Intro- Four Calling Birds. Call for what?

Basic-

Call it what you want, four calling birds are blackbirds. Bob Montgomerie of the Ornithological Society wrote, “The CALLING BIRDS of day 4 are the most interesting to me as the original said ‘colly birds’ and subsequent variants said the birds were ‘canary’, ‘collie’, ‘colley’, ‘colour’d’, ‘curley’, ‘coloured’, ‘corley’, and finally ‘calling’ by Austin in 1909 published with his new tune. I am surprised no one ever suggested ‘collared’. The original ‘colly bird’ was the European Blackbird (Turdus merula) as ‘colly’ meant ‘black’ as in ‘coaly’, and is why border collies bear that name. The subsequent versions are undoubtedly the result of mis-hearings and misinterpretations.” AOS

Proficient-

Researching Four Calling Birds led me to Crows, Jays and the Black-billed Magpie. Songs of blackbirds, Sixpence, and pies; the Beatles, Counting Crows and more nursery rhymes about birds and (‘naughty boys’) being baked in a pie after a blackbird plucked off the nose of a maid or a queen… plucking it off again. Yea, it got weird. And with song, research kept getting weirder. Blackbeard, Pirates, and Queen Anne’s Revenge, (the name of the ship Blackbeard sank, on purpose). Well, here is where I shall proficiently re-focus on I.School. Back to four calling birds. The proficiency, the lesson here at four calling birds, is that is is not some simple song. Stories have been lost, interpreted, re-interpreted into more songs. The lesson is this- the more you know, the more I swoop into research, the less I ‘really’ know. And it is fun!

Advanced-

Yes, I personally have found my “calling,” bird. I highly recommend it. Teaching for some IS a calling. It calls me to learn. To put into action, what I learn. Teach, if possible. Repeat. Like so many things in I.School, I am surprised the direction my learning takes me. The Black-Billed Magpie (after researching the 12 Days of Christmas song) caught my attention. I am fascinated. In my newly purchased book, Birds of The Rocky Mountains, describes the Pica pica, (Black-Billed Magpie) as so:

“The beauty of this bird is too often overlooked because its raucous and aggressive demeanor overshadows its gorgeous, panda-like plumage. The long, shiny tail of the Black-billed Magpie is one of the longest of any North American bird. A well planned day trip in Colorado can yield as many as 10 members of the corvid family. Black-billed Magpies also occur in Europe, North Africa, Arabia and Asia.”

Along with Jays and Crows, Pica picas are smart, protective (of their young), and under appreciated. My kind of bird.

The song I chose for my playlist #4 is - “Feeling Good” by Nina Simone.

Four emotions- Fear, Sadness, Anger, Joy. and Birds. Freedom. You know how I feel!