Of Ortolans and Becasses

The French seem to have an odd (to us) proclivity for eating small birds. Many will probably be aware of ortolans - a small bunting - a song bird that is cooked and then held by the beak and everything else is eaten in a single bite by people who cover their heads with a napkin while doing so. This is allegedly to hold the aromas in but animal rights types might say it is out of shame. Eating them is illegal in the European union and in the US as they are endangered. They are drowned in armagnac, plucked and roasted gently.

Alain Ducasse served these birds at a dinner at Le Cirque in New York back in 1995 and still hasn't heard the last of it.

The other small bird often eaten is the Becasse, a woodcock about twice as big as the ortolan. They are protected in France so the French go to the UK to hunt them.

https://www.nytimes.com/1997/12/31/dini ... plate.html

The woodcocks have a highly comical gait - take a look at this youtube clip to see them dancing across a road.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eSh9Shgwc5o

I think I'll stick to quail, but when I came across this info I thought it might be of interest here.

PS - having helped me once do an hors d'oeuvre of hard boiled quail eggs, my wife has sworn off helper duty for that dish - very fussy to peel (the eggs, not the wife).

The French seem to have an odd (to us) proclivity for eating small birds. Many will probably be aware of ortolans - a small bunting - a song bird that is cooked and then held by the beak and everything else is eaten in a single bite by people who cover their heads with a napkin while doing so. This is allegedly to hold the aromas in but animal rights types might say it is out of shame.

I've read that the diner puts a napkin over his head so God won't see what he's doing.

A friend of mine rented a gite in Azay-le-Rideau for a few years. While there he developed a taste for little birds; he even uses the coo of a wood pigeon as his ringtone. So... you don't have to French, apparently, it's contagious.

[Jenise]

OMG, those birds crossing the road are so cute.

I grew up with a father who went dove hunting every year with a gang that sometimes included John Wayne and Andy Devine. The hunting was only part of the whole experience and I didn't really equate the dove dinners we had with what he brought back with any actual bird. Later, now married and living my own adult life, I decided I wanted to go on one of these hunting trips. I had a pet cockatiel then named Amos, a precociously friendly bird of exceptional intelligence who loved humans and parties. He worked the room! I signed up for a gun safety course in preparation for the planned trip but only managed to go to one class. As soon as I put that rifle on my shoulder I knew I would never be able to shoot a bird.

Eat an ortolan? NEVER.

Dove hunting? You mean, the bird that brought Noah a green sprig? That announced Da Big Pregnancy to Mary? That pulled Aphrodite in her chariot? Those doves?

[Jenise]

YUP. And the ones I feed on my patio all the time now. Those sweet little things.

No one should be allowed to hunt Doves, I have them in my yard, they are ground feeders and clean up the messes the birds on the feeders make. They are so elegant, sweet and I love their language.

Jenise, what sort of doves? Here in New England we only have two species of dove that I'm aware of--the mourning dove (so called because of its plaintive cooing) and the rock dove, aka the common pigeon.

I would never harm a mourning dove, but I'm in Tom Lehrer's camp when it comes to pigeons.

-Paul W.

[Jenise]

Mourning doves on my porch. Don't know what kind Dad shot. My brother's on his way over; I'll ask.

https://www.birdsandblooms.com/wp-conte ... ze=768,733
How could anyone shoot this lovely bird?