Blogger's note. What baffles and pleases me about this blog with its modest-but-loyal following is how I get comments, sometimes quite a few, on posts that are several years old. Though I've continued to post here, I sometimes think, "oh, nobody's reading this," and even try to avoid looking at stats, because it's too easy to get caught up in it (and that's not why I do this anyway). Unfortunately, the internet has become one big competition for views, likes and subscriptions in recent years.
Strangely enough, the biggest reaction in recent times was to a small, satiric piece about a fluffy little bird called the Korean Crow Tit. It started out life on the internet as a cute 'n fluffy meme which was soon posted and reposted everywhere:
Here's a sampling of comments and responses I received, some of which are fairly heated for this fluffy little topic. I've removed most identifying remarks, but alternated font colours for (I hope!) clarity.
Hi, Margaret! I love a good internet-"meme" mystery!
So, as near as I can figure, the bird that is colloquially referred to as a crow-tit in Korea is the Parrotbill - the Vinous-throated Parrotbill Sinosuthora webbiana.
The picture that comes up if you google "Korean Crow-tit" appears to be some kind of actual tit-but possibile leucistic. Not the parrotbill, though I see some superficial resemblance.
I will have to investigate further to see if I can figure out what that mostly white bird is that is coming up in the search.
Marc Devokaitis
Public Information Specialist
The Cornell Lab of Ornithology
The bird appears to be a Long-tailed Tit (Aegithalos caudatus).
As a korean its really uncomfortable to see googles first result on korean crow tit is your page. U have never seen birds in korea yet when im so happy that our crow tit is getting some attention and love from people all over the world u say its fake??? What evidence do u have to say its fake??? U have none... because they r true...i grew up with them. This page is offensive
I was very curious myself if this bird actually existed... That should not be taken offensively.. it's such a beautiful little bird it almost does look fake due to its sweet and perfect appearance....
I know this is probably not relevant anymore, but I wanted to try giving insight even if it's late. As far as I can tell from asking my friends and relatives who grew up in Korea, the word "baepsae" (뱁새) is typically used in conversation to refer to both the Vinous-Throated Parrotbill and the Japanese Long-Tailed Tit (which is colloquially called the Korean Crow-Tit). I think the Parrotbill is the more official/proper translation, but the reason the Long-Tail appears so often when you search "Korean Crow-Tit" seems to be because most Koreans think it's the cuter of the two and the word is used to refer to the Long-Tail far more often than the Parrotbill as a result. (But that's just what I've learned from people around me. I can't confirm anything for 100% certain.)
This is the Japanese Longtailed tit! :) Probably the cutest bird to ever exist imo
This is Aegithalos caudatus
Absolutely true....This is the right name. ..checked everywhere ...On YouTube too..Thanks so much .
Hello! I came across this post by accident but wanted to add that here in Europe we have a variant which is called Codibugnolo (meaning long tailed) - it's a tiny white bird with black stripes (pretty similar to the 'Korean Crow Tit'). Also about the cotton-like appeareance, like someone already said, it could just be the bird fluffing up its feathers from the cold.. my budgies sometimes look like that when they clean themselves, other times they completely puff out and look like starving pinschers haha! Hope I didn't intrude with this comment
It is a species of long tailed tit that mostly resides in Hokkaido, Japan known as Shima Enaga and the white floofy balls are only native to japan. Other variants have different colours
Adding onto the information above, the bird is not a Japan-limited bird. it's habitat extends from Asia to Mediterranean. One reason why the photo shows white colouring is because it is a migratory bird that changes its colour depending on the season. I just wanted to correct the misinformatin about the bird being Japanese.
For everyone saying this is a Japan-only bird, it's actually widespread all across Central/East Asia and Europe and (gasp) even Korea! They're a migratory species and change the color of their plumage from pinkish-gray to the winter black/white. Yes, the adorable white cotton ball can also be found in places like Germany. As for the 'fake' Korean crow-tit, Aka the Baepsae - Vinous-Throated parrotbill. It looks very similar to the long-tailed tit and also lives in places like Korea, Vietnam and Japan.
Yes finally, we have them here in Sweden too! Here they're called stjärtmes in Swedish. Lovely small bird. All this 'controversy' about this bird just shows how easy people trust what they read online, kindly source check please. :)
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PLEASE NOTE! This is a link to the original article, entitled FAKE BIRD NEWS: The Korean Crow-Tit, from 2017. I'm STILL getting comments on it. COOL!
The picture that comes up if you google "Korean Crow-tit" appears to be some kind of actual tit-but possibile leucistic. Not the parrotbill, though I see some superficial resemblance.
I will have to investigate further to see if I can figure out what that mostly white bird is that is coming up in the search.
Marc Devokaitis
Public Information Specialist
The Cornell Lab of Ornithology
This is the Japanese Longtailed tit! :) Probably the cutest bird to ever exist imo
This is Aegithalos caudatus
PLEASE NOTE! This is a link to the original article, entitled FAKE BIRD NEWS: The Korean Crow-Tit, from 2017. I'm STILL getting comments on it. COOL!
Thank you! We aim to please.
ReplyDeleteI'm very surprised no one mentioned the influence of BTS and their fandom, ARMY, on the search results. I'm here because lyrics in a few of their songs mention crow tits. Their song, Baepsae aka Silver Spoons, references an expression: “뱁새가 황새 따라가다 가랑이가 찢어진다,” or “A crow-tit (or parrotbill) who tries to follow a stork will split its legs.” (see the translations and cultural notes of doolsetbangtan.wordpress) They use this analogy about exceeding one's ability to make social commentary about the younger generation (or baepsae with tiny legs) struggling to survive in a world created by the baby boomers (tall-legged storks). The boomers had it easy and now criticize the millennials for not trying hard enough, without acknowledging that jobs are scarce and the basics of life are unaffordable. Much of BTS lyricism is relatable all over the world - not just Korea - and gets people thinking about sociopolitical issues.
ReplyDeleteIt also happens to lead us to fun stuff - like adorable, fluffy little birds. :-)
oops, didn't mean to publish as Anonymous. No reason to hide!
DeleteHi - thanks for commenting. It amazes me I'm still getting comments on a post from 2017!
ReplyDeleteThe original post included this information, which may or may not be right:
"After googling around fruitlessly and only finding endless replications of the cute little fluff-balls, with no information about them at all, I came across a startling entry from a site, supposedly about a Korean "boy band" called BTS. Once I read it, I was more confused than ever, but I will try to explain.
Now the video I linked says, "They call me a try-hard", but I think it's more accurate to leave the word 'baepsae', or 'crow-tit'. This hinges on the fact that this song utilizes a well-known phrase in Korea: "If a crow-tit walks like a stork, it will tear its legs". A crow-tit is a bird with a small stride because it has short legs, and when we compare this with a stork who has much taller legs, we see that the stork would easily be able to travel farther with less effort.
The song itself mentions the stork and the crow-tit multiple times, the "crow-tits" being the generation from which BTS members come, whereas the "storks" are the generation prior. The stork generation is comprised of parents, teachers, employees- people the younger generation is meant to be able to look up to and to learn from."
So I was able to find some sort of connection to the song/band. I can attach a link to the original article, called Fake Bird News, from 2017, at the bottom of this post (can't do it in the comments).
Delete
The internet is eternal! 😅 What I find even crazier is we only live 6 hrs from each other! I'm in Seattle, and here we are connecting from two vastly different angles over a little bird.
DeleteI found your previous post. Tangent: The issue about bird nationality is kind of hilarious. Human nature wanting to stake territory, I guess.
I think what you said is very likely: "So somebody probably extracted the name from that song and attached it to pictures of a very cute bird which nobody can readily identify." ARMY definitely loves that this little puffy thing comes up in the first search results, and I have no doubt that our attention to it has perpetuated Google's analytic error. (We inadvertantly crash social media and music streaming sites all the time and deliberately dabble in political subversion.) ARMY isn't concerned that there is controversy over the correct name - the fact that it is tiny and lives in Korea works perfectly fine for the purposes of the song and the saying.....so on behalf of the approximately 100 million ARMY, I apologize to ornithologists everywhere. LOLOL
The size of the fandom is the answer to this:
"How many people know about the old Korean legend of the crow-tit, and how it might tear its little legs if it walks like a stork? Fans of BTS, perhaps, though this strikes me as a little obscure."
We have a very thorough and efficient system of handing down lore to new generations of ARMY. (It's frankly very fascinating for a sociology nerd like me.) The connection is less obscure than you thought back then. Obviously, that lore isn't always perfectly factual. International fans do the very best with what we have available - widely known translators like doolset, and YouTube channels like DKDKTV who do "explained by a Korean" videos to clarify cultural intricacies. Many of us are even trying to learn Korean (something I never thought I'd do voluntarily in my 47 years) to pick apart lyrics. The post on Amino someone in your comments cited (http://aminoapps.com/p/jqufp4) is the only time I've ever seen someone break this down.
I don't know if your research got this deep 5 years ago, but in this casual vid, DKDK show the brown bird instead of the puffy white (https://youtu.be/NrnOE0-tjOE?t=105)
However, in this explanation, they use the puffy white: https://youtu.be/RP4Qbh2rXFU
Both videos have over 500k views, but the explanation with the incorrect bird is the only one we circulate to newbies.
Well, BTS is my favorite subject so I could talk forever! :-D
I'm glad I found your post to add one more grain of information into the fandom archives. :-)
Congratulations - yours is the 80th COMMENT on the Korean Crow-tit! I am still trying to figure out why people got so excited about it.
DeleteWell, I told you in detail why I am, so you can add that to the clues you've learned.
ReplyDelete