Are birds’ tweets grammatical? [Scientific American] But are the rules of grammar unique to human language? Perhaps not, according to a recent study, which showed that songbirds may also communicate using a sophisticated grammar—a feature absent in even our closest relatives, the nonhuman primates. Kentaro Abe and Dai Watanabe of Kyoto University
performed a series of experiments to determine whether Bengalese finches expect the notes of their tunes to follow a certain order.
posted by Fizz
on Nov 3, 2011 -
31 comments
Open air sports stadiums often have issues with
birds,
insects, and other wildlife. Common preventative measures include
ultrasonic devices and bird
netting. But Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium - one of the venues for the 2010 World Cup - has taken an all-natural approach. It is working with the Urban Raptor Project to install
raptors, bats, and owls to
patrol the stadium for various pests, while a
trained peregrine falcon chases away crows. This is not a new technique -
Millennium Stadium in Wales has long used a
Harris Hawk for bird control. But according to the NMB stadium manager, it "is the only stadium with a programme like this in place as a pest deterrent".
posted by gemmy
on May 31, 2010 -
12 comments
US Airways Flight 1549 has
crashed into the Hudson. Fortunately, it appears that everyone has survived. The culprit appears to be a
bird strike from a flock of geese (as opposed to a single bird, which airplane engines are built to withstand).
[more inside]
posted by kdar
on Jan 15, 2009 -
169 comments
Taking a look through
this site, I can see why bird watching is such a popular hobby. From the
common to the
bizarre to the
downright adorable. this site has a little... no, scratch that, a whole lot of everything. I suggest starting at the family list on the lower left hand column of the main page and trounsing about for a spell; it's
good for the soul.
posted by ignorantguru
on Jun 12, 2008 -
12 comments
Long revered for its value as a
fertilizer, and as a raw material for
explosives, guano is the dried droppings of various birds and bats. The New York Times has published an excellent account of the
Peruvian harvest of this valuable resource including a
multimedia slideshow. Guano was superseded by synthetics in the early part of the 20th century, due to the development of the
Haber Bosch process, which fixed atmospheric
nitrogen.
An attempt to harvest bat guano from a
Grand Canyon cave in the late 1950’s was beset by technical problems and was ultimately unsuccessful. The remaining structures at the canyon rim are now a
tourist attraction.
posted by Tube
on Jun 7, 2008 -
13 comments
Metafilter's many
cat lovers know that many kitties like birds. But bird aficionados aren't so fond of the cats.
James Stevenson, founder of the Galveston, TX ornithological society, is accused of using a .22-caliber rifle to kill cats that he claims were stalking endangered birds. He admits to shooting the cats.
[more inside]
posted by bassjump
on Nov 14, 2007 -
127 comments
'There’s a special providence in the fall of a sparrow. If
it be now, 't is not to come; if it be not to come, it will be now; if
it be not now, yet it will come: the readiness is all. Since no man has
aught of what he leaves, what is 't to leave betimes?'
Chris Chester, author of
Providence of a Sparrow:
Lessons from a Life Gone to the Birds, a meditation on his life
with B, an English Sparrow which he raised from a hatchling fallen from
the nest, died suddenly early this past Spring. His nephew Marc Mowery
has created
Chris Chester - born May 14, 1952
died April 17, 2007 to his memory and has posted 6 of 8 short videos
of Chris and Rebecca Chester and the sparrow named B on YouTube.
And
here is
The Sorrow and the Sparrow: The
Life and Death of Chris ChesterExcerpt and video
links within [more inside]
posted by y2karl
on Oct 25, 2007 -
9 comments
Turd Birds - Art from Horse Turds Nothing political about this post and it is SFW.
Someone actually thought that it would be a good idea to use horse poop as an art medium to make weird looking bird sculptures.
But at least there's the tale of the
Turd Nazi to enjoy.
posted by fenriq
on Oct 14, 2004 -
6 comments
Redbird reefs of the coast of Delaware (NYTimes). When I came back from vacation, I was surprised to find that using old NYC subway cars as artificial reefs was being put into action (with a great pic of the cars being pushed off barges). NYC gets creative in getting rid of its trash, but this is the most creative way I've heard of yet.
posted by meep
on Aug 30, 2001 -
3 comments
