#'us?' 'hawk and thrush"

[the-kingbo]

The much anticipated second part to this posted just intime for the hawk and thrush micro bang

If you like to see more follow my kofi

[foibles-fables]

Horizon Public Service Announcement! About a week ago, a handful of us put our heads together and opened an all-ships Horizon server. Our goal is supportive vibes, fandom unity, and just-plain good times!

If you want to come hang out with some truly chill and creative people--whether you're a multishipper, love raving enthusiastically about your OTP, or are a rare pare connoisseur--this is the place for you! We've got some really fun events planned, and we'd love to have you.

[robo-dino-puppy]

hawk and thrush

[theartofloss]

If you clear the tunnel before meeting with Talanah, she gets injured in the fight against the Shellsnapper and has to rest in Camp Nowhere - only after Aloy insists she takes some time to heal up, of course (not sure Varl or Zo would be amused)

[holodaxy]

Okay so stay with me as I've been having thought...mostly Hawk and Thrush Thoughts...sort of...

Is there a fic (and there isn’t because I’m about to get oddly specific – maybe this is more of a cry to write this because I won’t) where somebody has inadvertently gotten close to Beta (on purpose seems a bit cruel and horrible) as an Aloy replacement?

In my head it’s Talanah – in some way this seems wrong and a touch out of character, but you know those oddly specific details? Well yeah, she works for those oddly specific details so stick with me here…

So Talanah crosses paths with Erend and naturally they get on about Aloy and he mentions that she’s spending a lot of time helping reunite the Quen Fleet and rather innocently makes a joke about how Aloy is more interested in spending time with a Quen Marine than reuniting the fleet (because of course the GAIA Gang have been gossiping about Aloy and Seyka – not to mention they’ve got an inside source! Alva is right there!) Talanah isn’t impressed by this information, though doesn’t know why (Erend has a good idea, but he’s already opened his big mouth once so he’s not doing that again).

How Talanah makes her way to the base I’m not sure (I can’t work it all out!) and cue an awkward first meeting with Beta because of course Aloy didn’t mention that there’s this anxious identical ‘twin’ wandering around. So Talanah is about to leave (because this wasn’t on her ‘Life with Aloy’ bingo card) when she discovers Beta doesn’t know how to use any weapons and really, how could Aloy be so careless as to leave her twin sister all alone in the base with no way to defend herself? Anybody could walk in! As evident by the fact Talanah had just walked in – that’s her argument and she’s sticking to it, she won’t hear any objection from Beta about how the base security was likely programmed by Aloy to let Talanah in because she's been there once before.

So Talanah sticks around to show Beta how to use a bow (or any weapon really) and Beta totally isn’t her Thrush because that would just be weird (not that the whole situation isn’t weird to either of them, but its just a little nice for Beta to have company and for Talanah to be away from the stress of the Hunters Lodge). And I can totally see Beta being the one to tell Talanah everything – about Nemesis, about Zero Dawn and Elisabet Sobeck, about how she and Aloy are clones (again, none of this was on Talanah’s ‘Life With Aloy’ bingo card). She’d also give her a Focus (because Beta doesn’t understand why Aloy isn’t handing these out like sweets to people!) and shows Talanah how to use the Focus and oh look! They’ve taught each other things and that’s nice.

So one day they decide to venture out of the base (again, I don’t know, I really don’t know why) and who do they stumble across? Well Amadis of course (because every story needs a villain – that was harsh, he’s not actually going to do anything wrong this time). He doesn’t get a close look at Beta and just thinks Aloy has drastically cut her hair and changed her clothes (she did it like three time the last time he met her, where is she hiding those armour sets???) and he passes comment about how both he and Talanah were using each other to get over other people the whole time. Talanah has an ‘oh fuck’ moment and Amadis goes on his way again not realising he's caused total turmoil again.

So Talanah’s ‘oh fuck’ moment hits home that she’s drawn to Beta because of Aloy and she’s done exactly what she never wanted to be and made somebody her second choice. And deep down I think no matter how close the two of them were getting, Beta knows she’s an Aloy replacement and her self esteem is so far in the ground that she’s just pretty much ‘that’s just it for me, I’ll never be anything other than the inferior copy’ (and my poor baby Beta, I want to hug her) so she’s just kind of clung to somebody being nice to her even if it’s possibly (keep possibly in your mind) not meant for her in the first place.

I didn’t say this wasn’t angst – I mean, my opening summary of this didn’t indicate there wasn’t angst!

How this ends I’m not sure – I have two options, again…stick with me…

Aloy returns to the base right in the aftermath of the ‘oh fuck’ moment and is totally confused about what Talanah is doing there, but she’s kind of grateful that Talanah was looking after Beta. Then she finds out how close the two have gotten and is not impressed because how dare Talanah go near Beta! And Aloy totally won’t admit to being jealous and what Quen Marine? She’s be reuniting the Quen Fleet!

The two then have a long overdue heart to heart and all their feelings laid bare, happily ever after Hawk and Thrush. This ending seems a bit harsh on Beta who I don’t think deserves that so from stage right enter some unseen original character who has never, ever laid eyes on Aloy and knows nothing about her so they can like Beta for being Beta.

Option 2 goes totally the opposite way, enters rare pare mode and Talanah realises Beta is a totally different person to Aloy and while the original reason she spent time with Beta was Aloy (and was totally wrong) she’s actually rather drawn to Beta’s totally different personality and quirks. Cue Aloy returning to the base with Seyka and being totally confused about what’s going on – and has Beta just stolen her moment? She was about to introduce her girlfriend to the gang and now Beta and Talanah are a thing and…well…typical sibling bickering.

Of course there’s hidden option 3 which is everybody is miserable and unhappy, but that seems a bit bleak even for me.

Well thanks for sticking with me for this long…whatever this is – I don’t know what this is. I’m going back under my rock now, I’ll keep these wild idea to myself as this got out of hand 😁

[lesbegays]

some birds from the last couple of weeks

[peachetteprice]

Driving Habits | TF141

Disclaimer: Some of these are UK specific, including the style of car, manoeuvres, terminology, and gearbox. That's what happens when the boys live and work mostly in England! Also, I am almost taking my practical test in September, and I need to rant about certain habits. Sorry in advance to Soap and Ghost. Love you both, boys.

Credit to @soaps-mohawk for giving me the inspiration to explore this headcanon! It began with an exploration into what cars TF141 might drive! You can see the original post that inspired this here.

+ Including interactions when driving with an S/O!

Captain John Price:

Notorious one-handed driver. The other hand is either on the gearstick - just resting, contemplating - or mediating between the gearstick and your thigh. He loves a good reverse bay park. (He's an absolute beast at it, too. No need for minor adjustments. He just... knows the space. And he will make fun of you when you can't park as perfectly as him). Helps to get the shopping in better, because at least you can get to the boot! Has been known to swerve a little bit for birds in the road, but that's because he's an avid watcher, and the poor things get enough grief as it is - he wants to still be able to watch Robins and Thrushes in the trees on the weekend!

He does, however, neglect rabbits, foxes, badgers, squirrels, and rats. And the... occasional deer in Scotland? Not out of malice - not at all - but they're not worth swerving over and potentially causing a collision for. He might, only if you're with him - because you'll squeal if he doesn't and positively become harrowed by its body popping beneath the rear tyre - but it's much safer for a driver to simply ram it into the gravel than to mess around with the safety of himself, other drivers, and - of course - you.

Takes extra care around vehicles with stickers that denote that the occupants of said vehicle - bar the driver or secondary passengers - are animals or children. He will be extra sure to check his mirrors, touch on the brakes if need be, and will actively scan for dangerous drivers that he can shield the car from. His duty is to protect, after all, in whatever capacity.

That being said, in his youth, he was known to drive... a little faster than required. Only on country lanes does he still retain some of his more... reckless habits. He may go a touch too fast around corners, and ignore the chevrons that indicate the severity of a turn (one arrow, two, three), and if the road opens up to a sprawling range, whereby speed control for tight corners and blind junctions is not an issue, he will... perhaps... occasionally - only rarely if you're in the car with him - let her rip.

But those roads are his home, that's all!

Begrudgingly drives your shuddering little Fiat 500 or itty bitty Hyundai i20 (hey, what do you mean, tiny, it's perfect for the city, John! Pay no mind if your boys giggle and point when you turn up at the base in it...), though much prefers the Triumph Spitfire, 1979, mint-condition, that he bought in 2008 for three grand and fixed up over a ten-year period (when he wasn't deployed, that was) which is now worth £18,000. That is his profit! But he won't let another soul touch it, drive it, or so much as look at it - unless it's you, on a good day - until the day he dies. It's in stunning condition, but God help you if you reverse into the driveway without him watching like a hawk, wiggling his hand as if it were the paddle of an aeroplane conductor, telling you to move closer to the wall and risk scratching your car just to protect his darling baby. It... oh no... it might be the only thing he loves more than you...

Lieutenant Simon "Ghost" Riley:

Always, always, always over-revs the engine to get out of a junction. He can't help it! He's used to manoeuvring through rough terrain with a car the size of a military tank - he's bound to forget to treat a normal car with a normal amount of strength. He comes flying into and out of roundabouts for that exact reason! He has to get on and off them quickly enough - don't you know, they're deathtraps, they are!

He's also prone to checking his side mirrors and rear view mirror an inordinate amount of times for a twenty-minute pop to the shop. He is convinced that the Kia Sportage behind him is right up his tail - he's sure it's stalking you in the passenger seat, especially with your bumper stickers on the rear, the nasty perverts - no matter how many times you explain to him that the mirrors are convex! They will make everything seem closer than they truly are! Now, however, he does not and will not ever brake-check a car, but he will sure as hell give them the dirtiest stare if they decide to overtake him... or until they back off a few more feet behind you.

You'll never forget the day that he wrenched the handbrake up way too high, and you had to get your father to re-tighten it. You're sure there aren't any more notches he can lift it to. You're rarely ever on a hill that warrants it. He'll crank it up six times just to stop at the traffic light before the Tesco. It's bloody Tesco! It's not Mount Kilimanjaro!

The poor man gets impatient at lights. He does. And crossings, too. Train, tram, pedestrian, any and all of them. Despises them all. He'd rather a set of traffic lights for people to cross at, than have those silly zebra, pelican or toucan markings along the road that he has to pray Grandma Doris won't divert her walking cane in its bilateral direction. Oh, and he bounces his leg like there's no tomorrow. Again, he can't help it! He isn't used to waiting in cars. He's used to tumbling down roads in Middle Eastern deserts as the crow flies. None of those silly turns and re-routes into estates because he took the wrong turn at a junction. He wouldn't have messed up had he had time to think! Had there been no traffic! And, oh, Christ, the traffic. Simon does not like traffic. He does illegal U-turns as soon as he sniffs there being a road closure - that's how much he dislikes waiting!

Sergeant John "Soap" MacTavish:

Never gets the bite point consistently. Never gets the damn bite point. Always too low or too high. He doesn't over-rev it like Ghost does, but the amount of times he stalls the bloody car, thinking he's in another one of those tank-sized vehicles that has a brand-spanking new bite point - or dare he say, an automatic gearbox that doesn't even require a clutch - is incalculable. You'd think the man has only just learnt to drive!

Notoriously speeds through built-up areas. Often commits to doing 45mph in a 30mph zone. Only when there isn't anyone around, like at nighttime! He consistently zooms past speed cameras in his BMW. His poor 3L engine is just too powerful for those dinky little roads. And, promise, he doesn't do it on purpose! He just routinely forgets to glance at his speedometer (and his mirrors, but that's another issue), and he drives for himself and himself only. In fact, he often hums to himself and forgets you're even there, beside him, clutching onto the internal handle on the roof in case he veers too suddenly to either side. His object permanence doesn't prevail unless he has one hand on your inner thigh, and if he doesn't, well, you can kiss safe driving habits goodbye.

Alright, that isn't to say he's an... unsafe driver. He's only slightly inconsiderate. He brakes too harshly, too late, too suddenly, he coasts on the clutch around corners, he never feeds the steering wheel, and he sometimes forgets to check his mirrors before turning into a junction (but he's never T-boned a cyclist... yet... you can give him a tick for that one). But he hums and whistles a nice tune to himself - he prefers it to the radio, and that's not to say he prefers quiet so he can hear the sound of the engine, no, no... never... not at all - and he always makes an overt point to note every field of cows, sheep (especially horses!) as well as every cat he sees lurking along the pavements. Never dogs. Doesn't like the bastards. Got bit once. That was enough to turn him right off.

(Oh, and he always sits on the brake. And bite + gas. The handbrake is too cumbersome, and his feet are strong enough, Goddamnit!)

Sergeant Kyle "Gaz" Garrick:

Beautiful driver. Test-accurate. He could re-take it today and pass with flying colours. What a brilliant driver. The only bad habit he's picked up is driving with one hand (he tends to bite his fingernails on the other when he drives - helps with the stress of commuting in London), and never feeding the steering wheel through his hands. He does the wipe-on, wipe-off manouvre, mostly because he looks hot when doing it, though he tries not to. Mama Garrick always swats his hand whenever he does it because that's how drivers get into accidents, baby!

Car-shares with his mother, whether it's in her duck-egg blue Kia Picanto or his lime green Ford Fiesta - it has failed its MOT three bloody times, and he's revived that girl from death's vice grip more times than he can count, it has the mileage of a postal worker in the 1700s, nearing 200k - but this gentleman always remembers to bring the seat forward and upright after he's finished using it, so that her feet can touch the pedals, and to, naturally, reduce her back pain. He does the same with the headrest, too, because if there's anything he cares about more than his job, it's the safety of his family and friends!

Tends to drive on the cautious side. The only minor fault he'd get in a test would be hesitance because he simply doesn't trust any other driver but himself. His mother drilled that into him. She said that there's nothing worse than watching a car flash its headlights and signal you to go, with caution, as always, because the flash is not universal for 'go', only to pull in front of you and trigger you to emergency brake. Or, God-forbid, a pedestrian puts their hand up at you before they've even crossed the bloody road, and he has to slam on the brakes like he's Speedy Gonzalez at a traffic light. Lordy Lord.

Never mind the fact that he waits too long at pedestrian crossings because there could be somebody shrouded by that tree on the corner there. Do you see it? Over there! No, behind the sign, love! There could be someone - oh, whatever. He has to wait to make sure it's clear - otherwise, Grandma Doris is getting bumped in the legs and thrown fifty feet along the road! And he cares about the elderly!

Always nervously bites the insides of his cheek at roundabouts. Which is the most bewildering part of all, because he's so good at them! He always signals onto the roundabout. Never cuts lanes. Always follows directions perfectly, and if he doesn't, well, I guess you're taking a different route until you can turn around in a safe place. He always signals off the roundabout, too - even at mini-roundabouts - but he'll scrunch his face up every time, huff, and mutter:

"Yeah... botched that one."

...Regardless of how many times you tell him that he's a gorgeous driver! It's sexy, too, how he abides by the Highway code and gives way to more cars than he really should - no, except he really should stop doing that, actually, they're starting to take advantage of his kindness and he doesn't realise it - and how he's so... so... so fucking smooth with gear transitions. Going from stationary to a comfortable 20mph? He'll pop that sucker so fluidly into third (or second, if it's his mum's car) with such prowess that you barely notice the engine take the gas he's giving it. There's no jolt between first and second. He plays those gears like he's bowing a violin. How delicate his fingers are. How gentle his touch. It's mesmerising to watch.

Gaz even brakes in ample time, and you thought he couldn't be more perfect! That's what really gets you going - he gives the car behind him just the right amount of time to slow down that it's almost a waltz, and he's the conductor of traffic. Though... maybe don't let him get trapped at a stalemate on a mini-roundabout where all cars are turning left and are subsequently blocked by the need to give way to the right... his poor brain will short-circuit! If he does, give him a pat on the thigh and let him wait for someone else to make the first move - he hates decision-making when he's off-duty.

And, you're about ready to give him your hand in marriage when you notice that every time he comes to a stop - on a hill, at a traffic light, in crawl traffic, waiting to turn into a junction, he puts the handbrake on, then takes his foot off the foot brake, then knocks the gearstick into neutral, then takes his foot off the clutch, and waits patiently like the darling man he is. Unlike someone else, he never sits on the brake...

Bonus Round - Road Rage!

Captain John Price:

Road Rage? You mean, showing a healthy amount of anger and vigour towards a bloody idiot driver? You mean... baring his teeth and swatting a hand at them, occasionally honking the horn past eleven-thirty, even if people are sleeping, or pulling out one of his anger-insurance cigars? That's what road rage is? Well... Christ, he must be terrible for it. Don't tell his boys that... they think he's the most level-headed man on base.

Lieutenant Simon "Ghost" Riley:

He's slightly oblivious to the technique of cars around him. He drives like he's the only driver in the world, because usually he is - except for those fuckers behind you who won't back off - but if something does happen, and if it isn't too much of an issue, he'll grunt, clench his teeth, grip the steering wheel and let out a muttered 'bastard'. If, however, something really irritates him - especially if another car puts you in danger - he'll honk the horn and flail his hand at the windscreen in the hopes that the driver sees his frustration (even if you're the one driving, he'll reach over and honk the pad for you, even though you've told him not to!)

Sergeant John "Soap" MacTavish:

Well... he certainly knows a lot of Gaelic, doesn't he, your boy? You've hardly a monkey's bottom of what he's saying, but the vitriol in which he says it - he's not known for bottling his anger very well - makes it clear to you that he needs a hug and de-tox before bedtime. If the accused does anything on the defensive or antagonistic, he has been known to pull up beside them on a two-lanes-go-straight-on road marking, even if it isn't the right way to your destination, just to glare at them and give them the... stern finger. Maybe... maybe a word or two about precious cargo.

Sergeant Kyle "Gaz" Garrick:

Gaz is a simple guy when he's off-duty. He will sigh, tut, shake his head, and mumble 'nutter', or a very hushed 'oh, you absolute...' (bonus: he never finishes his sentence!) It's what his mum does! If another car puts you in danger, he may groan and roll his eyes - but he always asks if you're okay as soon as, and apologises for the sudden violence of his attitude! What a sweet man.

| Masterlist |

[aloyxtilda]

New painting I did of Hawk and her Thrush!

A new commission piece I painted of Aloy and Talanah. And by request from many of you in this amazing community, I finally put up an art shop. You can order this painting and all my Horizon art prints from my shop at:

Help a starving artist out and get yourself a print! ❤🙏😌 As a plus Inprnt is having 15% off! 👍❤

It really helps specially with the cost of food today and the tough game industry that us game devs are facing right now. 🙏

Thank you to everyone in this community for being so supportive. I will keep feeding you Horizon art and more. 💪☺❤

[probablyasocialecologist]

Aesthetic sensibilities are deeply subjective, and hard to acknowledge and analyse clearly. They take root in us from the moment we’re born. They bind us to a particular view of the landscape, something we begin to think of as ‘natural’ or, at least, benign. What we see as children, particularly where we grow up, becomes what we want to continue to see, and what we want our children to see. Nostalgia, and the sense of security that nostalgia brings, binds us to the familiar. We are persuaded, too, by our own absorption in this aesthetic that what we are seeing has been here for ever. We believe the countryside around us, or something very similar to it, has persisted for centuries and the wildlife within it, if not exactly the same, is at least a fair representation of what has been here for centuries. But the ecological processes of the past are hard for the layman – and often even conservation professionals – to grasp. 

We are blinded by the immediacy of the present. We look at the landscape and see what is there, not what is missing. And if we do appreciate some sort of ecological loss and change, we tend to go only as far back as our childhood memories, or the memories of our parents or grandparents who tell us ‘there used to be hundreds of lapwings in my day’, ‘skylarks and song thrushes were ten-a-penny’, ‘the fields round here used to be red with poppies and blue with cornflowers’, ‘cod was the poor man’s fish when I was a nipper’. We are blind to the fact that in our grandparents’ grandparents’ day there would have been species-rich wildflower meadows in every parish and coppice woods teeming with butterflies. They would have heard corncrakes and bitterns, seen clouds of turtle doves, thousands of lapwings and hundreds more skylarks. A mere four generations ago they knew rivers swimming with burbot – now extinct in Britain – and eels, and their summer nights were peppered with bats and moths and glow-worms. Their grandparents, in turn, saw nightjars settling on dusty country lanes and even hawking for moths around the street lamps in towns, and spotted flycatchers in every orchard, and meadow pipits everywhere from salt-flats to the crowns of mountains. They saw banks of giant cod and migrating tuna in British waters. They saw our muddy North Sea clear as gin, filtered by oyster beds as large as Wales. And their grandparents, in turn, living at the time of the last beaver in Britain, would have known great bustards, and watched shoals of herring five miles long and three miles broad migrating within sight of the shore, chased by schools of dolphins and sperm whales and the occasional great white shark. We don’t have to look too deeply into the history books, into contemporary accounts, for scenes dramatically different to our own to be normal. Yet we live in denial of these catastrophic losses.

Isabella Tree, Wilding: The Return of Nature to a British Farm

[meg-noel-art]

Hello friends! Unfortunately, @foibles-fables​ and I are unable to continue Hawk and Thrush: Modern AU to the extent we wanted! You may still see posts/sketches/ideas but the project is being put to rest. Here are some honorary pieces in memoriam! Thank you for supporting us! <3

[na-bird-of-the-day]

Hello and welcome to North American Bird of the Day! 🐦

Whether you're an avid bird enthusiast or just want to see cool bird pics, this blog can satisfy your bird-related needs!

As the name suggests, one bird from the continent of North America (yes, this includes Central America and the Caribbean) will be posted every day at 1:00 PM (EST).

While this blog primarily focuses on the bird species found in North America, I'm still happy discuss birds from all over the world! Just hit up my ask box! Also, feel free to request a bird for me to post :]

Join the Discord server! New members are always welcome!

Location tags:

Birds of the US

Birds of Canada

Birds of Mexico

Birds of Central America

Birds of the Caribbean

Ask tags:

Bird spotted! - Send me pictures of birds you find, I'd love to see them!

Bird identified! - Need help identifying a bird? I can try to help!

Bird sampler - Would you like me to give you a list of NA birds that fit a certain theme? I'd enjoy that a lot!

Request - Tell me any birds you would like me to post as bird of the day, and I'll add them to the queue!

Resources - Got any birding resources? Feel free to share!

Bird tags:

Auks

Blackbirds

Buntings

Chickadees

Cormorants

Corvids

Cuckoos

Doves

Ducks

Eagles

Falcons

Finches

Flycatchers

Geese

Grebes

Grosbeaks

Grouse

Gulls

Hawks

Herons

Hummingbirds

Kingfishers

Landfowl

Loons

Mimids

Nightjars

Nuthaches

Orioles

Owls

Parrots

Passerines

Petrels

Plovers

Quails

Rails

Raptors

Sandpipers

Seabirds

Shorebirds

Sparrows

Swallows

Swifts

Tanagers

Terns

Thrushes

Titmice

Trogons

Waders

Warblers

Waterfowl

Woodpeckers

Wrens

Vireos

Vultures

There are more, of course, but these are some of the biggest ones.

[foibles-fables]

Beta visits the new hawk-thrush baby and asks with concern where the teaching robot is

This just cracked me up and made me so sad at the same time lmao

“But—Aloy!! How is it going to learn calculus??”

[focusontheheart]

Meet the Team - meg_noel_art

You can also find @meg-noel-art on: Twitter @ meg_noel_art Instagram @ meg_noel_art

Hi everyone, I’m Meg! I first discovered Horizon back when it released in 2017, but I never truly dove into the entire game and fandom until 2021! There I became fully immersed in the story, characters, and comics. I joined fandom Discord servers and only fell deeper in love with the games as I made many like minded friends! I’ve been creating for the game now for around two years, mostly Hawk and Thrush content, a big surprise for those that know me. My artistic inspiration comes from my love of my favorite characters as well as the headcanons shared with my friends and most of all my partner for this project and all else!

See the Q&A with Meg below the cut!

Q: What is a favorite piece of work you've done (completed, working on, in concept)?

"Pride Aloy and Sunwing (2023)" and "Hawk and Thrushes"!

Q: What are some of your favorite tropes to write, draw, or read?

Friends to lovers, hurt/comfort. I also love AUs, I find them incredibly creative and inspiring.

Q: What is an unexpected thing or fun fact about you?

I used to be a boxer for 3 years when I was attending college!

Q: What has been your favorite thing about working on this project so far?

I’ve really LOVED seeing all the creativity and passion coming from so many corners of this fandom. Everyone coming together to create a wonderful project despite our different interests and preferences. It’s all been such an incredible thing to see and I’m so happy to be a part of it!

[sunhawk-september]

Greetings, Hunters of the Lodge!

The third(!) annual Sunhawk September is almost upon us. This year, we're going to celebrate with a Hawk and Thrush ship microbang!

How Does a Microbang Work?

Participants will have ~4 weeks to create and polish one completed piece based on provided prompts.

Creations must focus on a romantic or pre-romantic (aka The Yearning) dynamic between Aloy and Talanah.

What do we mean by creations? We mean ANYTHING you'd like to show us! Fanart, fanfic, comics, virtual photography, fanmixes, fanvids, crafts, you name it. This fandom is so widely talented and we would love to see any and all of the wonderful things you make.

NSFW work is permitted--just be sure to tag accordingly!

Minimum Content Requirements

As there will be a monthlong creation period for your final piece, the following minimum content requirements are set:

Fanart: one fully-rendered (to your own degree) illustration OR one full sketchpage

Comic: fully-colored panels or finalized lineart for B&W

Fanfic: minimum 2.5K words

Virtual photography: make those gals WORK the camera for a couple pretty shots. Editing optional!

Fanvids: Full-rendered and posted edits

Fanmix: completed playlist with cover art

Anything else....ask us!

Schedule!

On August 30th, event mods will post a varied list of prompts to this blog. Choose a prompt and begin working on your piece! (you can combine prompts from the list for added flavor or inspiration!)

Creators will work on their piece until posting day on Tuesday, September 26th: the last Talanah Tuesday of Sunhawk September!

Upon posting, tag your creation with #SunhawkSeptember2023 and #HawkAndThrushMicrobang so we can show off what you've made!

Questions, Comments, Concerns?

Feel free to send an ask to this blog or message mods @foibles-fables and @meg-noel-art!

Follow this blog for reminders and more event info. To the hunt!

[otussketching]

Fossil Novembirb: Day 14 - Lost in the Woods

As the global climate was cooling during the Oligocene epoch, tropical rainforests started to shift towards their current distribution in the tropics, and open landscapes such as scrubland was spreading. But that doesn't mean forests were disappearing. In places like Central and Eastern Europe, forests shifted from tropical to temperate. And in these shifting landscapes, birds continued to adapt and diversify.

Turnipax: One of the earliest known members of a relatively obscure bird groups called buttonquails. Despite their quail-like appearance and lifestyle, buttonquails are shorebirds related to gulls and sandpipers.

Palaeotodus: This small insectivore is one of the first known members of the todies, a bird group nowadays restricted to the West Indies.

Primotrogon: An early member of the trogons which had a very different shape compared to its modern relatives, including long wings, a short tail, and relatively small eyes.

Eurotrochilus: The first known true hummingbird, a group now endemic to the Americas, but first appeared in Europe.

Aviraptor: A thrush-sized true hawk with long thin legs and sharp talons, this was a prime predator of small forest birds in the Oligocene.

Wieslochia: One of the earliest known passeriformes, a group that likely evolved in Australia,parts of it's skeleton resemble certain South American passeriforms, like cotingas.

Rupelramphastoides: As the earliest known ramphastid, it was closely related to the barbets as well as toucans, but it bore a closer resemblance to the former.

Oligocolius: A bizarre relative of modern mousebirds that had an appetite for seeds, as the holotype was preserved with seeds in its crop and gullet. It also had a slightly parrot-like beak.

Laurillardia: A distant relative of hoopoes and hornbills, this long winged and long tailed bird used its sharp beak to catch insects.

Rupelornis: A close relative of albatrosses, these seabirds had delicate beaks and long legs. They probably had a similar lifestyle to storm petrels, which carefully pick food from the surface of the water.

[anonsally]

Day 2 in Chile: Birding along the central coast

After a decent night's sleep, we got up early this morning for our birding tour. The guide and a driver picked us up at 8am and we had an epic day of birding! It was cold but mostly sunny, so not as cold as yesterday except when it was very windy. The guide told us that this is one of the best times of year to visit Chile, bird-wise, because a lot of birds that breed further south migrate here in the winter... as do a lot of birds who breed further north!

We did spend a lot of the day in the car in between birding, but that was fine actually as it gave Wife (who is an introvert) a break from interacting and it also meant less time in the sun and wind. And we saw lots of birds, nearly all of which were new for me.

The guide hasn't shared the eBird list with me yet so I'm sure I won't remember everything, but here's what I remember (not chronologically, and I've tried to put my favorites near the top, but not really in order and they were all exciting in one way or another):

Humboldt penguins! We were pretty lucky; I think there were about 30 of them hanging out on a small island preserve very close to the beach.

Inca terns. These were very beautiful and unusual-looking terns, dark grey with long white whiskers and red beaks, with a yellow spot at the base, and red feet.

Grey gulls starting to get their breeding plumage. I thought these were very cute, elegant gulls.

A giant hummingbird. Which... is not an exaggeration. It was enormous. Too big to hover. But clearly hummingbird shaped. Totally incongruous!

Tufted tit-tyrant. (The Tufted Tit-Tyrants is my new band.) Probably one of the cutest birds I've ever seen.

Peruvian boobies

Peruvian pelicans--not too different from the brown pelicans we see at home, but larger.

Three kinds of cormorant: Most were neotropic cormorants, but we also saw a couple of guanay cormorants, and several of the very beautiful red-legged cormorant.

Southern lapwings. Kind of a patchwork pattern of coloration.

Two rufous-chested dotterels, one of which was getting its breeding plumage.

Three kinds of cinclodes: gray-flanked (which breed in the Andes but winter on rocky beaches), seaside (larger), and (I think?) buff-winged.

Two kinds of oystercatchers: blackish and American (I don't think I'd seen the American kind before; the ones in California are black oystercatchers).

Yellow-billed pintails

Yellow-billed teals

Diuca finches

Lake duck (similar to a ruddy duck)

Rufous-collared sparrows (apparently more common than house sparrows in Chile, and infinitely cuter!)

Coscoroba swans, which looked less mean and more friendly than our usual swans

red-gartered coots

Great shrike-tyrants

Long-tailed meadowlark. Startlingly red face and front.

Chimango caracaras, which were the raptors I'd seen on the way from the airport. Apparently there are no corvids here, but these fill that ecological niche. We saw two of them eating a dead meadowlark.

Dusky tapaculo. The guide made limited use of playback in the one foresty stop. This bird is very shy but we did manage to get a decent view of it.

Variable hawk.

Harris's hawk

Great grebes

White-tufted grebes

Brown-hooded gulls

Chilean mockingbirds

Two kinds of swallows: blue-and-white and Chilean

Chiloe wigeons

black vultures

a rufous-tailed plantcutter

Austral thrushes

Austral blackbirds

We also saw sea lions and a couple of otters!

We had them drop us off at a restaurant in Viña Del Mar, which saved them some driving and meant we could try a restaurant we were interested in. We drank Pisco sours (a great cocktail!) and--as usual--ordered too much food. Then we managed to get a bus back to Valparaíso and had a steep walk back up to the hotel, as the funiculars don't run late.