Using Birds In Bonsai Display: Part II
After the post about birds in bonsai display I received a note from a friend. She reminded me that there’s more to display than location and season, and that birds (and animals) have personalities and presences that spark an emotional response.
And she’s right. So here’s Birds Part II, how we might subtly tweak a viewer’s response to our bonsai display, based on the emotion elicited by a bird on a scroll, or as an object.
A European Robin in the 2025 German National Bonsai Show in Chemnitz. Bonsai is an Ivy. As for the habitat link, this is solid. Robins are often found in European gardens, and we associate Ivy with cultivation. And Robins are often on the ground. Photo courtesy Harald Moe.
Close up of the Robin eating fruits of the Ivy, which is clever. It mostly eats insects—in fact it is a flycatcher—but does eat the occasional fruit. As for personality, the European Robin is a sprightly bird with a confident manner.
To indulge the imagination a bit, let’s explore other possible birds in display that would elicit an emotion in a viewer rather than only noting the location or season (the subject of the first bird post: Using Birds in Bonsai Display: Part I)
Chickadee: upbeat, optimistic. All bird photos courtesy of Cornell Lab of Ornithology
Hawk: austere, remote
Jay: cocky, bold
Swallow: playful, free
Shrike: looks nice, but actually bloodthirsty, so it’s complicated
Heron: stillness, patience
Skylark: uplifting evening song
Duck: placid, fall melancholy
Sparrow: cheerful, unassuming
Vulture: the Tim Burton experience
For fun: give the full common or species names of these birds in the comments.
8 Comments
European Robin – Erithacus rubecula, Chestnutbacked Chickidee – Poecile rufescens, Harris Hawk – Parabuteo unicinctus, Stellars Jay – Cyanocitta stelleri, Barn Swallow – Hirundo rustica, Northern Shrike – Lanius borealis, GBH – Ardea herodias, Skylark – Alauda arvensis, Tufted duck – Aythya fuligula, Sagebrush sparrow – Artemisiospiza nevadensis, White-backed Vulture – Gyps africanus
I believe the vulture is a lappet-faced vulture, Torgos tracheliotos.
You got it! Never seen one. I hear they are getting scarce.
Terrific Ed!
First 8 bang on. The last 2…heck, I wish I’ve seen these, but haven’t. The sparrow looks very close to Sagebrush, and the vulture plays an interesting role in being a big carcass opener, which smaller vultures can’t do. They wait around for this huge one to arrive…
So.. pair the vulture with David Crust’s Hoover display?
Now I hope David chimes in here… what bird pairs with a Hoover?
One option would be a bird which you might find nearby a vacuum, a pet like a parakeet.
Another, more in line with the name of that composition: Hoover’s Secretary of State had a parrot which was famous for its ability to chew up furniture and for its ability to speak profanity. Probably an African Grey, but I couldn’t find the exact species
I really like the parakeet / vacuum combo. Brilliant.
That does sound like one of the larger parrots, the profanity. They are not unlike teenagers, from what I hear, 80 years old and yet 15, so once you get the profanity in there it’s not going to get better. Funny story though sad about the furniture…