Saturday, January 31, 2015

Blackbirds Don't Tweet

Blackbird, via Micali, Livorno
It is said that the last three days of January are the coldest of the year and are called the “giorni della merla” (days of the hen blackbird). Legend says that all blackbirds were once white, until, in the last days of an very cold January, a hen blackbird took shelter with her chicks in a chimney. They got out on February 1st, all black because of the soot. Since then blackbirds wear proudly their black in sign of gratitude.
By the way, blackbirds don't tweet, but today we are celebrating our blog's 1,000th tweet...

See also: Giorni della merla - The Blackbird - A Blackbird
External links: The Merla Days (Italy Heritage)
Search labels: bird
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17 comments:

  1. RevrunnerJanuary 31, 2015 at 12:26 AM

    Makes me always think of these Beatles lyrics:

    Blackbird singing in the dead of night
    Take these broken wings and learn to fly
    All your life
    You were only waiting for this moment to arise.

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  2. MichelleJanuary 31, 2015 at 1:12 AM

    You captured a handsome one!

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  3. LoisJanuary 31, 2015 at 1:17 AM

    Cute picture! Congrats.

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  4. William KendallJanuary 31, 2015 at 2:18 AM

    This one looks quite alert!

    Here these days of winter tend to be referred to as the dead of winter.

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  5. RandyJanuary 31, 2015 at 2:55 AM

    Great close up.

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  6. LowellJanuary 31, 2015 at 3:00 AM

    Congrats on reading the 1,000 mark! That's a lot of posting! We don't see many blackbirds here, but we see a lot of crows. I like the legend.

    Blackbirds must be about the only critter that doesn't tweet these days, except for me. I don't!

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  7. JackJanuary 31, 2015 at 3:34 AM

    Revrunner has me humming Beatle songs. So, you tweet your blog posts, too? I am woefully behind in the technology of my blog.

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  8. DinaJanuary 31, 2015 at 9:34 AM

    That is a nice legend. I hope your giorni della merla are cold so you will have spring soon.
    Mazal tov on your thousand tweets on Twitter (or as Israelis here pronounce it, Tweeter).

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  9. KarlJanuary 31, 2015 at 12:10 PM

    I didn't know the legend of the blackbirds, thanky you VP !
    And congratulations to your 1000 tweets as well !

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  10. Luis GomezJanuary 31, 2015 at 2:21 PM

    Wonderful. Love the legend.

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  11. Lois EvensenJanuary 31, 2015 at 3:53 PM

    Interesting legend! I never heard that one before.

    Your title, though, made me think of basketball and jumping. ;)

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  12. PerthDailyPhotoJanuary 31, 2015 at 4:00 PM

    I'm not a tweeter VP, I wouldn't know how :) but congrats on your mile-stone! Enjoyed the legend of the blackbird :)

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  13. BirdmanJanuary 31, 2015 at 4:40 PM

    A fine tale to go with the bird.

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  14. mattisaisaJanuary 31, 2015 at 7:44 PM

    We have some blackbirds here in Finland in the middle of snow and ice. We feed those, they eat near everything

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  15. cieldequimperJanuary 31, 2015 at 9:47 PM

    Les jours du merle... I love their song and I like the birds (boys and girls).

    Bravo for the tweets!

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  16. RedPatJanuary 31, 2015 at 11:11 PM

    I like that story!

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  17. Babzy.BFebruary 2, 2015 at 3:15 PM

    hey i see ;)

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