Birds, huh ...

What makes us have a favourite bird.....or two....or three ? What is it about a particular species that sets it above others?
Is it just appearance?
Has it got something to do with the bird's perceived character?
The way it behaves...it's actions?.........who knows.
We all have them....favourites.
Ok, academic or 'scientific' interest in a specific type may be justified and explained, and be a reputable reason for special attention, but why do we 'like' a particular type of bird more than others.....for no discernable reason other than....." I dunno, I just do".

For me, I think, it mostly stems back to a childhood thing.... Maybe.
A vague mosaic of water-colour memories of first sightings and identifications of birds until then only viewed in illustrations or photographs in grimy-thumbed pocket-sized bird-books.
I-Spy and Observer.
Collins.
Wall charts.
.......fumbling, blurred glimpses through inept plastic binoculars...
Days spent wandering in fields and woods, notebook and sarnies at the ready.

Always seemed to be in either shirt and shorts warm summer sunshine or wool-wrapped and gloved, crisp pristine snow.

Anyway, whatever the reason for my own favoured list of suspects, seeing any one of the chosen few still gives me an unexplainable little spurt of special pleasure..!

Actually, to be honest, if Desert Island Discs ever comes a'knockin, in the same way that there is no way I could ever narrow my musical choices down to the allotted number, I can't see me limiting my favourite birds to just a few.........the more I ponder, the longer the list becomes...impossible to select...

It would appear that I'm just a whore when it comes to my avian-aimed affections...…nevertheless, here's just a few initial contenders for inclusion in the posse.......for a host of disparate reasons.....and in no particular order...