Thursday, April 10

This goes out to the one and only Maalie:

click for an even more grandiose countenance of this wonderful wingéd beast

22 comments:

Sara said...

Gorgeous! Bird bribery eh? You are so wonderful, intelligent, sweet, gifted etc etc. Does that count as ten comments?

Metamatician said...

It looks like four to me. Thanks though!

Maalie said...

That is of course a Great Cormorant Phalacrocorax carbo. In some parts of the world it is known as a shag.

Estelle des Chevaliers said...

There is little that is more splendid than a shag by the sea.

Seattle Boy said...

A shag on my ship is not unknown.

Wandering Star said...

Is a shag important to you Metamatician?

Sara said...

Hmm.. that means my new line of seduction could be,'Fancy a comorant, darling?'

Metamatician said...

Is a shag important... listen, is the new Pope German and look like the evil emperor from star wars??

BTW Maalie I knew it was a cormorant (notice the piccie title) but not which variety. Thanks for the knowledge.

Unknown said...

Let me see if I've got this right, you're bribing Maalie with a shag?

Metamatician said...

Maalie, you sure it's not Phalacrocorax auritus, the Double-crested Cormorant? They look similar.

Both are common in N. America as on most continents, and it seems the auritus is especially common where I live.

One of its alternate names is the Farallon Cormorant, which is a reference to the Farallon Islands just off San Francisco (where Mr. Great White lives in some abundance as well).

I've also seen these is and about the estuaries that flow from the Sierra foothills, through the Sacramento valley and empty into the delta that feeds the SF Bay.

Quite a lovely bird, I like the green eyes in particular.

Metamatician said...

Raelha, that would be correct. It may be the only one I get this year. I'll just have to go pick up some smokes first...

Wandring Star, why the question anyway? Fancy one?

Mags, why don't you try that on your little friend The Weirdo and see what he says.

Maalie said...

Metamatician, yes, it might well be the other one, I was taking a stab at specific I.D., and I would bow to local knowledge.

Estelle des Chevaliers, nice horse!

I think this puts you over 10 commetns now.

Maalie said...

Oh, incidentally, thank you for introducing me to Occam's Razor (I knew of it under another name). I shall include it in my portfolio of life, along with Pascal's Wager.

Metamatician said...

Yes, well over ten, though where I specified the number ten anywhere is a puzzle to me. I think Mags divined it from her tea leaves.

Occam's Razor, no problem! I like Pascal's Wager as well, though I don't go to church because of it and even though Dawkins thoroughly disproves of it.

By the way, I'm sure you've heard the story in which Descartes prepares an explanation of the heavens for Napoleon. When Napoleon finally asks him where God is in all of this, Descartes says "Sire, I had no use for that hypothesis."

Metamatician said...

OK, it looks like a Pub Quiz is likely since you few people in all these various guises went to all this work, though you needn't have concentrated your commentary all upon one post of some runcible bird. There were much more fertile posts in which to plant, but that would have required scrolling down a bit, so I understand.

Sara said...

We're all lazy bastards luv. You should have sussed that by now.

It had better be a good quiz without lots of maths and geek stuff in it, coz I did very badly in the last one :-/

Estelle des Chevaliers said...

Ooooh, please can we have some maths and geek stuff?

Metamatician said...

*Sigh* I can already tell this is gonna end badly.

Sara said...

Well it hasn't even started yet, now HAS it?

Tum te tum..

Thesaurus Rex said...

"It's not a cormorant,
It's not a shag.
Just something floating
In a plastic bag."

(Robyn Hitchcock)

Meta, you'd like R.H. and the Egyptians or The Soft Boys.
Tried any? Early weird stuff best really.
Sorry I've not been around your gaff much, don't take it personally, I've not been around anybody's gaff much.

Metamatician said...

Yeah Rex I love Robyn Hitchcock and ye olde Egyptians, have done for years. Did ya know Robyn practically worships Syd Barret? Well he covers him and talks about him every chance he gets. Not that I mind. And he has a silly mind.

I've changed me mind about the pub quiz. Maalie is trying hard in his own way, but most of you don't read carefully and are lazy as Mags says. Likewise, I'm lazy about commenting on all your blogs. So no cause for frivolity.

No quiz. No fun, and no more fun posts.

Hans said...

estelle des chevaliers, meta and I are related to your Godiva. As far as cormorants, I was reminded of a flightless one on Galapagos. I didn't read all the books by Patrick O'Brian, but I hope Maturin, the doc on board finally got his bird and shagged it too.

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