Basically, I’m working on a bird list for a comprehensive size comparison video in July. What species do you wish for me to add? The ADDED tag basically means I’ve finished illustrating the bird
The list:
Ratites Ostrich Casowary (3) Emu Tinamous Lesser spotted kiwi Northern brown kiwi Great spotted kiwi
Ducc Green winged teal Wood duck Northern pintail Long tailed duck Redhead DONE Common eider DONE Pink eared duck Musk duck Goosander Northern shoveler Pochard DONE Red breasted merganser Mallard Canvasback DONE Common shelduck Muscovy duck Lesser white-fronted goose Bar headed goose Red breasted goose Bean goose Greater white-fronted goose Canada goose Black swan Whooper swan Trumpeter swan Mute swan
Grouses King quail Quail Bob white Helmeted guineafowl Montezuma quail California quail Willow ptarmigan Chukar Greater prairie chicken Common pheasant Chicken Capercaille Indian peafowl Turkey
Flamingo Lesser flamingo American flamineg Great flaminge
Grebe Little grebe Pied billed grebe Horned grebe Great crested grebe
Bigeon Diamond dove Bar shouldered dove Mourning dove Spotted dove Turtle dove Collared dove Pigeon Woodpigeon Kereru Victoria pigeon
Cuckoo Jacobin cuckoo Spotted cuckoo Common cuckoo Channel billed cuckoo Roadrunner
Nightjar Poorwill Nighthawk Nightjar Chuckwillswidow Great eared nightjar Tawny frogmouth Great pootoo Swift Chimney swift Alpine swift Anna’s hummingbird Bee hummingbird Violet sabrewing Giant hummingbird
Rail Moorhen Coot Sora White breasted waterhen Water rail Corn rake King rail American coot Purple gallinule Pukeko Takahe
Crane Demoiselle Common crane Sandhill crane Siberian crane Brolga Sarus crane Limpkin
Great bustard Southern black Koorhan Little bustard Kori bustard
Black winged stilt Avocet Oystercatcher Eurasian thick nee Bush stone curlew Beach stone curlew
Ploves Kentish plover Piping plover Semipalmated plover Dotterel Mountain plover Aquilonius plover DONE Killdeer American golden plover Blacksmith lapwing European golden plover Sociable lapwing Northern lapwing Masked Lapwing
Sandpiper Little stint Dunlin Jack snipe Common snipe Australian painted snipe Great snipe Woodcock Woodcock (American) DONE Red knot Great knot Bar tailed godwit Black tailed godwit Marbled godwit Whimby Curlew Spotted redshank Willet Asian dowitcher Short billed dowitcher
Buttonquail The plains wanderer Common buttonquail Black breasted buttonquail
Skua Arctic Skua Pomarine skua South polar Great skua
Auks Little auk Horned puffin Marbled murrelet Atlantic puffin Razorbill Thick billed murre
Gull/tern Least tern Common tern Inca tern Royal tern Great crested tern Caspian tern Little gull Laughing gull Kittiwake Black headed gull Ring billed gull Lesser bbg Herring gull Pacific gull Pallas gull Great bbg Black skimmer
Great northern diver Red throated loon
Pinguin Little penguin Royal penguin Macaroni penguin African penguin Humboldt penguin King penguin Emperor penguin
Tubenoses European storm-petrel Wilson storm petrel Cape petrel Leach storm petrel Black storm petrel Manx shearwater Great shearwater Fulmar Southern giant petrel Yellow nosed albatross Laysan albatross Black-browed albatross Wandering albatross
Stork Abdim’s stork Wood stork White stork Asian openbill Saddlebill Marabou
Frigate Lesser frigatebird Magnificent frigatebird Great frigatebird
Booby Blue footed booby Northern gannet
Cormorant Anhinga Pygmy cormorant Little pied cormorant Shag Double crested cormorant Great cormorant
Pelican Brown pelican Spot billed pelican White pelican Dalmatian pelican
Heron Green heron Black crowned night heron Snowy egret Purple heron Great bittern Great egret Grey heron Great blue heron Goliath heron
Glossy ibis African sacred ibis Scarlet ibis Giant ibis Roseate spoonbill Royal spoonbill
Falcons American kestrel DONE Lesser kestrel Common kestrel Aplomado falcon Peregrine falcon Lanner falcon Gyrfalcon Caracara
Eagle Osprey Booted eagle Bonneli’s eagle Lesser spotted eagle Great spotted eagle Steppe eagle White-bellied sea eagle Eastern imperial eagle Bald eagle Golden eagle Martial eagle Wedge-tailed eagle White-tailed sea eagle Philippine eagle Steller’s sea eagle Harpy eagle
Kite White-tailed kite Swallow-tailed kite ADDED Brahminy kite Black kite Red kite ADDED
Hawks and buzzards Sharp shinned hawk Cooper’s hawk Sparrow hawk European honey-buzzard Common buzzard Red-tailed hawk Goshawk Red-shouldered hawk Ferruginous hawk Harris’s hawk Hen harrier Western marsh harrier Swamp harrier
Vultures Black vulture Turkey vulture Hooded vulture Palm nut vulture Egyptian vulture King vulture White rumped vulture Indian vulture White-backed vulture Ruppels griffon vulture Eurasian griffon vulture Himalayan griffon vulture Cape vulture Lappet-faced vulture Californian condor Cinereous vulture Andean condor
Owl Little owl Sawwhet owl Spotted owl Barn owl Snowy owl Short eared owl Great grey owl Eurasian eagle owl Blakiston’s fish owl
Resplendent quetzal
Hornbills: Grey hornbill Red billed hornbill Hoopoe Southern ground hornbill Rhinoceros hornbill Great hornbill
Coraces Common kingfisher Azure kingfisher Pied kingfisher Woodland kingfisher White-breasted kingfisher Kookaburra Dollar bird Indian roller European roller European bee eater Rainbow bee eater
Woodpecker Red bellied woodpecker Great spotted woodpecker Northern flicker Pileated woodpecker
Parrots Pygmy parrot Fischer’s lovebird Red-rumped parrot Budgerigar Rosy-faced lovebird Blue winged parrot Quaker parrot Cockatiel Crimson rosella Rose-ringed parakeet Alexandrine parakeet Sulphur-crested cockatoo Palm cockatoo
Shrike Woodchat Loggerhead Lesser grey shrike Great grey shrike
Crow Blue jay Steller’s jay Eurasian jay Australian magpie Eurasian Magpie DONE Yellow-billed magpie DONE Rook Hooded crow American crow Brown necked raven White necked raven Common raven Thick billed raven
Tits Coal tit Black capped chickadee Great tit Tufted titmouse
Swallow Bank swallow DONE Northern house Martin DONE Barn swallow DONE Tree swallow DONE Welcome swallow DONE Violet green swallow DONE
Crestmen Goldcrest Golden crowned kinglet Ruby crowned kinglet
Waxwings Bohemian waxing Cedar waxwing Hypocolius
Flat birds Eurasian treecreeper White breasted nuthatch Red breasted nuthatch Eurasian nuthatch Giant nuthatch
Starlings Common starling Rosy starling Long tailed glossy starling Emerald starling Bank myna Common myna Indian pied starling
Thrushes Eastern bluebird ADDED Mountain bluebird ADDED Song thrush ADDED Redwing ADDED American robin ADDED Common blackbird ADDED Missile thrush ADDED
Flycatcher European robin Collared flycatcher Bluethroat Northern wheatear Common rock thrush Siberian Ruby throat Pied wheatear
Finch Pin tailed whydah Gouldian finch Zebra finch Indian silverbill Strawberry finch Java sparrow Liwi Evening grosbeak American goldfinch Eurasian Bullfinch
Bunting Snow bunting Rustic bunting Corn bunting Yellow breasted bunting Indigo bunting Cardinal
Sparrow House sparrow Tree sparrow Song sparrow Golden crowned sparrow Harris sparrow Eastern towhee Dark eyed junco
Icteridae Eurasian golden oriole Baltimore oriole Grackle tricoloured blackbird Red winged blackbird
Other passerines Skylark Horned lark House wren White wagtail Lyrebird Superb fairywren Pink robin Greater lophorina Victoria riflebird Purple sunbird Olive backed sunbird Olive backed sunbird Olive backed sunbird
All but one written to fill various needs of Reddit subs with which I was involved, none of them this one.
.
Sons of Noah .
We all of us are going down
A very long and very old road,
Sea monsters sidling in sloughs
Beside us, keeping track,
Gliding down the riven waters,
Their gilled heads bobbing to birdsong.
The wonder of forestry is that lamp you found
And the coffin nails that spilled from heaven,
Exactly the sort we need to build the ark.
.
Goodnight Moon: A Prequel .
There was a fox there
With red hair,
A platform, a tank,
Six dozen hula-hoops
And a bear.
Some people named Throckmorton,
A shy man -- Bobby Gorton,
And a rusted old sink
In a chair.
Spring came the rain --
In winter, propane --
Four snakes, a man-child, and a mare.
https://fliphtml5.com/juzlf/ngmp/basic .
The Rain It Raineth Every Day .
I hadn't noticed this in my Book of Allusions
At least not lately
Though I suspect it's still back there somewhere:
It was this, it was Laurie Anderson, and she said
What Fassbinder film is it? The one-armed man
Comes into the flower shop and says
What flower expresses 'days go by,'
And they just keep going by endlessly, endlessly
Pulling you into the future, days go by endlessly, endlessly
Pulling you into the future?
.
And you said, "Why,
All of them."
https://youtu.be/sZuABUh9UoI .
If Frost Had've Had a Sweet Tooth .
Some say the world will end in Atomic Fireballs,
Some say in a large cherry Icee.
From what I've tasted of hard, cinnamon-flavored candies,
I hold with those who favor the former.
(Jolly Rancher Cinnamon Fire will also do the trick.)
But for sheer brain-freeze? Holy fuck.
The Icee will sufficee.
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44263/fire-and-ice .
A Ghost Unknown .
This is the ghost,
These are the bones,
Of all that I could be,
Collapsed in the end
Like charnel, my friend,
The ghost of that which was me;
Don't stir them up and if they groan
Let it mean less than nothing to you,
A vision of futility --
The ghost of a day long past due.
And if I choose to walk the night
And with autumn winds make moan,
Pretend not to see that this was me.
Let me stay a ghost unknown.
.
Lateness of the Hour .
I know you remember that night we fought the Civil War
(Or, rather, that night we watched it being fought)
In the December cold on Mt. Oread, by the football field,
Our breaths wrapping the trees like exuberant ghosts
As we wound down Tennessee Street then across to Mass,
Where the deli windows were ice bright, like presents,
And "Pretty as You Feel" played on the jukebox.
(What was that note you found?
"Perhaps an extraordinarily fuzzybear"?)
Remember that old fellow we saw, trying
To break into the stadium as we passed?
That was me, that was my ghost.
That was the future.
The future is vast.
.
These Our Coyotes .
The order of the day is a mischief of coyotes,
Small breaths yipping in the silver night;
Out there somewhere in back of your house
The horizon lines shimmer in the moonlight
And the pedestals of silence sink like glycerin
As nature's roll call proceeds apace,
Awaiting the sun's bright face.
Where will you go, our coyote mischiefs,
Where will you go and what mischiefs to know?
It's three a.m. -- I hear them clear, calling
Sounding out what the daylight will show.
.
Death Comes to the Arms .
Across the silk pillows your hollow head lies;
I see it distinctly, though scores of blue flies
Pour forth from the neck wound the butcher knife made;
To stifle the smell there is aerosol Glade.
Oh why did I do it? What came over me?
To seek the truth further I had Ruth to tea
And asked her, Ruth darling, how I, seeming good,
Sawed into his spine like years-old driftwood?
Ruth pondered, sipped oolong, gave me a quick smooch
And patted the head of Sir Bosco, my pooch.
We must be brave, Leila, she finally said;
Let's face it: friend Stephen won't stop being dead.
Now time ticks by slowly and likely it stops
As soon as the Arms fills with hard-bitten cops.
.
Oh qui pourrait baiser cette pute infidèle .
Oh who will have my apple dish I'm baking on the stove
And who will brave the waves and steer my boat into the cove
And who'll recite resplendently in this our sylvan grove
And we'll still make Muskogee in the maw-nin'. .
Oh who will fasten these my beads around my snow-white neck
And who will tilt my chin just so and give my lips a peck
And who'll be drunk and vomit up on this my polished deck
And we'll still make Muskogee in the maw-nin'. .
Oh who will dance like Nuryev until the midnight chimes
And who will pistol-whip the ones who summoned forth the mimes
And who'll be so good to divvy up this coke into neat dimes
And we'll all make Muskogee in the maw-nin'. .
The Something Motion .
Draw a window
and now draw
something
in the window:
.
a blue sun,
such as a child
might draw.
What color are the clouds
.
and what color
are the trees?
See something
that moves,
.
moving behind the trees.
.
What color is
the something motion?
.
'Cause I'm as Free as Free Verse Now (and This Verse You Cannot Cha-a-ange) .
Cap'n Ronnie, sky pilot's awaiting you boys still
And straining to hear whining engines of that big ol' aeroplane a-flying
So low over old Miss, but can only sense
Wings cartwheeling through the forest at midnight, startling the jackrabbits:
Steve and Cassie Gaines's folks are getting nervous, they ain't been home in years,
And the Top 40 charts remain untroubled by singles from you boys this century.
Ooh That Smell's a bleach-boned eight track in the trunk of my Chevy Nova,
Splayed out on its rims in woods
Beyond Jacksonville, bumblebees in that patch of daisies Mama loved.
Gimme three steps back in time
And I'll punch Neil Young square in his Canuck snoot,
Set off bottle rockets phew! phew! phew! into that starry Southern sky,
Take a big old slug of whiskey --
And I will weep for all that's gone.
https://youtu.be/CqnU_sJ8V-E .
A Sonnet of Morning Prayer .
O Morning! thou puff of OPIUM SMOKE when hazy,
How I longe to bee TREE BRANCHES scraggling thy softe sky,
Or anon, juniper berries fed to yonder snake:
The veiled harlots of TUNISIA bow to thy wisdom;
The Sun splits its beam through thy proclivities,
And The Moon hides in ABJECT SHAME ‒-
O Cousin Moon, weep thee not, all is forgot!
The grasse, a-green in thy first blush, coils uneasy,
And the jackals in the HILLS ABOVE call down wrath
On an hundred tiny villages on cliffs atop SALTY SEAS.
Spare us thy rod, Mother Morning, do hit us not
In our EXTREMITIES with thy fists, nor look askant
When we set foote in hobnail and hobble-hop to market,
Loose change a-jingle in our pockets, OUR SMILES worn uneasy.
.
The Disillusionment of 9:30 P.M. Central .
The floors are a-twist with white candy wrappers.
None of them are red, with a Twizzlers logo;
None of them are green and arrived bearing spearmint;
None are multi-colored or contained candy corn.
None once held peanuts -- allergies, man!
Only, here and there, a stone-drunk redhead,
Her head afloat in seas Aegean,
Plays bongos in bed with Allen.
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43429/disillusionment-of-ten-oclock .
That Summer .
Somehow it was already Thursday
In the house behind the hill --
That summer swept the days down,
And passed as we stood still.
In fact it was already autumn,
And the leaves began to fall
Fast -- and then fast -- and then faster,
And drowned us in Silence's pall.
In fact the day's done and now darkness
Haunts the house behind the hill.
One could say that the seasons are over
Though that summer resides there, still.
.
Donston Maidens .
Sometimes dancing, all a tip-toe, sometimes singing in the rain
The maids of Donston, the Donston maidens
Surge through its streets, then back again.
You must have heard them, from your meadow, in the still of summer grass
Must have seen them, all a-shadow, as the clouds went rolling past.
Their sweet singing, in the treetops, where they floated carelessly
The maids of Donston, the Donston maidens
Sang and danced, and set us free.
.
Masefield's 'Sea Fever,' After Several Rum Drinks .
I must go down to the streets again, to the streets full of shrieks and cries,
And all I ask is for one old Crip, and a Blood neither fair nor wise;
And a pistol's bark, and a siren's song, and a summer noon that's baking,
And six rogue cops, and four dead johns, and a hooker's heart that's breaking.
.
I must go down to the streets again, when summer nights make moan,
And all I can see is a dead junkie OD'd in the
Combat Zone;
And all I can ask is for crappy verse -- some Masefield to parody
Like this old one -- so full of itself, and some bullshit "down to the sea."
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/54932/sea-fever-56d235e0d871e .
Southeast Kansas Deserta (With Apologies to Idris Davies' Bells of Rhymney) .
Will you help us do arsons
Say the fiery bells of Parsons
.
Did you know Timothy Leary
Say the tripping bells of Erie
.
I'll have a whiskey and soda
Say the tipsy bells of Iola
.
Will you buy me a beer
Say the beggar bells of Weir
.
Focaccia's the new black
Say the bells of Frontenac
.
Have you paid for what you bought
Say the bank bells of old Ft. Scott
.
Why so worried about what's fair
Say the anarchists in Thayer
.
You have damaged our karma
Say the testy bells of Arma
.
Play the miners a dirge
Say the pit bells of Pittsburg
.
Don't let the bosses bone ya
Say the tight belles of young Fredonia
.
Go on strike boys, you must be hard
Say
the Blue Books of red Girard .
Let us abandon all hope-a
Say the wary bells of Chetopa
.
It's starting to hail hail hail
Say the bells of Cherryvale
.
And we end with a jolt
Say the bells of stern Humboldt.
http://www.welshnot.com/the-bells-of-rhymney/ https://youtu.be/YEItbnZ7rtc https://youtu.be/ARXznkKkeUE .
Who Murdered the Mall Rat? (With Apologies to Henry Treece) .
Who murdered the mall rat,
The pimply young mall rat?
Who murdered the mall rat,
The mall rat named Ruth?
I, said the kiosk,
The gaudy red kiosk,
I, with my spangles, my rings and my earrings,
I murdered the mall rat.
I took the mall rat and what good I did --
Let's go see
Porky's at the 8-plex, I said.
.
Who killed the mall guard,
The overweight mall guard,
Who killed the mall guard,
The mall guard named Al?
I, said the food court,
The clamorous food court,
I with my pizza, my fries and my pasta,
I killed the mall guard,
Then called him a cab.
.
Who slew my teen years,
My bright silly teen years,
Who slew my teen years
And made me a man?
I, said the Jester, the Spencer's Gifts jester,
I slew your teen years.
They were over too soon.
https://www.antiwarsongs.org/canzone.php?lang=en&id=57001 .
Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening, Part II .
Skedaddle, pard; it's three a.m.,
And midnight seems a year ago
And I do not much countenance
My woods watched as they fill with snow.
.
Now I live in Providence.
Farming proved an earthly hell.
I rent this place to Billy Ball
And my sister, Mary Nell.
.
Today I came to kill her man;
His body's in the thorny gorse.
And I do not much countenance
You and your cart and your little horse.
.
I'll bury him deep in the woods tonight --
It's lovely there, so very dark,
And stand and weep at the very thought
Of deeds I've done, and outcomes stark.
.
Skedaddle, pard, but write this down:
Never in life should you sojourn here
In snow, in dark, in these woods of mine --
The longest night of the calendar year.
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/42891/stopping-by-woods-on-a-snowy-evening .
If Emily Dickinson Had Been Drinking When Composing #656 .
I started early -- took my Cow --
And visited the Grange;
The farmers There -- were Curious --
To see a Cow with mange.
.
Bean Blossom Ed -- accept my Gift --
I am your little Vole;
Lift up my Dress -- attach it hence --
And fly me on your Pole.
.
The waters, deep! the Sky -- it's high!
O let me sing to You
In supple voice -- with Perfect Tone --
God! -- drown me in Your Dew.
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/50976/i-started-early-took-my-dog-656 .
Ladies and Gentlemen! Let's Give a Big Rapids City Welcome to Metaphysical Poet the Reverend John Donne! . No man is a rodeo; I guarantee this -- write it down.
Every man is a
part of the rodeo; in your case, its clown.
If a cowpoke be bucked by a bronco, Wyoming is the lesse;
As well as if a Dakotan were; or a Nebraskan. Lily-livered Easterners too, perhaps.
Each rodeo contestant's death diminishes me because I insure them.
Therefore, send not to know for whom the bull toils; it toils for me.
https://web.cs.dal.ca/~johnston/poetry/island.html .
Belgian Waffle Serenade .
Oh what has become of that whistling crow?
The pie bird -- the fat one; I would like to know.
His office was sat in the old chimney flue,
And he would not dither if he sang to you.
(Those waffles are famous the wide world around,
Though syrups to soak them no longer abound.)
The pie bird commanded the whole waffle crew
And he'd strut and kerfuffle -- but then out he flew:
No chitchat, no high fives if you are not here,
No passports or visas without you, it's clear,
O bird good of heart; oh where have you flown?
The waffles fall silent when they're left alone.
Oh what has become of that whistling crow?
The pie bird -- the fat one; I would like to know.
.
How We Now Understand the Borden Crimes .
Lizzie was a wastrel, Lizzie was a thief,
Lizzie robbed a butcher's and stole a leg of beef
Lizze killed her step-mama, Lizzie killed her pa
Lizzie's in the jail now, ha ha ha ha ha.
Bridget was a cutie, Bridget minced around,
Bridget heard the axe fly, and its whistling sound
Bridget was excited, Bridget told a lie
Bridget watched the both of them fall straight down and die.
Emma's on a wassail, Emma's on the town,
Emma is all sis-boom-bah, can't bring Emma down,
Emma is a-tippling, Emma bought the axe
Emma had instructed them on the forty whacks.
.
Patricia, They Are Here . Sit still. Let them come. They'll be here. Take my hand.
Got your wand? Don't be dull. They'll appear. Wave it slow.
Hear that sound? Wind in sand? Here they are. Now you know.
Hear that sound? Wind in sand? Here they are. Like we planned.
.
The Silence Appalls .
The wind was low-pitched as a
pendant.
A sweet potato moon
Glowed as it shone thru the window
Like sand in a fiery dune.
.
The trees were dipped in tallow,
The backstairs unlit and night-blue.
We stopped when the noises started --
The apprehension grew.
.
The footsteps were achingly sideways,
The moans were sporadic and small;
We turned from the light to the tapping
At the end of the beveled hall.
.
What next? said a voice, and we heard it:
What next was both cunning and slow,
The sound of an Elder Thing crawling
Down the coal chute in darkness below.
.
What walks on two feet in the daytime
Then slithers and curls round your toes
As twilight traduces the landscape
And fear like a pestilence grows?
.
O mend the black sky with quicksilver,
And stop up the draughts in the walls;
Such secrets continue till daybreak --
Their darkness the silence appalls.
.
Troublefree .
Were you there at Jeur du Rivre
when Pasquale and the socialists
marched the Mais Square every day?
Do you recall the rains, falling from the cliffs
in bright arcs, not one as wet as the next,
oh my little love: and of their colors, cascading?