A covert of coots
A covert is a shelter or a hiding place, from which you might study coots. It can also refer to...
As silent as …
Another simile for silence, here combined murderously with talons sharp as black frost. See other silent similes by Williamson...
How to help a bird fly
Wise words for human lives, all the more poignant for watching fledglings make mistakes and still persist in flying, even...
Of gander and falcon
A surprising juxtaposition of birds to convey a contrast.
'... the contrast could not be much greater between a sleek...
Chatteration
'Again there was a sudden chatteration of gulls.' A fine description of the confabulations of sea-gulls when they get...
Million-fingered responsiveness
Nicolson captures the single signal transmitted through a vast flock of geese, yielding a 'million-fingered responsiveness'.
'They are...
Water-polished shells
Lopez uses this to describe the bright whiteness of snow geese in flight.
‘Once airborne, they are dazzling on the...
Widest-winged condor
This novel being set in England, I liked this evocation of a splendid bird from the other side of the...
Crackey, ackymal and ruddock
'The crackeys and ackymals and ruddocks - Devon names for wrens and tomtits and robins ...'
All words for birds,...
Sawyer-like strain
Having always associated 'sawyer' with Tom of the same name, it never occurred to me that, like many surnames, it...
Skeins of geese sewn into the air
Two ways to describe the habitual, seasonal flight paths of geese: a skein woven into the air like stitches, which...
Of kingfisher colours
This description of a Halcyon Kingfisher packs a rainbow of colour metaphors, from pink to green to blue and brown. ...
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