the-tragic...
100 Greatest Bird Names, Day 6: #50 to #41 🧵 #50: Squacco Heron Lots of birds are named after their call but none so persuasively as this one. If a bird squawks, shouldn’t it be called Squacco?
Robert Francis@birdhistory.bsky.social · 5mo agoThere are more than 11,000 kinds of birds. I evaluated them all and made a definitive list of the 100 greatest names. I consider myself a bird name connoisseur but these blew me away. Over the next 10 days I'll add them to this thread. This is the hardest thing I’ve ever done.
100 Greatest Bird Names, Day 5: #60 to #51 🧵 #60: Growling Riflebird Its black velvety plumage supposedly resembles the uniform of the 19th century British Army Rifle Brigade. Plus, it growls.
Robert Francis@birdhistory.bsky.social · 5mo agoThere are more than 11,000 kinds of birds. I evaluated them all and made a definitive list of the 100 greatest names. I consider myself a bird name connoisseur but these blew me away. Over the next 10 days I'll add them to this thread. This is the hardest thing I’ve ever done.
100 Greatest Bird Names, Day 4: #70 to #61 🧵 #70: Chaco Chachalaca Say this bird's name out loud. You're already happier than you were 8 seconds ago. Chachalaca comes from the Nahuatl word for “to chatter”. eBird transcribes their song as “bink, ka chee chaw raw taw.”
Robert Francis@birdhistory.bsky.social · 5mo agoThere are more than 11,000 kinds of birds. I evaluated them all and made a definitive list of the 100 greatest names. I consider myself a bird name connoisseur but these blew me away. Over the next 10 days I'll add them to this thread. This is the hardest thing I’ve ever done.
100 Greatest Bird Names, Day 3: #80 to #71 🧵 #80: Cinderella Waxbill 293 birds are “grey”, 32 are “ashy”, and 16 are “cinereous,” which all could have worked for this bird, but some ornithologist with joy in their heart called it Cinderella instead.
Robert Francis@birdhistory.bsky.social · 5mo agoThere are more than 11,000 kinds of birds. I evaluated them all and made a definitive list of the 100 greatest names. I consider myself a bird name connoisseur but these blew me away. Over the next 10 days I'll add them to this thread. This is the hardest thing I’ve ever done.
100 Greatest Bird Names, Day 2: #90 to #81 🧵 #90: Weebill Everything's little about Australia's littlest bird but its bill is littlest of all. It's song even sounds like it's saying "I'm a wee-bill." Decently cute bird but impossibly cute name. How could I say no?
Robert Francis@birdhistory.bsky.social · 5mo agoThere are more than 11,000 kinds of birds. I evaluated them all and made a definitive list of the 100 greatest names. I consider myself a bird name connoisseur but these blew me away. Over the next 10 days I'll add them to this thread. This is the hardest thing I’ve ever done.
100 Greatest Bird Names, Day 1: #100 to #91 🧵 #100: Chad Firefinch This is no Virginia Rail. Cockiest bird in Central Africa. Even though it's #100, the selection process was still incredibly competitive. This bird is still in the top 1% of all bird names.
Robert Francis@birdhistory.bsky.social · 5mo agoThere are more than 11,000 kinds of birds. I evaluated them all and made a definitive list of the 100 greatest names. I consider myself a bird name connoisseur but these blew me away. Over the next 10 days I'll add them to this thread. This is the hardest thing I’ve ever done.
There are more than 11,000 kinds of birds. I evaluated them all and made a definitive list of the 100 greatest names. I consider myself a bird name connoisseur but these blew me away. Over the next 10 days I'll add them to this thread. This is the hardest thing I’ve ever done.
One thing I love about new york is that its most important birds get obituaries
If you thought people got excited about woodcocks today, the things sportsmen said about them a hundred years ago would make you blush
Robert Francis@birdhistory.bsky.social · 5mo agoMaybe you just learned about woodcocks, but they've been a big deal for centuries. I wrote about the long history of loving the American Woodcock birdhistory.substack.com/p/more-than-...
Maybe you just learned about woodcocks, but they've been a big deal for centuries. I wrote about the long history of loving the American Woodcock birdhistory.substack.com/p/more-than-...
i found this florida woman who was feeding a sandhill crane Grape-Nuts in 1913 and I'm not sure what to do with this info but I'm kind of floored "his favorite food is grape-nuts" okay! go off!
Eighty percent of the time I get excited about hearing a bird song I don't recognize it's actually a catbird. I love this description from Florence Merriam, 1889.
Seeking: books on gilded age / progressive era social movements. Any recommendations??
A hundred years ago this is what people were thinking about when there was a blizzard birdhistory.substack.com/p/charity-to...
here's 36 names that people used to call the Northern Flicker. personal favorites include yucker and tapping-bird
Wat
Robert Francis@birdhistory.bsky.social · 7mo agoI had a conversation with my friend Grant Mulligan at Progress Accumulation about the role birds have played in America’s history, not just for the birders and ornithologists, but for everyone who’s called America home. Give it a listen! substack.com/home/post/p-...
corset-burning: quite hardcore? Also, corsets: made from whale bones??
I had a conversation with my friend Grant Mulligan at Progress Accumulation about the role birds have played in America’s history, not just for the birders and ornithologists, but for everyone who’s called America home. Give it a listen! substack.com/home/post/p-...