Excellent, Steve.
From: Canberrabirds <>
On Behalf Of Wallaces via Canberrabirds
Sent: Tuesday, August 29, 2023 5:22 PM
To: Canberra birds <>
Subject: [Canberrabirds] Zirkelning - word of the day!
While going through entries in HANZAB online today (yes HANZAB online is still alive!), I came across the word
'zirkelning', a term I was not familiar with. It is described in the text but not defined in the HANZAB glossary. Googling it returned two source which used the similar words to HANZAB. It is also not in The
Ornithologists Dictionary (Lynx).
It turns out that most of us have probably seen starlings zirkelning – probing with the bill open.
From HANZAB Common Starling entry:
“Probe ground for invertebrates (Phillipps & Lindsay 1948; Badman 1979; Wilson 1979). Single probes can sometimes comprise
several thrusts of bill (East & Pottinger 1975), and often accompanied by bill gaping (‘zirkelning’), birds opening bill c. 2 cm while embedded in earth to enlarge openings; technique appears to
be learnt when young (Gannon 1932; Thomas 1957; East & Pottinger 1975; Martin 1987; Kloot 1993); also use zirkelning action to separate grass (Terrill 1946).”
The search facility of HANZAB online returned four species in which zirkelning has been observed: Common Starling, South Island Saddleback, Victoria’s Riflebird and Grey Currawong.
I have added zirkelning to the HANZAB Glossary.
Cheers
Steve
