Monday, July 03, 2006

Starling For Attention (We Have a Winner!!!)

If you haven't figured it out already from the title, the Invasive Species Weblog is having a contest. Think up the best punny title for the post below and win a prize! The prize for this round is: A cool "Pests in your lake" decal from the Vermont DEC, plus an optional one-day Vermont park pass, if you're near Vermont and are so inclined. Post your entry (one per person) here or email it to me via invasiveblog AT knottybits.com

Contest ends at midnight EDT on July 11. The Invasive Species Weblog is not affiliated with the Vermont DEC, this contest is just a fun way of donating my "massive" profits from the ISW store to a good cause.

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The post:

According to this story from the Berkshire Eagle, an artist has created an exhibit called "Teach the Starlings" that consists of a birdhouse and a feeder that aims to teach starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) to speak the name of one of the men who first introduced the birds to the U.S. over a century ago. When a bird enters the birdhouse or visits the feeder, a motion-tripped sensor activates the recording, which repeats "Shieffelin" over and over. The artist, Brian Collier, notes that starlings can learn to mimic human sounds. He also notes "Most people think I'm a nut" :-). I think it's a pretty cool modern art exhibit - what about you?

Update: Congratulations to coco_beans for the winning contest entry "Starling for attention", which has now been installed properly at the top of this post, to be heralded by all for the life of the ISW! coco_beans chose to receive a "I've been Knotty this year" magnet as a prize. Thanks to everyone for entering, a new *Your Punny Title Here* Contest will be coming up in August.

28 comments:

GreenmanTim said...

"His Master's Voice"

John S. Wilkins said...

"What did you hear, Agent Starling?"

Anonymous said...

How long before someone tries to use this for advertising..."Cokeisit"..."DrinkPepsi"...

Anonymous said...

"Pavlov’s revenge"

Matthew D Dunn said...

"REALLY ANNOYING BIRD FEEDER ACTUALLY PIECE OF OUTSIDER ART"

Maybe not "outsider art" strictly speaking, but it sounds good so eh.

Anonymous said...

Starlings Slur Shieffelin

Anonymous said...

"We Speak Your Name!"

or

"Quid Pro Quo, Clarice."

or

"A Little Birdie Told Me."

or

"And the Wind Cries.. Shieffelin."

or

"Birds to answer question, "Who's Your Daddy?"

or

"My Birdfeeder says "I tought I taw a Puddy Tat."

or

"Starlings to Sing for their Supper"

or

"Soon to come: Afflac Ducks."

(If I win, which I probably won't, email joshdobbin AT gmail dot com)

Anonymous said...

"Unholy Birdhouse Promotes Leid Shieffelin"

Jennifer Forman Orth said...

@avery: I would think something like that has got to have been tried in the tropics, where there are parrots (or in San Francisco for pete's sake!).

@josh and others: Loving all the entries...but it's only 1 per person! Pick your best and post it or out of fairness I will only be looking at the top one (except budak, I am liking "Fowl Art" :-)).

Tlazolteotl said...

Probably won't beat john wilkins, but how about

"Sing a song of Shieffelin"

Unknown said...

"Recordings shape the starlings' dub display"?

Anonymous said...

"Vocal vulgaris"

Kevin

Anonymous said...

Eagle reports on Teaching Starlings

Isn't that (or some variation thereof) the obvious, self-writing headline?

moioci said...

Shady chanteuses shriek "Sheiffelin"

Anonymous said...

Starling Effort

Margarida said...

I pitty those birds...
Still, "Prolix, the next step for bird evolution"

Dear AL said...

Brian Colliers Meltdown

ancient clown said...

"For the BIRDS" - too obvious maybe?
your humble servant,
Ancient Clown

PHSChemGuy said...

Honeysuckle Ate My Baby

captain corky said...

Learn to chirp English with Mr. Sheiffelin

Heather "Tails" Taylor said...

"Bird-brained art gets Starling reviews"

or

"Starlingly Vulgar Feeder"

or

"the Birds and their verbs"

Or

"Name that nut"

Man said...

"Flipping The Bird's Speech"

Anonymous said...

Starling for attention

JJ said...

StarLingo habla ici.

Lyn Lomasi said...

"Bird Call now called Human Call"

Wyn Lydecker said...

A Startling Effect?

AMINO_ONE said...

SingSing Collie...

Jennifer Forman Orth said...

Now would be a good time to point out that the contest ended July 11th at midnight :-)

The winner has been contacted and I will post the winning title later today.

Thanks to all for playing. A new Punny Title contest is coming soon!