A little virtual birdwatching with emojis
GIVEN that wildlife watching in the depths of winter can be fairly challenging on Dartmoor, typically drenched by torrential rain, bullied by the wind and up to your ankles in mud, I amused myself at the weekend by doing a little bird spotting... on my mobile phone.
If you engage in social media of any kind you will be familiar with emojis – those cartoon symbols used to express meanings, emotions or just to brighten up messages. They range from smiling faces to plates of food, flags of the world and phases of the moon – a toolbox of images that have become a hugely popular addition to communication.
Emojis evolved from typographic representations (such as a colon, hyphen and bracket to create a face with two eyes, a nose and a smile) and were originally designed for Japanese users, taking inspiration from Chinese characters, symbolic representations in Japanese manga comics and street sign pictograms, but have now become hugely popular in the West after being added to operating systems a decade or so ago.
The emoji image of a face with tears of laughter, which has certainly brought a little joy to messaging during this difficult year, is now the most commonly used emoji on Facebook, Snapchat, Twitter and Instagram – good to know that positivity reigns supreme even in the world of social media.
There are plenty of animal emojis to choose from, but when trying to represent British birds I have found it to be, well, a little limited. So, donning my virtual binoculars, what species are on offer...?
Firstly various chicken poses, from cockerel heads to hatching chicks – all useful for representing cowardice and birth, but not exactly wild birds. Also a turkey, perhaps a native bird of American origin, though looking fairly plump and domesticated.
Then there is a penguin, possibly an emperor penguin, and a dove – very much a white dove of peace given it generally carries an olive branch.
Next a parrot of some kind, sometimes blue and sometimes green (when it could just about be used if one spotted a ring-necked parakeet, which now roam wild in the UK, including the Westcountry).
Some systems offer up a peacock and flamingo – not exactly handy for messages when birdwatching in the South West – along with an eagle (a bald eagle familiar on the seal of the United States) and the dodo, which with extinction rates rising could sadly be used more often in future.
Finally, a few birds that one might actually see out and about in Britain: a swan (the orangey-red bill suggesting a mute swan), an owl (symbol of wisdom, but just about passable as a tawny or long-eared owl) and a duck (very much a male mallard with a bottle green head).
No robin or blackbird, no woodpigeon or pheasant... but if you want to message after a birdwatching walk that included sightings of a swan, owl and duck, you’re laughing (time to use that tears of joy emoji).