My fun, history-filled guide to city pigeons, A Pocket Guide to Pigeon Watching, has been out for almost two weeks. Thanks for the photos of pigeons, parrots, chickens, & pups reading it. I'm really grateful for your thoughts and encouragement, y'all!
It's #PigeonAppreciationDay and perhaps you'd enjoy my bestselling science nonfiction book, A Pocket Guide to Pigeon Watching? It contains these wildly out-of-context drawings.
Also, consider adopting a pigeon from, or helping out, Palomacy and Great Lakes Pigeon Rescue!
Tomorrow I'm sending out my monthly newsletter. It's small, fun, and contains a weird bird of the month. Sign up here: https://tinyletter.com/rosemarymosco
All about rodenticides! Bird Friendly London (www.birdfriendlylondon.ca) hired me to make this comic with a grant from Nature Canada. Rodenticides are harming my local raptors so it's an issue that's close to my heart.
Happy #FemaleBirdDay! You can buy this print as a poster.
Science has long ignored female birds, which has implications for their conservation. For example, female warblers often use different habitats during the non-breeding period than males, so conserving just the males' habitat doesn't work! And female birds sing, too. Getting to know them will make you a better birder. Thanks to the Galbatrosses, the Feminist Bird Club, and everyone who's working to make birding fun for all.
From last year, since warbler season is in full swing: What your favorite migratory warbler says about you!
Like maybe half of the US birding world, plus a ton of international folks, I'll be at The Biggest Week in American Birding in Ohio this coming week! I'm arriving tomorrow and I'll be speaking about my comics and conservation on Thursday, and JUDGING A BIRD TATTOO CONTEST on Thursday, too. I'm so excited. biggestweekinamericanbirding.com
An oldie, The Four Stages of Watching Warblers.
Image description: A four-panel comic called The Four Stages of Watching Warblers. In panel 1, Stage 1, a person is standing in the forest, shrugging and saying "What's a warbler?" In panel 2, Stage 2, the person is looking at warblers through a binocular and saying "Ugh, theyr'e so hard to see. So tiny and fast." In panel 3, Stage 3, the person is looking at a Prothonotary Warbler and saying "I recognize that one! It's coming out into the open. It's... It's... It's beautiful." In panel 4, Stage 4, the person is now a sentient flock of warblers, and says "I Am Warb-lor, A Being Made Entirely Of Warblers. Bring Me Your Fairest Winds And Freshest Moths."
This older comic is making the rounds again! Here's a guide to bird photography.
Image description: An eight panel comic titled "A Guide to Bird Photography". On the left, there's an example of the photo you want, and on the right, the photo you'll get. You want a well-framed shot (in this case, of a mourning warbler perched out in the open), but you'll get an action shot (the warbler is a blur flying away). You want a photo of a bird in sharp focus (an indigo bunting perched high in a tree) but you get exquisite leaf detail (the leaves are in focus but the bunting is not). You want a striking portrait of a hawk, but you get, why?? (a kingbird flying angrily in the hawk's face). You want a photo of pure elegance (a Great Blue Heron standing in a marsh), but you get a heron pooping (maybe I can fix this in post).
New comic about a good role model.
Try to keep pets and wildlife apart if you can!
While I work on something new, here's an older comic about Easter Bunny theories.
Sign up for my newsletter here. Text: A drawing titled "Wild Rabbit vs. Easter Bunny". On the left, there's a wild cottontail bunny. On the right, there's a cartoonish Easter Bunny wearing a little vest and standing next to some colorful eggs. The wild bunny is labeled "Eyes on the sides of the head to watch for predators." and the Easter Bunny "Forward-facing eyes to hunt for meat." Wild bunny: "Active all year." Easter Bunny: "Only active in Spring - otherwise in diapause as a cyst?" Wild bunny: "Walks on four legs." Easter Bunny: "Unusual bipedal stance." Wild bunny: "Plain brown and white fur." Easter Bunny: "Distinctive vest-like markings." Wild bunny: "Gives birth to live young." Easter Bunny: "Steals and redistributes eggs; parasitic reproductive strategy?"
I apologize to everyone who followed me because I made a heartwarming comic about snakes, when I usually make terrible nature comics like this. Enjoy? Maybe?
Text: A four-panel comic titled "Springtime Advice from a Robin". In the first panel, a beautiful American Robin says "Bask in the warm sun whenever you can." and a narrator replies, in beautiful script on a scroll, "Beautiful!" In panel 2, the robin says "Find a partner who fills the air with song." And the narrator comments, "Lovely words!" In panel 3, the robin says "Build a strong, cozy nest that is suitable for 3-5 offspring." The narrator says "Sweet, if... specific". In panel 4, the robin says "Consume fecal sacs after each feeding, but begin to transport fecal sacs far away from the nest as the size-" and the narrator interrupts "Okay I think we are done here".
I’m putting together this month’s newsletter. People tell me they genuinely enjoy reading it, which is really nice. Sign up here!
An unusually pigmented Bohemian Waxwing, based on a bird seen in Finland. I'm thinking of making a poster of birds with unique pigmentations. Isn’t this a cool bird?
The entomological theory of Santa.
Image description: A 6-panel comic. In panel 1, two people talk against a snowy backdrop. In panel 1, the first person says "Did you know that if you rearrange the letters in SANTA, you get something sinister?" and the other says, "Yes: A ANTS." In panel 2, the first person says "Wait, no, that's-" The second says, "How do you think Santa finds his way to all those homes at night? Pheromone trails!" In panel 3, we're down in an ant nest. "Once the night is over, Santa returns to the North Pole, mates with the Queen Claus, and dies." There's a festive ant nest with an ant-bodied Mr and Ms Claus looking at each other lovingly. Panel 4, "The Queen begins laying eggs that will hatch into next year’s workers." The Queen lays eggs, and the workers are ant larvae with elf heads. Panel 5, "Next December, she will produce fertile Queens and Santas and the cycle will begin anew." The Queen lays eggs with both Santa and Ms Claus heads. In panel 6, we return to the two people talking, and the second person says "Of course, one queen must best the rest in combat, and the workers can't interfe-" "Stop." "But I haven't told you about the Santa-mimic spiders!"
Happy holidays!
Image description: A drawing of a small car fitted with decorative plush antlers and a Rudolph nose. A banner proclaims "Happy Holidays!" and a label pointing to the antlers says "Don't forget to prepare your car for the rut".