I think tumblr is one of the places most saturated with people who will delight upon seeing any creature. I am very thankful for this website allowing me to indulge in delight at creatures.
Frans Snyders, Concert of Birds, c.1629-30. Oil on panel
Is there any way i could sublet an apartment in one of these crocodile burrows?
I’m slightly obsessed with Wood Ducks as of late.
These little guys leap from their treetop nests within a few days of hatching and bounce to safety!
You have to wreck everything, don’t you, son?
—
A photo taken during session 6, later found kept within the inner pocket of Etho’s vest.
speaking of being a massive ecology nerd, guess what season it is, folks! That’s right, it’s FLEDGLING BIRD SEASON here in North America, which means it’s time for an annual reminder that most species of birds have almost no sense of smell. Someone probably told you that if you touch a baby bird, the mother will smell you on it and reject her baby. THAT IS NOT THE CASE.
Pictured: a young Mourning Dove, after being rescued from the tender mercies of my dog, circa spring 2005. It’s a fledgling! Note how it has most of its feathers, but still looks a bit awkward and scruffy, and, being unable to properly fly, can be caught by an elderly husky or a child.
- Hatchlings: IF it is covered in fluffy down (or partly naked) and cannot flutter successfully, it’s a hatchling, and has fallen from its nest prematurely. Look for the nest- if you find it and can reach it, return baby and then gtfo and let the parents return. If you can’t find the nest, or if you find it in pieces on the ground, use a small box lined with dryer lint or dog hair or similar fluff and attach as close as possible to where you found the bird or where you think the nest was. Return baby!!!!
- Fledglings: If you spot a young bird covered with feathers on the ground, chances are it’s a fledgling (bird tween, can flutter) who is not doing well in flying 101, but it is probably NOT injured or sick. Hanging out on the ground is part of the learning to fly process! If it looks like it’s in immediate danger (i.e. of being run over, stepped on, or eaten by a cat or dog), the best thing you can do for it is to gently scoop it up and place it in the branches of a nearby tree or shrub, and then LEAVE. The parents are likely nearby, and will return once the coast is clear of humans/predators. If it flutter-hops away from you and you can’t catch it, then don’t worry! It just successfully avoided a predator (you), and therefore can probably continue to do so.
- DON’T DON’T DON’T: Try to feed it, bring it into your house or car, or take it to your local vet or animal shelter.
- IF it IS actually for-real injured, you can catch it and contact a local wildlife rehabilitation professional (and then listen to whatever they tell you), but keep in mind that they get a LOT of fledgling birds, and those birds have a pretty high mortality rate. They may tell you that there is nothing you or they can do but allow nature to take its course, and that’s hard, but important to hear and respect.
There is no statement you can make that applies to every religion in the world. Full stop.
"But all religions follow a book or other form of guidelines!" Nope!
"But all religions discourage independent thinking and questioning!" Wrong again!!
"But all religions believe in some sort of higher power or supreme being!" Stop talking!!!
Any attempts at forcing all religions under one blanket statement are ignorant at best, violently bigoted at worst. Even the term religion itself has a dubious definition and a political weight behind what practices and traditions are called "religion" and what are "spirituality" or "mythology."
Christianity is not the be-all-end-all of religion. Neither is whatever your personal religious background is. Stop trying to force your preconceived beliefs and biases onto religion as a whole.
Spending time with kids always reminds me how much I love the way they play. I’ll be like “hey kid look, this little bug is called an isopod it’s related to crabs and it eats dead plants” and they’ll immediately respond with something like “cool let’s play isopods we have to collect dead leaves as fast as we can and if we don’t get enough we die of starvation and have a bug funeral”
What an amazing way to process new information or explore an idea! It’s important to remember these kinds of games are not random or pointless; playing is how kids learn.
Posting up some old art because !!!! That Story ending! They can be so happy now aaaa
I’m going to be reading the March of Machines story tomorrow because I’m finally letting myself interact with MTG after being too anxious about compleated Nissa! I’m so excited to magic again with mine (and Chandra’s!) comfort elf!
I'm trying to write a post about tick safety and avoiding tick bites, but a lot of the info on websites is like "Avoid going in the woods, in plants, and where there are wild animals" and "Activities like hiking and gardening can put you at risk" and I'm like thanks! This is worthless!
As ticks and tick borne illnesses are expanding their range, I think it's important for people to be educated about these things, and I think it's especially important to give people actual advice on how to protect themselves instead of telling them to just...avoid the natural world
Rough draft version of Tick Advice:
- Ticks don't jump down on you from trees, they get on you when you brush against grass, brush, bushes etc.
- Ticks get brought to an area when they get done feeding from an animal and fall off them. In the USA, the main tick-bringing animal is deer, but I've seen plenty ticks on feral cats and songbirds.
- Ticks get killed when they dry out so drier areas with more sunlight are less favorable to ticks.
The above is useful for figuring out whether an area is likely to have lots of ticks, and how vigilant you have to be in that area.
- Wear light-colored, long pants outside. Tuck your pants into your socks, and tuck your shirt into the waist of your pants. Invest in light, breathable fabrics idc
- IMMEDIATELY change out of your outside clothes when you come back from a tick-prone area, wash them, and dry them on high heat to kill any ticks that might be stuck on.
- Shower and check yourself for ticks after coming inside. Hair, armpits, and nether regions in particular. You can use a handheld mirror or rely on touch; an attached tick will feel like a bump kinda like a scab
- While you're outside, you can just periodically check for ticks by running your hands down your legs and checking visually to see if anything is crawling on your clothes. Light colors make them easy to spot, and they don't move fast.
- Combing through each others' hair to check for creepy crawly critters is a time-honored primate ritual and is not weird. When hiking, bring a friend who will have your back when you feel something on your neck and need to know if it's sweat or a tick
If you're careful, you can usually catch ticks before they bite you, but if one does bite you, it's not the end of the world. Since tickborne diseases are different regionally i suspect this advice will differ based on where you are, but the important thing is remove the tick with tweezers (DON'T use butter, a lit match, or anything that kills the tick while it's still attached, please) and contact a doctor to see what to watch for. Most illnesses you can catch from ticks are easily treatable if you recognize them when symptoms first appear
thank you God for today and thank you for blessing me with this water and- ...
Limited time left on the playground, kids!
[click for better quality, you know the drill]
i was adding the text to this picture while waiting for my turn on the laser cutter at my school and the lab tech walked past me and said "i don't know what you're making but it looks cute :)"