Tuesday 1 May 2012

The single person bird

Apparently, the coelebs part of the colourful chaffinch's Latin name - fringilla coelebs - means "single person". Allegedly, Carl von Linnaeus named the bird thus because in Sweden it is only the females and the young who migrate in winter. The males are left behind to contemplate their metaphorical feathery navels and not a lot else until their birds come back in the Spring.  

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