Check it out! For my birthday, my mom sent me two little bird skulls! They weigh almost nothing - I can't even feel them in my hand.
I guess I have to forgive my mom for some of the embarrassing things she did to me while I was a teenager; few girls have a mom who will collect skulls for them, much less wrap them up and mail them. Thanks, mom!
- Log in to post comments
More like this
Pardon me for taking up science blogging space today to send out special wishes of love and congratulations for my Mom on the occasion of her birthday-of-special-note.
The artwork provided by her granddaughter above (©2010 PharmKid) contains a subliminal message about the significance of today's…
I have a vivid memory as a teenager of yelling at my Mother, "I didn't ask for two mothers! I don't need two mothers! I don't even want *you* and you got me this other one who won't leave me alone!" I was 14 and about as revolting as every other fourteen year old, or maybe just a little more.…
During a three month period, between September 9 and December 16th, we have Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur, Sukkot, Simchas Torah, Asher's birthday, Simon's birthday, Thanksgiving, Isaiah's birthday and eight nights of Chanukah. It was manifestly poor planning on my part to produce three kids between…
I don't think I really recognized how much stuff I've avoided dealing with by only having boys until I read _Cinderella Ate My Daughter_ by Peggy Orenstein. You see, despite the fact that I joke about living in the testosterone house, or being the only female in a house of guys (until C. and K.…
Happy birthday! Nothing like bones for your birthday.
Your mom is as spooky as you!
What species are these two?
And pack them so they come through so beautifully.
Happy birthday. (Okay, technically that's late, but it's still your birthday here.)
I am sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but I hope your mother bought them at The Bone Room, as almost all American wild bird pieces, parts, eggs, and nests are illegal to possess under the U.S. Migratory Bird Act. At The Bone Room, we sell only legal skulls which are either from dometic or unendangered foreign species.
Your mum is cool! Happy Birthday :)
What an excellent birthday present. I found a great bird skull last Christmas - it's got such tiny delicate bones, I can't believe it survived the journey home:
http://www.fedbybirds.com/2008/01/norfolk_sounds.html
Jessica,
Great present, but I too was going to share the same warning as Ron... you don't want USFWS coming down the street and knocking on your door!
It's a little sweet and a little Norman Bates!
HJ
Hmmm... I'll bet the birds would have a significantly different take on the "best bird-day present ever"... Or perhaps they'd be happy knowing that their skulls were with someone who would appreciate their beauty and respect them.
BTW, Happy Belated Birthday!
I'm a little troubled that readers are posting their concerns about the legal issues surrounding the unlicensed possession of bird skulls, bones or other body parts. Not that the readers are at fault, of course, but simply because so much legal wrangling (and the popular paranoia it breeds) is liable to turn off the enthusiastic amateur.
I collect bird skulls, some of birds I have killed myself (to eat), some of finds in fields, on beaches or on our nation's highway shoulders. The natural beauty of these forms (and, indeed, the associated acknowledgment of shared inevitability) inspires me, as it does countless others.