Jonathan,
Interesting about birds but the only place I've ever heard that
word applied to locomotives is on this list. It's funny that
each of these "SIG" lists seems to have it's own langauge.
Should have a glossary in the Files section.
The VLBG
----- Original Message -----
From: <jonathanharris@e...>
To: <BRHSlist@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Monday, 04 February, 2002 19:20
Subject: [BRHSlist] Red-winged Blackbirds
> Over the weekend my girlfriend showed me the current issue of "Birds and
> Blooms," a magazine devoted mostly to gardening (also backyard bird
> feeders, etc. -- hence the title). On pp. 14-15 is an article on the
> red-winged blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus). Although I've seen many of
> these critters at a distance -- or sometimes briefly a little closer
(maybe
> too close) when they were dive-bombing my head(*) -- I'd never had the
> chance to study their appearance in detail. This article had a great
> close-up photo of a male. His feathers were glossy black, he had
prominent,
> bright red and yellow(**) shoulder patches; and the insides of his
feathers
> were a light gray.
>
> That's too close a match for me to accept as mere coincidence. Ed DeRouin
> (Nov. 2, 2001) may be right when he says that the term "Blackbird" was not
> used on the CB&Q, but was coined instead by the hobby community. Still,
> having seen this photo, it's hard for me to believe that whoever conceived
> the paint scheme for the Burlington's yard and early road switchers didn't
> have that little bird in mind. Blackbirds are common in Midwestern fields
> and near water, where they eat seeds and bugs. As such, they must have
been
> a familiar, colorful sight along the Q's ROW through granger country.
>
> Jonathan
>
> (*) Since blackbirds are aggressive and known to react strongly to color
> stimuli, I wonder if there are any reported instances of one attacking a
> GP7.
>
> (**) red above, yellow below -- so presumably he was an EMD bird,
certainly
> not a Baldwin.
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