#Hell Grackles

[rulesforthedance]

Update: he wants me dead

[i-exist-to-spite-god]

I fucking love grackles, they are the Walmart version of crows and I will always adore that about them.

"grackle" is one of the words of all time. like you know he gracklin

[bloodofgrapes]

everyone loves crows but I never see any appreciation for the humble grackle

look at this guy, crows are cool as hell but they wish they had this

[brucewaynehater101]

Something I have seen in a few fics and is very near to my heart. Tim Drake Has Birds. Not just any birds, but a gaggle of Crows and Ravens and others. That's what everyone says. But what if he had *more*.

Sure it starts with him befriending 4 or 5 ravens/crows but both are smart kinds of birds and very social as well. They seek out others to play with after all. So if Tim was kind to them and fed them and even helped one of them heal after it got a broken wing (the others led Tim to their injured friend while screaming) then they would certainly spread news to other birds that Tim is safe and a friend. Plus, when any of those birds he befriended has kids? They will teach their babies that Tim is Kind and Trustworthy.

Eventually Tim's flock spreads from just being Crows and Ravens to adding pigeons and grackles and Sparrows and even a few blue Jay's and a couple owls! After all, if Tim starts befriending them about the time (or even before) he starts stalking the family by the Time he's Robin he's gunna have So Many Birds. Tim does his best to hide this from the other Bats because he thinks they will try to make him get rid of them like the one time his parents found him petting a Raven in the backyard.

Tim hides his birds from everyone the best he can and has taught some of them helpful tricks in the field that he can only use when alone. Only a handful can do them, but a handful is more than enough. Such commands are Follow That Person, Bring Me That, Poop On That Person, and other such things. Only three of them understand his favorite trick. Take This Match, Strike It, And Drop It On What I Point At. Sometimes he lights goons on fire, sometimes he lights dumpsters on fire. Either way, a perfect distraction for hoards of goons.

Many of them also have tiny harnesses that can't be seen through their feathers that have cameras on them. Sometimes Tim will have a bird follow a Rouge around for a while because really, who would notice of a specific bird is following them?

The three that are best trained and are totally not Tim's favorites, are the three he has in his civilian identity as well. He only debuted his "pets" are he took over as CEO of WE. On his right shoulder rides a *well* above average size Raven named Huggin and on his left is an equally massive Raven named Munnin. Yes, he did name them after Odin's two ravens from mythology. The last one does not come to work with him like Huggin and Munnin, but stays at home and is in fact part of Tim's Home Security. Guinevere the Agressive Swan. She will attack anyone and everyone that isn't Tim and the moment she spots a person who Shouldn't Be There, she is out for *blood*. The only people she tolerates are Brenard, Kon, Cassie, and Bart. Even Damian with his mastery of animals will get attacked by her.

That's such a cute AU! I want to add an that, because Tim is taking care of pigeons, their lifespan increases as well (idk much about other birds so maybe them too). Pigeons were originally domesticated animals. They live 1-2 years in the wild and up to 15 as a pet.

I would also love to see the ravens intimidate the hell out of other people at Tim's work. The birds are just staring intensely at someone Tim doesn't like as they try to get through a meeting. It's an effective tool for the CEO to get what he wants or needs from opponents (ravens are adorable, but huge. I'd be terrified if one just kept staring at me visibly prepared to attack).

[bookofthegear]

Our Lady of Grackles is one of those cryptic figures that pop up in art from time to time, which manage to be well-documented without anyone having any idea what they’re documenting. Who is she? No one knows. Does she represent an actual historical person? No idea. Is her name really the Lady of Grackles? Almost certainly not.

Even the convent of Our Lady of Grackles doesn’t know anything much about her, except that she seems generally benevolent towards humanity, or at least occasionally toward individuals. If the nuns are worshipping her wrong, she’s never cared enough to do anything about it.

What you do know is that she’s portrayed as a woman in a hood that covers her eyes, usually smiling, accompanied by grackles. Sometimes she’s nude except for the hood, but this may say more about the artist than the subject.

The portrait on the wall is a pretty good rendering, in a style you associate with Byzantine icons. After about the 12th century, you’d say, maybe even as late as the 14th. They did a neat trick with the grackle heads, painting blue over gold leaf, which doesn’t quite capture the iridescent quality, but you see what they were going for. (Jimmy chirps appreciatively at the grackles.)

Having happily mused over a chance to use your major, you heft your lantern. This seems like a dead end. Time to head back the other way.

You follow the corridor back to the east, and come up to the crack where you entered, and the doorway on the opposite wall…

…hang on a minute…

You don’t remember this doorway. You’re almost sure there wasn’t one! Nevertheless, there’s a doorway in the wall, leading into a room. The graffiti parts around it, but someone has chalked a single white circle on the wall beside it.

[doyouknowthemossinman]

i used to want to be a journalist bc i liked telling stories but didn't see myself selling fiction. but now journalism means being on social media all the time and having a perfect internet footprint before you even get hired. i just wanna post grackles all day

using bird sounds to try and focus my brain on reading textbook chapters. did you know a group of grackles is called a plauge

the book is not about birds

[head-in-the-stars3012]

Enjoy the silence

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝟏

𝟏𝟗𝟖𝟗

Going to one of those big parties was never really your thing, usually being considered an outcast so you weren’t used to loud music, drunk people and football players being.. well.. football players. You would have never gone to a party like this, but here you were, being dragged to the party by your stepsister Carol because she said you need socialization.

“You know we could’ve walked right?” You told her, knowing the place was just a 10 minute walk from your home.

“Yeah it would’ve taken us like half an hour to get there by foot” she replies, but the truth is that she’s wearing jellies and those things make your feet hurt.

“there’s a shortcut through bachelors in the forest”

“The haunted cemetery? You know they do witchcraft over there, I don’t want to get sacrificed” Carol always believed any rumor she heard so you weren’t surprised by her believing the whole witchcraft and cult thing about the graveyard.

“It’s not haunted, it’s just abandoned and desecrated. I think it’s really peaceful and quite, it’s my reading spot” since you were forced to move here you became really attached to the graveyard, a quite place where you could read without interruptions, you never understood why it was such a comforting place to you, thinking that maybe being surrounded by nature helped you relax. “I like to do wax rubbings of the tomb stones, I also have a favorite” you said with a smile thinking about it.

“You have a…favorite one?…” Carol said, probably weirded out by this hobby of yours, you knew it was weird but you enjoyed it, going to the cemetery, doing wax rubbings, reading.. without anyone to disrupt your peace.

“Yeah, it’s this young man from the 1800s, I tend to his grave and leave him flowers..I talk to him sometimes” oh that young man, you didn’t know his name sadly, sometimes you would guess names that would suit him, like.. Victor or Walton.. he was such an intriguing man, you wished you were able to talk to him, maybe he would get you, just maybe. Visiting his grave was your favorite part of the day, not for a macabre reason, you just enjoyed talking to him and feeling like he was actually listening to you in that moment, that feeling helped you a lot after the accident.

“That’s really weird y/n, please don’t tell that to anyone” you knew you should’ve kept your mouth shut, she thinks you’re a weirdo now.

“I just don’t think anyone should be forgotten..”

★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★

When you got to the party Carol instantly left you to join her friends, you stayed for a while at the car looking around before going to the mini fridge near the pool. As you opened it and took out a Pepsi somebody started talking behind you.

“If you’re looking to fade out the booze is inside”

You turned around to look at him and instantly recognized who he was, Andy Clark, a guy you’ve never spoke to but still had a crush on, it was very silly to be honest.

“What?” You asked, already confused as to why was the Andy Clark talking to you.

“The booze, it’s in the house”he replied

“Yeah I think my stepsisters friend brought most of it, I think her name is Taffy or something” You remember Taffy, she was the nicest one in your stepsisters friend group, even nicer than Carol, sometimes she would come to your house to hang out with Carol but you didn’t talk to her much. She was really nice though, you wished she was your stepsister.

“Mhm, you’re y/n Gardner. Andy..Clark” he said, why did he know your name or better, how did the know your name, you’ve never even talked to him how the hell did he know your name.

“Why?.. why do you know my name?” You whispered looking at him and he just laughed, oh my god he has a nice laugh.

“Well you submitted some really strong poems to the Grackle, I’m one of the editors. You’re poems are great, very dark but they’re great” you could’ve died right then and there and you wouldn’t even have cared, he likes your poems, he thinks they’re great.

“Thank you” you said with a smile before Tamara, she has English class with you, came and interrupted your conversation, talking to Andy. “Hey Tamara” you didn’t mind her, she was pretty cool actually.

“Hi, sorry how do we know each other?” She asked.

“We have English together, I usually sit in the back”

“Ohhh you’re y/n right??” Some people would say she was mean but she was actually really nice, at least to you she was.

“Yeah that’s me” you said cracking open your Pepsi.

“Do you.. want a sip?” She said offering you her cup, you weren’t sure what was in there but you didn’t want to look uncool in front of Andy, so you accepted it and drank almost half of it.

★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★

You were high, like super high.

You ended up inside the house and Doug found you, you trusted him, he was a nice guy, he asked you about your favorite director, he even held your hair back while you threw up in a trash can.

He took you to a random bedroom, away from all the noise, you were thankful for that. Then a thunder erupted making you jump slightly by the sudden noise.

“Oh no, looks like the angels are bowling” he said, making you smile.

“My mom used to say that” your eyes were closed and you smiled thinking of your mother, though your thoughts were interrupted by Doug.

“Does that feel good?”

You looked at him and then slowly looked down where his hand was.. he was touching you, what. The. Fuck.

You just stood up and ran out the door, Doug shouting something in the back, you didn’t listen you just kept running out without a certain direction, all you knew was that..

Doug was not a nice guy.

Tamara was not sweet.

And you were an absolute idiot accepting a spiked cup, it was all your fault you ended up in this situation.

You just kept running, you stopped when you realized you were surrounded by some familiar trees and in front of you was a familiar grave. Getting closer to him made you feel more at ease, like everything disappeared.

You looked up to the statue that somewhat represented the face of the young man, lightly touching his stone cheek.

“I wish I was with you”

[corvusspecialartist]

Primarchs as Birds

Just in any order I goddamn want. Plus, these are North American birds only.

Perturabo (Northern Mockingbird)

They are just dicks. I swear. And just look at them. they will go after any and everyone who threatens their food source.

2. Lorgar (Cardinal)

He RED. Plus, cardinals are named after the cardinals of the church. Plus there are these birds that are in the Desert

3. Konrad Curze (Grackles)

Budget Crows. Nobody really likes em. (I mean they are trying to get rid of them in Texas) Plus they look like they gotta a problem with you in almost every other photo. Got that energy.

4. Gulliman (Blue Jay)

HE BLUE. PLus these birds are actually Corvids. They are smart as hell. (Another option is the California quail cause round)

5. Sanginius (Mourning Dove)

You can really replace him with any piegion species.. but although this little guy look like head empty/no thoughts.. this guys are actuall smart. Plus they are symbols of peace. (And they are cute as hell)

7. Mortartion (Turkey Vulture)

Although he stank. Turkey Vultures tend to keep to themselves and often have been tried to exterminated more than once. They do get bullied by black vultures.

8. Corvus Corax

Self explinatory. Move on.

9. Alpharius and Omegon: ANY brood parasite birds (Think cuckoos, cowbirds..etc)

These birds have the habit of laying birds in other's nest so that others can raise their young... and that's kinda what the Alpha LEgion do. Plus it can get REALLY complex fast.

[fangs-claws-and-terrible-ideas]

your fursona sounds cool as hell wtf I love javelinas - do you have any pictures?

:D thank you thank you, I do indeed!

I've never commissioned anything for her but I have scribbled out some pictures of her on my own :3

"wha- Oh yeah! Of course I eat it with the spines. Wouldn't be prickly pear without the prickly!"

In fact, this inspired me to give drawing her another go!

These would be her branches in winter whereas most of the year she'd have leaves and fruit too!

She is big and fat and hairy and I've toyed with the idea of giving her grackle wing earrings but those are very hard to draw lol here's the notes page I made while creating her design:

I forgot about a few of these details, and as you can see I'm not always feeling up to the challenge of em lol

Probably gonna skip the six tits thing (where would I even put em??) but I still really like her having two fingers and two thumbs on each hand because that matches javelina's hooves with their big dulap hoof-claw things

I can't remember if it actually got mentioned anywhere, but her name is Tabasco :3

[birds--daily]

How the hell are blue jays corvids but not grackles. unfair

NO SERIOUSLY 😭😭😭 they can't do things like that to me i'm not smart enough

[almostfoxglove]

Hi Freya! Could I ask for 6, 15, and 16?

I hope your holidays are going well ❤️

omg hi love!! ty for these :,) and tysm!! hope your holiday has been nice too <3

6. a scene you struggled with

omg, I had a MOMENT with dave york in Hold Still (my first and only time writing for the man - I was intimidated as hell!!) trying to figure out the ending. something I struggle with smutty one shots is coming to a satisfying conclusion (pun accidental I SWEAR) that isn't just the moment they finish fucking, but I was pretty happy with how I wrapped it in the end!!

15. an area of your art you feel you improved upon

HAVING FUN & BEING SILLY!! I think The Prettiest is the biggest example of me letting go a little, but getting fun with form in More Than Letters and at the end of I'll Carry You felt good too :,)

16. something interesting you researched as part of the process

omg. 100 things I had no business looking up, but they felt so urgent in the moment. what parts of the US grackles live in. what time of year a golden chain tree blooms. how many miles are between tampa, florida and prince edward island. the order of notes on piano keys. greenhouse construction. I've rewatched some movies that I wanted to reference to double check some shots/lines. LOVE RESEARCHING SILLY LIL THINGS!

💭 artist & fic writer EOY asks

[tenmillionmourningdoves]

grackles have gotta be one of the weirdest birds out there

they're loud as hell, they look like they're covered head to toe in petroleum, and all of their songs and calls sound like malfunctioning industrial equipment

[longingforrotkehlchen]

My lens broke

So yeah, it's broken. That day had to come, I guess.

But it came at the worst possible time. I take a trip for the first time in forever and in the middle of it... Bang!

This picture here is the moment I realized. One moment I was chuckling saying "look at that guy", the next I was having a little meltdown. I kind of felt like when Maradona got suspended at the 1994 World Cup and he said: "they cut off my legs."

I'll keep this picture forever, as a reminder of my ultimate demise (Disclaimer: Overstatement).

It ruined all the photos I couldn't take... But not my memories.

And I'll tell you what: It's so exciting to be in a new place, seeing new friends.

And I won't forget it.

I won't forget the first sweet melody I heard after leaving the airport. The sweet harmonious melody of the melodious blackbird.

I won't forget the cutest of guys, the yellow-throated euphonia. My beloved.

I certainly won't forget the monotonous, incessant song of the thick-billed seed finch, which I nicknamed "end-credit bird" because it sounded like the final notes of a TV show ending (and I nicknamed him because it took me several days to solve the mystery of who was singing all the time). When I found him I was dancing.

I won't forget the grackles, filling in for the crows. I got your back, guys.

I won't forget how starstruck I was when I saw the collared araçari.

What I will never forget is when I approached the cormorants and gulls (A/N: they were actually terns) to id them and, round a little corner made of bushes, to my massive surprise, a considerable group of adorable ruddy turnstones (and the odd dowitcher) were all crammed together on a tiny portion of sand waiting patiently for the sea to bring yummy things. I was screaming. SCREAMING.

I won't forget the catbirds saying chirp chirp meeeeaaaaoowww.

I also won't forget when a mockingbird landed in front of me and began flashing its wings with every step it took. LIKE LITTLE GUY WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING ARE YOU TRYING TO IMPRESS ME BECAUSE YOU'RE TOTALLY SUCCEEDING.

I definitely won't forget when we were walking under the scorching sun and my life companion excitedly called me to come slowly to see a sleepy nighthawk we had inadvertently disturbed. They were just sleeping there on the hot ground. They don't care! A bea-u-ty.

I won't forget my first northern cardinal! Famous handsome guys. I won't forget my second either, fighting against himself on a window.

I won't forget the impressive jabiru, which is so big we initially thought it was some dude among a thousand egrets and whatnot.

I won't forget walking at night basically in the middle of nowhere and hearing the pauraques whistling amid the constant chirp of tropical insects. A soundtrack that will always bring me back to this place, even if I'm not there.

I won't forget the lovable Morelet's seedeaters, the beautiful trogons, the huge ringed kingfishers.

I won't forget the doves, the parrots, the hummingbirds, the vultures, the woodpeckers, the ospreys, the pelicans, and more, but I've raved enough.

The only regret is that when you start to get to know them, to get acquainted, you have to leave, and you'll never truly know them. You can't belong everywhere. You have your place, with your lil' buddies, and sadly the rest are just passengers in your life.

I felt so alive. It was exciting, and I had a lot of fun.

But now my lens is broken, so if you've noticed the slow business recently, there's the reason. And while I think of what step to take next, unfortunately the activity here will be hugely limited.

I'm sorry for that.

[insanepoll]

okay i wanna talk about more blaseball guys because i am insane about them 💜

-megan ito. there is so much wrong with them (affectionate.) very much connected to parker macmillan's story in that they were rivals and there was definitely something going on between them, if you know what i mean 😉

megan stole the thing keeping parker from blowing up the league while they were on the same team and became unstable themself when he left. a few days later, their team got incinerated, but because they were holding an item that was keeping them from being moved from their location, they broke reality so hard they exploded real good and went directly to superhell. they were replaced by *new* megan ito, who proceeded to do THE EXACT SAME THING in season 23, stealing parker's force field and letting him loose on the league AGAIN. except they didn't get incinerated and therefore did not go to superhell like their predecessor.

-nanci grackle and mohammed picklestein: standard mad scientists. the latter, however, is very much into keeping their practices compliant with osha standards. nanci has now inherited the space mo used to occupy because he's on mo's team and mo is stuck in a black hole, and there's probably a one-sided rivalry going on between those guys because nanci has no regard for safety whatsoever.

-magi ruiz: deserves to be on here for similar reasons. while she's not a "mad scientist" in the traditional sense, she still has Issues™

anyway back in season 14 she pulled An Entire Kid out of the sound system, which impressed her cute were-hellhound gf, so she tried something Even More Impressive after the season was over and got very unlucky because that coincided with the fans' desire to do necromancy, so she pulled out Chorby Fucking Soul (more on them in a bit.) chorby got bitten by sharks a bunch and put their teammates in danger of also getting bitten by sharks. all you really need to know is magi's a character who would be a hit with fans of Women With Issues™

-chorby soul: normal guy until they died. then the devs went "hey wouldn't it be funny if they had a Really Big Soul?"

anyway when chorby came back their dummy thicc soul interacted with a new mechanic that made them get attacked by sharks over 200 times over the course of their career. also they would occasionally hit people with cursed pitches that made them more likely to get abducted by coffee aliens. we tried fixing that, and it only marked them for incineration. they would proceed to get incinerated and resurrected by the fans a couple of times before the devs locked them in a vault, where they remain to this day. poor guy.

and a couple of entities:

-coin (boss): the aforementioned capitalism god from the previous propaganda ask. nightmare corporate overlord who was obsessed with ratings and would do absolutely anything to get them, including letting sharks attack players. got her ass melted 😌

-the anchor: probably(?) a normal guy(???) who hosts the blaseball roundup, an in-character recap series about blaseball. it's very likely he was trapped in there and forced to do the roundups. if you want to watch someone's descent into madness in real time, go to the blaseball youtube channel and watch the roundups in order. hell, even just looking at the anchor's increasingly disheveled appearance in the thumbnails will do the trick!

wow so there are a lot of characters and i see why they were submitted as a group 😅 this was very entertaining to read thank you

[proton-wobbler]

Spotted Towhee (Pipilo maculatus)

Chadron State Park - Fall 2023

Well, its that time of year again- the towhees are molting! All migratory birds are likely undergoing some sort of molt here in the US, replacing old body plumage or growing their new flight feathers as they prepare for migration. This adult male Spotted Towhee is showing off just how dramatically this species looks when they molt. Most birds look a little patchy, but for some reason the bigger birds like towhees, blue jays, or grackles look just... rough as hell. This isn't even the most molt-y towhee I've had so far, he simply took the best pics.

All banding, marking, and sampling is being conducted under a federally authorized Bird Banding Permit issued by the U.S. Geological Survey's BBL. Permission to share images was granted by Bird Conservancy of the Rockies (BCR).

[cfcreative]

List 5 things that make you happy, then put this in the askbox for the last 10 people who liked or reblogged something from you! get to know your mutuals and followers (ू•‧̫•ू⑅)♡

1. My “Outdoor Pets” aka the birds that come to my feeders. After living in a place where the main outdoor birds were pigeons (or the incredibly out-of-place but now thriving Monk Parrots of Brooklyn & Queens) I adore the variety we see here. Frequent visitors include:

My “Finchy Friends,” the local Goldfinches and House Finches.

Tufted Titmice

Nuthatches

Mourning Doves

Red-Bellied & Downy Woodpeckers

Junkos—My spouse and I joke the collective nouns for them is a “Drawer” so you get a Junko Drawer!

The occasional muppet that is the Rose-breasted Grosbeak (no, seriously, look at pictures of them)

…also buttloads of grackles and cowbirds but the cat likes to chitter at them so they get to hang out.

2. My Spouse's cooking. I have no idea how they can take what I consider the four incompatible things we have left in the cupboard/fridge and create a meal that could rival most restaurants but they can and they do on the regular.

3. My FFXIV FC and the Spin-Off D&D Group. I started playing FFXIV during the pandemic and after dealing with atrocious communities in WoW I declared that there would be NO WAY IN HELL I was going to join any pre-existing Free Company (aka Guild) and made my own. We have a radically inclusive mindset; a mission statement; and an enforced CoC which may mean that we are "smaller" overall, but goddamnit we share the same values and we are a safe place for LQBTQIA+ folks. From there I have met some excellent people (shoutout to @fishcoelysium) and am running a small, hilarious D&D game for some of them (which I have mentioned a couple times).

Here, look at my Warrior of Light:

If you ever wanna try FFXIV drop me a DM and you can have a discord link to the FC discord.

4. Sharing my humor with others. This is perhaps a strange way to word it but my spouse, friends, and I can absolutely riff improv-style, deadpan, for several minutes at a time. I love stupid puns and wordplay especially, the more likely to make someone groan the better.

5. My Art! As much as I will get SOOOOOO frustrated with it on the regular, I love drawing and other art-related things. I used to sell pieces of leatherwork on Etsy and intend to do so again once I finally get my workspace sorted.

Bonus: 6. My Cat, who was mentioned in point 1; he is the most handsome and lovable absolute menace. He gives hugs!