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... other names are available -
I like 'zephyr' or 'banditry'....
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... other names are available -
I like 'zephyr' or 'banditry'....
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Last edited by vinteuil; 11-12-20, 11:05. -
Volery is a general term for a flight of birds, not specific to long-tailed tits, which are actually tits, i.e. not of the Paridae family.Originally posted by vinteuil View PostComment
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"Zephyr" or "Banditry" seem wrong for the Longtails, alien to their nature and physical presence.
They are remote and ethereal, so tiny without the endlessly angling tail, always the last to the feeders, so deep into the dusk on a last flickering visit they are almost invisible. Out in the woods they reveal themselves by their distinctive calls, and are usually in exclusive family parties; just Blue Tits as occasionally tolerated, secular and quotidian companions.
They remind me of mice, or sugar mice; Hummingbirds in a stuttering slow-motion. So unique and otherworldly you'd have to invent a new nomenclature to capture them in a word. But they are probably elusive beyond words.Last edited by jayne lee wilson; 11-12-20, 14:48.Comment
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Last year in October, I'd just come out of hospital after several weeks and was amazed and delighted to see about half a dozen long-tails arrive every afternoon at about 4.00pm. They would first fly into the apple tree then rebound onto the kitchen windowsill where they would tap on the glass, seemingly to attract my attention. There was no food around for them and the whole activity seemed without reason. They didn't fly away when I moved towards the window. A great mystery!
Sadly, it hasn't happened this year.Comment
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Originally posted by LezLee View Post
May Flights of Angels sing thee to thy cure.....
There may have been a food source somewhere nearby; or perhaps a trusted human provider had disappeared and they came to you in hope...
Can you put something up now? Say a Sunflower Hearts feeder? Give it a few days, they might well come back....Comment
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I think the ‘banditry’ tag probably comes from the fact that they often travel in a small flock have a quick feed and then clear off as quickly as they have come.Originally posted by jayne lee wilson View Post
May Flights of Angels sing thee to thy cure.....
There may have been a food source somewhere nearby; or perhaps a trusted human provider had disappeared and they came to you in hope...
Can you put something up now? Say a Sunflower Hearts feeder? Give it a few days, they might well come back....Comment
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Yes, but 'banditry' has a sense of menace about it, and I can't think of anything more inappropriate to these lovely birds. 'Flock' is as good as anything.Comment
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Wonderful news about some gorgeous creatures.... I used to do the BTO monthly counts down at the coast......
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I'm sticking with "raiding party", which does not necessarily evoke banditry but does more precisely represent their mode of behaviour than the generic "flock".Originally posted by ardcarp View PostComment
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On their fleeting visits to gardens and dispensers, those Longtails are more a natural phenomenon, like a rain shower, a soft squall, or a snow flurry...
An embodied cloud of pink, black and white.....they appear, they change the world and its observers around them, they pass on and away...
A secular epiphany....Comment
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There's a great picture in today's Times (unfortunately not shareable) of a flamboyance of flamingos in Cyprus: what a splendid collective term that one is!Comment
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Sadly, I can no longer get out to the garden and have no way of feeding my birds.Originally posted by jayne lee wilson View Post
May Flights of Angels sing thee to thy cure.....
There may have been a food source somewhere nearby; or perhaps a trusted human provider had disappeared and they came to you in hope...
Can you put something up now? Say a Sunflower Hearts feeder? Give it a few days, they might well come back....Comment
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Originally posted by LezLee View Post
Very sorry to hear that Lezlee. Is there no-one who could do it for you? I do know what its like to be in difficulty and have no-one, no-one at all, to help, so I empathise....I've often been very isolated, and it can seem impossible to approach other people, but when you find the courage to do that, it can be surprising how friendly they can be....
Sorry if that sounds glib. I hope you can still contemplate the Green World outside. I hope you can find a way through.....may your God go with you, or The Spirit Within sustain.....Last edited by jayne lee wilson; 12-12-20, 14:57.Comment
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You've nailed it Jayne....an EPIPHANY of Long-Tailed Tits.Comment
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