There’s a special providence in the fall of a sparrow. William Shakespeare, Hamlet V ii 202-203
As the slow sea sucked at the shore and then withdrew, leaving the strip of seaweed bare and the shingle churned, the sea birds raced and ran upon the beaches. Then that same impulse to flight seized upon them too. Crying, whistling, calling, they skimmed the placid sea and left the shore. Make haste, make speed, hurry and begone; yet where, and to what purpose? The restless urge of autumn, unsatisfying, sad, had put a spell upon them and they must flock, and wheel, and cry; they must spill themselves of motion before winter came. Daphne du Maurier, The Birds
It is not only fine feathers that make fine birds. Aesop, The Jay and the Peacock
One swallow does not make a summer. Aristotle, Nichomachean Ethics
I realized that If I had to choose, I would rather have birds than airplanes. Charles Lindbergh, 1974
A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. Miguel de Cervantes, Don Quixote
And a good south wind sprung up behind,
The Albatross did follow,
And every day, for food or play,
Came to the mariner's hollo!
‘God save thee, ancient Mariner!
From the fiends that plague thee thus! –
Why look'st thou so?’ – ‘With my cross-bow
I shot the Albatross.’ Samuel Taylor Coleridge, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
Even the blackest of them all, the crow,
Renders good service as your man-at-arms,
Crushing the beetle in his coat of mail.
And crying havoc on the slug and snail. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Tales of a Wayside Inn
The Birds of America. John James Audubon
The little owls call to each other with tremulous, quavering voices throughout the livelong night, as they sit in the creaking trees. Theodore Roosevelt
You see, we’ve got two very rare birds nesting right over here. Tawny Pipit 1944 starring Bernard Miles & Rosamund John & Niall MacGinnis & Jean Gillie & Lucie Mannheim & Christopher Steele & Brefni O'Rorke & George Carney & Wylie Watson & John Salew & Marjorie Rhodes et al, directors Bernard Miles & Charles Saunders, Miss Broome to army bloke
Save The Sparrow: It was once a common or garden bird. Now it’s not common or in your garden. Why? The Independent offers £5,000 for the first scientific evidence that explains why decline is so widespread. The Independent appeal
A high-flying mystery: a giant bird ... This massive mix of bird and reptile is believed by many Native Americans living in the wilds of Alaska to be a monstrous winged creature that they call the Thunderbird ... Very recent sightings of this ominous bird are coming out of the village of Manokotak, three hundred miles of Anchorage. Destination Truth s3e7: Haunted Lost City & Thunderbird, Skyfy 2009
On the south island is said to live a creature that is right out of Tolkien’s trilogy. Locals say the gigantic ancient bird, thought to have gone extinct over five hundred years ago, is back, and has a score to settle with the people who hunted it. The Moa is one of the largest flightless birds to have ever existed. Destination Truth s3e15
Doesn’t this make you feel awful? Having all these poor little innocent creatures caged up like this? The Birds 1963 starring Tippi Hedren & Rod Taylor & Jessica Tandy & Suzanne Pleshette & Veronica Cartwright & Ethel Griffies & Charles McGraw & Lonny Chapman & Ruth McDevitt & Malcolm Atterbury & Elizabeth Wilson et al, director Alfred Hitchcock
And the ravens brought him [Elijah] bread and flesh in the morning, and bread and flesh in the evening; and he drank of the brook. I Kings 17:6
And I said, Oh that I had wings like a dove! for then would I fly away, and be at rest. Psalms 55:6
We British are more obsessed with birds than any other nation on Earth and have been for much of our history. Birds Britannia I: Garden Birds, BBC 2010
Our relationship with garden birds is a surprisingly modern phenomenon. ibid.
Of all Britain’s birds one particular group has risen to the very top of our affections – those who have chosen to live alongside us in our gardens. ibid.
They perform a daily soap opera outside our back window. ibid.
Two out of three of us now feed wild birds in our gardens. ibid.
House sparrows have lived alongside humans longer than any other garden birds. ibid.
The Dicky Bird Society founded in 1876. ibid.
The creation of the modern suburban garden in the 1920s and 30s set the stage on which the relationship between home owners and garden birds would play out over the rest of the twentieth century. ibid.
We have always loved robins. ibid.
The Private Life of the Robin – this became a surprise best-seller. ibid.
Most people didn’t begrudge the tits their share of the cream. ibid.
The arrival of parakeets, initially in west London gardens, quickly attracted the attention of the media. ibid.
Feeding birds is another way in which we express ourselves as consumers. ibid.
Of all Britain’s birds surely the most charismatic, beautiful and fascinating are our water birds. Birds Britannia II: Water Birds
These birds began their long decline. ibid.
The Eider is our largest, heaviest and fastest flying duck ... To line her nest the female plucks soft feathers from her own breast. These are ounce for ounce the warmest natural material known to man. ibid.
This marshy landscape was drained of its very lifeblood – water ... The loss of the Fens was a total disaster. ibid.
By the middle of the nineteenth century the Great Crested Grebe was in big trouble. ibid.
The plumage of birds was becoming the latest must-have fashion accessory. ibid.
Amateur bird-watchers had begun to make a real contribution to science. ibid.
Peter Scott did far more than simply establish a collection of water birds; his long-life passion had taught him a crucial lesson ... He was one of the first people to truly appreciate the intimate connection between these birds and the places they live. ibid.
The avocet’s success is without question the jewel in the RSPB’s crown. ibid.
Later, ospreys went the way of all birds. ibid.
Making these ospreys the most famous dynasty of birds anywhere in the world. ibid.
Britain’s biggest bird of prey ... the white-tailed sea eagle. ibid.
Cranes have been missing from the British scene; now they are set to return. ibid.
Coastal communities established deep relationships with these birds. Birds Britannia III: Seabirds
The story of our relationship with seabirds is an ancient and turbulent one, like our relationship with the sea itself. ibid.
Much of this wild magic comes from the way they live their lives. ibid.
Britain’s twelve thousand miles of coastline are one of the best environments for seabirds anywhere in the world. ibid.
Some seven million seabirds of two dozen different species nest on our coasts. ibid.
St Kilda’s looked to seabirds to meet almost all their subsistence needs. ibid.
A bill for the preservation of seabirds was presented to Parliament. ibid.
The Torrey Canyon was the first environmental disaster to unfold in the television era. ibid.
The birds of our countryside are amongst the most familiar and iconic of all Britain’s birds. For centuries we’ve celebrated them in music and poetry. Birds Britannia IV: Countryside Birds
Wherever you look in the British countryside, whatever the time of year, you will find birds. Farmland birds such as the skylark, the grey partridge, the lapwing and the yellowhammer have lived alongside us for ten thousand years. ibid.
The coming of spring has also been marked by the annual appearance of a letter in The Times newspaper commentating on the arrival of another visitor to our shores – the cuckoo. ibid.
The cuckoo is suffering a catastrophic decline. ibid.
Huge tracts of northern Britain to be opened for grouse shooting. ibid.
The death knell for Britain’s birds of prey. ibid.
Watching Birds: James Fisher ... The book would go on to sell more than three million copies. ibid.