Robins to the Left --- Turn!

Ummm we've only received two cards so far with robins on them, and both robins have their beaks pointing left. But if I was to draw or paint one, it would be facing to the right . . . maybe it's personal choice? No idea!

I had to go and look at my cards hanging up on ribbons Sue , you are right I hadn't noticed before ... I've no idea why ! it will be interesting to see if a left handed person if we have any on here would put them the other way ...
A very "Happy Christmas " to you and your family and best wishes for the New Year x

Interesting Sheila - we'll see what others say. I would draw one pointing right if the result would be recogniseable! I think your two cards will be in the minoritybut we will see what others say.

Thank you Amy - I hadn't noticed before either.

Well! No robins....I have owls, doves, even penguins but no robins!

two in the garden, one....the interloper got short shrift the other day then the victor was on guard under a stool keeping watch.....

Interesting...I can't say I've ever noticed but, I will now go and look.
Only two with robins on....one looking straight forward and one to the right!

How strange, no cards with robins this year. There are usually a few.

I don't know how I'd draw one.
Sometimes I think I'd make it face left, and sometimes I think I'd make it face right.

Hi Sue, I've never noticed this either, but will have to wait for a card to arrive with a robin on to check, and I couldn't draw 1 if my life depended on it :-), Derek.

I've got one card with 3 on facing right & 1 with 2 on facing left. I'm right handed & would definitely draw one facing left, in fact I always draw things facing that way, but never thought about it before.

Very intriguing observation. I am a lefty who paints portraits from time to time and I have gone through some of my sketchbooks. Excluding full frontals, if I consider the human nose to be a beak, it's almost dead even. About half of the beaks point to the left and half point to the right. The thing that determined whether left pointing noses or right pointing ones was the direction the light was coming from in most cases.

the only card I have with robins so far is from OH and they are beak to beak saying 'To the one I love.......' there are moments where my OH comes through spot on and this card was one of them ;o)

thinking about it is it to draw your eye to the edge of the card, subliminally getting you to open the card? just a thought.

I've had a look through our christmas cards, two robins, one deer and a group of penguins all facing towards the left, however there is one robin sitting on a pillar box and he's facing the other way, you really got me going with this Stera so I carried on looking, my santa's and snowmen are looking towards the right, I asked my grandaughter, who is a budding artist ( has already won awards and only 17yrs old, my female pride and joy, lol,) what she would do and her answer was that if not facing forwards then she would automatically draw the subject facing towards the left, she is righthanded and says its natural to her.....

I'd never noticed!

but just looked - I bought a pack of ten cards, all robins - half are facing the left side of hte card, the other half the right side

Waes Hael to everyone!

She faces left on stamps and right on coins. Does anybody remember which way the robin used to face on farthings???

To the left.

Ah well, another theory bites the dust...and having had a bit of a rethink, I believe I would draw one facing left after all.

Haha Loosetrife you are showing your age like me!

I go so far back that the robin on the farthing was still in the egg:)

Sorry Stera and LS - I edited my post when I found my pack of robin cards, so my question about which way the queen faces was taken out!

I thought it was a wren on farthings - smallest British bird on the smallest British coin

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farthing_(British_coin)

http://24carat.co.uk/farthingstoryframe.html

The smallest bird in the UK is the Goldcrest and not the farthing's wren. The subject of streagrams blog was robins so we took literary license to keep literary continuity. (As Strife whispered into Streagram's ear):" Franl155 gotta buy that one, don't you think? " Bye the way, bird watchers, is the Goldcrest the smallest bird in the UK?

oh well, can't win 'em all. maybe they thought then that the wren got the prize

Your wrong Franl. Your are a winner.

lol thanks LS!!

\O/ \o/ \o/

Wren it is. Seems I am wrong on every count. I retire humiliated and crushed. But it was fun anyway. Happy Christmas in spite of everything. And yes the Goldcrest and firecrest are the smallest.

A goldcrest flew into our window years ago and stunned itself. We had the immense privilege of picking it up and holding it - being able to admire it at close quarters was fantastic. Must be a once in a lifetime thing!

That was the way that I got to see my first hummingbird when I was a youngster.

talking of birds flying into windows, when they do that they often leave a "ghost image" on the glass - Stera's comment reminded me of it so I googled to find the original bbc story

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/14119607

https://www.flickr.com/groups/552462@N20/

I've no idea what it is that they're leaving on the glass

Could it be the oil with which they preen their feathers with?

hhm now you mention it, that does ring a bell from what i remember reading on the story.

I always feel so sorry for them when they crash like that, one of the reasons I never got around to placing a mirror in the garden when hubby wanted me too, I liked the idea of an extended corridor until another member said about the birds flying into it......

It isn't only birds that do it - I have walked into our pation doors more than once, until I hit on the idea of cutting out a bird shape and fixing it to the glass with blu tak. That sorted it. It would probably work on windows for birds too.

Fran, that's a marvellous owl print! We had a a gull print once - didn't wash it off for ages!

I think you can buy bird-of-prey sillhouette stick-ons for windows to keep birds away (just Googled "bird of prey sticker for windows", there are stacks of places, so not fair to select just one or two). I suppose the same thing could be done with a mirror, though it would rather defeat the object of having a mirror; maybe a b-o-p cutout near the mirror to scare birds off?

ps Googling "window alerts" might help as well, as that's what a lot of them seem to be subtitled

No need to buy anything - just cut out a flying bird shape you have drawn yourself. It's just to show that the window is there.

if you can find a bird of prey outline, that's a shape that would be an even better deterrent!

Don't you think it would have to be around life size to look real? On the other hand if you don't clean the windows very often you can see the glass....and it makes a convincing excuse too.

lol Stera, leave a bird-of-prey outline when you cleant eh windows - was going to say kill two birds iwth one stone, but hardly an appropriate proverb here!

Lol, and you thought you were joking....

let's have pics, please!!!

What, of my dirty windows? I do have some pride - admitting it is one thing, sending pics worldwide is another!

Just had another robin card, facing left. ...