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Re: Carolina Wren on SC quarter! (fwd)
- To: carolinabirds@duke.edu
- Subject: Re: Carolina Wren on SC quarter! (fwd)
- From: "Will Cook" <cwcook@duke.edu>
- Date: Wed, 13 Oct 1999 18:00:13 -0400
- In-reply-to: <199910131528.LAA07249@niven.acpub.duke.edu>
- Priority: normal
- Sender: carolinabirds-owner@acpub.duke.edu
You can find more info and a BIG picture at:
http://www.state.sc.us/governor/speeches/coins.html
The design with the state symbols, including the Carolina Wren, won the
citizens' poll with 77% of the vote!
"The song of the Carolina Wren symbolizes the hospitality of our people."
- Gov. Jim Hodges
Will the North Carolina quarter have a cardinal? Not likely, even though the
Raleigh birder Halbert Carmichael may be submitting a design. See
http://www.gocarolinas.com/news/carolinas/1999/05/25/nc_quarterdesign.html
Did you know the Tomtit used to be the NC state bird?? Found this (while
searching for other stuff) in the Raleigh N&O 10/3/99:
Editorial: Here comes the judge
Probably no bird is as bold as the Carolina chickadee. A fearless, friendly
frequenter of the feeder, it's well known to most bird lovers. This
distinguished creature in tailored tux with headpiece of shiny black and a
bold cravat was once North Carolina's state bird. Looking like a pompous
judge, it seemed the very image of an old-fashioned Southern statesman.
Weighing less than a half-ounce, it's a year-round resident wherever it finds
a cordial reception. In the forests and swamps where it dwells it consumes
bugs, seeds, beetles, almost anything. A busy bird, its heart rate in cold
weather rises to an incredible 700 per minute. Attracted to noise --the
countryman knows it well -- it seems drawn to the splitting of firewood;
rather like a lawyer, it knows knows that wherever it hears controversy there
is food.
Politics being politics, the chickadee was also known in the Southlands as
the tomtit, a word colloquially meaning little and insignificant. Some
flighty legislators as a result found their feathers ruffled and protested at
the thought of the Old North State becoming known as the Tomtit State. So,
with proper decorum, they rose to the occasion and organized schoolchildren
to select a more impressive bird. Youth being easier to motivate politically
than their elders, they selected the flashy bright red of the cardinal
instead of the fearless, friendly bundle of energy, the chickadee.
Other birds come and go, but the tomtit is a faithful resident of Carolina
and sticks with us through storm and cold when lesser birds have fled.
(It's amazing what you can find in a few minutes using web search engines!)
--
Charles W. "Will" Cook w 919-660-7423 (new!)
cwcook@duke.edu h 919-967-5446
Duke University Botany Dept., Durham, North Carolina
http://www.duke.edu/~cwcook