Birding Bond

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• CommanderRoss The bottom of a pitch lake in Eastern Trinidad, place called La Brea

  December 2018 edited December 2018 Posts: 8,266

  Starling work! Perhaps one day you'll be able to board the
  Smad Starling jet:
  
  
  The Armstrong Witworth one I'm afraid is no longer flying:
  
  
  
  But if you play GTA, you can jump into this one
  
  
  
  If you live in tha Cayman Islands, you might even be able to fly with Starling airlines, they have one boeing 727
  
  
• RichardTheBruce I'm motivated by my Duty.

  January 2019 Posts: 13,807

  

  
  Rome unveils new weapon against starling hordes that
  leave city coated in guano
  Authorities hope that a crack team of hawks will be able to scare the birds away
  https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/italy/12012357/Rome-unveils-new-weapon-against-starling-hordes-that-leave-city-coated-in-guano.html
  By Nick Squires, Rome - 6:13PM GMT 23 Nov 2015
  

  

  A car parked near the Tiber river is covered with guano from starlings in Rome Photo: AFP - Nick Squires
  
  They leave Vespas and cars encrusted in sticky grey guano and send locals and tourists alike scuttling for cover, cowering under umbrellas or folded-up newspapers.
  
  Now hundreds of thousands of migratory starlings whose foul-smelling droppings have been raining down on Rome for weeks may have met their match – a squadron of hawks whose job it is to scare the birds away from their favourite roosting spots in the city centre.
  

  The avian assault was deployed for the first time in recent days, when the Harris’s hawks - named Cami, Niky, Gimmy, Angela and Giorgio – were launched by a father and son team of falconers.
  

  

  Starlings migrating from northern Europe fly over Rome Photo: AFP
  
  “They are trained to scare the starlings but not to kill them,” said Anna Vincenzoni, a council official.
  
  City authorities declared the experiment a success, but it immediately ruffled the feathers of environmentalists.
  
  They claimed that it was cruel to keep birds of prey captive and insisted that in any case the strategy was destined to fail because, over tens of thousands of years of evolution, starlings have learned to tolerate and evade predators.
  
  They bunch together in huge black flocks, constantly changing flight direction in a swirling spectacle that confuses birds of prey and resembles the sinuous movement of the liquid in a lava lamp.
  
  “It’s a return to the past, as useless as it is barbaric,” one animal rights group, the League Against Vivisection, said in a statement.
  
  Exasperated officials have been trying for years to find an effective solution to the starlings, which descend on the capital every autumn.
  

  

  Teams of the city of Rome use recordings' of the starlings' distress call to repel the birds coming to spend the night by the Tiber river in Rome Photo: AFP
  
  The birds migrate from Scandinavia and Eastern Europe in search of more benign temperatures.
  
  During the day they forage for food in the countryside but they descend on Rome as dusk falls, attracted by the lights and warmer temperatures of the city.
  
  In the past, loud speakers have been used to transmit a sound that imitates the distress call of starlings in an attempt to frighten them away, but the strategy was costly and had little discernible success.
  
  The Italian League for the Protection of Birds also criticised the deployment of the hawks, saying the skies of Rome were already patrolled by natural predators such as peregrine falcons and even they had been unable to put a dent in the dense flocks of starlings.
  
  The use of the Harris’s hawks, a species which is native to the Americas, would not produce “significant results,” the organisation said.
  
  The three-day pilot project, which may be extended in the weeks to come, seemed to have had limited effect.
  

  

  A parked car is covered in guano dropped by starlings along the banks of the Tiber river in Rome Photo: REUTERS
  
  At the weekend, the roads that run along either side of the Tiber had to be partially closed for cleaning – the surface was so slick with starling droppings, made worse by heavy rainfall, that it had become dangerous for cars and scooters.
  
  The starlings feed on olives in groves outside the city, making their excrement particularly oily and slippery.
  
  Romans waiting to board trams outside a small park in Piazza Cairoli in the centre of town complained of having to use umbrellas to ward off the constant pitter-patter of droppings.
  
  Those without umbrellas had to wipe the stuff out of their hair as it rained down.

  
  The bicycle track along the river - the scene of a thrilling car chase in Spectre, the latest James Bond film - also remained slick with guano.
  
  “I bet 007 didn’t have to put up with this,” said one disgruntled jogger as he tried not to slip on the pungent goo.

  
  
  
• CommanderRoss The bottom of a pitch lake in Eastern Trinidad, place called La Brea

  January 2019 Posts: 8,266

  Dr. No would be jelous.
• RichardTheBruce I'm motivated by my Duty.

  March 2019 Posts: 13,807

  As @Agent99 begins her U.S. adventure I can add this one. Northern cardinal: State bird of Virginia.
  
  

  Cardinal / ˈkär·di·nal / noun
  1. dignitary of the Roman Catholic Church, as nominated by the Pope
  2. New World songbird, known for vibrant coloring sometimes with crest
  adjective
  1. a deep scarlet red color (cardinal red)
  2. of greatest port; a fundamental point or rule
  
  Cardinal (Old English). Cardinalis (Latin, also cardo, cardin or hinge).
  
  Cardinal (Cardinalidae): passerines of North and South America. Species include grosbeaks, buntings, tanagers. Specialists in eating seeds, strong beaks.
  
  Species: Yellow cardinal (Gubernatrix cristata), Red-and-black grosbeak (Periporphyrus erythromelas), Black-faced grosbeak (Caryothraustes poliogaster), Yellow-green grosbeak (Caryothraustes canadensis), Crimson-collared grosbeak (Rhodothraupis celaeno), Northern cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis),

  Pyrrhuloxia (Cardinalis sinuatus), Vermilion cardinal (Cardinalis phoeniceus), Rose-throated tanager (Piranga roseogularis), Hepatic tanager (Piranga flava), Scarlet tanager (Piranga olivacea), Summer tanager (Piranga rubra), Western tanager (Piranga ludovicianav), Flame-colored tanager (Piranga bidentata), White-winged tanager (Piranga leucoptera), Red-headed tanager (Piranga erythrocephala), Red-hooded tanager (Piranga rubriceps), Blue seedeater (Amaurospiza concolor), Carrizal seedeater (Amaurospiza carrizalensis), Blackish-blue seedeater (Amaurospiza moesta), Ultramarine grosbeak (Cyanocompsa brissonii), Blue bunting (Cyanocompsa parellina), Blue-black grosbeak (Cyanocompsa cyanoides), Glaucous-blue grosbeak (Cyanoloxia glaucocaerulea), Blue grosbeak (Passerina caerulea), Lazuli bunting (Passerina amoena), Indigo bunting (Passerina cyanea), Varied bunting (Passerina versicolor), Painted bunting (Passerina ciris), Rose-bellied bunting (Passerina rositae), Orange-breasted bunting (Passerina leclancherii), Dickcissel (Spiza americana), Red-crowned ant tanager (Habia rubica), Red-throated ant tanager (Habia fuscicauda), Sooty ant tanager (Habia gutturalis), Black-cheeked ant tanager (Habia atrimaxillaris), Crested ant tanager (Habia cristata), Carmiol's tanager (Chlorothraupis (c.) carmioli), Olive tanager (Chlorothraupis (c.) frenata), Lemon-spectacled tanager (Chlorothraupis olivacea), Ochre-breasted tanager (Chlorothraupis stolzmanni), Red-breasted chat (Granatellus venustus), Gray-throated chat (Granatellus sallaei), Rose-breasted chat (Granatellus pelzelni), Mexican yellow grosbeak (Pheucticus chrysopeplus), Southern yellow grosbeak (Pheucticus chrysogaster), Black-thighed grosbeak (Pheucticus tibialis), Black-backed grosbeak (Pheucticus aureoventris), Rose-breasted grosbeak (Pheucticus ludovicianus), Black-headed grosbeak (Pheucticus melanocephalus).

  
  Northern cardinal
  
  Scarlet tanager
  
  Carrizal seedeater
  
  Glaucous-blue grosbeak
  
  Indigo bunting
  
  Painted bunting
  
  Dickcissel
  
  Rose-breasted chat
  

  
  
  
• RichardTheBruce I'm motivated by my Duty.

  March 2019 Posts: 13,807

  

  From Russia With Love, Ian Fleming, 1957.
  Part Two: THE EXECUTION
  Chapter Eleven - The Soft Life
  

  The blubbery arms of the soft life had Bond round the neck and they were slowly strangling him. He was a man of war and when, for a long period, there was no war, his spirit went into a decline.
  
  In his particular line of business, peace had reigned for nearly a year. And peace was killing him.

  At 7.30 on the morning of Thursday, August 12th, Bond awoke in his comfortable flat in the plane-tree'd square off the King's Road and was disgusted to find that he was thoroughly bored with the prospect of the day ahead. Just as, in at least one religion, accidie is the first of the cardinal sins, so boredom, and particularly the incredible circumstance of waking up bored, was the only vice Bond utterly condemned.

  
  
  

  Casino Royale, Martin Campbell, 2006.
  
  Tara Cardinal - Young Woman in Casino.

  
  
  
  
  

  
• j_w_pepper Born on the bayou, but I now hear a new dog barkin'

  March 2019 Posts: 9,041

  Claudia Cardinale: Unfortunately never a Bond girl in spite of being at least as unbeatably desirable in the 60s/early 70s as Monica Bellucci has been since about her equivalent age (I really had to phrase that carefully to avoid Metooism attacks. I hopr it works.)
  
• CommanderRoss The bottom of a pitch lake in Eastern Trinidad, place called La Brea

  March 2019 edited March 2019 Posts: 8,266

  @j_w_pepper a lovely bird indeed! And here's me coming up with a Cessna 177 Cardinal:
  
  
  Or the St. Louis C2 Cardinal of the nineteen twenties:
  
  
  
  
• Agent_99 enjoys a spirited ride as much as the next girl

  March 2019 edited March 2019 Posts: 3,176

  RichardTheBruce wrote: »

  As @Agent99 begins her U.S. adventure I can add this one. Northern cardinal: State bird of Virginia.

  
  Yay! I haven't seen a cardinal yet but I am keeping a close eye on my hosts' bird feeder.
  
  Edit: just seen one! Still hoping for a chipmunk or two.
• RichardTheBruce I'm motivated by my Duty.

  March 2019 Posts: 13,807

  

  Bulbul /ˈbo͝ol·bo͝ol/ noun
  1. a songbird in Asia and Africa, usually with a crest
  
  Bulbul (Persian for Nightingale). Bulbul (English, imitative).
  
  Bulbul (Pycnonotidae): overwhelmingly monogamous passerines. Very vocal, with sometimes gravelly and unpleasant calls. Consume fruit, seeds, nectar, insects. In Africa, found in rainforests. In Asia, found in open spaces. Minor part of the pet trade, escaped birds contribute to invasive species (e.g. Red-whiskered bulbul in Florida; Red-vented bubul in Hawaii).
  
  Species:
  Bare-faced bulbul (Nok hualon) , Crested finchbill (Spizixos canifrons) , Collared finchbill (Spizixos semitorques) , Straw-headed bulbul (Pycnonotus zeylanicus) , Striated bulbul (Pycnonotus striatus) , Cream-striped bulbul (Pycnonotus leucogrammicus) , Spot-necked bulbul (Pycnonotus tympanistrigus) , Black-and-white bulbul (Pycnonotus melanoleucos) , Grey-headed bulbul (Pycnonotus priocephalus) , Black-headed bulbul (Pycnonotus atriceps) , Andaman bulbul (Pycnonotus fuscoflavescens) , Black-capped bulbul (Pycnonotus melanicterus) , Black-crested bulbul (Pycnonotus flaviventris) , Ruby-throated bulbul (Pycnonotus dispar) , Flame-throated bulbul (Pycnonotus gularis) , Bornean bulbul (Pycnonotus montis) , Scaly-breasted bulbul (Pycnonotus squamatus) , Grey-bellied bulbul (Pycnonotus cyaniventris) , Red-whiskered bulbul (Pycnonotus jocosus) , Brown-breasted bulbul (Pycnonotus xanthorrhous) , Light-vented bulbul (Pycnonotus sinensis) , Styan's bulbul (Pycnonotus taivanus) , Himalayan bulbul (Pycnonotus leucogenys) , White-eared bulbul (Pycnonotus leucotis) , Red-vented bulbul (Pycnonotus cafer) , Sooty-headed bulbul (Pycnonotus aurigaster) ,

  White-spectacled bulbul (Pycnonotus xanthopygos) , African red-eyed bulbul (Pycnonotus nigricans) , Cape bulbul (Pycnonotus capensis) , Common bulbul (Pycnonotus barbatus) , Somali bulbul (Pycnonotus somaliensis) , Dodson's bulbul (Pycnonotus dodsoni) , Dark-capped bulbul (Pycnonotus tricolor) , Puff-backed bulbul (Pycnonotus eutilotus) , Blue-wattled bulbul (Pycnonotus nieuwenhuisii) , Yellow-wattled bulbul (Pycnonotus urostictus) , Orange-spotted bulbul (Pycnonotus bimaculatus) , Aceh bulbul (Pycnonotus snouckaerti) , Stripe-throated bulbul (Pycnonotus finlaysoni) , Yellow-throated bulbul (Pycnonotus xantholaemus) , Yellow-eared bulbul (Pycnonotus penicillatus) , Flavescent bulbul (Pycnonotus flavescens) , Yellow-vented bulbul (Pycnonotus goiavier) , White-browed bulbul (Pycnonotus luteolus) , Olive-winged bulbul (Pycnonotus plumosus) , Ashy-fronted bulbul (Pycnonotus cinereifrons) , Ayeyarwady bulbul (Pycnonotus blanfordi) , Streak-eared bulbul (Pycnonotus conradi) , Cream-vented bulbul (Pycnonotus simplex) , Asian red-eyed bulbul (Pycnonotus brunneus) , Spectacled bulbul (Pycnonotus erythropthalmos) , Cream-eyed bulbul (Pycnonotus pseudosimplex) , Shelley's greenbul (Arizelocichla masukuensis) , Kakamega greenbul (Arizelocichla kakamegae) , Cameroon greenbul (Arizelocichla montana) , Western greenbul (Arizelocichla tephrolaema) , Olive-breasted greenbul (Arizelocichla kikuyuensis) , Mountain greenbul (Arizelocichla nigriceps) , Uluguru greenbul (Arizelocichla neumanni) , Black-browed greenbul (Arizelocichla fusciceps) , Yellow-throated greenbul (Arizelocichla chlorigula) , Stripe-cheeked greenbul (Arizelocichla milanjensis) , Olive-headed greenbul (Arizelocichla olivaceiceps) , Stripe-faced greenbul (Arizelocichla striifacies) , Slender-billed greenbul (Stelgidillas gracilirostris) , Little greenbul (Eurillas virens) , Little grey greenbul (Eurillas gracilis) , Ansorge's greenbul (Eurillas ansorgei) , Plain greenbul (Eurillas curvirostris) , Yellow-whiskered greenbul (Eurillas latirostris) , Sombre greenbul (Andropadus importunus) , Golden greenbul (Calyptocichla serinus) , Honeyguide greenbul (Baeopogon indicator) , Sjöstedt's greenbul (Baeopogon clamans) , Spotted greenbul (Ixonotus guttatus) , Joyful greenbul (Chlorocichla laetissima) , Prigogine's greenbul (Chlorocichla prigoginei) , Yellow-bellied greenbul (Chlorocichla flaviventris) , Falkenstein's greenbul (Chlorocichla falkensteini) , Simple greenbul (Chlorocichla simplex) , Yellow-throated leaflove (Atimastillas flavicollis) , Swamp palm bulbul (Thescelocichla leucopleura) , Red-tailed leaflove (Phyllastrephus scandens) , Terrestrial brownbul (Phyllastrephus terrestris) , Northern brownbul (Phyllastrephus strepitans) , Grey-olive greenbul (Phyllastrephus cerviniventris) , Pale-olive greenbul (Phyllastrephus fulviventris) , Baumann's olive greenbul (Phyllastrephus baumanni) , Toro olive greenbul (Phyllastrephus hypochloris) , Sassi's olive greenbul (Phyllastrephus lorenzi) , Fischer's greenbul (Phyllastrephus fischeri) , Cabanis's greenbul (Phyllastrephus cabanisi) , Placid greenbul (Phyllastrephus placidus) , Cameroon olive greenbul (Phyllastrephus poensis) , Icterine greenbul (Phyllastrephus icterinus) , Xavier's greenbul (Phyllastrephus xavieri) , White-throated greenbul (Phyllastrephus albigularis) , Yellow-streaked greenbul (Phyllastrephus flavostriatus) , Sharpe's greenbul (Phyllastrephus alfredi) , Grey-headed greenbul (Phyllastrephus poliocephalus) , Lowland tiny greenbul (Phyllastrephus debilis) , Montane tiny greenbul (Phyllastrephus albigula) , Red-tailed bristlebill (Bleda syndactylus) , Green-tailed bristlebill (Bleda eximius) , Yellow-lored bristlebill (Bleda notatus) , Grey-headed bristlebill (Bleda canicapillus) , Western bearded greenbul (Criniger barbatus) , Eastern bearded greenbul (Criniger chloronotus) , Red-tailed greenbul (Criniger calurus) , White-bearded greenbul (Criniger ndussumensis) , Yellow-bearded greenbul (Criniger olivaceus) , Finsch's bulbul (Alophoixus finschii) , White-throated bulbul (Alophoixus flaveolus) , Puff-throated bulbul (Alophoixus pallidus) , Ochraceous bulbul (Alophoixus ochraceus) , Grey-cheeked bulbul (Alophoixus bres) , Palawan bulbul (Alophoixus frater) , Yellow-bellied bulbul (Alophoixus phaeocephalus) , Yellow-browed bulbul or golden-browed bulbul (Acritillas indica) , Hook-billed bulbul (Setornis criniger) , Hairy-backed bulbul (Tricholestes criniger) , Olive bulbul (Iole viridescens) , Cachar bulbul (Iole cacharensis) , Grey-eyed bulbul (Iole propinqua) , Buff-vented bulbul (Iole crypta) , Charlotte's bulbul (Iole charlottae) , Sulphur-bellied bulbul (Iole palawanensis) , Nicobar bulbul (Ixos nicobariensis) , Mountain bulbul (Ixos mcclellandii) , Streaked bulbul (Ixos malaccensis) , Sunda bulbul (Ixos virescens) , (the type species) , Seram golden bulbul (Thapsinillas affinis) , Northern golden bulbul (Thapsinillas longirostris) , Buru golden bulbul (Thapsinillas mysticalis) , Ashy bulbul (Hemixos flavala) , Cinereous bulbul (Hemixos cinereus) , Chestnut bulbul (Hemixos castanonotus) , Seychelles bulbul (Hypsipetes crassirostris) , Reunion bulbul (Hypsipetes borbonicus) , Mauritius bulbul (Hypsipetes olivaceus) , Malagasy bulbul (Hypsipetes madagascariensis) , Grand Comoro bulbul (Hypsipetes parvirostris) , Moheli bulbul (Hypsipetes moheliensis) , Black bulbul (Hypsipetes leucocephalus) , Square-tailed bulbul (Hypsipetes ganeesa) , Philippine bulbul (Hypsipetes philippinus) , Mindoro bulbul (Hypsipetes mindorensis) , Visayan bulbul (Hypsipetes guimarasensis) , Zamboanga bulbul (Hypsipetes rufigularis) , Streak-breasted bulbul (Hypsipetes siquijorensis) , Yellowish bulbul (Hypsipetes everetti) , Brown-eared bulbul (Hypsipetes amaurotis) , White-headed bulbul (Cerasophila thompsoni) , Black-collared bulbul (Neolestes torquatus) .

  
  Bare-faced bulbul
  
  Red-whiskered bulbul
  
  Red-vented bulbul
  
  Sjöstedt's greenbul
  
  Zamboanga bulbul
  
  Brown-eared bulbul
  

  
  
  
• RichardTheBruce I'm motivated by my Duty.

  March 2019 edited March 2019 Posts: 13,807

  

  Thrilling Cities, Ian Fleming, 1963.
  Chapter I - Hong Kong
  

  "Is more better now, Master?"
  
  I grunted luxuriously and the velvet hands withdrew from my shoulders. More Tiger Balm was applied to the finger tips and then the hands were back, now to massage the base of my neck with soft authority. Through the open french windows the song of bulbuls came from the big orchid tree covered with deep pink blossom and two Chinese magpies chattered in the grove of casuarina. Somewhere far away turtle doves were saying 'coocoroo'. Number One Boy (Number One from among seven in the house) came in to say that breakfast was ready on the veranda. I exchanged compliments with the dimpling masseuse, put on a shirt and trousers and sandals and walked out into the spectacular, sun-drenched view.
  
  As, half-way through the delicious scrambled eggs and bacon, a confiding butterfly, black and cream and dark blue, settled on my wrist, I reflected that heaven could wait. Here, on the green and scarcely inhabited slopes of Shek-O, above Big Wave Bay on the south-east corner of Hong Kong island, was good enough.

  Ruby-throated bulbuls and orchids

  

  
  
  
  
• Thunderfinger Das Boot Hill

  March 2019 Posts: 45,489

  Fleming had an impressive knowledge of birds.
• CommanderRoss The bottom of a pitch lake in Eastern Trinidad, place called La Brea

  March 2019 Posts: 8,266

  Thunderfinger wrote: »

  Fleming had an impressive knowledge of birds.

  
  He had a book
  
  
  
  
  
  about them...
• RichardTheBruce I'm motivated by my Duty.

  March 2019 Posts: 13,807

  Birds of the West Indies actually doesn't include Bulbuls. I checked, of course.
  
  Birds were a genuine interest of Fleming's, as a world traveler he likely knew something about them for many of the places he traveled to. So he could teach me a thing or two about Jamaica and the UK and Europe in general.
  
  
• RichardTheBruce I'm motivated by my Duty.

  March 2019 Posts: 13,807

  

  Sandpiper / ˈsand pī·pər / noun
  1. a wading shorebird with a slender bill
  
  Dutch (zand, sand). German (sand). Old English [pīpere).
  
  Sandpiper (Scolopacidae): wading shorebird of various sizes and names. Stout body, slender wings, slender bills that probe mud and sand for invertebrates. Specialists.
  
  Species:
  Whimbrel (Numenius phaeopus), Slender-billed curlew (Numenius tenuirostris), Eurasian curlew (Numenius arquata), Long-billed curlew (Numenius americanus), Far Eastern curlew (Numenius madagascariensis), Little curlew (Numenius minutus), Eskimo curlew (Numenius borealis), Bristle-thighed curlew (Numenius tahitiensis), Upland sandpiper (Bartramia longicauda), Black-tailed godwit (Limosa limosa), Hudsonian godwit (Limosa haemastica), Bar-tailed godwit (Limosa lapponica), Marbled godwit (Limosa fedoa), Short-billed dowitcher (Limnodromus griseus), Long-billed dowitcher (Limnodromus scolopaceus), Asiatic dowitcher (Limnodromus semipalmatus), Solitary snipe (Gallinago solitaria), Latham's snipe (Gallinago hardwickii), Wood snipe (Gallinago nemoricola)

  , Pin-tailed snipe (Gallinago stenura), Swinhoe's snipe (Gallinago megala), African snipe (Gallinago nigripennis), Madagascar snipe (Gallinago macrodactyla), Great snipe (Gallinago media), Common snipe (Gallinago gallinago), Wilson's snipe (Gallinago delicata), South American snipe (Gallinago paraguaiae), Puna snipe (Gallinago andina), Noble snipe (Gallinago nobilis), Giant snipe (Gallinago undulata), Fuegian snipe (Gallinago stricklandii), Jameson's snipe (Gallinago jamesoni), Imperial snipe (Gallinago imperialis), Jack snipe/jacksnipe (Lymnocryptes minimus), Chatham snipe (C. pusilla), Subantarctic snipe (C. aucklandica), Auckland snipe (C. a. aucklandica), Antipodes snipe (C. a. meinertzhagenae), Campbell snipe (C. a. perseverance), Snares snipe (C. huegeli), North Island snipe or Little Barrier snipe (C. barrierensis), South Island snipe or Stewart Island snipe (C. iredalei), Forbes's snipe (C. chathamica), Viti Levu snipe (C. miratropica), New Caledonian snipe (Coenocorypha neocaledonica), Norfolk snipe (Coenocorypha sp. ), Greater painted-snipe (Rostratula benghalensis), Australian painted-snipe (Rostratula australis), South American painted-snipe (Nycticryphes semicollaris), Eurasian woodcock (Scolopax rusticola), Amami woodcock (Scolopax mira), Javan woodcock (Scolopax saturata), New Guinea woodcock (Scolopax rosenbergii), Bukidnon woodcock (Scolopax bukidnonensi), Sulawesi woodcock (Scolopax celebensis), Moluccan woodcock (Scolopax rochussenii), American woodcock (Scolopax minor), Red phalarope or Grey phalarope (Phalaropus fulicarius), Red-necked phalarope (P. lobatus), Wilson's phalarope (P. tricolor), Green sandpiper (Tringa ochropus), Solitary sandpiper (Tringa solitaria), Grey-tailed tattler (Tringa brevipes – formerly Heteroscelus brevipes), Wandering tattler (Tringa incana – formerly Heteroscelus incanus), Spotted redshank (Tringa erythropus), Greater yellowlegs (Tringa melanoleuca), Common greenshank (Tringa nebularia), Willet (Tringa semipalmata – formerly Catoptrophorus semipalmatus), Lesser yellowlegs (Tringa flavipes), Nordmann's greenshank (Tringa guttifer), Marsh sandpiper (Tringa stagnatilis), Common redshank (Tringa totanus), Wood sandpiper (Tringa glareola), Grey-tailed tattler (Tringa brevipes (formerly Heteroscelus brevipes), Wandering tattler (Tringa incana (formerly Heteroscelus incanus), Tuamotu sandpiper (P. parvirostris), Tahiti sandpiper (P. leucoptera), Moorea sandpiper (P. ellisi), Kiritimati sandpiper (P. cancellata), Surfbird (Calidris virgata), Great knot (Calidris tenuirostris), Red knot (Calidris canutus), Sanderling (Calidris alba), Semipalmated sandpiper (Calidris pusilla), Western sandpiper (Calidris mauri), Red-necked stint (Calidris ruficollis), Little stint (Calidris minuta), Temminck's stint (Calidris temminckii), Long-toed stint (Calidris subminuta), Least sandpiper (Calidris minutilla), White-rumped sandpiper (Calidris fuscicollis), Baird's sandpiper (Calidris bairdii), Pectoral sandpiper (Calidris melanotos), Sharp-tailed sandpiper (Calidris acuminata), Curlew sandpiper (Calidris ferruginea), Purple sandpiper (Calidris maritima), Rock sandpiper (Calidris ptilocnemis), Dunlin (Calidris alpina), Stilt sandpiper (Calidris himantopus), Spoon-billed sandpiper (Calidris pygmeus), Broad-billed sandpiper (Calidris falcinellus), Buff-breasted sandpiper (Calidris subruficollis), Ruff (Calidris pugnax), Ruddy turnstone or Turnstone (Arenaria interpres), Black turnstone (Arenaria melanocephala).

  
  Whimbrel
  
  Far Eastern curlew
  
  Marbled godwit
  
  Asiatic dowitcher
  
  Madagascar snipe
  
  Eurasian woodcock
  
  Wilson's phalarope
  
  Dunlin
  
  Spoon-billed sandpiper
  

  
  
  
• RichardTheBruce I'm motivated by my Duty.

  March 2019 edited April 2019 Posts: 13,807

  

  Dr. No, Ian Fleming, 1958.
  Chapter XIV - Come Into My Parlour

  The electric clock in the cool dark room in the heart of the mountain showed four-thirty. Outside the mountain, Crab Key had sweltered and stunk its way through another day. At the eastern end of the island, the mass of birds, Louisiana herons, pelicans, avocets, sandpipers, egrets, flamingoes and the few roseate spoonbills, went on with building, their nests or fished in the shallow waters of the lake. Most of the birds had been disturbed so often that year that they had given up any idea of building. In the past few months they had been raided at regular intervals by the monster that came at night and burned down their roosting places and the beginnings of their nests. This year many would not breed. There would be vague movements to migrate and many would die of the nervous hysteria that seizes bird colonies when they no longer have peace and privacy.
  
  At the other end of the island, on the guanera that gave the mountain its snow-covered look, the vast swarm of cormorants had passed their usual day of gorging themselves with fish and paying back the ounce of precious manure to their owner and protector. Nothing had interfered with their nesting season. Now they were noisily fiddling with the untidy piles of sticks that would be their nests-each pile at exactly sixty centimetres from the next, for the guanay is a quarrelsome bird and this sixty-centimetre ring represents their sparring space. Soon the females would be laying the three eggs from which their master's flock would be increased by an average of two young cormorants.

  
  
  

  Birds of the West Indies, James Bond, 1963. (1936)

  WOODCOCK, SNIPE &
  SANDPIPERS: Scolopaceidae
  
  Members of this family are predominantly birds of arctic regions. Only
  one species, the Willet, is indigenous to the West Indies, although a
  number of others may be seen on the islands at any time of the year.
  
  Sandpipers are often found in flocks or small groups on or near
  beaches and about the borders of lagoons. For the most part they are
  silent in winter and on migration: the Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs are
  notable exceptions. Apparently many individuals of the larger species
  pass over or by the islands on migration without stopping. The popular
  " bird-guides " covering eastern North America contain coloured
  illustrations of all the species of Scolopacidae knows from the West
  Indies, some of which are difficult to identify in the field.

  LONG-BILLED CURLEW Numenius americanus
  
  Description: 20-26'. Resembles the Whimbrel, but larger with a
  decidedly longer bill (up to 8" in length in adult females); most of
  underparts and pale markings on upperparts cinnamon buff, the under
  wing-coverts and axillars cinnamon; no well-marked black streak
  through eye.
  Range: Western North America. Winters from southern United States
  south to Guatemala. Formerly occurred in West Indies, whence
  recorded from Cuba and Jamaica; questionable records from Lesser
  Antilles. Not reported from West Indies during present century but,
  though uncommon, is evidently increasing as winter resident in Florida.
  (June-October)

  WHIMBREL Numenius phaeopus
  

  Description: 15-18". A large, chunky shore-bird with a long, decurved
  bill. Plumage black above, with pale mottling and barring; neck and
  breast streaked with black; two bold black stripes on crown; and black
  streak through eye. The almost extinct Eskimo Curlew is smaller and
  slenderer, with a bill under 2.5" (see " List of Vagrants ").
  Habitat: Coastal lagoons; borders of mangrove swamps.
  Range: Northern North America, Europe and Asia. Winters (in New
  World) mainly on Pacific coast of South America. Transient and
  probably rare winter resident in West Indies (June-Nov.: 7-
  May 5).

  UPLAND SANDPIPER Bartramia longicauda
  

  Description: 12". A rather large, slim, long necked, long tailed, small
  headed short-bird. The upperparts, neck and breast are buffy browwn,
  mottled with black, the rump plain black; bill slender and short
  (about 1"), mostly yellowish; long legs greenish yellow.
  Habitat: Meadows or savannas.
  Range: North America. Winters in southern South America. Transient
  in West Indies (Aug.-Oct.: April-May).

  SPOTTED SANDPIPER Actitis macularia

  Description: 7.5". One of the commonest of small sandpipers in the
  West Indies. Upperparts brownish olive; underparts white, marked
  with rounded black spots only in nuptial plumage; lower mandible
  yellowish. Solitary in habits; never in flocks. More active than
  Solitary Sandpiper, and constantly teeters. Has characteristic fluttering
  flight, with short wing-beats. Fig. 66
  Voice: Often utters a shrill peet-wit when flushed.
  Habitat: Anywhere in the vicinity of water.
  Range: North America. Winters south to southern South America.
  Transient and winter resident in West Indies (July 9-May 23).
  
  Fig. 66. Spotted Sandpiper (winter)

  SOLITARY SANDPIPER Tringa solitaria

  Description: 8.5". Resembles the Lesser Yellowlegs but smaller and
  darker; no white at base of tail, but white bards on outer retrices
  conspicuous in flight; legs dark olive. The long, pointed, dark wings,
  and swift, erratic flight readily distinguish it on the wing from the
  Spotted Sandpiper. Usually solitary and rather tame.
  Habitat: Fresh-water ponds and marshes.
  Range: Northern North America. Winters almost entirely in South
  America. Fairly common transient, but rare winter resident, in West
  Indies (July 21-May 18).

  GREATER YELLOWLEGS Tringa melanoleuca

  Description: 13-15". Resembles Lesser Yellowlegs, bur larger and more
  robust; bill 2" or more in length, slightly upturned.
  Voice: A loud, whistled kew-kew-kew or kew-kew-kew-kew.
  Habitat: Mainly salt-water and fresh-water ponds and lagoons.
  Range: Northern North America. Winters south to Patagonia.
  Transient and winter resident in West Indies, most numerous in autumn
  and spring. (Throughout the year.)

  LESSER YELLOWLEGS Tringa flavipes

  Description: 10-11". The commonest of the larger sandpipers in the
  West Indies. As its name implies, its long legs are yellow; bill (1.5")
  thin and straight; much white at base of tail, conspicuous in flight.
  Fig. 67.
  Voice: A short, whistled cue or cue-cue, less shrill than notes of Greater
  Yellowlegs.
  Habitat: Mainly fresh-water and salt-water ponds or lagoons.
  Range: Northern North America. Winters south to Patagonia.
  Tansient and winter resident in West Indies. (Throughout the year.)
  
  Fig. 67. Lesser Yellowlegs

  WILLET Catoptrophorus semipalmatus

  Local names: tell-bill-willy; Pilly-willick; Long-legss; Pond Bird;
  Duck Snipe; Laughing Jackass; Chorlo; Zarapico Real; Playero
  Aliblanco; Becassine Aile-blanche.
  Description: 15". Resembles a Greater Yellowlegs, but upperparts
  paler, less contrasted with white of underparts; legs dark (plumbeous).
  In flight readily recognizable by white wing-patches. Fig. 68.
  Voice: A high-pitched will-will-willet in nesting season; also a harsh
  kip--kip, etc. when alarmed.
  Habitat: Coastal areas.
  Nidification: In the West Indies, nests on beaches, well back from the
  water's edge. Eggs (4) spotted.
  Range: Breeds in Bahamas, Greater Antilles (e.g. Cuba, Grand Cayman,
  Beata, St. Croix), and northern Lesser Antilles (e.g. Antigua). Also
  North America. Winters south to Brazil and Bolivia. Occurs as
  transient or winter resident throughout the West Indies, but rare in the
  Lesser Antilles.
  
  Fig. 68. Willet

  RED KNOT Calidris canutus

  Description: 11". Plumages much like those of the Dowitcher, but a
  more robust bird with a much shorter bill (1.25").
  Habitat: Coastal areas.
  Range: Arctic regions. Winters, in the New World, south to Tierra
  del Fuego. Rare in West Indies, whence recorded from Jamaica (no
  record during this century), Puerto Rico, St. Croix, Guadaloupe,
  Domica (?), Martinique, Grenada (?), and Barbados (August-
  December; May).

  SANDERLING Crocethia alba

  Description: 8". Whiter than other small sandpipers in winter plumage,
  when underparts immaculate white and upperparts pale grey; in
  nuptial plumage (rarely see in West Indies) brownish above and on
  anterior underparts; bill (1") straight and stubby, black as are the legs.
  In flight shows a white band on wing.
  Habitat: Beaches and, to a lesser extent, borders of lagoons.
  Range: Arctic regions. Winters (in New World) south to southern
  South America. Transient and winter resident in West Indies.
  (Throughout the year.)

  AMERICAN DOWITCHER Limnodromus griceus

  Description: 12". Snipe-like in appearance, with a long, straight bill;
  underparts vary from whitish (winter plumage) to pinkish cinnamon
  (nuptial plumage); posterior upperparts white with black spots and bars.
  Habitat: Coastal areas; lagoons.
  Range: Northern North America and north-eastern Siberia. Winters
  south to Brazil. Transient and winter resident in West Indies (July 19-
  May).

  
  
• RichardTheBruce I'm motivated by my Duty.

  March 2019 edited April 2019 Posts: 13,807

  

  Goldfinger, Guy Hamilton, 1964.

  Piper PA-28 Cherokee
  
  
  All members of Pussy Galore´s flying circus have this plane. Registration, serial: N6056W, 28-20068; N7489W, 28-1400; N5781W, 28-1658; N7641W, N/A; N8729W, 28-10264.
  http://www.impdb.org/index.php?title=Goldfinger#Piper_PA-28_Cherokee

  
  
  
  
  

  Live and Let Die, Guy Hamilton, 1964.

  Piper PA-22-108 Tri-Pacer
  
  
  http://www.impdb.org/index.php?title=Live_and_Let_Die#Piper_PA-22-108_Tri-Pacer

  Registration N5305Z, c/n 22-9008.
  

  Piper PA-23 Aztec, Mooney M20 & Various Aircraft
  
  
  http://www.impdb.org/index.php?title=Live_and_Let_Die#Piper_PA-23_Aztec.2C_Mooney_M20_.26_Various_Aircraft

  The Piper PA-23 is the twin engined in the center. Around it are the previous aircraft seen on this page with a Mooney M20 at right. The aircraft on floats is probably a Cessna F172M.
  

  Licence to Kill, John Glenn, 1989.
  Piper PA-18-150 Super Cub cropduster
  
  
  Pam steals the aircraft as a compensation for her Baron. She lands it near the drug plant, helps Bond, then gives him a lift to catch up with Sanchez' convoy. Later on, the plane is shot down with a stinger-missile. Registration: XB-LOX.
  http://www.impdb.org/index.php?title=Licence_to_Kill#Piper_PA-18-150_Super_Cub

  
  
  
  

  Quantum of Solace, Marc Forster, 2008.
  Piper PA-28 Cherokee
  
  
  http://www.impdb.org/index.php?title=Quantum_Of_Solace#Piper_PA-28

  

  
  
  
  

  The World Is Not Enough, Michael Apted, 1999.

  Bond: I suppose we all have to pay the piper sometime, right, Q?
  
  Q: Oh, pipe down, 007!

  
• CommanderRoss The bottom of a pitch lake in Eastern Trinidad, place called La Brea

  April 2019 Posts: 8,266

  
  
  Well, Piper was an Aircraft manufacturer, so I'll just show one of their best products, the Piper Cub, but there are many more, amongst which at leas the Cherokee as well.
• RichardTheBruce I'm motivated by my Duty.

  April 2019 Posts: 13,807

  

  The Man With the Golden Gun, Guy Hamilton, 1974.
  
  The Flying Sandpiper third generation Rodriguez RHS-140 hydrofoil.
  
  

  Hong Kong Macau Ferry Terminal is one of The Man with the Golden Gun (1974).
  
  1. Hong Kong Macau Ferry
  Terminal
  https://foursquare.com/filmsq/list/the-man-with-the-golden-gun-1974
  (港澳客輪碼頭)
  Shun Tak Centre, 168-200 Connaught Rd C, Sheung Wan
  Pier · Sheung Wan · 156 tips and reviews
  
  Ollie M.Ollie Martin: In 1974 when the hydrofoil The Flying Sandpiper ran this route, it was featured in the James Bond film The Man with the Golden Gun, where Bond tailed a delivery of golden bullets.
  

  Y.C. Liang and HK Macao Hydrofoil
  
  Left: Flying Flamingo at a HMH dock in 1980; Right: Flying Sandpiper' from James Bond film Man with the Golden Gun in 1974

  

  
• RichardTheBruce I'm motivated by my Duty.

  July 2019 edited July 2019 Posts: 13,807

  

  RIngneck dove / ˈriŋ-ˌnek ˈdəv/ noun
  1. a domestic dove with neck mark, body white or other color variations
  
  Ringneck dove, also Barbary dove, Ringed turtle dove, Ringneck dove, Ring-necked turtle dove, or Ringdove/Ring dove (Streptopelia risoria): a domestic dove, maybe a form of the Eurasian collared dove (S. decaocto) or African collared dove (S. roseogrisea). Escaped birds can freely be absorbed with feral flocks. Open hybridization complicates counting it as its own species.
  
  Muscles generating the coo sound are considered the fastest of vertebrates, comparing to the rattlesnake's rattle.
  
  Breeding for particular colors can be overcome by the mutation making some white. Ringneck doves lack a homing instinct. Therefore in their white form (symbol of peace, purity, renewal) use as release doves at ceremonies can come to an unfortunate end.
  
  
  
  
  

  See also:
  Dove, rock (Columba livia ) - p. 1
  Dove, rock (white) (Columba livia) - p. 1
  
  
  
• RichardTheBruce I'm motivated by my Duty.

  July 2019 Posts: 13,807

  

  From Russia With Love, Ian Fleming, 1957.
  Chapter Fourteen - Darko Kerim

  Across the bridge, the car nosed to the right down a narrow cobbled street parallel with the waterfront and stopped outside a high wooden porte-cochère.

  A tough-looking watchman with a chunky, smiling face, dressed in frayed khaki, came out of a porter's lodge and saluted. He opened the car door and gestured for Bond to follow him. He led the way back into his lodge and through a door into a small courtyard with a neatly raked gravel parterre. In the centre was a gnarled eucalyptus tree at whose foot two white ringdoves were pecking about. The noise of the town was a distant rumble and it was quiet and peaceful.

  They walked across the gravel and through another small door and Bond found himself at one end of a great vaulted godown with high circular windows through which dusty bars of sunshine slanted across a vista of bundles and bales of merchandise. There was a cool, musty scent of spices and coffee and, as Bond followed the watchman down the central passageway, a sudden strong wave of mint.

  
• Thunderfinger Das Boot Hill

  July 2019 Posts: 45,489

  Never realized before that there are so many bird references in the Bond books.
• RichardTheBruce I'm motivated by my Duty.

  July 2019 Posts: 13,807

  Yeah, it's easy to breeze on by and not notice, @Thunderfinger. Birdwatching takes on an increased awareness, and codifying it over time I'm becoming surprised myself by all the sightings.
  
  
  Ringdove seems pretty obscure, but they used to name ships after them.
  
  

  HMS Ringdove
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Ringdove
  
  Seven ships of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS Ringdove, another name for the Barbary dove:
  
  HMS Ringdove (1806) was an 18-gun Cruizer-class brig-sloop launched in 1806 and sold in 1829.
  HMS Ringdove (1833) was a 16-gun brig-sloop launched in 1833 and broken up in 1850.

  

  HMS Ringdove (1856) was a wooden screw gunvessel launched in 1856, sold in 1865 and broken up in 1866.

  

  HMS Ringdove (1867) was a wooden screw gunvessel launched in 1867 and sold in 1882.
  HMS Ringdove (1889) was a Redbreast-class composite screw gunboat launched in 1889. She became a salvage vessel in 1915 and was renamed HMS Melita. Sold to Ship Salvage Corporation in 1920,[1] and renamed Telima, she was broken up in 1926.[2]

  

  HMS Ringdove was a salvage vessel, launched in 1888 as the Mariner-class composite screw sloop HMS Melita (1888). She was renamed HMS Ringdove on her conversion in 1915 and was sold in 1920.
  HMS Ringdove (1938) was a Linnet-class minelayer launched in 1938 and sold to the Pakistani government in 1950 as a pilot vessel.

  

  And a steamship SS Badenia later Titania later Ringdove. .

  SS Badenia (1912)
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Badenia_(1912)
  
  Badenia was a 921 GRT coaster that was built in 1912 by F Schichau GmbH, Elbing for German owners. She was renamed Titania in 1939. She was seized by the Allies at Rendsburg in May 1945, passed to the Ministry of War Transport (MoWT) and renamed Empire Conexe. In 1947, she was sold into merchant service and renamed Ringdove, serving until 1950 when she was scrapped.
  

  
  
  
  Barbary dove is more dramatic, probably would have been distracting to invoke that name.
  
  
  
  
• RichardTheBruce I'm motivated by my Duty.

  November 2019 edited November 2019 Posts: 13,807

  

  Clay pigeon / klā ˈpi·jən / noun
  1. a ceramic disc target for competition shooting
  2. a defense-less soul (aka sitting duck)
  
  Clay pigeon (fictilia columbaria): a disc of dry clay or similar material hurled into the air as a target to simulate the sport of hunting live game. Also known as skeet, clay disc, or bird.
  
  In practice, a trap throws a clay pigeon (or two!) to be shot at. Known as Sporting clay shooting, Skeet (from the Norwegian Skyte, or "shoot"), Trap (from the history of literally releasing birds from a trap). Variations of Trap are Automatic Ball Trap, Double Trap, Olympic Trap, Universal Trench.
  
  Types:
  Standard: most common. 110mm x 25mm, or 110mm x 26mm.
  Normal - special target, flat.
  Mini - 60mm x 20mm.
  Midi - 90mm diameter
  Battue (plate) - 108-110mm diameter, thinner.
  Rocket - 110mm diameter, with a propeller that creates a random path.
  Rabbit - 108-110mm, thinner, to literally roll on the ground as a target.
  
  Normal
  
  Standard, Mini, Midi
  
  Battue Plate
  
  Rabbit
  
  Rocket - thinner, faster.
  
  Trap, plus hand-thrower
  
  
  

  
  
  
  
• RichardTheBruce I'm motivated by my Duty.

  November 2019 edited November 2019 Posts: 13,807

  

  Dr. No, Terence Young, 1962.

  Bond: Everything's going to be fine.
  
  Quarrel: Bottom part of where my belly used to be tells me different.
  
  Bond: For me, Crab Key will be a gentle relaxation.
  
  Leiter: From what? Dames?
  
  Bond: No, from being a clay pigeon.

  
  
  

  Thunderball, Terence Young, 1965.
  
  
  

  

  Shotguns

  Remington 1100
  
  Both Largo (Adolfo Celi) and Fiona (Luciana Paluzzi) fire sporting Remington 1100s with raised ribbed when target shooting. Bond claims to Largo that the shotgun would look better in the hands of a woman.
  
  Remington Model 1100 Sporting Shotgun 12 Gauge
  
  Fiona aims the shotgun
  
  "That looks like a woman's gun."
  "You know much about guns, Mr. Bond?"
  "No. I know a little bit about women."
  Largo hands Bond the shotgun.
  
  Largo introduces Vargas by pointing his shotgun at him

  Browning Auto-5
  
  Bond fires a Browning Auto-5 when shooting with Largo.
  
  Browning Auto 5 (pre WW2) - 12 gauge
  
  After successfully hitting a clay pigeon from the hip, Bond remarks to Largo that firing accurately isn't difficult. One note to point out, When Sean shoots the clay pigeon out of the sky, he motions the force of the Auto-5's recoil (Not acted out), hinting that a live round was fired instead of blanks, as Bond is shooting at a clay pigeon.
  
  Largo and Bond with the shotguns in a production still

  
  

  

  
  
• RichardTheBruce I'm motivated by my Duty.

  December 2019 Posts: 13,807

  See also: Thrush, Page 6.
  
  

  Solitaire / ˈsäl·i·taire / noun
  1. a game played by one person to expend all playing cards
  2. a single gemstone set in a piece of jewelry
  3. a forest bird of the thrush family
  4. an extinct form of flightless bird
  
  Latin, later French (solitarius, alone, isolated). English (solitary).
  
  Solitaire (Turdidae family; Genus: Myadestes, Cichlopsis and Entomodestes): medium-sized forest birds, a type of thrush. Eaters of insects and berries. Found on the American continents and islands, includes Hawaii and the Caribbean.
  
  There is also the extinct Rodrigues solitaire (Pezophaps solitaria), related to the dodo and pigeon. Flightless and as big as a swan, endemic to Rodrigues Island, east of Madagascar, Indian Ocean. Territorial, using large bony knobs on wings as weapons. Consumed by marooned French refugees by the 18th Century.
  
  Myadestes (Americas and Hawaii):
  Townsend's solitaire (Myadestes townsendi) (North America)
  Brown-backed solitaire (Myadestes occidentalis) (Mexico, northern Central America)
  Cuban solitaire (Myadestes elisabeth)
  Pines solitaire (Myadestes elisabeth retrusus) (probably extinct)
  Rufous-throated solitaire (Myadestes genibarbis) (Caribbean)
  Black-faced solitaire (Myadestes melanops) (Costa Rica, western Panama)
  Varied solitaire (Myadestes coloratus) (Panama, Colombia)
  Slate-colored solitaire (Myadestes unicolor) (Mexico, Central America)
  Andean solitaire (Myadestes ralloides)
  Kāmaʻo (Myadestes myadestinus) (Kauaʻi) (extinct, 1990s)
  Olomaʻo (Myadestes lanaiensis)
  Lānaʻi olomaʻo (Myadestes lanaiensis lanaiensis) (extinct, 1931–1933)
  Molokaʻi olomaʻo (Myadestes lanaiensis rutha) (probably extinct, 1980s?)
  ʻŌmaʻo (Myadestes obscurus) (island of Hawaiʻi)
  Puaiohi (Myadestes palmeri) (Kauaʻi)
  ʻāmaui (Myadestes woahensis) (Oʻahu) (extinct, 1850s)
  
  Cichlopsis (Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Suriname, Venezuela):
  Rufous-brown solitaire (Cichlopsis leucogenys)
  
  Entomodestes (Andean highland forest in South America):
  White-eared solitaire (Entomodestes leucotis)
  Black solitaire (Entomodestes coracinus)
  
  Cuban solitaire
  
  Rufous-throated solitaire
  
  Black-faced solitaire
  
  Andean solitaire
  
  ʻŌmaʻo
  
  Rodrigues solitaire
  

  
  
  
• RichardTheBruce I'm motivated by my Duty.

  December 2019 Posts: 13,807

  

  Birds of the West Indies, James Bond, 1961. (1936)
  

  THRUSHES: Turdidae

  
  THRUSHES are a cosmopolitan family, and are well represented in the
  New World. Many of the species have beautiful songs. The food of
  West Indian thrushes consists of berries and insects.
  
  Of the four genera native to this region, two (Mimochichla and Chichlher-
  minia) are endemic. Solitaires (Myadestes) also inhabit North, Central
  and South America, while typical thrushes of the genus Turdus are found
  in many parts of the world.

  CUBAN SOLITAIRE Myadestes elisabeth
  
  Local name: Ruiseñor.
  Description: 7.5". A slender, rather long-tailed, plainly coloured thrush
  with somewhat the appearance of a flycatcher, but gentle and un-
  obtrusive in habits. Upperparts chiefly dark greyish olive; becoming
  brownish on wings; a prominent black spot on wing; underparts white,
  more or less washed with grey; a conspicuous white eye-ring and outer
  tail feathers tipped with white.
  Voice: Song unhurried and flute-like. One of the most remarkable
  songsters of the West Indies.
  Habitat:: Forested hills and mountains of western and eastern Cuba.
  In Isle of Pines found sparingly in dense woods bordering the Ciénega
  Lanier.
  Nidification: The cup-shaped nest is situated on the side of a bank or
  steep mountain slope. Eggs (3) spotted.
  Range: Cuba and the Isles of Pines.

  RUFOUS-THROATED SOLITAIRE Myadestes genibarbis
  
  Local name: Mountain Whistler; Fiddler (Jamaica); Soufrière Bird
  (St. Vincent); Jilghuero (Rom. Rep.); Oiseau Musicien (Haiti); Siffleur
  de Maontagne (Lesser Antilles).
  Description: 7.5". Mostly grey, with rufous throat, foreneck and
  posterior undeparts; breast much paler than back; lower eyelids and
  chin white; much white on outer tail feathers; feet yellow. St. Vincent
  solitaires are black above, the rump greyish olive.
  Voice: Whistling less prolonged than, but not inferior to, that of
  Cuban Solitaire. In winter, solitaires usually emit only a single note, a
  drawn-out teut.
  Habitat: Chiefly mountain forest, but descends to lower elevations in
  humid lowland areas in extreme north-eastern Jamaica and Hispaniola.
  Nidification: The cup-shaped nest is situated on the side of a bank,
  among vines covering a boulder, in a cavity of a stub or in the heart
  of a tree fern or bromeliad. Eggs (2) white or bluish white, spotted.
  Range: Jamaica, Hispaniola, Dominica, Martinique, St. Lucia and St. Vincent.

  
  
  
• RichardTheBruce I'm motivated by my Duty.

  December 2019 Posts: 13,807

  
  

  Live and Let Die, Ian Fleming, 1954.
  Chapter VII - Mister Big

  Mr. Big pressed down a switch on the intercom.

  'Send in Miss Solitaire,' he said and centred the switch again.

  There was a moment's pause and then a section of the bookcase to the right of the desk swung open.
  
  One of the most beautiful women Bond had ever seen came slowly in and closed the door behind her. She stood just inside the room and stood looking at Bond, taking him in slowly inch by inch, from his head to his feet. When she had completed her detailed inspection, she turned to Mr. Big.
  
  'Yes?' she inquired flatly.
  
  Mr. Big had not moved his head. He addressed Bond.
  
  'This is an extraordinary woman, Mister Bond,' he said in the same quiet soft voice, 'and I am going to marry her because she is unique. I found her in a cabaret, in Haiti, where she was born. She was doing a telepathic act which I could not understand. I looked into it and I still could not understand. There was nothing to understand. It was telepathy.'
  
  Mr. Big paused.
  
  'I tell you this to warn you. She is my inquisitor. Torture is messy and inconclusive. People tell you what will ease the pain. With this girl it is not necessary to use clumsy methods. She can divine the truth in people. That is why she is to be my wife. She is too valuable to remain at liberty. And,' he continued blandly, 'it will be interesting to see our children.'
  
  Mr. Big turned towards her and gazed at her impassively.

  'For the time being she is difficult. She will have nothing to do with men. That is why, in Haiti, she was called "Solitaire".'

  
  'Draw up a chair,' he said quietly to her. 'Tell me if this man lies. Keep clear of the gun,' he added.

  

  Dr. No, Ian Fleming, 1958.
  Chapter VII - Night Passage

  They came to the gate leading to the bungalow. Quarrel got out and opened the gate, and Bond drove through and pulled up in the yard behind the white single-storeyed house. It was very quiet. Bond walked round the house and across the lawn to the edge of the sea.

  Yes, there it was, the stretch of deep, silent water-the submarine path he had taken to the Isle of Surprise. It sometimes came back to him in nightmares. Bond stood looking at it and thinking of Solitaire, the girl he had brought back, torn and bleeding, from that sea.

  He had carried her across the lawn to the house. What had happened to her? Where was she? Brusquely Bond turned and walked back into the house, driving the phantoms away from him.

  

  Live and Let Die, Guy Hamilton, 1973.

  Bond: Black queen on the red king, Miss...?
  Solitaire: Solitaire.
  Bond: My name's Bond. James Bond.
  Solitaire: I know who you are, what you are, and why you've come. You've made a mistake. You will not succeed.

  

  
  
• CommanderRoss The bottom of a pitch lake in Eastern Trinidad, place called La Brea

  December 2019 edited December 2019 Posts: 8,266

  Mitsubishi MU2 Solitaire:
  
  
  
  The Rutan Solitaire motor glider:
  
  
  
  
• MayDayDiVicenzo Here and there

  April 2020 Posts: 5,080

  I never thought this thread would come in handy, but I'm creating a virtual quiz for my friends during isolation and one of the themes for a round that was suggested was "Birds in films". So naturally, I'm going to include a Bond film :))
• RichardTheBruce I'm motivated by my Duty.

  May 2020 Posts: 13,807

  Should have commented much earlier, @MayDayDiVicenzo, hope your creative idea worked out well. Blue and gold macaws (Chrome!), Rock doves, or otherwise. Maybe the opportunity to educate the audience on the Choughs of Piz Gloria. Other fine fowl.

  

  
  Also need to compliment @Thunderfinger on (likely) his best avatar yet: the Ring-necked parakeet. AKA Rose-ringed parakeet. I've seen them around, as an introduced species they're inclined to establish themselves in built up areas. Recalling nice memories of them in Aqaba Jordan. San Francisco. Chiba and Tokyo Japan. Singapore. Once witnessed gathering to roost at day's end, you'll understand why the group is known as a pandemonium.