for all the things my hands have held, the best by far is you 🖤
Klebi ,as a baby, was the noisiest little bugger you can imagine, he was always whispering like “im still here, how about you?!” and produced some pretty unholy screeching when he wanted food or attention (aka 25/8), he rustled and chirped in his bed all night…but no matter what, in the moment someone put their hands around him like this, making a lil house, he was asleep in like, 30 seconds. he just went quiet and activated snooze mode on instant. no other swift I ever met had this build-in function. weird lil man ❤
like all members of the swift family, the chimney swift is unable to perch, and must cling to vertical surfaces. this makes chimneys, with long vertical walls & cracks to cling to, perfect to nest in; chimney swifts earned their name for their reputation of raising their young in chimneys. the chimney swift is native to north & south america.
something that’s super cool about birds is that a bird’s name can mean something totally different to different people. because usually when we talk about birds, we shorten their names (calling a bluebird a bluebird, instead of a eastern/western/mountain bluebird)
so, for me, someone who lives in north america, the word ‘robin’ would most likely make me think of the american robin:
for someone who lives in europe, it’s likely the very different european robin:
if you’re from australia, there’s very many species called ‘robin’; maybe you’d think of a scarlet robin or rose robin
it’s so cool to see how different we all visualize words like ‘stork’ or ‘parrot’ or even ‘bird’!
Why does the rest of the world have such cute, round, colourful birds but we just have all these tall, lanky, dull birds. Like Bluejays and Cardinals are nice and all but I bet they still look better somewhere else in the world. Hell we have grey pigeons and everyone else gets colourful as shit pigeons and chicken sized pigeons. It’s crazy
what!! no, north america has AWESOME birds! and we have plenty of cute round birds too!
“our” american pigeons are introduced ferals from europe. pigeons native to america include the white crowned pigeon, which is absolutely beautiful. it may also be black/grey but its like a classy goth look. EDIT theyre also huge, i had no idea how big until i saw one
we lost our most breathtaking pigeon, the passenger pigeon.
lovely colors, and flocks of such legendarily epic proportions that no one imagined they could possibly go extinct.
you only think our birds are boring because you are accustomed to them!
heres some more great american birds, which arent even too rare:
the painted bunting!
the ovenbird, a wonderful orb
the blue gray gnatcatcher, which is round and also so so small
we also have weird cool things like the crested caracara
“penguin was just a small, wobbly headed magpie chick when my son, noah, found her lying injured on the grass after being blown out of her nest. she was very lucky to survive such a horrendous fall but without immediate care would have died within a day.
“we built her a simple nest and kept her warm with a tiny blanket. noah immediately named her penguin, due to her black and white plumage. it is not easy to look after any injured wild creature [so] we undertook a great deal of research about magpies and were extremely grateful for all the specialist veterinary advice we received, especially in regard to penguin’s diet.
“while getting penguin to eat was a real victory, her recovery remained touch and go. but over time she grew in both stature and confidence.
“as penguin’s strength grew so did her curiosity. we never locked her inside any kind of cage so she was always free to venture outside the house. it didn’t take long before she started to forage for her own food in the backyard and it was clear she was becoming increasingly independent.
“despite being free to leave she still chose to sleep inside the house for at least six months. fortunately there is a large frangipani tree in our yard that penguin always felt comfortable in, so that became her home. however if we ever leave a window open she’ll fly inside the house at sunrise and scamper down the hallway to one of the bedrooms and jump into bed.
“australian magpies are known for their beautiful songs and penguin began singing short songs during the day from a very early age and would eventually sing for hours and hours at a time. whenever we’d pull up in the driveway she’d let out a loud and melodic warble to welcome us home then flap her wings with excitement and run straight to the front door to be let inside.
“while she will always be a part of our family penguin does not belong to us. the world is hers to explore and she regularly travels elsewhere, sometimes for days at a time. we won’t see her for a while and then, without warning, she confidently walks in the door as if nothing has changed.” (source, edited for length)
something that’s super cool about birds is that a bird’s name can mean something totally different to different people. because usually when we talk about birds, we shorten their names (calling a bluebird a bluebird, instead of a eastern/western/mountain bluebird)
so, for me, someone who lives in north america, the word ‘robin’ would most likely make me think of the american robin:
for someone who lives in europe, it’s likely the very different european robin:
if you’re from australia, there’s very many species called ‘robin’; maybe you’d think of a scarlet robin or rose robin
it’s so cool to see how different we all visualize words like ‘stork’ or ‘parrot’ or even ‘bird’!
Why does the rest of the world have such cute, round, colourful birds but we just have all these tall, lanky, dull birds. Like Bluejays and Cardinals are nice and all but I bet they still look better somewhere else in the world. Hell we have grey pigeons and everyone else gets colourful as shit pigeons and chicken sized pigeons. It’s crazy
what!! no, north america has AWESOME birds! and we have plenty of cute round birds too!
today's bird 