Let’s talk about the Black Bird..
I’m writing this using my Blackberry as the train I’m on trundles towards London. Since it’s standing room only (as usual on First Great Western) I thought I’d just pass a little time rambling on about birds.
I took this picture the other day. The bird – a jackdaw? – is one of a pair who joined me for lunch but suddenly became camera shy when I got my phone out to take a picture. As you can see, I didn’t get very close.
I don’t know much about birds, but these are regular visitors to my place of work and I find them very amusing company. I love the way they strut about like officious constables when inspecting their surroundings for morsels of food. When in a hurry they bounce along like small boys do when they pretend to ride an imaginary horse. All members of the crow family, including magpies and jays, seem to share this peculiar style of getting about on the ground.
Anyway, whatever this bird was, at least it wasn’t a seagull. They’re rarely amusing, and often downright vicious. And it’s clearly not a falcon either, let alone a Maltese one…
In the Dark 
September 8, 2013 at 4:41 pm
Looks like a jackdaw to me, one of the friendlier crows. If you like birds, try to visit to Jodrell Bank sometime. We saw a nightjar during last week’s concerts. I am impressed you wrote this post while standing up in the train. I thought the case for HS2 was based on time spend on trains being unproductive, so train companies try to keep it that way.
September 8, 2013 at 7:47 pm
Well, they’re certainly very friendly and also apparently very intelligent. I hope they come back regularly. I prefer them to the usual seagulls.
September 8, 2013 at 5:51 pm
Jackdaw ….. although the picture is not very helpful …. it can’t be anything else.
September 9, 2013 at 4:11 pm
You think seagulls are annoying? Try fending off an Antarctic skua who is after your lunch…..oh wait, you can’t fend off a skua without violating the Antarctic treaty (and I’m convinced that the skuas know this!)….oh well, there goes your lunch! You common variety of Seagull is a timid, shy creature by comparison.
September 9, 2013 at 4:15 pm
Seagulls are also protected actually, although I think of them as vermin.
That does remind me of a schoolboy trip to the Farne Islands during which a Fulmar covered one of my classmates with stinking fish-based vomit. Travelling back in a little boat with him wasn’t much fun, and the stench seemed to linger for days…