Links and Drinks — Here in the Bonny Glen

January 21, 2010 @ 5:17 pm | Filed under: Links

• Lost Ladybug Project – Tabatha thought this post about a ladybug species counting project might be up our alley. She was SO RIGHT. I do believe my gang will try to take part in this.

•Learn Sign Language – Signing Time News » From Rachel: Happy Birthday, Emilie! – HT to pal Sarah for this lovely tribute from one sister to another.

• Sarcasm punctuation mark to put an end to email confusion – Oh, I’m SO SURE that will work. No more email confusion, EVER.

• And this one’s for Helen, who noticed the photos of a finch stealing a sip from our hummingbird feeder. This little guy amused me for a good half hour last week, the way he kept sipping and then taking surreptitious looks around, as if the other finches would never let him live it down if he* got caught drinking the hummingbirds’ koolaid.

* I say “he,” but I’m guessing. He’s a male house finch, yes? I admit I have a hard time telling the house finch and the purple finch apart.

Tags: Science

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Anna says:

It’s not a female rose finch? He must have felt like me when I went shopping for men’s jeans at Kohl’s. Men’s jeans aren’t so complicated!
Posted on January 21st, 2010 at 8:56 pm
Mrs. Mordecai says:

Shouldn’t it be some sort of blasphemy to try to patent and profit from a punctuation mark? Plus it would take all the fun out of sarcasm. The whole point of it is that it’s subtle.
Posted on January 22nd, 2010 at 11:00 am
Melissa Wiley says:

Anna, is it a female rose finch? I am really not sharp on my finches. Must look rose finch up tomorrow! Thanks!

Mrs. Mordecai, I know, right? Seems against the spirit of easy communication to be mercenary about a punctuation mark. If a sarc mark were necessary, couldn’t we all just agree to use a carat or something?
Posted on January 22nd, 2010 at 8:40 pm
Anna says:

Here in Colorado I would guess female rose finch first. But I’m not sure about the square tail or the range. What did you find out?
Posted on January 23rd, 2010 at 12:00 pm
Helen says:

Thank you Melissa!
I’m not sure as well if this is a “house” or “purple” finch – but I’m positive it is a female – not male … male are always more colorful in the Birds World!
Hugs –
Helen
http://www.lilibirds.com/gallery2/d/1801-3/purple_finches_1.jpg
http://sdakotabirds.com/species/photos/house_finch.JPG
Posted on January 23rd, 2010 at 1:14 pm

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