One of my favorite videos to watch online is a 1942 Looney Toons episode called The Squawkin’ Hawk. It features Foghorn Leghorn – a wisecracking rooster and Henery Hawk – a bird of prey with Napoleon complex and a foul temper.
Often I am in denial about how much I enjoy cartoons. They were once an important part of my life. Nowadays, I either pretend that I don’t have the time or that I uninterested. The truth is, I am not sure. At some point, I must have assumed it was a part of growing up.
Like finding a job, getting married or making babies – it is just something that most adults do.
I am a sucker for birds that are animated in the way they behave around me, too. For instance, Grey-Headed Canary Flycatchers are Henery Hawks without the carnivorous appetite. They always appear to be in a foul mood. Given how tiny and cute they were, it is a comical sight. The way they whir about in a state of panic, stopping to do the Beatles head-shake. With their graying square-shaped crests and banana skins for trousers.
At first glance, one may not associate the Watercock with the Roadrunner. It is shorter and stubbier. I have spotted this bird only once before. But I am sure it is incapable of running any faster than a pug. Still, it reminds me of Wile E Coyote’s nemesis because of its short bursts of sheepish scurrying.
I was a “beep beep” away from falling in love.
The Purple Heron, a little after the summer, looks a lot like the alien bird from Marvin the Martian. They stand in the middle of shallow lakes, with crest feathers trying to somersault in the wind. With a neck so elastic that it may bend with the cross-wind force of its own movement.
A week ago, I got lucky and photographed a fella striking a particularly suave pose.
I feel fuzzy that some birds remind me of fragments of my childhood. And even though nobody is stopping me from watching cartoons, I doubt if I will set aside any more time for them than I already do. Being an adult involves doing a lot of things that makes no sense. Especially, in these confusing times, when How-To-Survive-A-Zombie-Apocalypse guidebooks are suger-coated as life hacks and sold to unsuspecting masses.
I wonder how many of you have legitimate answers for why you don’t watch cartoons anymore. I presume that a large percentage may cite time constraints as being the issue. In case you aren’t sure either, do start with a beautiful 1937 Disney short called The Old Mill. If that doesn’t hit the sweet spot, try a few minutes of Tom & Jerry’s Mouse In Manhattan.
If you feel nothing, get your pulse checked – you cold-hearted monster.
She’s a peach
more than she is a promise;
a pickle jar of a person,
a pretty postcard to old wounds.
A blueberry in search of the wind
more than a ballerina waiting for a tune
(Photographs: Kodaikanal, Megamalai, Nellore, Chennai)
(Images: Wikipedia / 4Vector)
A pickled lemur ordered this sensation off the menu and was totally satisfied , walking away wiping blueberry leg germs wayside x
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(giggles uproariously)
write captions for my daily chores why don’t you
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Mauve hearts and happy tears! :’)
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You know, right!
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I have many chestnut starlings visiting my garden. They are the best because they don’t shy away from humans ❤ Love them!! If only they could sit on my shoulder 😉
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Wowsie sushi, i knew you would have followed the white rabbit or let’s say a malabar trogon for cultural relevance
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😉 Of course!
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you sire, have confused me as to what jam i needs to butter me toast with!!
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When in doubt say marmalade loudly and see which jar giggles first
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I loved the comments even if they made little sense…maybe I liked them because they made perfect sense to someone in my head 😉
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Reblogged this on Mera Corner and commented:
If you can make any sense…the one unique to you please let me know 🙂
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i am sure that is why
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I read it over and over again. Loved it! 🙂
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D’aww thank you K, cartoons bring out the happy places in us I suppose.
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The poem did more than the nostalgia for the cartoon! 🙂
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Hehe I am as pleased as a peach it did.
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😀
By the way, I wanted to let you know that you are extremely talented, for it takes talent and passion to write poems on birds without repetition of words and meaning. Hello there! Your fan here 🙂
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I am both humbled and touched that a fellow writer thinks so. I feel as though I have grown more as a writer with the constant encouragement from my fellow bloggers. Thank you again!
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You are welcome, Christy 🙂
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I could relate to every word! 🙂 I still giggle over Tom & Jerry and get sniggered at by my worldly wise grandchildren. Can’t begin to tell you how much I pity them 🙂
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Yeah I think tom and jerry gave prior generations an inclination for western classical music too, more power to us… clink!
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I was oblivious to Hanna Barbera’s racist innuendos all this while! Thanks for the link.
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Never too old for cartoons and the best thing about the good ones is that you can watch them in any language.
PS and love your wonderful pictures
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I ll second that with a knuckle (talon?) bump. Only wanton, insubstantial guilt can separate us from them.
Thanks Becky!
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As always, a delight your humorous, informative and personal takes on the birds around you. Thanks for the chicken hawk cartoon (both my SO and I remembered watching it as a kid — time flies) and now I can just see those Grey-Headed Canary Flycatchers being in a foul mood (although their mood may be linked to having such a long name).
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Exactly ET, their longish names add to the comedy of it all. They’d be gone before we get halfway through it.
I never realised how funny and foul Foghorn was in the older episodes. How these hourglasses with wings fly!
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I never liked Tom and Jerry, I’m not sure why. I never laughed…ever. Hehe.
My favourite cartoon back then was Captain Planet! 😀 “captain planet…he’s the hero”
And this cartoon (dubbed in Tamil) that used to come on Sun TV every weekday. I would watch it after I got back from school. There would be raccoons and pigs (I think the pigs were evil) and I loved it so. Nobody seems to recall this cartoon. 😦
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I was more into Looney Toons than Tom and Jerry. Whenever I watched it though, I was rooting for Tom. I mean, poor fellow. He is doing his job while following natural order. And he gets insulted and beaten up for it.
I think I can help you with your mystery. Your description of it sounds like a Canadian cartoon show called The Raccoons (with villainous pigs). Is this the one?
Pssst I was a Captain Planet theme song junkie!
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Sending virtual hugs your way!
Can’t stop grinning, just watched that episode. 😀 😀
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Super glad it was the right one! (big smile) enjoy the rest too! If you have the time, do watch animated episodes of Wind In The Willows. They are magical!
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Watching them now! I’m not familiar with Wind In The Willows. Oh so much to watch!
Thank you 🙂
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It’s a wonderful book written by Kenneth Grahame about woodland creatures; their desires, dreams, whims, problems, etc. I lived in it for a few months as a wee lad!
Have fun with the shows, anu…they are just as good!
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“If you feel nothing, get your pulse checked – you cold-hearted monster.”
hehehe…..lovely!
I am privileged Christy, the only thing that runs on home TV are the cartoon channels…..truly grateful for my daughter…..its actually a ploy for me to watch some.
Agree totally with you….only a cold hearted monster can keep away from animations.
One of my favourite author is AA Milne (the creator of Pooh and Christopher Robbins). I love his stories and poems and find strength from them. And even now, watch Pooh solve life’s complicated problems on the YouTube, in the most creative and indigenous manner one can.
I do miss reading Amar Chitra Katha and Tinkle and Shikari Shambhu. And those Sunday mornings when I was allowed 2 hours of TV time while growing up, when all the cartoons used to run. Those were truly the days!
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When I was about 6 or 7, I read my first Winnie the Pooh book and stumbled onto the name “Christopher Robbins”. Viv, I kid you not, I wanted that name as my own so badly. I even tried to get my school friends to call me CR. It never worked, though. They suck to the stripper-esque nickname – Kitty. I still live with it. Sigh. But thank you for that beautiful flashback (big, beaming smile).
Tinkle! Gosh, you are mosquito coiling me into fragments of my past. Shikari Shambhu, Ram and Shyam (?) and of course – Kali the crow!
Lucky that you get some cartoon time with your daughter. Remember ‘Wind In The Willows’? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhK50Lg8hFM
I bet she would like it.
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I will show this to her for sure (and enjoy it myself as well!). Now that you mention it, you are slightly like C Robbins, with your birds and in nature most of the time. I guess you are more like a grown up version of Christopher Robbins…..will call you CR from now on then!
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Awwww ❤ Day. Made!
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A post on cartoon birds, and no Tweety bird? Tsk tsk.
“I taut I taw a putty cat” is probably the all-time cartoon quote.
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Aww mannu-chee-keengo. I wish, oh how I wish upon a yellow star with feathers, that I have spotted a bird with as much spunk and cautious optimism as Tweety bird. One of my favorite lines too, LG!
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Great poem, beautiful writing. Yes, I have been a Wind in the Willows fan too. Now both daughters adore Badger and Mole and laugh at Toad. The illustrated version with the great Piper at the Dawn, was breathtaking. Hope you publish all your blog writings very soon.
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Thank you so much, Ministhy. Glad your family loves Wind In The Willows. I remember sipping on chicken broth while watching it with my sister and my dad.
Just found this – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABlyNZBTzts – “The Fresh Vegetable Mystery “. Do check it out!
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Beautiful birds
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I grew up on Loony Tunes when it reached these shores, plus The Flintstones and Popeye – becoming completely astonished when I first saw the latter in colour! Your Watercock does look like Roadrunner – also a touch like daffy duck. And most definitely it looks like a visitor we get sometimes which is a Moorhen – they’re probably related. And almost any tiny fluffy baby bird looks like Tweety Pie (Warner Brothers cartoons) but hopefully doesn’t sound like it! I’m happy to watch cartoons when I’m in the mood, but not often these days.
That grey headed canary flycatcher is a very alert little bird. Sort of ‘now you see him, now you don’t’. Lovely!
Your presence, Christy, would be appreciated in the comments of my current post, if you know of any good Indian birding websites that have both visual and audio on them (and even if you don’t!) – my post will explain. In case you visit after I do a new post, it’s the one with the bluetits (who are birds) and birdsong.
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Holy smokes, Val. Daffy Duck meets Roadrunner is about the perfect description of the Watercock. Thank you!
I have seen more Sylvester Kitties than Tweety Birds but I think I am going to take a second look at the Yellow Browed Bulbul.
I am going lunch over your post, Val. I shall share the websites too. Thank you. You’re such a wonderful writer and observer of life.
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