Date: Wed, 24 Oct 2001 16:39:06 -0500
From: John and/or V Sylvest <theophile@I-55.COM>
Reply-To: Bulletin Board for Dissemination of Information on Louisiana
Birds <LABIRD-L@listserv.lsu.edu>
To: LABIRD-L@listserv.lsu.edu
Subject: [LABIRD-L] Rufus & Pyro

Estefan also wrote: "While I'm being credited with proposing pseudo Wacko
or hybrid Wacko-Traditional hypotheses such as the "All along the border"
hypothesis
(sounds kind of like a Jimmy Hendrix song title- maybe Bill or John Boy can
work on the appropriate lyrics) ..."
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

I see your Hendrix tangent but my wacko aesthetic sensibilities really lean
toward "Pancho & Lefty".

Livin' on the road my friend
Was gonna keep you free and mean
Now you migrate way too much
And your nectar tastes like kerosene
You weren't your mama's only boy
But her favorite one it seems
She began to cry when you said goodbye
For Looz-eee-anna dreams

Rufous was an immature
He headed south with all the rest
Never knowing where he'd land
But as migrants go he was the best
Well, Rufous met his match you know
Once he got down to Mexico
The others wouldn't let him stay
Ah but that's the way it goes

All our hummer havens say
He's invited any day
Cajuns let him hang around
Out of kindness I suppose

Vermilion, he can't sing the blues
All day long like he used to
Same dust that Rufous bit down south
Ended up in Pyro's mouth
Same day they made poor Rufous go
Vermilion split for here we know
Together traveling on their way
They rode the southerly flows

Well, the poets tell how Rufous fell
Vermilion's in a cheap hotel
Gramercy's quiet and Shreveport's cold
So the story ends, we're told
Rufous needs your prayer's it's true
But save a few for Pyro too
He just did what he had to do
And now he's growin' old
They'll both return another day
Philopatry's weird that way
We'll let 'em stay for just so long
Out of kindness I suppose

Buenas Dias, got to go
There's no place in Mexico
The others wouldn't let them stay
Ah but that's the way it goes

Vaya con Dios,
johnboy

=================================================

Date: Thu, 13 Dec 2001 13:57:02 -0600
From: John Sobert Sylvest <theophile@I-55.COM>
Reply-To: BB for Hummingbirds and Gardening for them in the Southeast
<HUMNET-L@listserv.lsu.edu>
To: HUMNET-L@listserv.lsu.edu
Subject: Re: [HUMNET-L] Mr. Tom wrote

Van wrote: I think any Origin explanation for ourGulf western hummers could
claim that adult males would be under-represented realative to first-years
in that wherever they originateand however they get here, it's a "mistake"
in terms of former naturalselection regimes, and young birds are the ones
who do that sort of thingmost frequently.What's got me intrigued is ...
what happens to all those first-year malesthat we see here in winter? --
why don't we have more returns if the Gulfis such a great place to winter?
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

This is an auto-responder. JBoy is unavailable but a Cyborg 1st Year Male
Rufus will handle your questions:

There ain't nothing wrong with my compass
And my gyro's feeling fine
My neuroendocrine axis is working
I can read an exogenous sign

Your theories of Wrong Way Corrigan
On my southward bound migration
Are insulting and deriding
Misdescribing my situation

Natural selection, that's evolution
Has gifted me with a route
I take one when I'm headed north
Another when going south

These routes are firmly imprinted
But what's a young male to do
When arriving on a winter ground
With no place left for you?

I scraped and scrapped and fought so hard
To get a territory
"Til something deep within me said
Forget the guts and glory

The urge that sent me onward
Enjoying the southerly flow
Had very little or nothing to do
Next year when photoperiods change
My genetic heritage will kick in
Route fidelity and philopatry
Will take me home again

But home is not the Gulf Coast
And your birds aren't some new race
There's no natural selection going on
To return me to that place

There is no Gulf Coast gene pool
There is no route rehearsal
The numbers you see increasing there
Are a random type dispersal

Hummer havens and oases
Assuredly do help out
But it's what goes on in Mexico
'Tis what it's all about

If it's clarity and brevity you seek, get me more questions before Jboy
returns to his keyboard.

Sincerely,
J.S. [Jalisco Sonora]
1st Year Male RUHU
With my love for Mexico

===========================================

Date: Thu, 6 Dec 2001 22:10:01 -0600
From: johnboy <theophile@I-55.COM>
Reply-To: BB for Hummingbirds and Gardening for them in the Southeast
<HUMNET-L@listserv.lsu.edu>
To: HUMNET-L@listserv.lsu.edu
Subject: Re: [HUMNET-L] Don't Read This Nancy

Good Evening Humnutters! Don't touch that dial (or click that mouse button
over the the little red "x" in the top corner of your screen)!

Tonight, we'll have our usual line up of "Don't Read This Nancy" Dee-Jays.

Before 10:30 pm CST, Lanny Chambers will post his rendition of Seals &
Croft's 1973 classic: "Hummingbird" and share his editorial commentary on
the famous Michigan Rufous with his cover of "Free Bird" from Lynyrd
Skynyrd's "Live" album.

Coming on, late nite, between 11:00 and 11:30 CST, David "Haa Haa"Muth,
will entertain us with his version of the Chart-topping 1982 hit by Hall &
Oates: "I Can't Go For That (No Can Do)", in response to VJ-JV's midday
public service announcement concerning the integrity of our Louisiana
histogram. He'll close out his show with his response to VJ-JB's Corpus
Rufus interlude by singing the 1963 Bobby Bare standard:"500 Miles Away
>From Home".

"Haa Haa" will be followed by "Running Bare" Ron Rovansek who will be
joining us from his West Coast time zone, responding to Muth with the 1988
Elton John hit: "I Don't Wanna Go On With You Like That" and then sing his
1970 Wacko tune: "I Just Can't Help Believing" by B. J. Thomas.

VJ-JB, the Wacko Wolfman, will dish up the midnight special, opening with
"I Had Too Much To Dream Last Night" by the Electric Prunes (1967) and will
demythologize Wacko with his Tom Jones favorite from 1965, "It's Not
Unusual". He'll provide an NPResque poetry reading in his favorite mystical
genre, the limerick and sign off with Sinatra's #13 hit from 1956,
encouraging all to join us again, tomorrow, "How Little It Matters How
Little We Know". Tomorrow he'll counter Muth's claims regarding the
similarity of rufous movements with Jimmy Buffet's "Changes in Latitudes,
Changes in Attitudes".

Before your coffee's made and your eggs are scrambled, Big "B" Bob, (the
"B" is a mystery, but there are hypotheses about what it really stands for)
noting that most of the Humnuttery has moved out of prime time, will
celebrate with Neil Diamond's "I Thank the Lord For the Night Time" and
comment on southern Alabama and the Florida Panhandle's upcoming "first
detections" with The Moody Blues' "I Know You're Out There Somewhere".
He'll also discuss the latest Calliope reports with the 1969 Nilsson
melody: "I Guess the Lord Must Be In New York City".

VJ-JV will provide a midday editorial, opening with the Eddie Rabbitt Top
40 hit from 1982: "I Don't Know Where To Start" and re-playing his somewhat
worn-out tape of Stevie Wonder's "I Don't Know Why" (1969) and closing with
Eddy Arnold's "I Wouldn't Know Where to Begin" (1956).

That's quite a line-up. And you don't want to miss it! (Or do you?)

Also, be sure to join us on the main channel where DJ Nan will be singing
her same old Aretha Franklin standard about the origins debate: the 1968
classic "Chain of Fools ".

===============================

Date: Mon, 18 Nov 2002 17:41:36 -0600
Reply-To: BB for Hummingbirds and Gardening for them in the Southeast <HUMNET-L@LISTSERV.LSU.EDU>
From: BB for Hummingbirds and Gardening for them in the Southeast <HUMNET-L@LISTSERV.LSU.EDU>
Subject: [HUMNET-L] Big Bopper, List Emperor, Whatever

A long long time ago
I can still remember how that Humnet used to make me smile
And I knew if I had my theory
That I could make those people cheery
And maybe they'd be Wacko for a while
But haa haa efforts made me quiver
With every new post they'd deliver
Bad news on the listserv
The Emperor's lost his list-nerve
I can't remember if I cried
When Merlot Dave hypothesized
But something touched me deep inside
The day our theory died
So...
CHORUS:
Bye-bye, to Van's Noble Lie
On the floor in the Museum
Where old Coal used to lie
Was a mess of torn up papers with a dumpster nearby
The dog ate Remsen's homework, oh my
His Wacko data bid him good-bye

Did you write hypotheses
And plant that salvia on your knees
Just 'cause Remsen told you so
Do you believe in Mexico
Hiatus and a southerly flow
Well there's something else you need to know
When resources are on the wane
And frost is on your window pane
The rufous sing the blues
'til a garden they can choose
I was a crazy Wacko it did seem
When Van cooked up his silly scheme
But Mexico was just a dream
When Dave hypothesized
I started singin'...
CHORUS
Bye-bye, to Van's Noble Lie
On the floor in the Museum
Where old Coal used to lie
Was a mess of torn up papers with a dumpster nearby
The dog ate Remsen's homework, oh my
His Wacko data bid him good-bye

Now the rufous are all on their own
Coal's traded papers for a bone
But that's not how it's gonna be
When a Raisin bird's in Gramercy
And the phone rings from my Dad to me
It's Nan's voice that's heard from Metairie
Oh, and while the Emperor's looking down
JB, the jester, steals his crown
The courtroom is adjourned
The verdict is returned
And while Lanny read his Rufus Yat
The Histogram was where it's at
The Haa sing dirges in the dark
When Wacko was revived
And we'll be singin'...
CHORUS
Haa-Haa, your theory was wrong
You didn't follow Wacko
Now you'll never belong
To the lofty-titled Wacko crowd
Won't have your own song
You can use your Occam's Razor, good-bye
To shred your silly theory, oh my
Wacko data spit in your eye

Dickson, take over from:
Helter Skelter in a summer swelter

Ron, pick up at:
Bob Sargent played a marching tune

Miriam redo:
Oh, and there we were all in one place
A generation Lost in Space

Dennis:
With feeders wrapped in Christmas lights
To fill the Wackos with delight

This is a true song, however prophetic, since it ain't taken place YET.

Truly Yours, with a Useful Humnet Posting ---- Categorize THIS!
jboy

===============================

Date: Thu, 24 Oct 2002 11:19:26 -0500
Reply-To: BB for Hummingbirds and Gardening for them in the Southeast <HUMNET-L@LISTSERV.LSU.EDU>
From: BB for Hummingbirds and Gardening for them in the Southeast <HUMNET-L@LISTSERV.LSU.EDU>

I see it's time, once again, for the annual posting of johnboy's ode to
my first winter Rufous capture:

The RufousYat
of Omar Khayyám

Awake! for Morning in the Torpor of Night
Has flung the Rufous that puts Ruby Throats to Flight:
And Lo! the Bander of Missouri has caught
In a patch of Sultán's Turban a Rufous of Light.

Dreaming when Dawn's Left Hand was in the Sky
I heard a Voice within the Tavern cry,
"Awake, Little rufous, and fill the Trap
"Before Life's Liquor in Feeder runs dry."

And, as the Cock crew, those who stood before
The Tavern shouted ~ "Open then the Door!
"You know how little while the Rufous may stay,
"And, once departed, may return no more."

Now this Autumn reviving old Desires,
The thoughtful Soul to Solitude retires,
Where the WHITE HAND OF LANNY on the Bough
Puts out, and Rufous from the Trap suspires.

RubyThroat is gone with its throat of Rose,
And many a Selasphorus where no one knows;
But still the Vine her ancient Rufous yields,
And still a Garden by the Feeder blows.

Come, fill the Cup, and in the Fire of Spring
The Winter Garment of Repentance fling:
The Bird of Time has but a little way
To fly ~ and Lo! the Bird is on the Wing.

And look ~ a thousand Blossoms with the Day
Woke ~ and a thousand scatter'd into Clay:
And this first Summer Month that brings the Rose
Shall take Rufous and others away.

With me along some Strip of Herbage strown
That just divides the desert from the sown,
Where names, Salvia and Sultán, scarce are known,
And pity a Sultán Turban's Rufous on his Throne.

Here with a Loaf of Bread beneath the Bough,
A Flask of Wine, a Book of Verse ~ and Thou
Beside me singing in the Wilderness ~
And Wilderness is Paradise enow.

"How sweet is mortal Rufous!" ~ think some:
Others ~ "How blest its progeny to come!"
Ah, take the Bird in hand and wave at the Rest;
Oh, the brave Music of a distant Hum!

The Worldly Hope men set their Hearts upon
Rufous arrivals ~ then prospers; and anon,
Like Snow upon the Desert's dusty Face
Lighting a little Hour or two ~ is gone.

I sometimes think that never blows so red
The Salvia as where some Rufous was led;
That every Hyacinth the Garden wears
Dropt in its Lap from some once lovely Head.

Ah, make the most of what we yet may spend,
Before we too into the Dust descend;
Dust into Dust, and under Dust, to lie,
Sans Wine, sans Song, sans Rufous, and ~ sans End!

Why, all the Saints and Sages who discuss'd
Rufous origins so learnedly, are thrust
Like foolish Prophets forth; their Words to Scorn
Are scatter'd, and their Mouths are stopt with Dust.

Oh, come with old Lanny, and leave the Wise
To talk; one thing is certain, that Rufous flies;
One thing is certain, and the Rest is Lies;
The Flower that once has blown for ever dies.

Myself when young did eagerly frequent
Doctor and Saint, and heard great Argument
About it and about: but evermore
Came out by the same Door as in I went.

With them the Seed of Wisdom did I sow,
And with my own hand labour'd it to grow:
And this was all the Harvest that I reap'd ~
"I came like Water, and like Wind I go."

Into this Universe, and why not knowing,
Nor whence, like Water willy-nilly flowing:
And out of it, as Wind along the Waste,
I know not whither, willy-nilly blowing.

What, without asking, hither hurried whence?
And, without asking, whither hurried hence!
Another and another Cup to drown
The Memory of this Impertinence!

Up from Earth's Centre through the Seventh Gate
I rose, and on the Turban of Sultan sate,
And many Knots unravel'd by the Road;
But not the Knot of Rufous Routes and Fate.

There was a Door to which I found no Key:
There was a Veil past which I could not see:
Some little Talk awhile of Rufous Routes, ME and THEE
There seemed ~ and then no more of THEE and ME.

Then to the rolling Heav'n itself I cried,
Asking, "What Lamp had Rufous Destiny to guide
"Her little Children stumbling in the Dark?"
And ~ "A blind Understanding!" Heav'n replied.

Then to this earthen Bowl did I adjourn
My Lip the secret Well of Life to learn:
And Lip to Lip it murmur'd ~ "While you live
"Drink! ~ for once dead you never shall return."

I think the Vessel, that with fugitive
Articulation answer'd, once did live,
And merry-make; and the cold Lip I kiss'd
How many Kisses might it take ~ and give!

How long, how long, in infinite Pursuit
Of This and That Rufous Route and dispute?
Better be merry with the fruitful Wacko
Than sadden after haa, or bitter, Fruit.

Alas, that Rufous should vanish with the Rose!
That Youth's sweet-scented Manuscript should close!
The Rufous that in the Branches sang,
Ah, whence, and whither flown again, who knows!

Ah Rufous! could thou and I with Fate conspire
To grasp this sorry Scheme of Things entire,
Would not we shatter it to bits ~ and then
Re-mould it nearer to the Heart's Desire!

Ah, Moon of my Delight who Know'st no wane
The Moon of Heav'n is rising once again:
How oft hereafter rising shall she look
Through this same Garden after Rufous ~ in vain!

And when like her, oh Rufous, you shall pass
Among the haas and wackos on the Grass,
And in your fall migration reach the spot
Where I wrote this -- turn down an empty Glass!

==================================

Date: Fri, 10 Jan 2003 06:44:47 -0700
Reply-To: bourici@gj.net
From: BB for Hummingbirds and Gardening for them in the Southeast <HUMNET-L@LISTSERV.LSU.EDU>
Subject: [HUMNET-L] HUMMIN'BIRD RAP

Since things are slow on Humnet, I'll offer a rap that came to me in a
moment of mindless creativity while pondering the territorial displays of
the male Broad-tailed Hummingbird and the cacophonous chasing that ensues
when a Rufous enters the scene.  This can be fun to do with large groups of
kids young and old.  Use dramatic motions (slow and deliberate) turning the
head back and forth at each chip, hand gestures to represent the flaring
flash of the brilliant gorget, and flap your elbows at every flutter.
Broad-tails do chips and chippitys, Rufous do zees, chuppitys and chups.
Use the feet to get the beat.......

           HUMMIN'BIRD RAP

            Chip Chip Chip Chip

I'm the toughest hummin'bird on the mountain here about

            Chip Chip Chip Chip

I don't need to up'n shout, it's the CHIP! that does the rout

            Chip Chip Chip Chip

Got a Gooseberry bush, the nectar's so fine

            Chip Chip Chip Chip

There's only so much, so it's aaaall mine

            Chip Chip Chip Chip

If someone comes to steal, I'll SHOW! 'em how I feel

            Flash Flash Flash Flash

            Chip Flash Chip Flash

If that don't make 'em zing, I'll give 'em a little WING!

            Flutter Flutter Flutter Flutter

            Flutter Flutter Chip Flash Flutter Chip Flash

            Chip Chip Chip Chip

            Chip Chip Chip Chip

When the Rufous comes back, you can be sure that he'll attack

            Zee Chuppity Chup, Zee Chuppity Chup

            Zee Zee Chuppity Chup, Zee Chuppity Chup

He's a tough little guy, we go high in the sky

            Chippity Chip, Chuppity Chup, Zee Chuppity, Chippity, Chup

           Chuppity Chuppity, Chippity Chippity

           Chuppity, Chip, Chup!

by Steve Bouricius

(HUMMIN'BIRD RAP was published in a birding rag about a decade ago :>).