This is our final publish of 2023. See you in 2024.
Well buddies, we’ve made it by means of one other 12 months. Don’t fear, I’m not going lengthy on 2023. It had just a few highs, some devastating lows, and a nice many soul-soothing, miraculous birds.
This 12 months, I got here to phrases with the truth that I’m at a second in my life (aka my mid-30s) the place I’ve began to regress in just a few explicit methods. I’m embracing music and elegance selections from my teenagers, resurfacing pictures from years in the past and analyzing them with a puzzled forehead, and re-reading horrible writing from my mid-20s (I don’t suggest it). I’m not completely certain why I’m doing this. Maybe it’s as a result of we have been all successfully frozen in time for just a few years. As the ice thaws, I discover myself with one eye on the previous because the inevitable future marches us ahead.
This creeping tendency to look again even applies to the storied birds of Discourse Blog. When Jack requested me if I might do Bird of the Year once more this 12 months, I eagerly and fortunately accepted. Then I spent a number of days grappling with what felt like a cheat within the quest to decide on a chook worthy of the consideration. The reality is, I did no analysis to make my dedication. I didn’t even take a look at my private listing of potential Bird of the Week choices. Nope. I went with a chook I discussed in final 12 months’s Bird of the Year weblog. A chook I’ve been excited about ever since I first wrote about it in December 2022. I imply, why battle the previous when the previous has made itself current? The mere existence of this chook in my thoughts made it clear that it was the one alternative.
So with out additional ado: Discourse Blog’s 2023 Bird of the Year is the beforehand talked about, probably snubbed (???), “drug-taking, safe sex icon”: the nice bustard. All hail!!!
Let’s deal with the “drug-taking, safe sex icon”-shaped elephant within the room. Buckle up. Great bustards (sure I did write “bastards” about 10 occasions on accident whereas penning this) are what’s often known as lek breeders (one thing we’ve written about earlier than) which principally signifies that throughout mating season, all the boys collect ‘round to put on a horny, raucous show for the ladies. The females observe the competitive displays and make their choices. This isn’t only a superficial show both. Let me quote New Scientist right here:
“They also present their cloaca – the common opening for their digestive, urinary and reproductive tracts – to females, who appear to “examine” the orifice and even peck at it, probably on the lookout for indicators of an infection.”
Okay then! And what has this lengthy custom led to? Well, “Super-sized males with striking red coloration, capable of performing a complex display involving contortion of the body and inflation of a specialized throat sac.”
Okay then! This is already a pleasant little bit of romantic courtship within the typically hostile animal world, however it doesn’t cease there. Last 12 months, researchers in Spain put forth the idea that two of the crops consumed by nice bustards—corn poppies and purple viper’s bugloss—may be eaten as a type of self-medication. Both crops comprise antiparasitic compounds, and the purple viper’s bugloss has antifungal brokers as properly. The researchers additionally famous that the nice bustards consumed these crops in higher numbers during mating season.
While the idea hasn’t been confirmed, even the mere risk (and a powerful one at that) that these birds are combating sexually transmitted infections with pure medication is astounding. Self-medicating conduct is a trait that’s often related to primates however no, it’s a survival tactic that’s additionally “for the birds!” (if that phrase meant the alternative of what it means).
Great bustards reside in Europe, Africa, and Asia, they usually’re listed as endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List of Threatened Species. They have been really hunted to extinction in the UK, and there are actually efforts to reintroduce the vulnerable species again into the ecosystem. Great bustards are additionally famously elusive, and actually, I’d be too if a bunch of monstrous people hunted me for sport and destroyed my habitat. It’s a trait they share with 2022’s Bird of the Year, the black-naped pheasant-pigeon, which I suppose reveals my propensity for mysterious freaks. I received’t apologize for being into goth birds.
Did I point out that on prime of all this, nice bustards are one of many world’s heaviest flying birds? Come on, that’s hilarious and superb. These guys are HUGE, and once I say guys, I imply guys. Great bustards show a few of the most dramatic sexual dimorphism amongst residing animals on earth—at the very least in terms of measurement. Males can weigh as a lot as 40 pounds and to an 8-foot wingspread, whereas females are about half huge and half as heavy. It’s a undeniable fact that makes the female-led mating rituals all of the extra admirable.
I do know we’ve all advanced past “absolute unit” however I’d be mendacity if I stated that phrase didn’t cross my thoughts whereas scrolling by means of numerous pictures of nice bustards. But even with the nonetheless pictures and vivid descriptions of their measurement, it’s onerous to grasp how huge these infants actually are. Take a peek:
Beautiful! Look. I actually attempt to withstand handing over my job to another person, however the prose on eBird is simply pristine:
Huge, unmistakable, regal chook of treeless open plains and pure steppes, occupying some low-intensity agricultural areas. Walks in a stately method, however could run moderately than fly if disturbed. Flight is heavy and gooselike. Highly gregarious, particularly in winter. Males are a lot bigger than the females and the sexes don’t combine a lot exterior of the breeding season. Spectacular “foaming bathtub” show at leks (show websites) as males bristle their physique and wing feathers ahead, turning them white, whereas burying their head within the plumage.
Last however not least, we’ve to speak in regards to the identify. Great bustards. Now, a rose by every other identify would odor as candy and these birds don’t acknowledge the English language not to mention the identify we’ve given them, however nonetheless: nice bustards!! Great identify, nice chook. I extremely encourage you to simply say it out loud to your self proper now. When I informed my husband who we have been crowning Bird of the Year he stated, “GREAT BUSTARDS!!! I don’t even need to see a photo, I love them already.” Then he walked out of the room gently repeating, “great bustards….” Great bustards!
Before I log off, I really feel I have to notice right here that I not too long ago stumbled upon the information that New Zealand not solely crowns its personal Bird of the Year (and has been doing so since 2005), they not too long ago named the Bird of the CENTURY and the entire thing acquired worldwide consideration as a result of the winner was championed by John Oliver?? The pūteketeke or the “puking bird” took home the prize, with the kea (beloved by this weblog) coming in second. I received’t argue with that alternative or the spirit of the mission. There’s loads of room on this world for made-up distinctions within the identify of chook conservation, and the puking chook does certainly rule.
I hope nice bustards are with us for a lot of years to return. They are a real protected intercourse position mannequin, a power for good, they usually comprise multitudes beneath their comparatively simple exterior. And when you’re hungry for extra of that candy, candy bustard, please take a look at these pictures of nice bustards trotting and strutting their stuff. Great bustards may be elusive and respectful, however they’re not humble. I wouldn’t have it every other means.
We’ll see you once more in 2024! Thanks for birding with us all 12 months lengthy. Please hold sending us your chook rants and raves at hi [email protected] and keep in mind, you possibly can try our full Bird of the Week listing right here.
