Favorite Birds

I was driving along one of the many pretty little country roads around Jacksonville - one of the few things this place has going for it, really - and I saw a Painted Bunting! That makes just three that I've ever seen in my life since I started birdwatching when I was 5. They're gorgeous birds, the most colorful in the lower 48 states, and words can't do them justice, so: 

(Thanks Wikipedia! I took a picture of it with my phone, but it's just a little rainbow smudge).

Anyway, this got me thinking; what, when all's said and done, is my favorite bird? Traditionally, my answer has been the Blue Jay, because they're beautiful and a lot of fun to watch. However, having seen one slowly, over the course of 15 minutes or so, behead a robin chick that had fallen out of its nest, I've soured a little bit on the whole "behavior" aspect of them, leaving me only their beauty.

Pretty, but, from experience... evil.

My other answer is the Osprey. I've always been partial to birds of prey as a birdwatcher; for one thing, they're among the easiest of birds to identify, being all very different from one another; for another, they are also interesting to watch, and when you see one being vicious, you feel less betrayed than you do in the case of a pretty, colorful thing that goes "chirp" beheading a defenseless chick. I've liked Ospreys ever since we realized that we had a family living in an old pine next to the pond at our farm. They're easy enough to identify, especially in flight; the black wrist patches and poofy head feathers are seen on no other North American raptor. Plus, they are also really pretty in kind of a ferocious, slightly-insane, crazy-eyed way;

The Painted Bunting, while absolutely amazing to see, is also so hard to find that it's a once-in-a-lifetime event for some birders; funny, because they're actually pretty common, and you can hear their song occasionally around my house. The problem is, they live in the undergrowth, and birds that live in arboreal undergrowth are the most difficult to see, even when they're colored like a neon sign on meth. On the other hand, when you see one, it's a life-affirming event, because it means that you've been living well and have collected plenty of good birder karma.

The Blue Jay, aside from the whole betrayal-of-my-expectations thing, is still a lot of fun to watch, because they apparently have bird ADHD: they're super aggressive towards other birds, "nyah"ing at and dive-bombing others to chase them off from a bird bath or feeder when the jay wants to use it; I've also seen them pick up shinys and carry them around for a while for no apparent reason before dropping them. You haven't lived until you've watched a Blue Jay try to fly while carrying a full bag of potato chips. Still, too barbaric to be my all-time favorite.

The Osprey is pretty and fun to watch, but like all birds of prey it just seems too... regal, somehow, to really get close to. I guess part of it is that if you, say, find a wounded Osprey on the side of the road and try to pick it up or something, it will tear huge chunks out of you and beat you half-senseless with its wings (or so I've heard).  Too unapproachable to really be my favorite bird.

I'm calling it; three-way tie. Yeah, I know it's a cop-out, but... it's just my favorite bird(s), so who really cares?

::Gordon