Birdtober Day Seventeen: Rüppell's Starling

Today's bird is a grackle, and my colleague replaced it on the Ugandan calendar with a Rüppell's Starling. I knew right away why. Like the Common Grackle in the US, the Rüppell's Starling is noisy, likes hanging out in flocks, and has iridescent feathers. (I wrote about the Common Grackle here.) 

 

Photo Source: eBird.com

Photo Source: Wikipedia

While reading about this bird (which appears on my checklists 360 times), I became interested in the guy who named it after himself, Wilhelm Peter Eduard Simon Rüppell (1794-1884). Rüppell's Wikipedia page lists nineteen plants, animals, and birds named for him. There's even a fish and a butterfly. (Scroll down to the bottom of the page to see this list.) As the son of a banker, Rüppell had plenty of money to indulge his interests, and he was interested in everything. He traveled widely in Africa and the Middle East and kept detailed notebooks about what he saw. He also brought many objects back to Germany, where they are now on display in museums, including the Junges Museum Frankfurt. That museum has some discussion here about the way Rüppell casually appropriated whatever took his fancy. It's frowned upon today, but when he was doing it, nobody seemed to mind. 

 

The trend these days is away from naming creatures after humans, though in some cases the scientific names may continue to honour these explorers (the Rüppell's Starling has a scientific name that doesn't include any reference to Rüppell). You can start reading about this issue here, if you're interested. So all of these species may not continue to be named for Herr Rüppell forever.  I can't help feeling a little bit of affection for the guy. After all, he could have used his money in much worse ways. And while he did treat the world as his own personal possession, at least he shared what he discovered and enriched others with the knowledge. I can't find much about what kind of person Rüppell was (other than adventurous). The Junges Museum site gives some hints: "Rüppell had a close connection to the Senckenberg Research Society, having donated it many of the objects he had brought with him. He also became its second director, but was later involved in disputes with the research society. Rüppell was a very headstrong person, but also very generous: he gave everything he had collected in his long life to the Frankfurt museums. Toward the end of his life he expressed the opinion that 'giving away everything before the end is the best testament.'"

Rüppell's Starling

If you want your name
to live on after you
you could put it on a building
or the front of books you’ve written
or at the bottom of pictures you’ve painted.
You could endow a scholarship
or a library.
You could name a company after yourself
or a business
or a child.

Or
you could travel the world
giving birds, fish, butterflies,
bats, chameleons, and plants
your own human name.
These creatures, after all,
don’t know or care that you’ve done so.
The blue and purple
Rüppell’s Starlings in the yard,
for example,
are raucous and iridescent
whatever you call them.

©Ruth Bowen Hersey

Birdtober Day Sixteen: Dove

Yesterday's bird was warlike, and today's is associated with peace. This one, extremely common here in Kampala, is easy to identify because of its distinctive syllable call that sounds like: "I am the Red-eyed Dove." (Listen in the video below.)

Photo Source: eBird.com

Red-eyed Dove

I am the Red-eyed Dove

I am the Red-eyed Dove

I am a bird of peace

I am a bird of love

I'm up here in the tree

Or flying overhead

I am the Red-eyed Dove

Did you hear what I said? 

©Ruth Bowen Hersey

Birdtober Day Fifteen: Red-headed Woodpecker

Although I have seen lots of woodpeckers (I have thirteen species of them on my life list), I have only seen the Red-headed Woodpecker, the one on today's US prompt calendar, five times. Three times were in Kentucky and twice in Georgia. These just aren't the most common birds, but when you see one, it's always a treat. That red head is a beautiful sight. Most woodpeckers have red on their heads, so before you've seen one, you wonder why the name, but, well, look at it. It's obvious.

Photo Source: eBird.com

 

Black and white
With crimson hood
In snags
of decaying wood
Store grasshoppers
for future snacks
(alive, imprisoned,
stuck in cracks).
Steal eggs from birds
who take their space.
Eat airborne bugs
after a chase.
These fierce and rather
warlike guys
look down at you
with beady eyes.

©Ruth Bowen Hersey

Birdtober Day Fourteen: Crow

I have six species on my life list with "Crow" in their names. (Plus some other corvids - did you know jays are related to crows?) In this post you can read a poem I wrote about the White-necked Crow in Haiti. When I started noticing these birds, I had already lived in Haiti for many years, and I absolutely couldn't believe that I'd never noticed them before, mainly because they are so very loud (listen to the sound in the video below). How did I miss them? I have no idea. Like the Golden Swallow, this species is an island endemic, and can only be found on Hispaniola, the island shared by Haiti and the Dominican Republic. The first thing you're likely to wonder about in the picture below is that it doesn't have a white neck; that's strictly part of the bird's breeding plumage. Then you might see the bright red eye.

Photo Source: eBird.com

The White-necked Crow Speaks

 

How unaware do you have to be, Human,
not to notice an enormous black bird
with staring red eyes
and a very loud, squawking call?
What do I have to do to make you look up at me?
Here I am.
Corvus leucognaphalus.
Pleased to meet you.

 

©Ruth Bowen Hersey

 

Birdtober Day Thirteen: Wren

At the end of September, the American Ornithological Society (AOS) announced that there are four new Caribbean species of wrens. I learned about this from Birds Caribbean, who dubbed this moment in time "The Wrenaissance." 

Here's part of Birds Caribbean's explanation (you can read the rest, with more details about how these decisions are made, and photos, here, and you can read my ode to taxonomy in this post): 

"These taxonomic updates often come in the form of “splits,” where what was once considered a single species is divided into multiple species due to significant differences in traits such as appearance, genetics, or behavior. In contrast, “lumps” occur when distinct populations are found to be similar enough to merge into a single species. Ornithologists use a combination of genetic analysis, morphology (shape and size), plumage, and vocalizations to determine whether a bird population deserves species status. 

This process can involve differentiating Caribbean birds from their mainland counterparts or recognizing distinct island populations as unique species. . . . The bird formerly known as the House Wren (Troglodytes aedon) has undergone a major revision and is now split into seven different species — four of which are newly recognized as Caribbean endemics! Say hello to the Grenada Wren(Troglodytes grenadensis), St. Lucia Wren (Troglodytes mesoleucus), St. Vincent Wren (Troglodytes musicus), and Kalinago Wren (Troglodytes martinicensis), which is native to Dominica. The Kalinago Wren, named in honor of the island’s Indigenous Kalinago people, was also historically found on Guadeloupe and Martinique, though it has since disappeared from those islands." 

House Wren (St. Vincent) - Photo Source: eBird.com

 

Wrens

Sometimes one day
you’re someone new
though inside
you’re the same old you:
others see you differently,
and they decide who you will be.

You do you, small brownish wren
(who you are now, who you were then):
keep catching bugs, and sing your song.
House Wren,
you’re right where you belong. 

©Ruth Bowen Hersey

Birdtober Day Twelve: Red-billed Firefinch

Today is October Big Day, and when I was out birding and trying to reach my goal of 40 species (I did, by the way), I was especially looking for Red-billed Firefinches because today's bird is supposed to be a finch. I didn't see one, though I have many times before. But I wrote about them anyway.

Photo Source: eBird.com

Glowing red like an ember
From last night’s campfire,
Little bird starts the day
Cooling off in a puddle.

 

©Ruth Bowen Hersey

Poetry Friday: Birdtober Day Eleven: Golden Swallow

Here are my Birdtober posts so far:

Last Poetry Friday was Day Four, and contains links to Days One to Three (Plush-crested Jay, American Robin, Mountain Bluebird, Giant Kingfisher)

Since last Poetry Friday:

Saturday: Eastern Plantain-Eater 

Sunday: Red-winged Blackbird 

Monday: Cardinals 

Tuesday: Black-headed Heron 

Wednesday: Gray Crowned-Crane 

Thursday: Speckled Mousebird 

 

Today I'm writing about the Golden Swallow, an island endemic. These birds used to be found on Jamaica, but not any more; they can only be seen on Hispaniola now, the island shared by Haiti and the Dominican Republic. I've seen Golden Swallows - two of them - once. My husband and I were birding with an expert friend in Haiti. You can learn more about these beautiful birds here, on the Birds Caribbean site. And you can see the prompts I'm following (all three versions) at any of the Birdtober posts above.

 

 

Golden Swallow

Hispaniolan birds
Nesting in Hispaniolan Pines
In cavities drilled by Hispaniolan Woodpeckers.
This is the only place you can see
these particular flashes of green and gold,
these swooping, shining, iridescent
golden treasures.

©Ruth Bowen Hersey

Jama has today's roundup.

 

Birdtober Day Ten: Speckled Mousebird

In keeping with today's mouse theme (the US prompt is Tufted Titmouse), the Ugandan prompt is the Speckled Mousebird. You can see why someone thought it resembled a mouse, with its hairy-looking head and long tail. I also read that they like roosting close together, similar to the way mice cuddle.  I have to say I find them much more appealing than mice, especially when the mice are in my house.

Fuzzy Mousebird in the tree,
You are not annoying me.
You don’t get inside my house
Like the other kind of mouse.
You just cutely fly around,
Sometimes hanging upside down.
Your hair on end and bright wide eyes
Make you look a bit surprised.
Fuzzy Mousebird in the tree,
You are not annoying me. 

©Ruth Bowen Hersey

Birdtober Day Nine: Gray Crowned-Crane

Today's official bird prompt is a Ruby-crowned Kinglet, but my colleague's Uganda suggestion was the Gray Crowned-Crane, and I had to pick the Uganda one today because it is Ugandan Independence Day. My husband and I used our day off to take a bike ride and go birding. I was hoping to see a Gray Crowned-Crane or five, but we didn't. Never mind! It's on the Ugandan flag, plus my son sent me the bird from the Bird-A-Day calendar. (See below for both of those GCCs.) 

Yesterday in our school Independence Day celebrations, we were asked what the bird on the flag symbolized, and someone near me was saying loudly, "Uganda moves forward!" The answer given from the stage was "longevity." Apparently both are true. The bird's raised leg shows forward movement. And Gray Crested-Cranes can live 20 years in the wild and up to 30 in captivity - which is a long time! I often see them on the compost pile on our Lakeside campus. I think it must feel warm and cozy to them. And they are gorgeous in flight.You can see them in the video below, which was made five years ago as a promo for a film called "Flight to Extinction." The word is that the population of these birds has rebounded somewhat since then.

Independent
Proud Uganda
Cranes are flying
Moving forward

 

©Ruth Bowen Hersey