After the post about birds in bonsai display I received a note from a friend. She reminded me that there’s more to display than location and season, and that birds (and animals) have personalities and presences that spark an emotional response.
And she’s right. So here’s Birds Part II, how we might subtly tweak a viewer’s response to our bonsai display, based on the emotion elicited by a bird on a scroll, or as an object.
A European Robin in the 2025 German National Bonsai Show in Chemnitz. Bonsai is an Ivy. As for the habitat link, this is solid. Robins are often found in European gardens, and we associate Ivy with cultivation. And Robins are often on the ground. Photo courtesy Harald Moe.
Close up of the Robin eating fruits of the Ivy, which is clever. It mostly eats insects—in fact it is a flycatcher—but does eat the occasional fruit. As for personality, the European Robin is a sprightly bird with a confident manner.
To indulge the imagination a bit, let’s explore other possible birds in display that would elicit an emotion in a viewer rather than only noting the location or season (the subject of the first bird post: Using Birds in Bonsai Display: Part I)
Chickadee: upbeat, optimistic. All bird photos courtesy of Cornell Lab of Ornithology
Hawk: austere, remote
Jay: cocky, bold
Swallow: playful, free
Shrike: looks nice, but actually bloodthirsty, so it’s complicated
Heron: stillness, patience
Skylark: uplifting evening song
Duck: placid, fall melancholy
Sparrow: cheerful, unassuming
Vulture: the Tim Burton experience
For fun: give the full common or species names of these birds in the comments.