Hummingbirds in the funny papers

21 years ago

Two Sunday comic strips recently featured hummingbirds: the June 26 "For Better or For Worse" by Lynn Johnston and today's "Pickles" by Brian Crane. What my husband and I were surprised and delighted by was that in both strips the feeders were drawn with colorless liquid in them! However inadvertent the lesson may have been, those of us who can regularly be found up on the anti-dye soapbox owe these cartoonists as debt of gratitude for setting a good example for millions of readers (though I'm sure it was the yellow flowers on the feeders on Earl's hummingbird helmet that attracted the bees ;>).

Johnston also drew a recognizable male Ruby-throated Hummingbird, complete with the velvety black chinstrap that distinguishes them from other red-throated hummingbirds (some so-called wildlife artists don't even get that right!), and the bird in the title panel for "Pickles" is a White-eared. Pretty cool!

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Comments (6)

flowerpowereverett
21 years ago
Thanks for posting Tzunun. Maybe one day the red dye thing will stop afterall.
oubliette
21 years ago
"Pickles" is the guy from Letterman. How funny!
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jenny_in_se_pa
21 years ago
That's too cool! Thanks for posting! :-D
standard65
21 years ago
I love it, tzunun, thank you! I've said it before...hummingbirds live in the 5th or 6th dimension, and just pop down here to visit our gardens and feeders. when they fly away from my feeder, halfway to the nearest canopy, out in the middle of the yard, they just *poof* vanish!

clear nectar and accurate drawings, how very cool. the cartoonists must be conscientious hummingbird enthusiasts, too.
thank you.
sarahbn
21 years ago
Those are great thanks Tzunum I printed them out and showed my daughter. That sure does seem like the guy on Letterman and animal planet. Sarah
wardw
21 years ago
A White-eared Hummingbird in the funny papers? That is really obsure. My favorite cartoon double take was in an old Doonsberry - the Bachman's Warbler in Yosemite NP. I guess if you can't take liberties in toonland, you can't take them anywhere. But it is nice that once in a while they get it right.

Another one that always gets me is using the voice of a Red-tailed Hawk for the voice of the Bald Eagle. The error is so common that I think it must be deliberate - after all the real BE voice is rather wimpy.