BS: Anyone seen a Parsimonious Nuthatch?

Subject: BS: Anyone seen a Parsimonious Nuthatch?
From: GUEST,Winthrop Cuddlesworth
Date: 13 Jun 04 - 04:09 PM

I am a deeply enthusiastic birder located in Massachusetts. I have failed as yet to spot a single Parsimonious Nuthatch this Spring and I am wondering if anyone else has seen one north of the Mason-Dixon line? If so, please specify time and place. Thanks very much!

Subject: RE: BS: Anyone seen a Parsimonious Nuthatch?
From: Amos
Date: 13 Jun 04 - 04:15 PM

Geeze, wodda troll!


A

Subject: RE: BS: Anyone seen a Parsimonious Nuthatch?
From: Ebbie
Date: 13 Jun 04 - 04:36 PM

Winthrop Cuddlesworth is not sufficiently observant- literally all p.nuthatches are in Massachusetts, and in his very town.

Subject: RE: BS: Anyone seen a Parsimonious Nuthatch?
From: Rapparee
Date: 13 Jun 04 - 04:43 PM

Winthrop, the breeding grounds of the Parsimonious Nuthatch were, as you must be aware, innundated by heavy rains and flooding early this year. As a result, many of the nests were destroyed and the breeding cycle reset to compensate for the loss. You'll find them breeding like crazy down around South Padre Island, their little hormones all a-twitter with the second big PN orgy of the year. (Some of the ornithologists in Texas have expressed concern that their little hearts can't stand so much excitement twice in one year.)

Subject: RE: BS: Anyone seen a Parsimonious Nuthatch?
From: Peace
Date: 13 Jun 04 - 04:53 PM

I didn't think that Texas allowed ornithoglogistises or whatever. Don't they have laws about that? I do believe that the government has no business in the bedrooms of the nation, but ya gotta draw the line somewhere.

Subject: RE: BS: Anyone seen a Parsimonious Nuthatch?
From: Rapparee
Date: 13 Jun 04 - 04:57 PM

You just can't engage in ornithology in public in Texas. You have to do it in the privacy of your own home, in a windowless room with the doors locked and the shades drawn. As in Alberta, ornithologists can't hold elective office or work unchaperoned with women, children, or men.

Subject: RE: BS: Anyone seen a Parsimonious Nuthatch?
From: pdq
Date: 13 Jun 04 - 04:59 PM

Haven't seen one yet, but I did recognise one by it's call:

                "cheap, cheap"

Subject: RE: BS: Anyone seen a Parsimonious Nuthatch?
From: akenaton
Date: 13 Jun 04 - 05:08 PM

Good one ,pdq

Subject: RE: BS: Anyone seen a Parsimonious Nuthatch?
From: Cruiser
Date: 13 Jun 04 - 05:40 PM

Gee, a new species to add to one's bird life list.

yep, good one pdq (that must mean pretty darn quick)

Subject: RE: BS: Anyone seen a Parsimonious Nuthatch?
From: CarolC
Date: 13 Jun 04 - 05:47 PM

For the most part, the Parsimonious Nuthatch has been driven out of its northern range by the very aggressive, Hairy Chested Nut Scratcher and it's noisy cousin, the Goggle-eyed Tit Watcher.

Subject: RE: BS: Anyone seen a Parsimonious Nuthatch?
From: Bill D
Date: 13 Jun 04 - 05:49 PM

'round here all we have is Obstreperous Nuthatches, but here's the latest information on the Parsimonious variety.... along with the Unctious Eagle and the Sliding Oriole. Hope that helps.

Subject: RE: BS: Anyone seen a Parsimonious Nuthatch?
From: CarolC
Date: 13 Jun 04 - 05:49 PM

By the way... is that pronounced Nut-hatch, or Nu-thatch?

Subject: RE: BS: Anyone seen a Parsimonious Nuthatch?
From: Peace
Date: 13 Jun 04 - 05:50 PM

OK, I have a stumper for ya. Does Texas allow philatelists? And exactly how does one philatelize? I know it likely involves the tongue. Beyond that, I am lost.

Subject: RE: BS: Anyone seen a Parsimonious Nuthatch?
From: Bill D
Date: 13 Jun 04 - 05:53 PM

I used to philatelize a lot when I was young....yes, it did involve the tongue, used very delicately.

(Carol C...I did note a Red-Breasted Bedthrasher on another site awhile back...I think the population is growing)

Subject: RE: BS: Anyone seen a Parsimonious Nuthatch?
From: CarolC
Date: 13 Jun 04 - 05:53 PM

Ask Porgie Tirebiter. He knows.

Subject: RE: BS: Anyone seen a Parsimonious Nuthatch?
From: CarolC
Date: 13 Jun 04 - 05:56 PM

I bet you didn't see that one in Leisure World, Bill.

Subject: RE: BS: Anyone seen a Parsimonious Nuthatch?
From: Rapparee
Date: 13 Jun 04 - 06:00 PM

I'm ashamed to admit that once, when a very callow and innocent youth, I tried philately. I didn't enjoy it, found it sticky and too esoteric for my tastes. I don't object to it being practiced in private, by adults, but pedophilatelists should have the book thrown at them.

Subject: RE: BS: Anyone seen a Parsimonious Nuthatch?
From: Peace
Date: 13 Jun 04 - 06:04 PM

Maybe we could just mail it!

Subject: RE: BS: Anyone seen a Parsimonious Nuthatch?
From: Peace
Date: 13 Jun 04 - 06:05 PM

This 'Parson's onerous snatch hunt' thing is definitely gettin' outta hand.

Subject: RE: BS: Anyone seen a Parsimonious Nuthatch?
From: Rapparee
Date: 13 Jun 04 - 06:09 PM

I've seen an egg hatch....

Subject: RE: BS: Anyone seen a Parsimonious Nuthatch?
From: Peace
Date: 13 Jun 04 - 06:12 PM

I've seen a ship's hatch....

Subject: RE: BS: Anyone seen a Parsimonious Nuthatch?
From: Rapparee
Date: 13 Jun 04 - 06:25 PM

I've seen the fly hatch....

Subject: RE: BS: Anyone seen a Parsimonious Nuthatch?
From: Bill D
Date: 13 Jun 04 - 06:25 PM

I've seen Orrin Hatch! What a terrible call!...and it tries to regulate other's nesting habits.

Subject: RE: BS: Anyone seen a Parsimonious Nuthatch?
From: pdq
Date: 13 Jun 04 - 06:29 PM

It took 23 post to get into politics.

At least Bill D didn't mention Bush Tits!

Subject: RE: BS: Anyone seen a Parsimonious Nuthatch?
From: Don Firth
Date: 13 Jun 04 - 07:19 PM

I get the impression that somebody is flipping somebody the bird . . .

Don Firth

Subject: RE: BS: Anyone seen a Parsimonious Nuthatch?
From: GUEST,Winthrop Cuddlesworth
Date: 13 Jun 04 - 07:34 PM

What kind of crazy forum is this? I ask a perfectly reasonable question and all I get is a bunch of smart cracking jokers who have no respect for birding or any knowledge of it either! If you knew the thrill of making your way across a damp, dewy field at first light of dawn, picking your way through the burdocks and long grass, adjusting the focus on your high-powered telescope and zeroing in on the rare form of a Parsimonious Nuthatch perched momentarily on a deciduous tree limb 500 feet away...you would know the bliss that I experience every time I go birding. You are philistines. I am disappointed and vexed. If you don't have anything useful to say, just go away. I have been to sixteen internet forums trying to locate someone who has seen a Parsimonious Nuthatch (north of the Mason-Dixon line) and on no other forums have I received such useless comments and harassment as here!

Carol, it is pronounced: "nut-hatch" not "nu-thatch" (good grief!)

Subject: RE: BS: Anyone seen a Parsimonious Nuthatch?
From: Amos
Date: 13 Jun 04 - 07:35 PM

I dunno how Parsimonious they were but I have seen an unusually high concentration of Pot-Headed Nutcases hanging about around the doors and windows of a Cafe I occasionally frequent. Constantly chittering and chattering and bopping into the glass. Not very graceful, usually overwhelmingly drab in coloration, their song is a sort of burping "me" sound.


Occasionally, their peregrinations and reiterative chitterings attract a neighborly flock of Brown Beer-Headed Nutcases, a similar related species.

A

Subject: RE: BS: Anyone seen a Parsimonious Nuthatch?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 13 Jun 04 - 07:45 PM

I saw a Ream-Nosed Romphlombeler the other day, but I don't suppose that is any help. I also saw what I think was a Pie-Eyed Peeper, but I'll have to check the books to be sure about it. It could have been a Lesser Paintywaisted Peeper or even a Least Grebe. I'm not that well up on this stuff yet.

Subject: RE: BS: Anyone seen a Parsimonious Nuthatch?
From: Rapparee
Date: 13 Jun 04 - 08:22 PM

Ah, Mr. Codswallop, I too know the thrill of seeking birds in early morn. The dew upon the grass, gentlely moistening your pantslegs as you quietly creep as close to their perch as you can without frightening the dear little things off...mounting you telescope for that first peek...the joy of recognizing a new species...the squeeze of the trigger....

Yes indeed.

Subject: RE: BS: Anyone seen a Parsimonious Nuthatch?
From: freda underhill
Date: 13 Jun 04 - 09:31 PM

Winthrop and Rapaire, I am with you. A few years ago, before he moved to Brunei, I used to sometimes accompany my brother Adrian bird watching on Black Mountain in Canberra. We used to tiptoe around the mountain, where echidnas, kangaroos and many different birds hang out. There are also some rare species in this area, including the rasping cricket (Arrola platystyla), which occurs only in the ACT, and the pygmy mole cricket (Dendrydactylus keyi);
Some of the birds we saw included Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo, Kookaburras, many types of honey eaters, Superb Fairy Wrens and many more, including Crimson Rosellas, Galahs and Sulphur Crested White Cockatoos.

but my friend Anton Pinkovsky has done a little study on bird watching, I will try and get him to drop it in, I'm sure you would find it fascinating.

regards

freda

Subject: RE: BS: Anyone seen a Parsimonious Nuthatch?
From: GUEST,Anton Pinkovsky
Date: 13 Jun 04 - 09:36 PM

greetings, comrades! - freda, mate!

for those who are interested, here is my short treatise on Marxism and birdwatching!

Marxism and bird watching

The material on this page initially opened with a comment on the tenousness of the links between Marxism and bird watching. Recent research has, however, led to a revision of this assessment. It has demonstrated that the relationship in fact deepened over time.
Both Marx and Engels made early references to domesticated birds. The Engels family in Barmen kept chickens. In 1838, while a commercial apprentice in Bremen, Friedrich wrote home to his sister about breeds of chickens and pigeons he had seen. Marx mentioned French roosters in A Contribution to a Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Right2 and items in the Neue rheinische Zeitung and roast pigeons in the Deutsch-Französische Jahrbücher. While in prison, the Georgian Bolshevik Kamo actually undertook a program of domestication, taming a sparrow. Trotsky continued this tradition in his comparison between British Labour politicians and shortbilled pigeons, bred by fanciers, which were incapable of breaking out of the shell. Unfortunately, it must also be conceded that Trotsky's ornithological interests included duck hunting.

These examples are, it must be conceded, some distance from bird watching. But, by 1874, Marx's ornithological interests were more profound. While recovering his health at the spa resort of Karlsbad (now Karlowy Vary in the Czech Republic), Marx wrote the following to Engels

The surrounding district is very pretty and one can't get enough walking through and over the wooded granite mountains. But not a bird lives in these woods. Birds are healthy and don't like the mineral vapours. It seems that the elaboration of historical materialism was associated with a rising interest in ornithology, not to mention ecology. In Karlsbad, therefore, Marx drew attention to a significant absense. Of course Marx's comment implies interest in the subject on Engels's part. And direct written evidence of Engels's concern with bird anatomy emerged a couple of years later, in a comparison between human and parrot mouths as organs for speech, in his discussion of the evolution of humankind.

It was surely no coincidence (from a materialist perspective) that the Zimmerwald Conference of 2-4 September 1916, the first international conference of anti-war socialist organisations during World War I, went under the cover of a bird watching outing. This had, no doubt, inherent plausibility as there are good views of the autumn migration in some mountainous areas of the Canton of Bern.
Lenin was a participant in the Zimmerwald Conference. In 1922 he compared Rosa Luxemburg favourably with the German Social Democrats of the 1920s by quoting a Russian fable 'Eagles may at times fly lower than hens, but hens can never rise to the height of eagles.' Earlier, the most prominent reformist Social Democrat in southern Germany, Georg von Vollmar, was much less flattering in using bird metaphors to describe her, accusing Luxemburg of 'squawking', and laying 'gaseous eggs'.

Rosa Luxemburg, herself, was probably the prominent Marxist most involved in ornithology. She had some university training in botany and zoology and 'though not to be her life's work, these subjects always retained a strong and almost professional fascination for her'. While imprisoned in Germany, between 1915 and 1918, for her revolutionary and anti-war activities, Luxemburg took particular pleasure in watching and listening to birds within and beyond prison walls. In letters to friends she mentions reading a study of bird migration and encounters with Sparrows, Blackbird, Nightinggale, Green Finch, Cat Finch and Blue Titmouse.

Several Marxists have reflected on Hegel's ornithological contention that 'The owl of Minerva, takes its flight only when the shades of night are gathering'. I would welcome other examples of the synergy between Marxism and bird watching to add to this page.
http://www.anu.edu.au/polsci/birds/marxbird.htm

always revolting

Anton

Subject: RE: BS: Anyone seen a Parsimonious Nuthatch?
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 13 Jun 04 - 11:13 PM

Poor Winthrop, your search is in vain. The Parsimonious Nuthatch does not exist. Actually, the Parsimonious Nuthatch species was devised by careless observers who were watching Skewbald Woodpeckers storing food for the winter. They didn't recognize the woodpeckers, which were in molt at the time, so they mistakenly called them nuthatches.

Subject: RE: BS: Anyone seen a Parsimonious Nuthatch?
From: Bill D
Date: 13 Jun 04 - 11:32 PM

well, Winthrop, we ARE sorry we can't direct you...we usually can find almost anything, but on this subject we must beat a hasty retweet.

Subject: RE: BS: Anyone seen a Parsimonious Nuthatch?
From: Ebbie
Date: 14 Jun 04 - 12:59 AM

OK- what's this nuthatch cheap about?

Subject: RE: BS: Anyone seen a Parsimonious Nuthatch?
From: GUEST
Date: 14 Jun 04 - 01:00 AM

Du er ikke logget inn eller har ikke tilgang til denne siden. Dette kan skyldes en eller flere årsaker. Ja?

Subject: RE: BS: Anyone seen a Parsimonious Nuthatch?
From: GUEST,Tiffany Twitcher
Date: 14 Jun 04 - 01:12 AM

I had the profound pleasure of seeing a Parsimonious Nuthatch when on a trip to Romania in 1987. Here is some information of interest:

Parsimonious nuthatch Sitta parsimonium
Nuthatches are small passerine birds that can be found in most temperate-zone forests around the world and some tropical regions as well. They possess some unique traits, the most famous are climbing down head-first, and narrowing their nest entrance with mud.

The Parsimonious Nuthatch can found in the upper reaches of Romania.
Identification Tips:
•        Length: 5 inches
•        Straight mauve bill
•        Indigo crown and nape
•        White face
•        Purple underparts
•        Blue-gray upperparts
•        Crimson undertail coverts
•        Short tail
•        Sexes similar but female duller
•        Feeds by hopping along tree trunks and branches often hanging upside down
Similar species:
Because of its unique feeding strategy, the Parsimonious Nuthatch is most likely to confused with other nuthatches. Red-breasted Nuthatch has a black eyeline and reddish underparts. Brown-headed and Pygmy Nuthatches have brown caps and a white patch on the nape. Red-breasted, Pygmy and Brown-headed Nuthatches are mostly found in pines while the White-breasted prefers deciduous trees.
Length and wingspan from: Robbins, C.S., Bruun, B., Zim, H.S., (1966). Birds of North America. New York: Western Publishing Company, Inc.

best wishes

Tiffany Twitcher-Neste

Subject: RE: BS: Anyone seen a Parsimonious Nuthatch?
From: Peace
Date: 14 Jun 04 - 01:34 AM

Other than the last point about hopping along tree trunks, etc., you have described a few characters from Lilliput. I really think we're getting some thread creep from the Legalize Pot crowd.

I think many of you are not taking this seriously enough. We are gonna get nasty letters from the Audubon Society. I don't mind the US government, CIA, NSA, FBI or Dubya being pissed at me, but I ain't gonna risk having the AS ticked. So, I shall castigate the lot of you in this public arena. PULL YOUR SHIT TOGETHER!

Yer fren,

Brucie

Subject: RE: BS: Anyone seen a Parsimonious Nuthatch?
From: freda underhill
Date: 14 Jun 04 - 02:40 AM

A man went into a bar and said to the bartender, "If you give me free drinks all night, I will entertain your customers so much they will stay all night and drink lots and lots." "Oh yes," says the bartender. "How are you going to do that?" The man gets a hamster out of his pocket and puts it on the piano. The hamster runs up and down the keyboard playing the greatest piano music anyone had ever heard. "That's incredible!" says the bartender. "Have you got anything else?" The man gets a parrot out of his other pocket and puts it on the bar. The hamster begins to play the piano again and the parrot sings along - sounding just like Pavarotti. Everyone in the bar is amazed and stayed all night drinking and listening to the hamster and parrot. The bartender is delighted. "I must have these animals. Will you sell them to me?" he asks. The man shook his head no. "Will you sell just one then?" asks the bartender. "OK, I'll sell you the parrot for $100" the man says. The bartender is delighted and hands over the money. Another man standing next to the man who owned the hamster said, "You're a bit stupid selling that clever parrot for only $100". "No I'm not," the man replied. "The hamster is a ventriloquist"!!!

Subject: RE: BS: Anyone seen a Parsimonious Nuthatch?
From: freda underhill
Date: 14 Jun 04 - 02:51 AM

In May 1995 Australian film-makers David Parer, Elizabeth Parer-Cook spent 500 days in the Galapagos Islands, to film the vampire finches on Wolf Island.

Wolf Island is a tiny speck of land 200km north of the main Galapagos Archipelago inhabited by tens of thousands of seabirds. In 1964 an American Expedition landed there and scientists observed for the first time the incredible blood sucking behaviour of the vampire finches. For most of the year the climate on Wolf Island is tinder dry and the seeds that are produced in the brief periods of rain are quickly eaten by the finches. So to survive the long dry spells the finches turn to the seabirds for sustenance.

In the breeding season when the masked boobies lay their eggs, the finches sneak up behind them and sip the lubricating fluids from around the egg as it emerges from their cloaca - a food rich in protein. Inexperienced boobies often lay their eggs out of the nest area and the finches quickly move it beyond the mother's reach. Young finches try and break the shell, but their small beaks are not strong enough to do so.

But certain adult males are experts at rolling eggs. They use their beak as a pivot against the ground and push the egg with their legs to roll it over the uneven floor of the colony. After negotiating many dead ends, they manoeuvre the egg to the edge of a rock ledge. A final shove pushes it over the edge and it falls and breaks open releasing the contents. Later when eggs hatch and the booby chicks appear, the finches pull out their downy quills and eat them - a rich source of fat.

But perhaps their most important source of food during the extended droughts is blood. The finches begin by landing on the tail of a seabird. They peck at the base of it's wing feathers breaking the skin and causing it to bleed. As the blood oozes out the finches sip it every few seconds. Other finches line up behind the booby like a queue at a blood bank and as soon as one leaves it's blood-sucking perch another takes its place. It looks gruesome but doesn't appear to do any long term harm to the boobies.

http://www.abc.net.au/nature/vampire/finches.htm

Subject: RE: BS: Anyone seen a Parsimonious Nuthatch?
From: Rapparee
Date: 14 Jun 04 - 09:17 AM

I knew a guy in college who had purple underparts. He'd drunk way too much beer and fell asleep in the biology lab. By careful work his trousers and undergarments were removed and his underparts treated with a purple stain. A very permanent purple stain. A very bright purple stain.

Then they hid his pants.

Subject: RE: BS: Anyone seen a Parsimonious Nuthatch?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 14 Jun 04 - 09:43 AM

Freda, you are totally nuts. :-) I laughed and laughed, reading that treatise on Marxism and birdwatching. Marvelous! My compliments to "Anton".

Subject: RE: BS: Anyone seen a Parsimonious Nuthatch?
From: freda underhill
Date: 14 Jun 04 - 10:37 AM

Anton sends his regards, LH, and said to say thanks, he's glad you enjoyed the complexities of his work. I have managed to restrain him from passing on his treatise on "Goat Addictions, Their Symbolism and Significance for the Technologically Satyrated Modern Man".

Subject: RE: BS: Anyone seen a Parsimonious Nuthatch?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 14 Jun 04 - 11:20 AM

Oh my God! That is a book that has just GOT to be published! Bruce needs that book desperately. It would illuminate his entire zeitgeist.

Subject: RE: BS: Anyone seen a Parsimonious Nuthatch?
From: Amos
Date: 14 Jun 04 - 11:32 AM

Freda,

Either you are one of those Pot-Headed Nutcases I have read about, or that was the funniest thing I have read in months!

Thanks,


A

Subject: RE: BS: Anyone seen a Parsimonious Nuthatch?
From: freda underhill
Date: 14 Jun 04 - 11:41 AM

Amos, you know, life is stranger than fiction. If you look up the website I put at the end of the article, you will find the original article, complete with references!

http://www.anu.edu.au/polsci/birds/marxbird.htm

my good friend Anton Pinkovsky is a little harder to locate, he's still underground evading a draft dodger sentence from 1971.