The Experience of Birding
Another sneaky bird, this one a hummingbird, named Trochilus fallax almost 175 years ago. It’s often easy to figure out what the original describer had in mind in styling a bird “deceitful,” but not this time. When Bourcier and Mulsant named this species in 1843, they were entirely forthright about their lack of confidence in its truthfulness, …
Continue reading “A Fallacious Hummingbird”
Every single thing I know about hummingbird identification — and a measurable share of what I know about hummingbirds, period — I owe to Steve Howell’s photographic guide. A feeder, a scope or pair of binoculars, and that book open on the table in front of you for a couple of hours, and suddenly things …
Continue reading “Yes, Indeed: Another Hummingbird Quiz”
Some of us were talking about hummingbird wing structures the other day — which may be why some of us don’t get invited to many cocktail parties. In any event, take a look at this. What genus does this bird belong to? Photographed north of Mexico.
Here’s one of those “degrees of separation” games: How can you get from Allen’s hummingbird to the French Empire of Napoleon I? The most elegant and the most amusing solutions win moral credit.
It’s 150 years this year since William Charles Linnaeus Martin left this earth, but his vast corpus of writings continues even now to open a window on Victorian agriculture and natural history. One of the most popular and prolific authors of his day in such subjects, Martin moved in good circles, and had access to the …
Continue reading “That Faintest Whiff of Hummingbird”