I’m posting this about a week in advance, just in case I can’t make it online to the newsletter management page while I’m traveling. It’s weird trying to think of what events will have transpired by the time this is scheduled to post. Odds are great that nothing of much significance will have happened. Odds are that the world will still appear to be on the brink of some geopolitical crisis, but that nothing will actually transpire. That’s the way every day looks, after all, and the way every day has looked for too many days, weeks, months, and years to remember. Yet nothing earth-shattering ever seems to happen that affects us all, or embroils us all in some dramatic global catastrophe.
Knock on wood.
Safe trip and have a good time!
Happy Fourth Day of Christmas! Today’s special animal friends are four calling birds. The people who know these things report that “four colly birds” is the earliest version. “Colly” means “coal colored” or deep black. (“Collier” for a worker in the coal industry is still in use, at least in crossword puzzles.)
The blackbird in question is Turdus merula, the Eurasian or common blackbird. (The Turdus genus are the thrushes.) Adult male blackbirds are black, with a bright yellow or yellow-orange beak and eye-ring. Females and juveniles are brown.
https://ebird.org/species/eurbla
The male T. merula is considered a very fine singer, which may explain the lyric’s development as “calling birds.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3yAR4_xr9g
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4REEz5wars
A species of Least Concern, the blackbird is found throughout Western Europe and in parts of Africa, Arabia, Turkey, the Caucasus, and into the Middle East. Their original habitat was deciduous or mixed forests, but now they can be found all over, including in urban centers. Their diet includes a lot of insects, worms, and other invertebrates, as well as some seeds and fruit.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9RH3wSq1cA