I’m not much into warbler watching. They’re fidgety and small.

Plus, the name “warbler” is not cool. Or accurate. These birds chirp.

One spring, I came home and my wife said, “Guess what: there’s a warbler in the house.”

She knows enough to say “warbler,” not just “bird.”

She had a colander in her hand. This seemed an unlikely tool for solving the problem, but it wound up working.

That’s not what this is about, though. This is about comedy.

The little black and white bird, exhausted, sat on an end table and my wife gently set the colander over it. We slid a magazine under, and took it outside.

My wife asked, “What kind was that?”

I said “Black and White.”

And she said, “Yeah, I know it was black and white. And a warbler. But what kind?”

I said, “A Black and White warbler.”

She said. “Yeah, the black and white warbler we just got out of the house. What’s it called?”

I said, “A Black and White Warbler.”

She said, “And I thought you knew about birds.”

This went back and forth. An homage to “Who’s on First,” although we hadn’t intended it to be.

“Who’s on First” is a classic comedy bit performed by Abbott and Costello in the black and white movie era. (It’s on YouTube, if you’re interested).

In any case, the bird’s genuine name is simply “Black and White Warbler.” In a world of stupid bird names, this one’s honest and simple.

If it had been a Red-headed Woodpecker, the name would’ve also been good.

“What kind of woodpecker is that red headed one?”

“Red headed.”

“Yeah, that’s what I said. But what kind?”

And so on.

This spring, Myrtle Warblers are common around here, but have been re-named “Yellow-rumped Warblers.” A step in the right direction. I like the word “rump.”

If one of these warblers gets into my house, and my wife asks me what it is, I’d gladly say, “Yellow-rumped.”

I doubt this would cause us to replay the whole “Who’s on First” routine again. But, we’d remember it.

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 5th, 2011 at 10:13 pm and is filed under "Daily Sightings" A Blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.