#We have the loggerhead shrike around here

[stories-and-chaos]

Shrike pt 2

[Hazbin Hotel reader insert as Alastor’s “darling life and death partner” I did my best for an ace x ace relationship, based on personal experience. Both parties are moderately sex favorable since writing from my own experience is easiest, so I’m not sure if this counts as QPR. Written mostly in spite over all the Alastor smut. And overly innocent reader inserts. I don’t mind some smut but c’mon people.]

[Part 2/2 Word count 6520/12026]

[cw: blood, gore, violence, attempted sexual assault, fluff]

———————

You woke up. Had it been just a nightmare? You reached for Alastor next to you but your hand hit stone. Not even the sheets on your bed; stone. You bolted upright, eyes snapping open. You saw a vibrant red sky and a myriad of unfamiliar buildings. All the architecture had spikes or teeth or eyes incorporated. A sign nearby proclaimed Welcome to Hell! It’s terrible here!

Not a nightmare. You were dead, shot moments after Alastor. At least you took out the bastard that killed him. You hadn’t been a religious person but tracked you would end up here. If there was any mercy in the afterlife, you would find your husband nearby.

Of course he wouldn’t be. You were in Hell and it’s terrible here. You did see a number of…creatures around. Mostly humanoid but with additional features. Fur, feathers, tails, extra eyes, tentacles, scales, gears, wires, horns, flames. All that and more. Were these devils?

As you stood up you caught a glimpse of your own arm. Your taloned hands were red, before abruptly changing to a pale white on your upper arms. From what you could see of your shoulders they were covered in black feathers. Your legs were similar, red at the heeled feet that changed to white above the knee. You couldn’t tell what your torso looked like; you were wearing a silver dress with vermilion threads woven along the length. It looked like your favorite show outfit, just in a different color.

You steadied yourself, already missing Alastor’s presence. You felt a rustling sensation on your back; did you have something stuck there? Reaching back you found feathers. As you tried to brush them away, the odd sensation of something touching your hair made you jump.

Were those… your feathers? You walked along the street and got a look at yourself in a shop window. Sprouting from your back were wings, mostly black feathers with a white patch. Your face now had an avian look but was still recognizable as yours. It was mostly bright white with with a black mask over your eyes. Your hair was now a gleaming grey, with a red hat pinned on. To complete the look, you had a feathered tail sprouting above your buttocks.

You recognized the bird you resembled. The loggerhead shrike, the butcher-bird.

“Well lookie here, we got us a brand new little birdie.” A shark-like man slinked up to you. “A cute one too. Why don’t you come with us like a good birdie, we’ll treat you real nice.” He grinned, showing serrated teeth. Other creatures joined him with equally sadistic expressions.

Of course you had scum like this to deal with. You were in Hell and it’s terrible here. “Out of my way, lowlife. I don’t have time to deal with you.” You pushed him away with the back of your hand to walk past.

“It wasn’t a question bitch. You’re coming with us.” A clammy hand grabbed your wrist. Before you could even really think about it, you were swinging your other arm at him. You were suddenly holding a stiletto blade which you jabbed into his forearm. Black blood spurted out when you removed your blade.

You spun away as the shark shrieked. Now you had a stiletto in each hand. Your feathers were bristling, your wings spreading behind you. “Back OFF!” Your high pitched voice, louder than it ever was when you were alive, made all of them flinch. On instinct you hopped a bit and a flap of your wings slammed the hapless creatures into buildings from the downdraft.

It propelled you to the rooftops. Not ready to take full flight yet, you landed. The demons below were writhing in agony. You took another look at your hands, this time with almost delicate looking blades in your palms. “Ah, mais oui, a gal can get used to this.”

————

It took you five years to find Alastor. As it happened Hell, even just the Pride Ring where Sinners like yourself could be, was a very big place. But if you were here, able to survive, your husband had to be as well. You made a living (ha!) the same as before, singing for your supper. You had no interest in being an Overlord, but you did get a reputation for swift retribution to those that crossed you. Demons who tried to violate your boundaries quickly found out your stilettos were unending, razor sharp, and accurate. Whether they were alive to tell the tale depending on if they were smart enough to back away.

You got the nickname of “Singing Shrike” in Pentagram City. It suited you fine. Especially since you hoped Alastor would recognize it.

You survived the annual exterminations and steadily worked your way through the city. There were so many different districts and the population was ever changing. At least one area you didn’t have to explore was the Red Light District. You doubted death would change Alastor’s indifference to those activities.

When the radios started broadcasting tormented screams, you were surprised as any other demon. Not disturbed though, it was Hell and you’d heard similar ones in life. But the fact they went out over the radio made you wonder…

The broadcasts continued on as Overlords disappeared throughout the city. Then one day: “Salutations Sinners and welcome to the broadcast! I’m Alastor the Radio Demon, I’m so glad you’re all tuning in. I’d like to thank you all for listening to the previews of this broadcast’s main segment, ‘Overlords Overthrown.’ Without further ado, I’d like to present our newest participant!”

You almost couldn’t believe your ears. But there was no mistaking that voice or that demeanor. Of course your Alastor would be the “Radio Demon.” Now that you knew he was active in Hell, you just had to find him.

He would be at a broadcast tower right now. With a few strong flaps you launched into the red sky. There were multiple possibilities but if you had to guess, it would be the tallest one. It was near Cannibal Town, an area you hadn’t been to before. It was on the other side of the city and even with wings you took awhile to get there.

As you got close, you saw a tall lean demon exiting the station. He was a vibrant red from the tips of his ears to the hems of his well tailored suit. From above, you couldn’t see his face but his gait was all too familiar. It had to be him.

And to clinch it, another demon emerged from a nearby café. As blonde and as curvy as she had been in real life, Mimzy. You didn’t realize she was in Hell too. “Alastor, a fabulous show as usual, you never disappoint, doll face.”

He gave his theatrical laugh. “Ha ha! As you know, anything worth doing is worth doing well!” His voice sounded like it was still coming over a radio.

You landed a few yards in front of them, finally getting a good look at the male demon’s face. The features were sharper and his grin was filled with pointed teeth but that was your husband. His hairstyle was vastly different from life and he had tiny antlers peeking out from the red mop.

“Y/N? Cher?” The radio crackle on his voice disappeared for a moment.

“Alastor,” you breathed, but unable to get out more than that. In an instant he was sweeping you into his arms in a bridal carry, spinning joyfully.

“Ma cher, I never thought I’d see you again. The worst part of Hell has been knowing I left you alone.”

You couldn’t help but tear up. “Alastor, I’m so sorry about that night. If I hadn’t distracted you… maybe we’d still be alive.”

“Maybe, maybe not. I never blamed you Y/N. But this isn’t the proper place for a reunion between husband and wife.” To your surprise, green edged black energy enveloped you both. You could still feel Alastor’s arms around you but the rest of your senses disappeared. “Just a moment my dear, we’ll be home soon,” his voice echoed around you.

The darkness fell away, revealing a room inspired by your home in life. One jarring difference was a missing wall that instead led into a bayou. He kept you in his arms as he settled onto a couch. The familiar surroundings and relief at finding him proved to be too much. Face buried in his red jacket, you collapsed into tears.

Alastor held you as he had many times before. He knew the best thing was for you to let it all out and to be ready with a handkerchief when you needed it. Which he was, holding his out when you finally raised your head. You dabbed at your eyes carefully. He chuckled, “Well my dear, at least you don’t have to worry about ruining your makeup with your new look.”

You laughed despite yourself. “That is a relief. One less thing to worry about.” You leaned back into his embrace, unconsciously wrapping your wings around you both. His head whipped back and forth, taking in this new development.

“Sorry ma cher, should I put them down?”

“Hmm, I believe they’re fine. It was simply unexpected. It’s…actually pleasant for you to be wrapped around me for once.”

“It can’t be any more unexpected than being whisked away in shadows. Any other gal would have jumped out of her skin cher. Or feathers for that matter.”

That was enough to get the two of you talking about the last five years. You learned about how he started taking out Overlords for the pure challenge and entertainment of it. The result was he was becoming an Overlord, specifically of the area next to Cannibal Town. He demonstrated some of what his shadows could do for you.

For your part you told him the rest of what happened that final night. When he learned you killed the man who shot him within moments, his gleeful smile nearly split his face in two. “That’s my darling wife,” he praised you. Your exploration of the city and the reputation you had garnered seemed to pale in comparison to what Alastor had been up to. Nonetheless he listened in fascination. Evidently the perspective of the city you brought him was something he could use in his upcoming plans. You showed him what you had learned of the wind you controlled and the stilettos you produced from nothingness.

Soon the two of you were preparing dinner together. Jambalaya, it really was a favorite of his. He assured you the meat hadn’t come from Cannibal Town; while he indulged he wasn’t about to make you eat it as well.

You didn’t have any nightclothes with you, but this was your husband. He’d seen you in all states of dress and cleanliness. So you undressed, keeping just the dress slip on. Alastor stripped off his suit down to his drawers. The bed was a replica of what you had shared in life and you settled into it with him as naturally as before. The main differences were his claws brushing your feathers and your wing covering you both.

Sighing deeply, Alastor pressed his lips against against your hair. “Thank you for finding me, cher.” You couldn’t help but smile at how his words matched your wedding night. Relaxing into sleep, you murmured “I’ll always find you cher.”

Mimzy was the only demon you encountered that had known you both in life. Those familiar with Alastor or yourself in Hell were flabbergasted seeing you stroll together. Since you once again moved into his home most of the gawkers had experience with your husband.

Seeing a strange demon on his arm turned heads; first that the untouchable Radio Demon had a girl, second that she was happy holding her own with the Radio Demon. When you ventured to your old haunts the reaction were similar. The Singing Shrike was allowing anyone to touch her without ending up impaled and that the Shrike had a beau.

One of few that wasn’t terribly surprised was Rosie, the cheerful Overlord of Cannibal Town. Alastor brought you around to her Emporium, introducing you as his “darling life and death partner, Y/N.” Her blank black eyes widened in realization as her toothy smile grew.

You got along fabulously with Rosie, much better than your acquaintances when you were alive. Maybe because you felt freer in Hell, maybe because she never once questioned your relationship with Alastor. According to the residents in her district she was very perceptive about matters of the heart. Whatever the reason, you enjoyed relaxing and performing in Cannibal Town. It turned out you were fond of pinkie fingers; many times you’d be listening to Alastor’s broadcast while enjoying a cup of tea and your gruesome snack.

Power plays in the city came and went. You avoided the annual exterminations together. Not that they mattered much, there was always more Sinners dying. Some tried and succeeded in gaining a foothold and eventually a base of power in the city. Others…well they tried.

You still weren’t interested in being an Overlord yourself. Alastor wasn’t really either truth be told. It just sort of happened, with the deal making and killing various powerful demons. You both built alliances and rivalries over time, with the two states changing within moments on occasion.

One demon in particular became a pain in both your sides. Vox arrived in Hell a few decades after you and Alastor. The television headed demon was originally cordial with Alastor and charming to you. Alastor, despite not caring for technology developed after his death, recognized Vox’s ability and had a measure of respect for him. You found him amusing, so long as he understood your relationship with Alastor was non negotiable. As time passed, Alastor and Vox’s opinions of each other shifted. What started as friendly banter turned into hostile bickering and then outright violence. The first time they tussled, they both backed down when they realized how even the match was.

You of course helped your husband retreat. A newly dead creature, Valentino, assisted Vox. You hated him on sight; both of you were defending your counterparts when he started flirting with you, so blatantly that even you realized it. The scum blew a cloud of red smoke in your direction. A flicker of couple feathers summoned a harsh gust, destroying the smoke and tearing the hat and tinted glasses off his bug head. You followed up with a stiletto flying through the air, aimed to graze his coat directly over his groin. It tore a chunk of the fur lining off as it whizzed past, impaling the ground next to Vox’s head.

After that, hostilities between the four of you only increased. Valentino never approached you alone; maybe he found out what shrikes did to the bugs they killed. Vox, on the other hand, started making passes at you whenever he could. He knew very well how long lasting your relationship with Alastor was. He also knew how disinterested you were in anything approaching sex. It seemed he was trying to seduce you purely to make Alastor retaliate.

Your husband, although he seethed in private, never did. He didn’t have to after all. The day you had enough, you grabbed Vox’s tie with a smile. Thrilled that he finally wore you down, Vox didn’t notice you setting your feet. He towered over you and like so many others didn’t realize how strong you were. So when you spun and flipped him into the ground, he was surprised enough that his screen went blank. By the time his face returned, a dozen of your blades materialized to pin his clothes to the ground. You used the hilt of another to crack his screen.

“If you ever try that again, I’ll fill you with so many holes that every demon in the city will be able to use you as a power outlet.” You pressed a toe against his neck. “Do I make myself clear?” He couldn’t actually move his head but Vox made his face bob up and down on the screen. “Lovely.”

There was an uneasy stalemate for years. It wasn’t until after the turn of the century that Alastor and Vox clashed again. Maybe it was the influence of that aggressive new girl Velvette that prompted it, but Vox started going after your husband again. A fight as big as their first major match erupted one day. Predictably, the two were equally wounded. Unpredictably, you couldn’t locate Alastor after he retreated into his shadows.

You knew he wasn’t double dead. The two of you had created charms for each other that would let you know if the other died. With how uncertain the afterlife could be, it was one source of comfort. So the music note finial on your hat pin imbued with a bit of his shadows gave you that good news at least.

But you couldn’t find him. What could possibly have happened? Days stretched into months and years with no clue. The Vees (the trio called themselves now) were happy to flaunt Alastor’s absence, both to Hell and you in particular. You found yourself checking on that bit of shadow often, just as reassurance.

Seven years later, you had stepped up as Overlord in Alastor’s loose territory. The broadcast station became a recording studio under you, Songbird Studios. That was when you caught a glimpse of one of Vox’s shows. You were heading back after finishing a deal with a promising new voice when you heard “So the Radio Demon is back in town, why’s he hanging around, what does that mean for your family?” You glared at the screen. He was at Charlie Morningstar’s new venture, the Hazbin Hotel.

Furiously, leapt to the sky. Demons were knocked to the ground in your wake but you had more important things on your mind. The hotel itself was just outside the city proper. As you approached it, all the lights in Pentagram City blinked out. The hotel was unaffected and you could see a small broadcast tower with an ON AIR sign attached to the building. You could have burst into his studio. But the downside of being an Overlord is you had people to look after now. At least I know where you are cher, you thought, changing course for home.

It took a few weeks to get everything set up. You didn’t want everything to fall apart in what could be an extended absence. So you ensured both the studio and your territory would be fine with minimal input for at least a couple months.

Then you couldn’t wait any longer. But even as a demon you were a lady. Decorum then. So you entered through the front door. The slightly dilapidated building was contrasted by the sunny voice saying “Welcome to the Hazbin Hotel!”

From the opposite direction you heard a familiar world weary voice. “Y/N! The fuck are you doing here?” Husk yelled upon seeing you. “Oh, do you know each other?” The chipper young woman introduced herself as Charlie Morningstar, the hotel owner.

“Wonderful to meet you Charlie. My name is Y/N and yes, Husk and I have known each other for a long time.”

“Oh, it’s so nice to meet one of your friends, Husk!”

“Ah, actually Charlie-“ he started to say but you hopped up on a barstool and gave the former Overlord a broad smile. “Husk dear, I feel parched. I don’t suppose you have some good whiskey here?” The poor man took the hint and shut his mouth. He poured you a drink while Charlie bounced away, saying she’d let you two catch up.

“Soooo, listened to any good radio shows lately?” Husk’s ears twitched in agitation at your question.

“Just the one,” he replied while wiping down glasses. “Look, Y/N, you’re not gonna…” he trailed off, not even sure how to continue. Despite having made a deal with Alastor and interacting with you both regularly, he’d never seen you two fight.

“Alors pas! I’m not here to make any trouble bon ami. But after seven years I deserve a little fun, yes?” Any response he would have made was cut off by Alastor himself coming downstairs. He froze at the bottom as he saw who was at the bar.

One of the demons in the parlor popped up. “Something wrong smiles? You look like you’ve seen a ghost. Or some tits,” the white spidery demon said suggestively. You finished your drink before hopping down.

“Alastor, ma cher! I’ve been so worried!” Another demon, a black snake also perked up and the two men looked back and forth between you two.

“Actually, she’s Alastor’s wife,” Husk informed everyone present as you trotted up to him. Predictably, the unfamiliar demons in earshot all yelled, “His WIFE?”

The last few feet you used your breezes to give you a foothold off the ground. Alastor had been taller than you in life and his elongated demonic form towered over you. With practice you’d figured this technique out. It was useful not only in a fight but to put yourself at eye level with others.

His smile never faded but you could tell he was nervous. “Y/N, cher…I…” he fell silent as you hooked a talon under his chin. “Seven years you’ve been gone darling. And nothing when you got back? Ma cher, you are in trouble.”

His ears flicked nervously as you propelled yourself slightly higher than him. You kept your talon in place. “Shall we discuss this elsewhere Alastor?” His hand shook slightly as he took yours. “Of course my dear, let's go somewhere with less of an audience.”

You hand in his arm, he led you to his suite. In the foyer you could hear “awww, they’re so cute! how the fuck is tall dark and spooky married? well…likely one proposssed and the other sssaid yesss-, not what I meant buddy, hey don’t look at me I ain’t their chaperone.”

Once in his room (which had the same house/bayou motif as your home) you hugged him tightly around the waist. His arms were frozen in surprise above you; it wasn’t in your nature to be this forward and spontaneous with physical touch. “Cher, I-“

“Shut up Alastor.” You dug your talons in just enough to give a bite to your words. “I’m angry with you and I missed you and I’ve been so worried and the only reason I knew you were here was because of that pissing contest you got into the other day. So shut up until I’m ready cher.” One of his hands lowered to your shoulder and patted a silent yes.

It was a few moments before you spoke again. “Take me to the couch and start explaining darling.” You could feel the amusement and relief from his posture as he scooped you up.

“Where should I start cher?”

“That fight seven years ago. You and Vox got into a fight, you went into your shadow, then nothing. I knew you were alive but I couldn’t find you. I said I’d always find you.”

“You did find me my dear. As to what occurred…” he explained how a third party had interfered with the fight, injuring both him and Vox. How that third party had followed his weakened shadow, cornering him. How he’d been forced into a deal with that third party. Who that party was and what little of the deal he could tell you.

“Well shit. And your being here has something to do with the deal?” He nodded. “Why didn’t you come home though?! Even after the deal was struck, at least I could have been there for you!”

“Y/N, I’d just been trapped like I’d done to so many others. They played me and I danced right along. How could I bear to face you then?”

“Mais la, cher! I wouldn’t have cared.” You sighed and leaned back to look at him. “C’est la mort. We’re together again now and I’m not letting you go it alone again.” He blinked in surprise, clearly not expecting that. “I haven’t just been pining all this time you know. Someone had to take over your territory and I wasn’t about to let one of those bratty Vees have it.”

He brought your hand to his cheek and nuzzled it affectionately. “My dear shrike, you never disappoint.”

“I’m sure the young Miss Morningstar would welcome some more protection for the hotel. And it seems the place is lacking in entertainment.”

“Right you are on both counts my dear!” He sounded back to his old chipper self. “Shall we introduce you to this delightful collection of misfits and reassure them you haven’t flayed me alive?”

“One more thing.” He cocked an eyebrow in question. “May I kiss you first?” His smile softened as he nodded. You kissed him deeper than usual, stroking his hair as you did so. Alastor’s long arms wrapped around your back as he accepted the kiss. “Much better,” you said as you pulled back.

“I’d rather not go seven years between kisses my dear, but that was a nice reintroduction.” With that he escorted you back downstairs. You hadn’t been gone long and even if you had, Alastor’s unknown wife showing up to berate him was too good to miss.

Once again he introduced you as “darling life and death partner, Y/N.” Charlie, ever the bubbly hostess immediately shook your hand before introducing the residents. To no surprise Alastor had brought Niffty here to do the housekeeping. “Y/N!” She shrieked in a pure moment of Niffty mania and dashing around you. “I’ve missed you too ma petite!”

“So uhhhhh, how long you two been together?” The lanky spider called Angel Dust asked as Alastor helped you to a seat.

“Hmmm… how long has it been cher?” Alastor mused aloud.

“We did stop counting after the first fifty years or so but I believe it’s been nearly a century since the wedding.” Jaws dropped at your statement. Alastor kissed your knuckles gently. “And my dear husband is just as charming and gallant as ever.”

“Wow, that’s incredible! It’s so sweet you’ve been a couple for this long! How did the two of you meet anyway?” Charlie, in all her sweetness, asked innocently.

“It’s a tad embarrassing, but we killed a man together.” You could almost hear something pop in Charlie’s brain. Her girlfriend, Vaggie, looked thrilled.

“Yes indeedy! Some ne’er-do-well attacked her on her walk home. When I arrived to assist, the lout was distracted enough that Y/N was able to stab him in the eye. Why, I’d never seen anything quite so beautiful as such a lovely little thing jamming her hat pin into her assailant! I quickly finished dispatching the man before escorting her the rest of the way home.”

You looked at him with affection. “That led to him walking with me in the evening and one thing led to another until here we are!” Vaggie’s eye was shining, Charlie was frozen, the rest of the group could only blink in shock. “Husk, why are you so surprised, I thought we’d told you before!”

“About the attack, yeah, not that you killed him.”

“I would have thought that was implied, my good man,” your husband said dryly.

“Okay okay, murder as a date night activity aside,” Angel said, gesturing with his top set of arms. “Back to the important things. Ain’t Al…do ya…have ya ever…” not quite able to find the words he formed a circle with one hand. He inserted the pointer finger of another into it, making a back and forth motion. Both you and Alastor tilted your heads in confusion, not recognizing the gesture. “Aw geez there’s two a’ him and they’re married. D’you two fuck?”

“Ooooh! Is that what that means?” You experimented making the same gesture. “Now I get it! This finger is the penis and this is the vagina!”

“Hmm,” Alastor inspected your hands. “Shouldn’t this hand make more of an oval shape then?” He squished your hand slightly to elongate the shape. “I think it’s easier to just make a circle darling. And I suppose it could be other orifices.”

“But do you two have sssex?” Sir Pentious interjected, bringing things back to the original question.

“Of course we do!” Alastor chirped. Angel looked equally horrified and amused, Charlie was still frozen, the rest just looked stunned. “How?!” Angel finally asked, fighting back laughter.

“Infrequently and with great vigor,” you replied in a cheerful, succinct manner. Husk pulled his ears down groaning, “I don’t need to hear this, this is like hearing my parents behind the door.”

“Okay, I think that’s enough about Alastor and Y/N’s sex life!” Vaggie halted anything else you and your husband might have said. “Are you going to move in too Y/N?”

“That was the idea if you’ll have me. It seems like this place could use some entertainment and more security.”

“And my dear Y/N is a dab hand at both! She isn’t called the Singing Shrike for nothing.”

“Of course we’ll have you!” Charlie finally snapped out of her daze at the thought of a new resident. “Everyone’s welcome at the Hazbin Hotel!”

Moving into Alastor’s hotel suite was fairly simple. You grabbed a few items from home and made sure your subordinates knew how to reach you in an emergency. It would have felt like a bit of a vacation with the lack of Overlord responsibilities. But the updated extermination schedule did cast a pall over things.

After Charlie’s disastrous audience with Heaven, you and Alastor decided on your plans. He would work with Charlie to get support in exchange for a deal with him. Meanwhile you would head to your territory.

Fortunately everything looked in order when you arrived. Proper delegation had its perks. You requested everyone’s presence at one of the theaters. Most of the Sinners that followed you were some sort of forest creature; birds, rabbits, foxes, lizards, and the occasional deer. The majority were musicians or actors, performers of a multitude of genres. They were fiercely defensive, hurt one and the rest would destroy the offender.

Explaining the situation, you asked for volunteers. This wasn’t a turf war over home ground and you weren’t about to order anyone. Surprisingly, almost all you followers were ready to go. Maybe it wasn’t so surprising, almost everyone in Hell had beef with angels.

You appointed two of the strongest to stay back, along with half of the volunteers. If something happened to you or Alastor, you wouldn’t put it past those brats from the Vees to attempt a takeover. All of the demons you brought had flight abilities, which meant your songbirds could handle the aerial combat. Your contingent arrived just after the cannibals and Carmine’s weapon delivery.

“Ah there’s my darling and her flock!” You landed next to Alastor and Rosie, giving your friend a hug as you did. “Y/N! I was surprised you weren’t with your hubby but I see you’ve been busy too!”

“We have a lot to do and less time to do it, we can be attached at the hip after the fight,” you said as Alastor took your hand.

“Well I’m glad to see my favorite pair of aces back together. Let’s get all these fine demons settled, hm?” With your territories being neighbors, there was familiarity and even a few friends between the cannibals and your songbirds.

—————

Extermination Day. It didn’t matter how ready the defenders of Hell were, it was time. Almost everyone was in battle gear. You had traded in your sparkly flapper dress for a more practical A-line that reached your knees. You’d attempted a suit but the trousers just felt wrong. So a silvery grey dress with vibrant red pinstripes. The hem had long black points all along it, evocative of your blades. Since your summoned weaponry wouldn’t hurt an angel you had a rapier and half a dozen stilettos that would.

Alastor had requested a custom piece from Carmilla, a hat pin made of angelic steel. The finial had a spray of red feathers and he’d imbued it with a fragment of shadow. In return, you’d given him cufflinks shaped like vibrant red eyes. Of course they had a touch of your winds, not only to let him know you were okay but for you to track him if need be.

All too soon, the sky opened up and the exorcists spewed into Hell. At Vaggie’s war cry you and your followers took to the air. You looked for Alastor and saw him atop the hotel. No changes to his outfit, he looked impeccable as ever. His maniacal laugh echoed in the air as his shield formed an orb around the battle.

You and your flock were tasked with knocking angels out of the sky. Some did this by stooping like hawks, others used the angels own weapons to injure their wings. Your wind magick sent them tumbling into each other. Any that got too close to you were impaled or found you making the most of your momentum to fling them to the ground, mimicking how shrikes gave their prey whiplash.

A loud crack, golden light spreading through the black orb, and Alastor’s shield fell. He’d suspected that might happen and was ready to take Adam on. You didn’t concern yourself about their fight, even when your husband’s form grew. What did concern you was the slice of angelic power that dispersed it. Another swipe from Adam had Alastor flying across the rooftop.

“ALASTOR!” If all of Hell didn’t hear you then clearly they weren’t listening. No no no no not again I won’t lose him again. You stabbed the angel you were fighting in the throat and propelled yourself to his side. You landed protectively over his curled body. For the first time in decades you let your true form show.

Your wings turned metallic, silver and gold, and grew twice their size. They gained an art deco appearance but were as functional as ever. Your face became more avian. You had a hooked beak and your red limbs glowed as your talons sharpened. Dozens of your blades danced in the air around you and your husband.

“Back OFF!” You screeched at the angel’s leader. Wind kicked up by your voice tore at his clothes and wings.

“The fuck are you supposed to be crazy bitch?!” He launched a bolt of light at you; you parried it with stilettos but it was a near thing and it took out a third of what you had summoned.

“Y/N. His wife, you limp dicked bastard.” You launched the rest of your blades at him; they formed a rope like column that battered at him. You knew they wouldn’t be able to hurt him but you were looking for an opening with your rapier.

He fired wildly, yelling “fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fucking bitch!” You moved to strike when three stray bolts peppered you. Two hit a wing, one your shoulder. With a screech you missed the opportunity and fell next to Alastor.

Suddenly your husband grabbed your arm. “Have to disagree with you there!” He said in a singsong. He made sure his grip on you was secure. “Radio’s not dead, but it is ending this broadcast.” His shadows wrapped around you both. As you were swept away you heard Adam say “Bye bitches!”

A tiny part of you felt bad, leaving everyone like that. The majority was grateful you and Alastor were alive. You were used to traveling in his shadow by now, so the sensory deprivation didn’t bother you like it once had.

But the loss of direction was unusual. “Alastor…?”

A moment passed. “I’m here cher.” He sounded in pain.

“Where are we going?” you managed to ask. You weren’t in great shape either honestly.

Another long moment. “I don’t know.” A shudder from the darkness around you. “I just had to get us away.” As much as you wanted to know what was happening beyond the shadow, you didn’t try to get out. You weren’t sure you’d be able to right now. Even if you did, you might just damage Alastor more.

Then a gold light showed even through the magick shadow. Immediately you were falling, still wrapped in darkness. You could feel Alastor’s desperation as the shadows stretched, trying to find…something! Some purchase or anchor to stop the fall. He managed to latch on a couple of times but couldn’t get a good enough grip. The last desperate grasp broke you both out of the darkness.

You found yourself falling down a chasm, pieces of the hotel falling with you. Alastor’s arms wrapped around you, his eyes shut tight as he braced for impact. Fuck! You struggled to flap your wings. The injured one didn’t work right. The other strained to support you both, unable to manage more than slowing the fall.

Wind! Come on come on! You focused, creating a cushion of swirling air around you. Just in time, it dampened the impact, turning a fatal fall into a bruising one.

The two of you landed in a parody of your sleeping positions. “Ow,” you said once you had enough air in your lungs.

Alastor couldn’t respond for a moment. “Ow indeed cher.” He winced as he sat up. “You saved us though my dear.” He helped you sit up slowly.

“Third time’s the charm.” At his quizzical look you clarified, “I couldn’t save you when you were shot or in that fight with Vox. But I managed it finally.”

“Saving it for when it counts cher.” The two of you could hear echoes from the battle above. A voice roaring “GO HOME” was followed by the specks of retreating angels and the portal to heaven closing.

“That sounded like Lucifer,” you mused.

“Ugh, the pipsqueak couldn’t be on time to defend his own realm?” He struggled up to his feet and held a hand out to help you. You used his support to steady yourself but mostly got up on your own power.

It took some effort but he located his broadcast tower crumpled in the bottom of the chasm. One emotional crisis later, while you examined the wreckage, he was a bit more composed. You found the last aid box and the pair of you patched each other up.

“We’ll get you out of the deal ma cher. And the one who holds your strings will find out what happens to those who come between us.”

Alastor’s smile turned vicious. “I’m not dying for anyone but you darling.” He grasped your chin to keep your gazes locked. “And don’t you dare think of doing otherwise.”

Your own lips stretched into a crazed grin. “That’s the spirit cher.” Laughing, he kissed your knuckles before pulling you both into his shadows to inform the rest of your survival.

A/N: This is all the main story for this fic I have until Season 2. I have a few one shots in mind, since there’s a century of potential content along with inserts into some episodes. I really hope this was validating for my fellow acespec Alastor fans. It definitely was for me. I know people are welcome to ship and be thirsty for characters as they like. But we seldomly get an asexual character, much less one that isn’t an emotionless robot.

In any case, thanks for reading! I’ve got a Helluva Boss AU that’s 27k words and counting if anyone needs more of my rambling stories. Smut content is clearly labeled and will be in contained portions as much as possible to limit the squick.

@edgyboi10000 @clearly-awkward @badatpunz @deafsignifcantother @whitewolfsoldat @ch3sire-blu3

Part 1

[micahweissberg]

"well, you can only really find them in eastern asia, particularly japan. you might find the northern shrike here, in illinois, especially now that it's summer. there's also the loggerhead shrike, but they're not very common up here." he has more to say but decides to stop himself there. "but uh... yeah, japan. japan's nice. i went during the spring to see the cherry blossoms bloom. it's beautiful there, very... proper, i wanna say? they're strict with public hygiene and observing traffic and pedestrian rules and stuff. they have a really good transit system, too. kinda makes you wonder what the hell we're doin' over here." he chuckles, and slowly lets his amusement die down. he hopes he's not coming off as bragging about his experiences. he knows not everyone has the luxury of traveling abroad, let alone domestically, and he can only assume phoebe's reasons for staying in blue harbor without sounding like a total prick.

"i mean, you're dating the head chef in the best and fanciest restaurant in all of blue harbor." he knows best and fanciest beacuse that's where his dad likes to hang out and saul weissberg would rather be caught dead than frequent second best. "there's nothin' wrong with burgers, though. sometimes simple is where it's at. i bet it's the company that matters to him, though, not the food." at least, he thinks that's how it should be, though he doesn't know foster enough to claim whether he is or isn't superficial. and speaking of, "i've seen him at my dad's office, but i haven't really spoken to him outside of that. seems like a nice dude, though." he honestly isn't sure, but isn't that the polite thing to say in these situations?

"oh, wow. that long, huh? it's nice you guys are still hangin' out." he nods, genuinely happy for phoebe that she has people like that in her life. something constant. he thinks about ravi, back home, and what would've happened to him if he didn't have him around. everyone needs someone like that. "i know cj through seb." he nods. "seb and i, uh... we hang out, too." he's not sure if he should elaborate more on what 'hanging out' means, but all that physical stuff aside, he's grown to like the guy's company. he's got a fun personality, what can he say? "my dad's also cj's lawyer. i think. i'm not sure what's really goin' on with the whole annulment thing..." he finds cj mingling with some guests who'd just arrived. mr. congeniality. a big fish in a small pond with a marriage meant for the tabloids if he was still living that same life his cousin had told him about.

Truthfully, Phoebe didn't know anything about birds apart from the obvious ones. One of the families she tutored had a parrot who often mimicked the melody of the timer from Jeopardy!, and there were the gulls that hung around the actual harbor who targeted those unlucky few that dared to bring food to enjoy in view of the river. But shrikes completely went over her head. However, Micah's enthusiasm about his hobby made it seem exciting, nonetheless.

"Is it...rare to see them? Japan! Wow, that's amazing! What's it like there?" Perhaps it was the uncultured part of her (which she tried not to think about when her friends and pseudo-family talked about their own adventures across the globe) that was a bit too impressed with the idea of going abroad, but she had never been on an airplane, didn't even have a passport, so it was nothing short of fantastical to her.

She kept it to herself that Foster had spent some time in New York, that there was a chance — however slim — that he worked at one of the restaurants on Micah's list, mainly because she didn't want to diminish his excitement. "I'm sure he would. He won't admit it but I think a part of him dies inside when we're discussing what to do for dinner I just want to grab a burger from the diner or something, so he'd probably like hanging out with someone who can appreciate it all." Not that she was a picky eater, just a creature of habit. "Have you two properly met yet?" It was a shame he was working tonight (except not really, because no one needed him and CJ at each other's throats) but she wondered if the two men had exchanged pleasantries in the hall in between the apartments. They'd probably get along, even if Micah's dad was Foster's lawyer.

"I've known Seb basically my entire life, we grew up together." She explained, a fond smile playing on her lips. One of those friendships where you couldn't remember where it started, it just had always been. "And CJ, well, he's known around town but I only really got to know him when Seb moved in with him. How did you meet them again?"

[sunfloweroranges]

𝕄𝕪 𝕤𝕨𝕖𝕖𝕥 ℕ𝕠𝕣𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕣𝕟 𝕊𝕙𝕣𝕚𝕜𝕖

𝙰/𝙽

𝚆𝚎𝚕𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚎!!

𝙱𝚎𝚞𝚝𝚒𝚏𝚞𝚕𝚕 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚑𝚊𝚗𝚍𝚜𝚘𝚖𝚎 𝚋𝚎𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚜!

𝙸'𝚟𝚎 𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚎 𝚝𝚘 𝚜𝚎𝚛𝚟𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚊 𝚘𝚗𝚎-𝚜𝚑𝚘𝚝, 𝚠𝚑𝚒𝚌𝚑 𝚋𝚕𝚘𝚘𝚖𝚎𝚍 𝚒𝚗 𝚌𝚘𝚕𝚕𝚊𝚋 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚕𝚘𝚟𝚒𝚎𝚜𝚝 𝚘𝚏 𝚊𝚕𝚕 @ryosmne​ 𝙷𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚒𝚛 𝚐𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚝 𝚠𝚘𝚛𝚔 -> 𝕊𝕒𝕗𝕖 ℙ𝕝𝕒𝕔𝕖

𝙼𝚢 𝚋𝚕𝚘𝚐 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚏𝚒𝚡𝚎𝚍 𝚜𝚘 𝚒𝚖 𝚛𝚎𝚙𝚘𝚜𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚠𝚘𝚛𝚔𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚐𝚘𝚝 𝚑𝚒𝚍𝚍𝚎𝚗!

·

𝚠𝚘𝚛𝚍𝚜: 𝟸.𝟻𝚔

·

𝚠𝚊𝚛𝚗𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚜: 𝚏𝚘𝚞𝚕 𝚕𝚊𝚗𝚐𝚞𝚊𝚐𝚎, 𝚖𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗𝚜 𝚘𝚏 𝚋𝚕𝚘𝚘𝚍, 𝚐𝚞𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚘𝚖𝚎 𝚜𝚌𝚎𝚗𝚎𝚜,  𝚋𝚕𝚘𝚘𝚍, 𝚟𝚒𝚘𝚕𝚎𝚗𝚌𝚎/𝚏𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝𝚜, 𝚍𝚎𝚊𝚝𝚑, 𝚢𝚊𝚔��𝚣𝚊/𝚖𝚊𝚏𝚒𝚊, 𝚜𝚞𝚐𝚐𝚎𝚜𝚝𝚒𝚟𝚎 𝚜𝚌𝚎𝚗𝚎𝚜, 𝚏𝚕𝚞𝚏𝚏??

·

·

𝙴𝚗𝚓𝚘𝚢!

𝕄𝕒𝕤𝕥𝕖𝕣𝕝𝕚𝕤𝕥  

· · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · ·

𝕋𝕙𝕖 𝕟𝕠𝕣𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕣𝕟 𝕤𝕙𝕣𝕚𝕜𝕖 (𝕃𝕒𝕟𝕚𝕦𝕤 𝕓𝕠𝕣𝕖𝕒𝕝𝕚𝕤)

is a large songbird species in the shrike family (Laniidae) native to North America and Siberia. Long considered a subspecies of the great grey shrike, it was classified as a distinct species in 2017. Six subspecies are recognised.

Also known as butcherbirds, loggerhead and northern shrikes leave a culinary horror show in their wake. Both species regularly impale prey — often still alive — on spikes, thorns, or barbed wire, and leave them there for days or weeks...

· · · · · ·

Soft rumble of an engine died down, a click then a creak, car belts were taken off and doors opened. The wet concrete crunched as two pairs of feet got out of the vehicle.. The air was crisp and bone shatteringly cold, but it didn’t stop the figures from wearing inappropriately thin clothing, definitely unsuited for this weather, just after a heavy rainfall at 2am. Their breaths left their lips and noses in small huffs of steam, the car lights blinked when a blonde haired male locked it. The outside of this motel was.. shitty, like all motels in this ditched area, the slums as most locals would call it, somehow close and yet on the outskirts of the big city. Illuminated by a few half working lamps, all had a different colored light bulb in it, one more yellow other looked almost green, a definite eyesore..

The blond offered his hand, and the h/c haired figure accepted hooking their arms together, their strides synchronized as they made their way to the only different door, which had windows installed in the top half, that were half covered by frilly covers anyway, this was different as other doors were full wood and the only window was on the left side of each one, which were barred over with metal rods with chipped paint and rust over their surface. The smaller figure waited as the blond opened the door causing some ridiculous old beaver plushy to play an off note tune on its dying batteries, while shaking from side to side, on the small table, covered in newspapers and magazines from 2 decades ago..

With a huff the two figures walked beside the building, a balcony corridor of the 2nd floor provided a roof for the bottom one, the pillars supporting it were just as shitty as the rest of the motel, the paint cracked, some were even cracked from the inside, the concrete crumbling from the sides, weeds grew from the cracks near the ground or between the old, dirty and in some places even missing tiles, in front of every door was a different garden bench, the plastic ones were overrun by spiders, lost their colorful vibrance and some were cracked, missing armrests or back supporting ribs.

· · · ·

The two figures entered the lit up room, all cluttered and mismatched, with wooden panels going 3/4ths up the wall in a disgusting, over glossed orange, the rest of the wall was a faded gray green, and the ceiling yellowed over white, most probably because of the countless cigarettes the clerk seemed to smoke without a care in the world. With a soft thud the blond set down a bag he was carrying and looked to the woman which just then lazily looked up from her newspaper from today, between her manicured fingers of her left hand rested a crooked half smoked cigarette, on the top of the counter rested an ashtray shaped like a seagull sitting on top of the bowl, which was overfilled with cigarette butts.

“A single room for two, single bed” The blonde spoke, his tone dry but not hostile, just, neutral, his sharp eyes gazed to the clerk, who sighed and motioned to one of the few signs, hung up on the mismatched wall, ironically there was a sign forbidding smoking in the rooms, but the one the clerk meant was one that in big red and black letters said ‘This is a MOTEL not a SEX hotel’. “We came to have a one night’s rest.” The e/c eyed figure spoke up from beside the blonde “Name?” The old woman croaked, her lips were covered in some shitty, pink, glitter lipstick, that cracked with each letter that left her mouth.

“Nanami.” As this name fell from the blondes mouth the clerk looked up, her body definitely stiffened, this name was known, especially here, yakuza- The woman’s eyes wandered, seeing the tattoos peaking from under Kento’s collar, the figure beside him too, now their eyes wandered on the littered messy walls, looking with disgust, but there were tattoos on their neck too. The clerk swallowed a little before looking to her old box computer, signing in the two for a free room, she reached over to a small plastic container, which once was transparent, but now it was clouded yellow from the cigarette smoke. She pulled out a key with 116 number on it and set it on the counter.

With the sound of the creepy beaver plush fading the two made their way upstairs, to the floor above to their room which was far from the reception side and the staircase. Nanami held his arm hooked with y/n while his other hand was occupied with the bag over his shoulder and the key in his fingers. The two walked in silence, they had a reason to be here and not in Nanami’s quarters in the big comfortable bed. Y/n glanced to the man beside them and gave him a small smile, their eyes flickering to their room number for a moment before stopping.

The atmosphere felt tense now, instead of unwelcoming, the clerk definitely knew not to fuck with these people, especially under that name. “Its 1540 ¥ a night for a room.” She spoke her tone wasn’t too stuck up anymore too. Y/n found it amusing, their e/c eyes scanned the messy walls, with posters, newspaper cutouts, offers to buy or sell, rules etc. nothing seemed interesting, but they listened calmly to the exchange, when the keys jingled in Kento’s hand y/n looked over sparing the clerk but a glance, one that froze the woman in her tracks once more, the mischievous fox like glance and a smirk would be burned into the clerks head for a while..

· · · ·

As a pair of strong hands rummaged through the bag on his lap, a certain someone sneaked their arms around the blonds waist, their smile never fading, a little mischievous, their gaze sharp as they glanced towards one of the windows seeing the smallest of blinks, someone was watching. Their lips parted and leaned to the soft skin between Nanami’s neck and ear whispering, their words unreadable from lip reading as they tilted their head just enough to inconvenience whoever tried to peek at them. “They’re watching..” they whispered pulling on an act, having just a bit too much experience in this field with the blond, their hands explored his chest, unbuttoning a few top clasps of his shirt, reviling just a bit more of the big tattoo covering his back, one that only lucky survived seeing in its full glory.

Nanami opened the door and stepped aside for the other, just for his lips to be captured in a kiss, making his eyes widen for a moment, just before he let out a satisfied hum. With that the blonde was pulled inside of the tiny, sucky room, the door behind them shutting with a dull thud. Y/n pulled away as soon as the door shut with a small cocky smile tugging their lips, Nanami loosened his tie a little more than the figure before him did “Remember what we’re here for.” His words were simple, earning a nod and a smile yet again, but this one was hunting, a smile with a dangerous glint, one that always entranced the blond, who took the smaller hand in his and kissed it softly, before leading them to the bed.

· · · ·

With the only light lit in the room being the bedside lamp, small and shitty providing a dim orange light and even flickering once, the space was dark, dark enough for the two to carry out what they wanted, prepared, the bag was there for a reason after all. In a smooth motion, the blond turned, dropping the bag and caging the e/c eyed figure underneath himself, with a smooth move his hand traced up from their elbow to their palm, placing a cold handle in their hand and gripping it there for a moment as they carried out their act.

Y/n felt the adrenaline rush through their veins as their black kimono was slipped off of their shoulders and dropped aside, their lips briefly parting from the blond, their left arm wrapped around the broad shoulders of a man above them, his hair messy, falling in thin strands over his forehead. If this mission failed, this would be the last time they would see Nanami like this. Y/n chuckled breathily at the sweet nothings the blond whispered between the kisses. Their right hand gripping a cold metal handle, feeling of material wrapped in an intricate pattern under their fingertips, this was to be a quiet one, no guns, knowing who the enemy was, the dark colored blade didn’t even reflect light.

As the sound of the shower accompanied the constant buzz of the shitty lights and the sound of a  shitty small fan inside the bathroom, another sound joined after a moment, the sound of the door, these unlocked front door, left just for that one, special masked figure which slipped inside, with a knife prepared in their shaking hand, this person was afraid, petrified, after all their target was Nanami Kento himself, the head of the second biggest yakuza around, the boss himself, the one with a golden tiger on his back.. As the masked figure entered, the blond haired yakuza sat, shirtless, on the bed, his hands held together and elbows leaning on his knees, his eyes sharp looking to his assassin.

They waited for the right moment, that moment that came soon enough, an engine, a crunch of the concrete and gravel, then the dull thud of the closed doors. This was a small signal, Y/n got up from the bed, not without a few kisses here and there, they grabbed a towel hiding their right hand and went to the bathroom, Nanami was left alone, he felt the gaze on his back, if their suspicions were wrong, he would drop dead in a second, shot from a nearby building, but that didn’t happen.. yet.

· · · ·

The silver blade reflected the dim orange light, Nanami could see his warped image in the curved metal, which surely was covered in some kind of poison, it was the Orochi yakuza assassin, known for their poisoned blades. The bright blue eyes peaked out from under the mask, this being the only distinctive feature of the figure, which loomed closer, a soundless step after another “Your partner will find you drowning in your own blood-“ The figure spoke, their voice surprisingly kept together, seeping with venom, the blonds brow twitched, he knew all too well why he was targeted.

His dark eyes lingered on the assassin, who gripped the blade tight in their hand, their bright blues searching around Nanami, his hands, the bed, in case any weapon was around, they were to kill the boss and leave in one peace, a simple mission, yet something felt off. With one more step, Kento felt the nerves arise, Y/n was taking their time, he needed his little songbird, he gave up the only weapon he had to his sweet shrike. Now completely defenseless, Nanami felt the creeping doubt arise in the back of his head, but on the outside not a muscle twitched, his dull eyes almost unblinking looked into the one that could potentially bring him death.

A thud, the sound of the shower became louder as the creaking door flung open, the blue eyes catching but a glance of h/c as the figure took a leap, a black matte blade in their hands smoothly gliding between the left ribs of the black clad figure, a disgusting squelch sounded, then a guttural gasp and then, crimson, red blood seeped from under the black mask, the poisoned blade falling to the ground with a soft pad against the carpet. Y/n’s lips curled into a sadistic smirk, the shock, the fear and then the grimace of pain, agony, they found something so entrancing in these moments, their hands gripped the long katana handle twisting it one side then the other before dropping the body.

The figure still tried to fight, move their hand towards the blade, but this was met with a snap, a crunch of bones beneath a heavy boot of y/n’s, their gaze sharp, finding amusement in this kind of play, but there was no time to play, Nanami looked to the h/c haired figure and got up, grabbing their clothing, his shirt, y/n’s kimono, and setting them on a chair “Hurry up and die already~” Their voice purred as they crouched down to the groaning in agony figure, the blood spilling, staining the shitty carpet quickly. Y/n grabbed the poisoned blade and smirked, their hand grabbing over the assassins’ forehead, using the blade they pulled up the mask, just a little, a tattoo of a snake on the right side.

Nanami watched calmly as the sound of skin cut and blood splattering filled the room, the blood gushed out in pumps staining y/n’s hand and the blade, the room too, but it didn’t change much, it probably wasn’t ever cleaned anyway. They got up, gripping the masked head in their blood stained hand, they walked up to the window and held the head up, seeing once again, the blink of reflection, the deed was done. The blonde walked up to the h/c haired figure, a smile so small yet present tugged on his lips. His right hand rested on the bloodied figures waist, his left hand gently turned y/n’s head by their chin, his thumb, rough, lacking fingerprints, these carved out years ago, wiped a droplet of blood from their cheek.

His dark eyes flickered to the watcher, seeing the glint too, his gaze went back to his partner, which still held the head up to the window, just for a moment longer before lowering their trophy, the body behind them still bleeding out, impaled on the long black blade through its heart. Nanami kissed their cheek, where a small stain of blood was left “You’ve ruined your clothing.. But you finished your mission.” The male spoke between a few smaller pecks, trailing to their lips, there he placed a lingering sweet kiss, his hand trailing to their hair and gently brushing through the strands “My sweet Northern Shrike..”

· · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · ·

@ryosmne​ @love-amihan​ @falling4fandoms​​

||if youd like to be added to the tag list, comment, send an ask or a dm :))

[yoomiii123]

The Runaways - Part 3: To rescue a friend

Read this on Fanfiction.net , AO3 , or right here on Tumblr!

Summary: Peter's PoV of the night he went back for Jasper.

Word Count: 2'625

Trigger Warnings: none

Rating: PG

“Look, there it is!”

A thousand crystals sparkled on Charlotte’s hand as she lifted it and pointed towards something in the distance. My eyes didn’t follow; my gaze captured by the bite mark between her thumb and index finger. We were so close now. With a bit of luck, I could be back before sunrise tomorrow, maybe even sooner. All I had to do, was—

The loud thump of Charlotte’s ornithology book being closed startled me from my thoughts. “You’re not listening at all, are you?”

“I’m sorry. Please, tell me about the log-bird you spotted.” I placed my arm around her shoulders and pulled her closer. The dry grass below us rustled as her body dragged over to mine.  

“Loggerhead shrike,” she corrected and placed her head on my chest. “But you’re not really interested in it.”

I smiled and placed a kiss on her forehead. “You’re interested, that’s good enough for me.”

“Usually, I would buy that, but you’ve been distracted for a while now. I told you we didn’t have to go this far south if it bothers you.”

It’s not Mexico that bothers me. It’s who’s down there.

I sighed and sat up. Charlotte slipped from my embrace and rolled over to her back, looking up at me. She was at ease, happier than I had ever dared to hope. The last four years had been everything she ever wanted, and she told me so regularly.

I had worried about running at first; about not being able to give her a home or something to hold on to, except for the few things we carried on our backs. But by the time we figured out that the world wasn’t at war, that this immortal existence wasn’t about constantly fighting for livestock, we had gotten used to it. She loved travelling, running up and down the continent, discovering something new every day. And I was more than happy to follow. To see something more of the world than just my small hometown in Arizona and the greater Monterrey area, where I had spent the first years of my second life.

But unlike Charlotte, who felt free like the birds—her newest obsession—, there was still something holding me back. I had done my best to confine that part of me to the darkest corners of my mind for the past five years, but with every happy moment we shared, it inched closer to the light. I hadn’t been able to lock it up again once we reached Texas. It was at the forefront of my consciousness now, ever present. This regret, this guilt over leaving my brother.

“I have to go back for him.” The words slipped out before I could stop them.

Charlotte responded immediately; her body tensed, and all serenity left her face. She was on her feet in an instant, arms crossed and eyes furious. “Absolutely not.”

I sighed. This conversation hadn’t been fun the first three times we had it and I doubted it would turn out differently this time around. But I couldn’t push it off any longer. “I owe it to him, Char. He saved your life. And mine, twice!”

“We owe him nothing. He didn’t save us; he just decided not to kill us. That’s the decent thing to do, Peter. Most of the vampires we met over the last years did the exact same thing, yet I don’t recall us owing them anything.”

“It’s different down there,” I tried again, though I already suspected it would be useless. She never saw a real battle and I was eternally thankful for that. But it also made justifying Jasper’s actions to her very difficult.

“That’s no excuse. You were down there too and yet you treated us with some respect. He didn’t care at all.”

That’s where you’re wrong, I thought. Jasper did care, she just didn’t see it. She wasn’t there for the fights. For the purges. She didn’t see the way his eyes mourned, the way he kept vigil over the burned bodies of his soldiers. But I did, and I was convinced he wouldn’t stay if he knew that Maria’s tales of war had been a lie.

“You’ve already made up your mind, haven’t you?” Charlotte spat. Her jaw was clenched tightly now, her expression unreadable. But her eyes revealed just how betrayed she felt.

And despite how much I cared for her, she was right. Nothing she could say was going to change my mind. I had lost brothers before; I had to try and save this one at least. “I can’t do this anymore if I don’t, Char. I can’t be happy knowing I didn’t even try to help him. The regret is eating me alive.”

“And what about me? Losing you is going to eat me alive.”

I had no words. I wasn’t going to lie to her and promise I would come back. I knew that there was a very real chance I wouldn’t. Even if I made it down to Monterrey without incidents, I could run into Maria first. Or one of her newborns. There even was a small risk that Jasper had a change of heart; that he would kill me the moment he laid eyes on me. I had spent countless days agonising over these possibilities, and I had come to terms with them. If there was the slightest chance that I could save my brother from another century of pointless war, I had to take it.

“So, you’re choosing him over me after all.” A tearless sob escaped Charlotte’s throat.

It pained me to see her like that. I wanted to hold and comfort her, but she recoiled, wrapping her own arms around her tiny body as if she was trying to keep herself together. “Don’t you dare touch me!”

I ran a hand over my face and turned my eyes to the sky, silently hoping to find an answer written somewhere in the clouds. But the blush-pink endlessness just stared back at me through the leafy canopy, wordless. There was no other way, nothing I could say to ease her pain. My actions were going to hurt her, and I was ready to accept that.

“At least let me come with you,” Charlotte whispered after a minute of agonizing silence. The sorrow in her voice went straight through my chest and clutched my dead heart, crushing it. She had come closer; was almost within reach of my arms now.

I closed my eyes and bit my lip. “No, I cannot risk that.”

“So, you can go and throw your life away to save a monster, and I cannot even try to protect the man I love?” Bitterness laced her words like a serpent’s sting.

“It’s safer this way. I won’t be able to focus on myself if you’re down there with me,” I replied, reaching for her hand again. She pulled it away.

“And if you don’t come back?”

I swallowed my grief down, but my voice still didn’t muster the encouragement I had hoped for. “You’ll figure it out. You’re strong. And smart. And we’ll always have the last five years.”

She was in my arms within the blink of an eye, wrapping hers around my waist so tightly I was glad she’d lost her newborn strength years ago. “You better come back. I don’t want to figure it out without you,” she muttered.

I rested my chin on the top of her head and memorized how it felt to hold her. Me either.

xxxx

The sun had long gone when I left, my initial plans to be back before sunrise squashed by the sudden reality of losing my mate and leaving her to fend for herself. But despite all of the pain, my resolve didn’t waiver. I had to do this. Not just for Jasper, but also for us. I couldn’t spend an eternity living with regret. That wasn’t fair to myself or Charlotte.

I pushed my legs to the brink, only stopping once to replenish my strength before crossing the border. Avoiding big towns and keeping to the woods and mountains as far as possible, I worked my way towards Monterrey, praying to the only god I knew that Jasper would still be there. If he wasn’t, there was a good chance that this endeavour would end before I even had a chance to talk to him.

My worry spiked when I came across the scents of at least six vampires just a few minutes outside Valladares. There was no trace of Jasper and Maria with them, so either they had replaced me or there was another army this close to Monterrey. Either way, it didn’t bode well for me. I slowed down, paying more attention to my surroundings, keeping my eyes out for scouts. But there were none. I passed the Cerro Tía Chena to the west without hindrance and crossed through the valley towards the city just as the first light appeared on the horizon.

There were more tracks now, and they quickly mixed with the blood of humans starting their day. I made it halfway around the city before the sunlight became too worrisome and I had to hide in the poorly protected basement of a nearby farmhouse.

I crawled through the narrow window again at sundown, hungry and nervous. My scent had been lingering in the area for an entire day now. It was very likely that someone had followed it. The eerie feeling of eyes on my back didn’t disappear, despite me not being able to make out any red eyes in the small crowds of people going after their evening activities. Eventually, my thirst drove me to risk it. After running for five hours and hiding for almost triple of that, I was famished. And that one old woman walking her dog just smelled too good.

After carrying the corpse out to the Parque Nacional and burying her alongside her pet without incident, I was positive that my fears had been for naught. If someone was watching me, they would have attacked before I hunted on their territory. The thought was just as comforting as it was troubling. The chances that Maria and Jasper had moved on to God knew where were rising by the minute.

I checked the barn next, but it was abandoned too. There was only one more place I could go to now; a small cavern system to the south of the city. This was where I woke up after being turned. It was my last shot.

I had just crossed back around the city and disappeared in the trees of the forest, when I suddenly heard another set of inhumanly fast feet behind me. Someone had picked up my trail. After all these hours, my luck had run out.

I pushed on, hoping to find a small clearing or plateau ahead. A place where it would be easier to spot the attackers coming for me. But the other vampire was fast, he was closing in. At least his were the only steps I could perceive; my pursuer was alone. I jumped over a fallen log and hid behind the next best boulder I could find. There was no way I would outrun him—or her.

Just as I stopped, the forest suddenly turned silent. The other set of steps had disappeared as well, and there was nothing audible now, except for the distant buzzing of the city. Did I get away?

No, of course not. I realised my mistake a split-second too late, just as a white flash descended from the tree above and landed on the forest floor just a few feet away. My body instinctively braced itself for the attack as my eyes scanned the opponent for any weaknesses when I suddenly recognised him. His posture seemed off and his skin was even more mangled than when I last saw him, but there was no mistake. The man crouching in front of me like a wounded tiger was my former brother in arms. “Jasper?”

“So, it is you. I didn’t believe it at first when the scout told me a ‘tall gringo’ was walking around the city as if he owned the place.” The small smile that danced on his lips as he straightened up was enough for me to lower my guard fully. Still, there was a heavy air around him, trying to drag me down. I doubted that it was a conscious effort, he didn’t look like he was going to attack anymore. Still, it was odd for him to his control slack like that.

“Where’s the girl?” he asked before I could figure out the right way to greet him.

I smiled; he remembered her without contempt in his voice. This was a good sign. “Charlotte’s fine. She’s waiting for me up north. It was easier to do this without her.”

“I’m glad to hear that. You should go back to her, Peter. It isn’t a good time to be around here.”

“I will, after I’ve told you what I’ve come to say.”

Jasper’s eyes darted around, as if he was scanning the area for danger. Wasn’t this their territory anymore?

“You better be quick about it then. Maria has people watching me. It won’t be long before they find us, and you’ll best be on your way by then.”

I raised an eyebrow. Maria was watching him? Things certainly had changed. But he was right, there was time for questions later. After, I convinced him to come with me. Hopefully.

“She lied to us,” I started. “The world is not all territorial fights and newborn armies. Charlotte and I have been living peacefully for almost five years now. We haven’t seen a fight since we left here.”

Jasper’s eyes stopped racing and focused on me. “That’s impossible.”

“It’s not, I swear. There are covens up north too, but they coexist amicably. No bad blood and certainly no armies. Most of us live as nomads though, it’s easier to hunt when on the move. And it’s also quite fun to discover what the world has to offer. I saw snow for the first time a few years ago, it was quite the experience.”

“Coexist amicably?” he echoed, running a hand over his face in disbelief.

I nodded. “Yes. We’ve had a lot of interesting conversations. Some even invited us to hunt with them. It’s not at all like it is down here.”

“And the Volturi?”

“We haven’t heard a word of them either.” I carefully reached out a hand to touch his shoulder. Jasper flinched at first, but he didn’t brush it off. “Look, I know this place—Maria—is your home. But it doesn’t have to be. You could come with me, travel with us. Get away from this pointless war. We—”

“Okay.”

Disbelief slipped from my tongue before I could stop it. “What?!”

“We should leave immediately, before Maria learns of this,” Jasper said. “Unless you changed your mind?”

“No, I— Of course, let’s go,” I stuttered, dumbfounded by how easy it had been to convince him.

My mind was still trying to wrap itself around what had happened as we ran down the mountain. Jasper led us in a big circle around the city before we headed north. And even though my legs were still tired from the sprint yesterday, running had never felt easier. The chains of regret that were holding me back for the last five years had been cut, I had my brother at my side again, and nothing would be able to stop us from leaving this wretched place behind. 

All I had to hope for now was that Charlotte would eventually forgive me for this.

[lady-divine-writes]

Kurtbastian one-shot “Surprise Guest Stars” (Rated PG13)

Summary: Chaos ensues when some uninvited performers show up to Thomas's Christmas pageant ... (2221 words)

Notes: Blaine friendly. Assume this happens in a world that hasn’t met Covid yet. A re-write for @kbweek2020 Day 4 prompt Parents.

Part 60 of Daddies.

Read on AO3.

“You tell him!” Sebastian whispers. 

“No, you tell him!” Blaine whispers back fervently - a huge fail if he was trying to keep Kurt from hearing him. For a man who’s been working in theater professionally since college, how could Blaine forget that Kurt would be able to hear him from every corner of the stage? Rule number one of working backstage - no shushing and no whispering.

“Why me?” Sebastian asks.

“Because you’re his husband! You have a child together! If I tell him, detectives will never find my body! He won’t hurt you!”

“Yeah, right. Wanna bet?”

“Sure. Can you break a hundred?”

“For God’s sake!” Kurt snaps, too overwhelmed this close to curtain to handle anything that might go hand-in-hand with those two and their whisper fighting. “Would one of you just tell me what the heck is going on? What are you arguing about?”

Sebastian looks at Blaine, waiting for him to give Kurt the explanation he’s demanding while Sebastian searches for a place to hide. He’s out of luck when Blaine catches him off guard with a huge shove towards center stage right in the path of the steely-eyed man walking aggressively toward them, the thick heels of Kurt's Jimmy Choo loafers pounding against the wood floorboards marking down the remaining seconds of their lives.

Blaine may have made his living on the stage, but Kurt takes theater much more seriously than he ever has.

“We might have a problem,” Sebastian says.

“What? What problem!? It’s fifteen minutes to showtime! Don’t talk to me about problems!”

“O … okay ...” Sebastian smiles sheepishly, splaying his hands in a conciliatory gesture. “Let’s call it a hiccup then.”

“A hiccup is a safety-gated synonym for problem, and I refuse to accept that there are any problems.”

“And yet, we still have one.”

Kurt sighs, throwing a hand to his forehead to shield his already blooming headache from whatever stupidity this is, and ends up smacking himself with his clipboard. “Fine!” he groans, rubbing the sore spot. “What is it!?”

“Look up there.” Sebastian reaches out to take his husband’s shoulder and redirect his attention. But after considering the possibility of getting his hand bitten off - a hand that will become most important if Kurt decides to never sleep with him again after this - he motions with his chin instead.

“Up where?”

“Up … up there. In the Christmas tree.”

“What? Is Mrs. Popson complaining that the ornaments are unbalanced again? Are we going to have to re-Feng Shui the lights to better complement her third graders’ angel piglets?” Kurt allows himself a snicker as he follows Sebastian’s instructions and gazes up. Eight dozen ridiculous things have happened so far, and their little pageant has yet to even open. That’s probably all this is - something ridiculous. A minor inconvenience blown way out of proportion.

At least, that’s what it had better be.

But as he peers through the branches of their picturesque twelve-foot Fraser fir, he realizes no. This isn’t a little thing. It’s a rather large thing. So large, he wonders how come he didn’t notice it before now.

“Oh … shit,” he mutters.

“It's Blaine's fault. I didn't see it until he pointed it out,” Sebastian says, passing the blame off on an offended Blaine and leaping quickly aside in case this revelation has consequences. 

“This,” Kurt hisses, jabbing a finger upward, "is why I told you I wanted an artificial tree for the Christmas pageant! Where did we get this thing anyway?”

“It was donated by Father Bruno at St. Adalbert’s Parish to show support for the school's LGBTQ+ inclusive program. He went out to the woods and cut it down himself!”

“Right!” Kurt folds his arms over his chest. “He probably planned this! Did it on purpose to sabotage our pageant! You can’t trust the Catholics! Don’t I always say that!?”

Sebastian looks at Blaine, and a confused Blaine looks back, each wondering if this is some inside remark directed at the other.

“No!” Sebastian pulls a face. “I have never heard you say that!”

“Well, you can’t,�� Kurt sniffs. “And whether I said it or not, it’s generally implied.”

“I don’t think the man did this on purpose,” Blaine says, but does so in that soothing tone he used so often on Kurt in high school. A bad decision, Blaine realizes, the moment Kurt's head pivots his way, and he sees everything from Kurt’s neck to his scalp turn a bright, crayon red.

“Really!? Then let me ask you this - during the time it took the good father to cut this tree down and drag it over here, he never once noticed there was not one, not two, but three nests inside!?”

“I guess not! But neither did y---we,” Sebastian corrects, his life flashing before his eyes when he comes close to implying his husband is at fault. “We got the tree last minute. I guess they slipped through the cracks.”

“Obviously.” Kurt closes his eyes and drops his head, searching for an answer in the dark behind his lids.

Five minutes.

By now, they only have five minutes. He hears the children lining up with their teachers backstage while he and his husband argue. But they need to stop arguing and come up with a solution.

Fast!

He takes a deep breath in and exhales out, the inklings of a plan forming in his head.

“It’s okay,” he says, reassuring himself more than anyone, the headache simmering behind his eyes threatening to become a full-blown migraine. “It’s going to be okay. They haven’t let the parents in yet. They’re still in line outside. We can fix this. We can still fix this. We can move them, right? Just … shimmy up there and get them down?”

Blaine and Sebastian shoot each other anxious looks. This time, Blaine starts, choosing to jump on the grenade for Sebastian. “Uh … no. We can’t.”

“Yes, we can,” Kurt counters, over-enunciating consonants through teeth clenched so hard they’re about to pop from his skull. “Figure out a way to skitter up there and pluck them out. It can’t be too difficult.”

“I’m sorry, Kurt …”

“Or come at them from above. You can reach down from the catwalk. That might work out better seeing as they’re so high up.”

“No, Kurt …”

“We’re not going to hurt them,” Kurt interjects as if that might be the big hold up. “We’re going to relocate them.”

“Kurt …”

“There’s a cat carrier in the fifth-grade room,” Kurt continues desperately, unsure why it is this can’t be done, why Blaine can't say, "Brilliant, Kurt! I'll get right on that!" He’s seen people do it before. The Crocodile Hunter (God rest his soul) rescued birds left and right. That nice Officer Kevin from the SPCA who rescued the deranged pigeon from his father's auto body shop. And wasn’t there a famous Vine where some guy got an owl out of his kitchen using a broom? It can’t be that difficult. “We’ll toss them in there for the time being and then …”

“Kurt!” Blaine cuts in, raising his voice a tad higher than advisable considering the situation. “We can’t move them!”

Kurt's glare nearly takes the top of Blaine's head clean off. “And why can’t we?”

“Because those aren’t just any birds.” The three men look up at the exact moment nine fluffy faces peek over the edges of their nests and look down, probably wondering what all the commotion below is about. “Those are loggerhead shrikes.”

Kurt and Sebastian both look at their friend with confusion on their faces.

“How do you know that?” Sebastian asks.

Kurt puts a hand on his husband’s shoulder and shakes his head. “That question is going to require a longer answer than we have time for. Plus, there are children in the building. Just accept that Blaine has a thing about birds.” 

"PG? Or R?" Sebastian asks, needing clarification regardless.

"Try X," Kurt says in a lowered voice.

Sebastian looks at a blushing Blaine with wide, disgusted, but somewhat amused eyes.

"Continue," Kurt says, "from the part where you tell us why these birds are about to ruin our pageant.”

“Loggerhead shrikes are threatened. That means they’re protected. We can’t move them ourselves. We might not be able to move them at all without taking the tree with them.”

Kurt’s eyes bug. “We can’t … we can’t … the tree!? Oh great! This keeps getting better and better!”

“Relax.” Sebastian takes the risk and puts a hand on Kurt’s shoulder. He tries to massage it, but it’s hard as a rock. “It’s okay. We can still sort this out.”

“And how do you suggest we do that!? Huh!? Our Christmas pageant, which your son is starring in by the way, and is supposed to start in …” Kurt spins around in search of a clock. When he can’t see the one on the far wall, ironically because of the tree, he fishes his cell phone out of his pocket and checks the screen. His eyes bug out farther “… two minutes! has been hijacked by birds!”

“Look, Kurt, they’ve been chill so far. Maybe we can have the pageant with them there and move them after. Problem solved.”

“Yeah,” Kurt agrees optimistically, trying to force his heart to slow down, seeing how, with no time to spare, this could be a feasible option. “You're right! We’ll let them stay! Problem solved! I mean, what’re a few birds? It doesn’t look like they can even fly yet. And they’re cute! They’ll add realism. They won’t be any trouble.”

“Not exactly,” Blaine says, and Kurt has never wanted to punch him in the face so hard in his life. Wait … come to think about it, there may have been one or two other times. “There may be a whole other bigger problem.”

“And that is?”

“Those are babies. Juveniles, specifically. I don’t see any moms. Or dads for that matter.”

“I know I’m going to regret asking this,” Kurt moans, resigned to whatever fate Blaine’s knowledge is about to bestow upon them, “but … that’s a problem why?”

“Because loggerhead shrikes are protective. Being separated from their chicks, the parents will get aggressive. Also, if the babies don’t know where their parents are and they get nervous …” A series of jarring screeches interrupt Blaine’s explanation. Kurt glares up at the birds, mouths open wide, cawing loudly into the air. Blaine points up. “They’ll do that.”

“Great!” Kurt yelps, at the end of his rope. “So we have potentially agro birds loose in the theater, baby birds that spontaneously scream bloody murder, and a play set to start in half-a-minute, which we may have to postpone indefinitely in case we need to call animal control - do I have that right?”

“Basically, yes.”

“Well, skippidy do! Is there anything else!? Anything at all you’ve forgotten to tell me!? Because what else could possibly go wrong!?”

The doors at the back of the auditorium fly open, and Kurt blanches, knowing that right then and there, his question is about to be answered.

“Kurt! Sebastian!” the assistant principal yells, looking a little too much like Tippi Hedren in The Birds for anything good to come from her sudden appearance. “Come quick! It’s an emergency!”

“What? What, what, what is it now!?” Kurt asks, sounding less than sympathetic.

“Insane birds are dive-bombing parents in line outside! Three people have already been pecked! Everyone is scattering!”

With the auditorium doors thrown open, Kurt can hear the panicked yells of parents banging on the steel doors outside, begging to be let in. Above that, the shrieking of the birds searching for their babies echo through the halls, their screams so high-pitched and piercing, they make their way through the thick stone walls and double-layered storm windows. Hearing their parents’ cries, the baby birds respond, frantically flapping their wings in an effort to take flight themselves and reach them.

Bitterly Kurt thinks all of his problems might be solved if they give it a go, plummet to the ground, and break their little birdie necks.

How un-festive of him.

Sebastian looks at his done-in husband. “Do you want me to go outside and handle this one alone?”

“No.” Kurt straightens his back, squares his shoulders, hands his clipboard over to Blaine, and makes for the stairs to the stage, head held high like a gladiator going off to fight an unwinnable war. “I’ll go. Blaine? Tell the teachers … there’s been a bit of a delay.”

“Will do,” Blaine says, leaving the stage with a solemn salute and a sigh of relief.

“And Sebastian?”

“Yes?” Sebastian says, falling in behind his husband, unwilling to let him walk off into the bird battle alone.

“Do me a favor?”

“Anything.”

“The next time I ask what could possibly go wrong - gag me.”

“Absolutely.” Sebastian smirks, preparing to die on the hill of bringing a smile back to his husband’s face. “Just so I can plan appropriately … will you be asking that anytime tonight, perchance? Because I can get a babysitter and rent a room in about five seconds.”

“Great,” Kurt replies humorlessly. “Do that. Let’s pray I’ll have enough blood left in my body to enjoy it.”

[fantabulisticity]

Okay so I'm reblogging this from myself bc I checked the notes and no one is talking about how cool these birds are! I am by no means educated on them, and I struggle with memory loss so I remember very little besides that they are REALLY COOL AND I LOVE THEM.

Prairie chickens are also called Boomers because of the sound, "booming," the males make as a mating call. Audubon has audio you can listen to here (2 buttons near the bottom of the page).

From The Nature Conservancy:

Greater prairie chickens are best known for their elaborate mating rituals. Every spring, males gather together on traditional breeding grounds known as "leks" or "booming grounds" where each male defends a small territory. 

First, he raises his pinnae feathers (long feathers on the neck) and tail feathers, inflates his bright orange throat sac, and lowers his wings. Then boom! The loud booming sounds made with their air sacs can be heard over a mile away. Then, they rapidly stamp their feet and do a stylized dance by rotating in a half-circle one way, then the other way, and make runs at one another. Males often leap into the air to cackle and attack each other with their wings, feet, and beaks. Even females get in on the action by chasing one another on the leks. Some "ancestral" leks have been used by the greater prairie chickens for more than a century. The best time to see these displays are just before and after sunrise in spring.

That article also has photos of the displaying males! They puff up those yellow-orange sacs to yell! It's so cool! Here's a video from Colorado Outdoors Magazine:

What a wonderdul bird! Unfortunately, they are endangered and a rare sight, which is why I'm always excited to see photos of them. Their range has shrunk drastically, mostly due to habitat loss. That same Audubon article has a great map of their current range, and the Wiki page I looked at also has a good map of their previous range compared to now. Both the Wiki and The Nature Conservancy say they're listed as Near Threatened, and Audubon says the "Texas coast race (Attwater's) is seriously endangered" and "the race on the Atlantic seaboard, called the Heath Hen, became extinct in 1932."

But there's hope for these birds! Here's an article from last year on how controlled burns can restore some of the grasslands the greater prairie chicken calls home:

Grasslands are the planet’s least protected and most threatened biome, around 40 percent of which has already been lost in the Great Plains, mainly to crops like corn, soybeans, and wheat. More than 2 million acres of prairie are plowed under each year in the United States—four football fields’ worth every minute. But data show that woody species are nearly as big a threat as plows. Their spread is a major cause of the habitat loss that has driven a 50 percent population decline in North America’s grassland birds over the past half-century.

...

The results [of Twidwell and others' study discussed in the article], Roberts says, provide the first evidence that fire has benefited grassland birds at this scale across this biologically unique region, which gets its name from loess—silty, fertile, yellowish-gray sediment that accumulates from windblown dust. When healthy, this mixed-grass prairie supports abundant wildlife, including the Burrowing Owl, Greater Prairie-Chicken, and Loggerhead Shrike. But when woody species encroach, they outcompete the native perennial plants that grassland birds need for food and shelter. They also provide perches for predators like raptors, a threat that causes some bird species to avoid the area. Grotelueschen sees the improvement on her own land. “Just 10 days after our last burn we came around the corner and there were five elk grazing on the new grass,” she says. “We hear the bobwhite quail out there when we’re working now, and I never heard them before the first burn.”

The Nature Conservancy article linked above (published in 2018 and updated in 2021) estimates there are 360,000 individual greater prairie chickens left. Here's another The Nature Conservancy article explaining what they're doing to restore habitat in Missouri and Iowa, and they've also had some success:

TNC: Can we say the prairie chicken is making a comeback in Missouri and Iowa? Doug Ladd: We've had exciting if initial sightings of these birds in restored habitats they wouldn't have been caught dead in ten years ago. And we've had a couple of confirmed sightings of several hundred birds clustered together, but we don't know where they've come from. The past few years we've seen some tough weather, which has impacted the population. We have also worked to relocate some birds from areas where they're more plentiful to augment the population at Dunn Ranch Prairie. But without what we've done—without conservation activity—they'd be gone. We would have already lost the prairie chicken, and it's the icon of the tallgrass prairie. If it's lost forever, we've lost part of the richness of our lives.

And if I remember, there's an organization that sells greater prairie chicken toys (plushes??? idr) where the proceeds go toward helping to restore their habitat, but I can't find it 😭

I did, however, find another website with the bird's sounds!

Greater Prairie Chicken (Tympanuchus cupido), male, fully charged and showing off!, family Phasianidae, order Galliformes, found on the north-central Great Plains of the United States

photograph by Wayne Williams

[digiscoped-warbler]

Galveston (December 30, 2017)

Went down to Galveston Island today with my friend Jenny! We did a big tour of a bunch of different places, stopping only fairly briefly at each site - including a couple places I hadn’t been before!

Galveston Island State Park:

A big open coastal grassy marsh! Lots of Western Ragweed (Ambrosia psilostachya), really pretty orange Bushy Bluestem (Andropogon glomeratus), and other grasses interspersed with shrubby Brooms (Baccharis sp.) and Cherokee Bean (Erythrina herbacea). This area was astoundingly full of White-tailed Kites (Elanus leucurus), Loggerhead Shrikes (Lanius ludovicianus) and Yellow-rumped Warblers (Setophaga coronata) - that last in particular I was a bit surprised by given the lack of any real trees. Also lots of wading birds of all kinds! 

Lafitte’s Cove:

Interesting being here outside of migration. The ducks were pretty nice, and the woods were pleasant but nothing too crazy in terms of small birds. We did get a Swamp Sparrow (Melospiza georgiana) which I’m never thinking about or expecting but which I always love! Lots more Cherokee Bean in here as well as  Southern Live Oak (Quercus virginiana) and other woody trees - and a pretty large amount of the invasive Macartney’s Rose (Rosa bracteata). We also found some Earthstars (Geastrales), a 

8 Mile Road/Beach:

A really nice stop! We had a Clapper Rail (Rallus crepitans) dart across the road into grassy cover on the drive in, and both a Common Goldeneye (Bucephala clangula) and two Common Loons (Gavia immer) in the open water off the fishing stop at the end of the road! All three species are really great birds that I wouldn’t have planned to rely on, and the last one in particular is of my favorite birds overall. :) 

Army Corp Woods:

A little quiet in terms of bird life, but very pretty in terms of plants! Dense shrubs of Carolina Laurelcherry (Prunus caroliniana), Southern Live Oak, and Brazilian Pepper-Tree (Schinus terebinthifolius) - the last another invasive. There were also a few Elms (Ulmus sp.) around, including at least one that I think I don’t know, as well as a Gaura (Gaura sp.) and a few other cute herbaceous flowering things!

Apfel Park:

Just a brief stop off here to pick off a few new shore and seabirds - Sanderlings (Calidris alba), Ruddy Turnstones (Arenaria interpres), a Caspian Tern (Hydroprogne caspia), and lots of other nice stuff! Someone had reported both a Parasitic Jaeger and a Little Gull here the day before, but they were seen far out over the water following ships, and it was foggy/rainy while we were here so we didn’t even really try for these very hard. It started pouring right before we left to see us off! 

[galacticbugman]

My favorite Birds

Somewhere along my crazy life I became a birder long before I became really interested in insects. It was back in the year 2015 when I had to have surgery on my kidneys due to a thing I have had since birth. Anyway while I was recovering my late grandmother bought me a camera to use. That Camera was a Nikon Coolpix L830. It was the camera that would lead me down this new path as a naturalist. While I was recovering I found myself using it more and more. I would often spend time out in nature and I found myself studying birds around my home town. My aunt taught out in a small area and next to their school they had a filed and an old farm stock tank. I would spend a lot of time photographing the birds and that is how my love for birds grew. I became a birder and have been all over Texas and Arkansas and even in parts of Oklahoma looking for birds of any kind. Even after I got into the Texas Master Naturalist program and now I am still a birder and have found many cool species in just a matter of four short years. I over 170 birds species on my life list but I am going to share just a fraction of those since that would be a lot of ground to cover. So here we go with my favorite birds from 2015-2019. Here we go with... *Dramatic Voice* NUMBER ONE! 

One of Texas’ most iconic birds; these little guys are not a parrot but they are related to the Northern Cardinal. Meet the Painted Bunting. This is a male that I got out at a place called the Southwest Nature Preserve. It is the place I got my start before I became a Texas Master Naturalist. These guys are so pretty with a head of royal blue, tow toned green feathers, a bright red breast they are a birder’s gateway bird. This one is one I had been searching for all my life. I finally saw my first one in 2015. It was at my feeder but I didn’t have my camera ready but this one I got in 2016 totally made up for it. These guys have one of the prettiest songs and for their tireless singing they are illegally caught in Mexico and sold as cage birds. They are a Near Threatened species unfortunately due to them being sold and put in captivity. The males are the most colorful of the two sexes. The female is an electric green color for camouflage when it is time to raise a family. She nests in a tickets of green brier which is a spiny vine that grows in most forests. They feed on a grass known as cup grass which is a Texas native grass. Some times they will feed at a feeder like the first one I ever spotted. It was one day after school and I was not having any luck with the birds so I went inside and after a while I went out to look out my den window and a male Painted Bunting eating out of my feeder that I had put mixed seed in. He ate and ate and ate. He would fly off and then come back. That was a truly special moment of my life. Now during most summers I get to see about two or three a year. Still one I am not sick of seeing. They are one that should always be on any birders watch list. They are such a striking and lovely bird.

Now on to bird *Dramatic Voice* NUMBER TWO 

Next up is the endangered Loggerhead Shrike. I have been going to Tarrant County College for a while now and I get up there pretty early to go to school during the Fall and Summer. This is one that I see pretty often while arriving by the Football Stadium across the street. These guys are colored very much like the Mockingbird but they have a darker and much bolder mask, hooked beak, and a more stouter build. They are a song bird but they have a raptor like way of life. Remember that hooked beak remark? Well that is how they rip and shred their prey. However they have a slight problem; their feet are much more like a songbird than a bird-of-prey so they have a solution to dealing with this issue. They will skewer their prey on a barb or a spine on a tree, bush, or barbed wire fence. These guys will then pull apart their prey. The more they have in their tree or where they store prey the more female shrikes will consider them to be more fit to be father’s to their chicks. They are one of my favorite birds and I have even noticed some of our trees have been used as their food trees. They are a really neat bird and one that is found in open areas. They are often seen on power lines and even in trees. They will eat a lot of things such mice, snakes, bugs and frogs. They are one of the coolest birds to learn about and one of the most interesting having the best of both worlds being one half song bird and one half raptor which is only seen in one other bird which is the Northern Shrike which we do not get in Texas. 

Bird NUMBER THREE! 

Now why is this Coyote in the photo well because the bird coming up is the Coyotes’ greatest nemesis. Well... okay... maybe not in real life but it is in the Looney Tunes skits. Lets meet the Roadrunner. 

The Greater Roadrunner is not really on the menu for the Coyote as most of Looney Tunes fans would like to think. In fact they get a long pretty well for the Roadrunner is fast and in actuality the Coyote wants stuff he can catch. The Roadrunner is a fast bird but instead of sticking out his tongue and making a *Blup* *Blup* *Blup* *MEEP! MEEP!* Sound followed by a loud ricochet sound; these guys actually sound much like a dove. Their calls can be a triple bill clap followed by a single whoop which is an alert to stay back which I have experienced first hand. They also have a sound that is a dove call that is loud by then gets softer and lower in tone but it is more of a gruff tone. I have only been able to photograph these birds three times this one here was my most recent one. This one was at a place near my school called Stella Rowan Prairie. We had just parked and my dad told me to look up and we saw it and I was able to get out and get this shot of the bird before he went into the under brush and disappeared. These are one of my favorite birds. Let me tell you they are fast but don’t believe everything you see in Hollywood productions. I love the roadrunner for many reasons one they are fast and two they are one of the funniest looking birds we have in North America. They are known to eat reptiles but are no strangers to raiding the dog dish. They will also eat insects. They are one of the fastest animals I have ever seen in the wild. You have to be very quiet to sneak up on one of these or they will quickly flee from you. They are sometimes a pain to photograph but once you do it is an experience you are not ever going to forget. 

The next one is one of my favorite ducks; this is my favorite of the North American Ducks. Meet the beautiful North American Wood Duck. This is a male; just look at his beautiful plumage of green, white, and chestnut, mixed with some cream color on the side where his wings are. What a beauty! These are my favorites for the male’s calls just make my heart melt. The males when calling make a squeaky DEZEET DEZEET DEZEET! Sound. It is high and a pleasant sound. The photos don’t do these guys justice; you have to look for them and experience them in the wild. I took all of my Wood Duck photos in Fort Worth Texas. This one was taken in Fort Worth at a nice little duck pond that is not too far from the Trinity River. These guys are so beautiful and the funny thing is they don’t look real. The female of this species is nearly all gray with some white. They nest in hollows of old trees in little cavities about seventy five foot up so predators don’t get to their nests. When time to hatch the female goes to the water as her babies hatch they will fluff up and then she will start to call and they have to drop seventy-five feet down to get to her. It is kind of daunting but they have a nice cousin to land in. They are one of the most common of our ducks but in my experience I have seen very few in my life time but they are real treat to see in the wild. 

One of my favorite birds of Prey will have to be the American Kestrel. I was lucky enough to be out at the exercise track out at TCC South when I saw this guy sitting on a power line. This guy would take off and it was one of the very first birds I got in flight for the first time. They are the smallest bird of prey in North America and are the smallest of our falcons. They are specialists mainly insects and other small things. They are very pretty with colors of reddish brown, a grayish blue color, black spots on the face with black spots on the wings. They are so pretty and you will almost miss them. They are very cute and they don’t really look like a bird of prey but they are and they often fall prey to other birds of prey if they are not careful. These are often found in Texas in the winter time more times than in the spring and summer. 

One of most recent birds I got on my recent trip out to the Texas coast. This is the funnest bird you can ever look for down here. They look like something you will see in a Zoo and truth be told you can but like most things it is more rewarding to seek these guys out in their natural habitat. Meet the Roseate Spoonbill. These birds are naturally born white but due to the algae and the shrimps they eat they turn pink. These guys are always out in the early morning in feeding groups like the one here. I took this at a place called Indian Point Park near where we were staying. This was one of my favorite shots even though it was not that close. Any closer and they would have fled. There was a lot of stuff feeding that morning. I got a lot birds on the trip when this was took. I love birding it is very fun and rewarding. It is one of my favorite past times even though I often get side tracked and look for other things. Let is just put it this way I love to just watch wildlife and explore its beauty. Whether watching the birds of the skies, or the bugs that crawl around, the fish that swim, the plants that are so fragrant and green, the fungus that looks like it comes from another planet, the mammals that are everyone’s favorite, or the reptiles that are lesser appreciated. I love nature and all that is in it. Nature like I have said has some neat stuff to look at. It is the best thing we have; without it we could not survive. It is the life force that keeps us afloat and we must protect it for it is in danger from what we are doing to it. We must do our part and do what we can to prevent more harm to the environment. So get out an explore and make that connection. Lose yourself and discover a world of wonder.        

[ylenvs3000-blog]

Fly With Me

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to fly in our Ontario skies?

(Sparky the Eastern Loggerhead Shrike; educational animal at the Toronto Zoo)

I know I certainly have. I dream about soaring above the landscape, urban and otherwise. I watch little songbirds take flight away from me. Just this Wednesday after exiting my house, I saw a large shadow and looked up into the sky to see a turkey vulture riding the wind currents. Less than 10 seconds later, I watched as a second one joined it. It was amazing.

So what is our purpose in being here today? If you haven’t already guessed, I want to talk to you about our feathery friends: Birds. Ontario birds more specifically (There are already more than 450 species of birds in this province!). There are hundreds of species out there, and one blog post couldn’t begin to cover them all, so we’ll stay a little closer to home.  

First of all, what are some interesting traits you know that birds have? I’ll give you a moment to come up with some ideas.

...

Okay. Here are some of the ideas I came up with. Do any of yours match?

-          Feathers

-          Singing

-          And many more!  

Feathers are interesting, not only because some species sport brilliant or interesting colouring, but also because throughout the animal kingdom, they’re unique to birds. Although not unique, they also one of the few groups of animals that have the ability of powered flight (Did you know that a bird doesn’t have a diaphragm, and must expand its thoracic cavity to breathe?). There are different types of feathers that help with flight, including the primaries, secondaries, tertiaries, coverts, and the alular quills. The most interesting of these are the alular quills—or alula—and they sit between the primaries and secondaries. These little feathers are actually able to be independently controlled by the bird to aid in flight by controlling how the air flows over the wing. Not enough, and the bird can’t get enough lift to leave the ground. Too much, and they’ll stall in the air. Really, the alulas are the real MVPs of the bird’s dexterous flight.  

(Look near the top right of the wing for the alula!)

Now, I want you to think a few weeks back to when we spent some time with Chris Earley at the Arboretum and the little game he played with us. Remember that we had to find our mates just by using our voices? Well, did you know that there is a difference between calls and songs? Calls are short, simple communications with specific messages. Songs are for reproduction and territoriality. We had the pleasure of presenting our songs to our partners during that game. It illustrated the harsh reality of just how hard it was for one little voice to be heard above the cacophony of all the others so if anything, that just illustrates how amazing their little bodies are to produce such big noises.

(A common sight at feeders, the Black-capped Chickadee was caught in a mist net at the Arboretum)

So, if this piques your interest in birds at all, I’d suggest just going out to look around for our feathery neighbours.  There are many ways that an expert birder can identify a bird, such as through bird songs or flight patterns, but if you’re just starting out or curious, size, body shape, colour, flight pattern, feeding methods, songs, etcetera, etcetera can be just as good. Colour is good if you’re desperate, but not always reliable (Many species change their plumage during breeding and non-breeding months).

So tell me. What is your favourite bird?

(Not my favourite bird, but the Brown Creeper is sure cute!)

[feral--bog--witch]

Actually I'm not.

Mainly because the studies you've cited are only taking into account how the agriculture industry is CURRENTLY. Which is a capitalistic hellscape that overproduces and overconsumes, which I clearly stated is causing our biggest planetary issues.

Yah, when you have 10k cattle on a tiny plot of land and you are trucking them in roughage from gianormous single crop farms multiple times a week, where those farms are pumping fertilizer and pesticides into the earth thousands of gallons at a time to keep up with not just your needs but the needs of 100 other factory farms like yours, its probably better to go with the vegan alternative.

But when you buy half a beef off of Maggie Roe who has 10 cows on 600 acres of pasture grassland to feed them and 200 acres of natural alfalfa land she bales for feed, as well as get your eggs from her free range chickens, your environmental impact is VASTLY smaller than going the vegan route.

As it is, vegan or not, we over consume and over produce at a rate that is completely unsustainable for our planet. You could switch everyone in this world to a vegan or plant based diet and it WOULD NOT CHANGE ANYTHING. It would simply give us NEW problems because we overconsume and overproduce enough as it is and switching wouldn't fix that.

To have a fully vegetarian world we would have to make more monoculture farms which destroys native wildlife habitats and disrupts ecosystems, as well as use massive amounts of fertilizer and pesticides that will contaminate the ground water and affect wildlife again. That isnt even mentioning the issues with running giant ass combines that suck fuel back like it cheap whiskey on a $1 a shot night, as well as transporting everything to get where it is. This isnt even mentioning the problems with soy and palm oil production.

You can't simply remove the animals from the diet and say you have fixed the problem because you haven't. You have just shifted it to new sectors. A lot of the problems that come with the agriculture industry currently, especially on the feed side, would STILL be there, except it would be shifted to growing things for human consumption instead of for animals. Which doesn't fix the problems we currently have in those sectors, it keeps them the same. New ball game. Same players.

And I will definitely keep eating local. I will take my 12 grassfed cows on over 600 acres of restored native pasture land, my eggs I get from our completely free range chickens, and the wool we get from our 30 head of free range sheep over being vegan. Why? Because our environmental impact is utterly insignificant. We dont grow crops, all our bales come from natural alfalfa and clover fields, we rarely grain feed anything and if we do its bought from a farmer close to us who only farms 50 acres of it for animal consumption, and we never allow the pasture land to be over grazed and rotate the animals frequently.

Is there money in what we do? Sure. Is it a lot? Fuck no. We break even every year basically. We love our animals, most of them are third or fourth generation from animals we rescued or bought from shitty people to rescue, and we don't do it for the money, we never have.

But keep thinking that if it makes you happy. Just remember, Im fully stating that how we are running our food sectors is completely unsustainable due to capitalistic over production and over consumption. Nothing will change, even if every single person on earth switched to a plant based diet tomorrow, because capitalism is the inherent problem we are having. THAT is what is causing the decline of our planet and we can't fix it until we destroy the systems in place that allow it to thrive.

unpopular opinion; peta is right about bts. claiming to care about anti violence, climate change, and health but then promoting fucking mcnuggets because you got paid some good cash for it is embarrassingly weak morals. you people just don’t wanna feel judged about your own actions, and you can’t handle your precious baby boys having their actions criticised lol. mass amounts of mcnuggets are being bought by bts fans, that’s a shit ton of demand equaling more mistreated, murdered hens, more environmental damage, and encouraging terrible health practices for the sake of ‘supporting’ your favourite group. you don’t have to buy everything your favourite group is paid to promote!!! 

[vacationsoup]

New Post has been published on https://vacationsoup.com/birds-williamson-county-tx-scurlock-farms/

Birds of Williamson County TX Seen at Scurlock Farms in Texas Hill Country

Many avid bird watchers have stayed with us at Scurlock Farms.

These birders have visited to see as many birds of Williamson County as possible.  2/3 of all birds seen in Texas are seen in Williamson County.  We are located in the beautiful Texas Hill Country, and so far, all have seen a lifer – a bird they had never seen in person before!

I was giving a tour to a couple from Kansas when she noticed something fluttering in the dried dusty area where we were going to pass through a gate.  It was a Roadrunner taking a dirt bath!  She was so excited as she had never seen one.  Last week while giving a couple a tour around the farm, a Roadrunner ran, then flew across the road right in front of us.  The woman was from Ukraine and she was very excited to see the Roadrunner as she had never seen one!  Yesterday, again giving a tour, this time to a young family from Grand Cayman, the young mother also saw a Roadrunner as it ran into the pasture.  A Roadrunner nesting near Indian Bluff would pause for photos for a family from Canada as they returned home!

The Roadrunners are nesting around the farm now and I see one every time I go up or down the drive.  When they are feeding their babies, they will be up and down the drive constantly, chasing bugs and lizards.

This baby Roadrunner fell out of his nest too early.  The nest was in a large cedar tree near Indian Bluff.  We tried to reach the nest in a cedar tree near Indian Bluff with our tallest extension ladder, but could not.  At dusk the mother Roadrunner was leading the baby into heavy brush inside the pasture fence.  I hope the baby made it!

The terrain of Scurlock Farms lends itself to seeing many varied species of birds.

The top pasture is prairie; we have heavily wooded bluffs and heavily wooded acreage with many dead snags for woodpeckers, owls and squirrels to nest in; a 20 acre pecan orchard; and river bottom wetlands.

I have had guests visit Scurlock Farms from Austin, Dallas, Houston and San Antonio that have enjoyed just sitting under the trees, reading a book and listening to the many different song birds and the owls in the evening.  Some didn’t even care what kind of bird it was.  They were just enjoying the peace and serenity as they listened to the birds.  I get the impression that folks from the larger cities are really able to relax and unwind at Scurlock Farms.  It is a perfect place to simply chill out, relax and de-stress from busy, hectic schedules.

Great photos of birds of Williams County here!

A pair of Scissor-tails at Scurlock Farms was very unhappy with this pair of Vultures

We have several pair of Scissor-tail Flycatchers that nest around Scurlock Farms each year.  For several years, one pair built a nest on a metal platform on the top of Dan’s 55′ tower.  Another couple of pair make their nests near Rocky Overlook.  They do not like it when I do landscaping near where they are nesting.

The Scissor-tail Flycatchers are very vocal in their displeasure and luckily have never dive-bombed me the way they did the Vultures!!  These are beautiful, graceful birds, and they eat a lot of mosquitoes and other flying insects.

The Mockingbird is the state bird of Texas and there are many of them on the farm.  One lives in a pyracantha bush at the end of the drive near the farm entrance.  Another nests in one of the trees in my front yard, and during the spring and summer, both are singing constantly!

Brave Mockingbird 5′ from me as I worked in a pasture

Dan and I were working picking up the remains of a burned brush pile early in the spring, and this little guy was totally unafraid of us!  He visited us several times.

Mockingbirds are territorial and one way they “mark” their  territory is to constantly sing a repertoire of songs.  The one at the end of the drive will sit on the top of a telephone pole near the entrance, fly a few feet into the air, then back down to the pole, all the while singing!  During the winter he sits in the pyracantha bush and sings away.  The grandchildren love seeing and hearing him in the mornings as they wait on the school bus.  He is a ball of fluff on cold days and is beautiful sitting on the end of a branch among the red berries.

  Now you see him, now you don’t!  Whoops, here he comes!!

https://youtu.be/MS0QsXZjoFo

Last spring we had a problem with coyotes killing our goats.  In this video David is at the goat barn using an infrared night-vision scope looking for coyotes.  He sees a pair of eyes (the smaller “light” just to the left of the target and in the lighter shaded grass) about 200 yards out in the pasture and thinks it is a coyote until it begins to float around in the air, then flies right towards him and lands on an electric line just above him.  It was a Great Horned Owl!  At about 2′ tall, very impressive.

Did you know . . .

The oldest known wild Great Horned Owl was 28, but one in the San Francisco Zoo was 50 in 2012?

Females are larger than the males?

Have a wingspan of 3.3′ to 4.5′?

They live from the Arctic to South America?

They are monogamous birds?

When they are “hooting” they are claiming their territory?

A pair of Great Horned Owls nests in a tree near our son’s home.

One of our granddaughters sleeps upstairs, and many nights she goes downstairs as the Great Horned Owls are “hoot hooting” at each other.  Guests sitting out at dusk and in the evening have loved hearing them call to one another.

Often when I am giving guests a tour late in the evening, we will flush a Great Horned Owl out of the trees in front of Rocky Overlook.  One flew out over the pasture this week right at dusk.  They are majestic as they silently glide down towards the river bottom.

While giving a family a tour at dusk, we flushed a great Horned Owl out of a tree near the drive.  As we came back up the bluff after the tour, the mom spotted him sitting near the top of a tree watching us as we passed below.

Can you can spot him in the photo.  Hint:  He is about 1/3 down from the top of the tree just to the left of center.  Look for his silhouette.

Hidden Great Horned Owl at Scurlock Farms

List of Common Birds of Williamson County

* marks birds seen on Scurlock Farms

Bittern, American

Bittern, Least

Blackbird, Brewer’s

Blackbird, Red-Winged *

Blackbird, Yellow-headed

Bluebird, Eastern *

Bluejay *

Bobwhite, Northern *

Bufflehead

Bunting, Indigo *

Bunting, Painted * (male has been seen several years, hundreds of females seen each year)

Canvasback

Caracara, Crested * (Mexican Eagle)

Cardinal, Northern *

Cattle Egret *

Chat, Yellow-breasted

Chickadee, Carolina *

Coot, American *

Cormorant, Double-crested * (this is the bird that my dad called a Water Turkey) *

Cowbird, Brown-headed *

Crane, Sandhill * Seen and heard flying over many times during migration

Creeper, Brown *

Crow, American *

Cuckoo, Yellow-billed *

Dickcissel (looks like a miniature Eastern Meadowlark – sings beautifully and often)*

Dove, Eurasian Collared *

Dove, Inca *

Dove, Mourning *

Dove, Rock (AKA Feral Pigeon) *

Dove, White-winged *

Duck, Ruddy

Duck, Mottled *

Egret, Great *

Egret, Snowy *

Finch, House *

Finch, Purple *

Flicker, Northern *

Flycatcher, Scissor-tailed *

Gadwall *

Gnatcatcher, Blue-gray (we saw 3 of them today) *

Goldfinch, American *

Goldfinch, Lesser *

Goose, Canada *

Goose, Greater White-fronted*

Goose, Snow *

Grackle, Common *

Grackle, Great-tailed *

Grebe, Pied-billed *

Grosbeak, Blue

Gull, Laughing *

Gull, Ring-billed *

Harrier, Northern

Hawk, Common Night *

Hawk, Cooper’s *

Hawk, Red-shouldered *

Hawk, Red-tailed *

Hawk, Sharp-shinned *

Hawk, White-tailed *

Heron, Black-crowned Night

Heron, Great Blue *

Heron, Green *

Heron, Little Blue

Hummingbird, Black-chinned *

Hummingbird, Ruby-throated *

Junco, Dark-eyed *

Kestrel, American *

Kildeer *

Kingbird, Eastern *

Kingbird, Western

Kingfisher, Belted *

Kinglet, Ruby-crowned *

Kite, Mississippi

Lark, Horned

Mallard *

Martin, Purple *

Meadowlark, Eastern *

Merganser, Red-breasted

Merlin

Mockingbird, Northern *

Nuthatch, Red-breasted

Nuthatch, White Breasted *

Oriole, Baltimore *

Oriole, Orchard

Owl, Barn *

Owl, Burrowing (Seen near Scurlock Farms)

Owl, Eastern Screech *

Owl, Great Horned *   (nesting near The Studio)

Pelican, American White *

Pigeon *

Phoebe, Eastern *

Pintail, Northern *

Pipit, American (we saw several dozen today) *

Redhead

Roadrunner, Greater *

Robin, American *

Sandpiper, Least *

Sandpiper, Spotted

Sapsucker, Yellow-bellied *

Scaup, Lesser

Shoveler, Northern *

Shrike, Loggerhead (the bird that Daddy called the Butcher Bird) *

Siskin, Pine

Snipe, Wilson’s

Sparrow, Chipping *

Sparrow, Grasshopper

Sparrow, Harris’

Sparrow, House *

Sparrow, Lark *

Sparrow, Lincoln’s *

Sparrow, Savannah *

Sparrow, Song *

Sparrow, Swamp

Sparrow, Vesper (very common there in winter) *

Sparrow, White-crowned *

Sparrow, White-throated

Starling, European *

Swallow, Barn *

Swallow, Cliff (These are the swallows that nest on overpasses in mud nests) *

Swift, Chimney *

Tanager, Summer *

Teal, Blue-winged *

Teal, Green-winged

Tern, Forster’s

Thrasher, Brown

Thrush, Hermit

Titmouse, Tufted *

Towhee, Spotted *

Turkey, Wild *

Vulture, Black *

Vulture, Turkey *

Warbler, Black and White *

Warbler, Prothonotary *

Warbler, Yellow-rumped *

Waxwing, Cedar *

Whip-poor-will *

Wigeon, American *

Woodpecker, Downy *

Woodpecker, Harry *

Woodpecker, Ladder Backed *

Woodpecker, Pileated *

Woodpecker, Red-Bellied *

Woodpecker, Red-headed *

Wren, Bewick’s *

Wren, Carolina *

Wren, House*

Yellowlegs, Greater *

Yellowlegs, Lesser

Yellow-throat, Common

[delicatelysublimeforester]

Loggerhead Shrike Lanius ludovicianus

Loggerhead Shrike Lanius ludovicianus

“I believe in oneness of mankind and of all living things and in the interdependence of each and all. I believe that unless we play fair to the Earth, we cannot exist physically on this planet.”~Richard St. Barbe Baker.

It is not at all meaningless to speak about the Prairie Loggerhead Shrike (Lanius ludovicianus excubitorides). This unique small passerine bird is listed as threatened / critically endangered as the population has been steadily decreasing since the 1960s.

The Loggerhead shrikes love scattered shrubby growth, and will nest in Caragana, Manitoba Maple, and thorny vegetation such as Buffaloberry shrubbery. The Shrike breed along shelterbelts and riparian areas of the prairies. In this south west sector of the city of Saskatoon, botanists have confirmed that this species is documented for this region wherever there may be wetlands combined with open areas and tall shrubbery.

In order to thrive, and be resilient, the Shrike requires an open grasslands area to forage with elevated perches or lookout points about 4 meters high upon which to sit to facilitate their hunting activities.

The Loggerhead Shrike is quite unique in its dietary habits, as it does not confine itself to seeds, berries insect grub and larvae, but as a carnivorous bird, will capture amphibians, lizards, small mammals such as mice, and small birds. Due its small size, it impales its prey on barbed wire or the thorns of the Buffaloberry bush, which grows around the Chappell Marsh and West Swale wetlands. Though, the main food are grasshoppers, beetles, and rodents. It is only when these are hard to find, that the Loggerhead Shrike will forage for other animals.

How to identify the Loggerhead Shrike: The wings are coloured black, with a white patch, and the head is quite unique with a mask across the eyes similar to a raccoon. The main colour of the Shrike is grey, with a white or pale breast. Shrikes are about 9 inches in length, and weigh in at 45-60 grams. The Loggerhead Shrike migrate here in March and April leaving after the breeding season from September to November. These birds will migrate nocturnally.

Outlook for the Shrike Though it is truly unknown what has caused the numbers of the Loggerhead Shrike to plummet, ornithologists hope that by studying the birds and their habitat, the cause for their decline can be ascertained. Currently listed as a threatened species by Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada,  COSEWIC. it is a mandate to place the environment of the Loggerhead Shrike safe from destruction by conversion or development which may alter their prey populations. Scientists have also decided to place the Prairie Loggerhead Shrike as Schedule 1, Threatened under the federal Species at Risk Act (SARA). It is also interesting to note that the International Union for the Conservation of Nature declared temperate grasslands the world’s most endangered ecosystem. * “Grasslands can also showcase how people and nature can coexist,” said Dan Kraus, a Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) scientist, “Among the last places on Earth to shelter grasslands at a meaningful scale are the grasslands of North America’s Great Plain…Endangerment comes down to risk — the risk of losing a species, habitat or ecosystem for future generations. *”

In the south west sector of the city of Saskatoon, it is a relief that remnant native grassland remains. Additionally, the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area affords wetland plant communities. The West Swale which passes through the large open wetlands and Chappell Marsh features many small scattered wetland areas, with more than adequate habitat and foraging for aquatic fauna, with belts of native and modified grasslands.

It is interesting to note how the City of Saskatoon’s citizens and residents regards conservation expectations or indifference to wildlife species such as the Prairie Loggerhead Shrike and their habitat. As Environment Canada states, “Success in the recovery of this species depends on the commitment and cooperation of many different constituencies that will be involved in implementing the directions set out in this strategy and will not be achieved by Environment Canada, Parks Canada Agency, or any other jurisdiction alone. All Canadians are invited to join in supporting and implementing this strategy for the benefit of the Loggerhead Shrike Prairie subspecies, and Canadian society as a whole.*”

1./ Learn.

2./ Experience

3./ Do Something: ***

“Man has lost his way in the jungle of chemistry and engineering and will have to retrace his steps, however painful this may be. In doing so, perhaps he may be able to recapture the rhythm of life and the love of the simple things of life, which will be an ever-unfolding joy to him.” ~Richard St. Barbe Baker

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Background Information ~ Status of Birds in Canada. Environment Canada. Government of Canada.

Bird ~ Status of Birds in Canada ~ Environment Canada. Loggerhead Shrike (Lanius ludovicianus)

Eastern Loggerhead Shrike Wildlife Preservation Canada.

Hinterland Who’s Who. Loggerhead Shrike

Loggerhead Shrike Wikipedia.

Loggerhead Shrike Life History, All About Birds. Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

Loggerhead Shrike American Bird Conservancy Loggerhead Shrike. Birdweb Loggherad Shrike Audubon

Loggerhead Shrike Prairie Subspecies Species at Risk Public Registry.

Loggerhead Shrike What Bird

Recovery Strategy for the Loggerhead Shrike. Prairie Subspecies. (Lanius ludovicianus excubitorides), in Canada. Species at Risk Registry. Recovery Planning Environment and Climate Change Canada

Environment Canada. 2015. Recovery Strategy for the Loggerhead Shrike Prairie subspecies (Lanius ludovicianus excubitorides), in Canada. Species at Risk Act Recovery Strategy Series. Environment Canada, Ottawa. iv + 23 pp.

Species Profile (Loggerhead Shrike Prairie subspecies) – Species at Risk

For more information:

Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area is located in Saskatoon, SK, CA north of Cedar Villa Road, within city limits, in the furthest south west area of the city. Wikimapia Map: type in Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area Google Maps South West Off Leash area location pin at parking lot Web page: https://stbarbebaker.wordpress.com

Where is the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area? with map

Facebook: StBarbeBaker

Facebook group page : Users of the St Barbe Baker Afforestation Area

Facebook: South West Off Leash Recreation Area SW OLRA

Pinterest richardstbarbeb

If you wish to support the afforestation area with your donation, write a cheque please to the “Meewasin Valley Authority Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area trust fund” (MVA RSBBAA trust fund) and mail it to Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area c/o Meewasin Valley Authority, 402 Third Ave S, Saskatoon SK S7K 3G5. Thank you kindly! Twitter: St Barbe Baker

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1./ Learn.

2./ Experience

3./ Do Something: ***

“Kind people have been expressing superlatives on my work. But I can assure you that anything which I have been able to achieve has been team work. We have a motto in the Men of the Trees. TWAHAMWE. It is an African word meaning ‘pull together’ and I pass this on to all those concerned with conservation in this country. I would like to call you to silence for a moment with the words of Mathew Arnold:

“Calm soul of all things, make it mine, To feel amidst the City ‘s jar That there abides a peace of thine Men did not make and cannot mar. ” ~Richard St. Barbe Baker

Join In – it is not meaningless! "I believe in oneness of mankind and of all living things and in the interdependence of each and all.

[lady-divine-writes]

Squatters’ Rights - (Rated PG13)

Summary: Chaos ensues at their daughter's Christmas pageant when some unexpected visitors hijack a very important prop. (1878 words)

Notes: Written for the @klaineadvent 2019 prompts emergency, ground, hiccup, interrupt, nest, and overwhelm, and the @gleepotluckbigbang Prompt 'Christmas Trees'.

Read on AO3.

“Ku-rt … oh Ku-rt,” Blaine sings in a nervous falsetto. “I need to talk to you, Kurt.”

“Yes?” Kurt snaps, too overwhelmed this close to curtain to handle anything that might go hand-in-hand with that unsettling voice.

“We might have a problem.”

“What?” Kurt storms a step towards his husband who leaps three steps back in response, concerned suddenly for life and limb. “What problem!? It’s fifteen minutes to show time! Don’t talk to me about problems!”

“O…okay,” Blaine says, splaying his hands in a conciliatory gesture, “then let’s call it a hiccup?”

“No, a hiccup is a safety-gated synonym for problem and I refuse to accept that there are any problems.”

“And yet, we still have one.”

Kurt sighs, throwing a hand to his forehead to shield his already blooming headache from whatever stupidity this is, and ends up smacking himself with his clipboard. “Fine!” he groans, rubbing the sore spot. “What is it!?”

“Look up there.” Blaine reaches out to take his husband’s shoulder and redirect his attention, but after considering the possibility of getting his hand bitten off, he motions with his chin instead.

“Up where?”

“Up … up there. In the Christmas tree. And … uh … tell me I don’t see what I think I see.”

“What? Is Mrs. Popson complaining that the ornaments are unbalanced again? Are we going to have to re-Feng shui the lights to better complement her third graders’ angel piglets?” Kurt allows himself a snicker as he follows Blaine’s instructions and gazes up. Eight dozen ridiculous things have happened so far and their little pageant has yet to even open. That’s probably all this is. Something ridiculous – a minor inconvenience blown way out of proportion.

At least, that’s what it had better be.

But as he peers through the branches of their picturesque twelve-foot Fraser fir, he realizes no. This isn’t a little thing. It��s a rather large thing. So large, he wonders how come he didn’t manage to notice it before now.

“Oh … shit,” he mutters.

“Yeah,” Blaine agrees. “That’s what I said.”

“This!” Kurt hisses, jabbing a finger upward. “This is why I told you I wanted an artificial tree for the Christmas pageant! Where did we get this thing anyway?”

“It was donated, Kurt! By Father Bruno at St. Adalbert’s Parish. As a show of support for out LGBT inclusive program! He went out to the woods and cut it down himself!”

“Right!” Kurt folds his arms over his chest, expression pinched sarcastically. “He probably planned this! Did it on purpose to sabotage our pageant! You can’t trust the Catholics, Blaine! Don’t I always say that!?”

“No!” Blaine pulls a face. “I have never heard you say that!”

“Well, you can’t,” Kurt sniffs. “And whether I said it or not, it’s generally implied.”

“I don’t think he did this on purpose.”

“Really!? Then let me ask you this - during the time it took the good father to cut this tree down and drag it over here, he never once noticed there was not one, not two, but three nests inside!?”

“I guess not! But neither did y---we,” Blaine corrects, his life flashing before his eyes when he almost implicates his husband in being at fault. “We got the tree last minute. I guess they slipped through the cracks.”

“Obviously.” Kurt sighs. He closes his eyes and drops his head, searching for an answer in the dark behind his lids.

Five minutes.

By now, they only have five minutes left until show time. He can hear the children lining up with their teachers backstage while he and his husband argue. But they need to stop arguing and come up with a solution.

And fast.

He takes a deep breath in and exhales out, the inklings of a plan forming in his head.

“It’s okay,” he says, reassuring himself more than anyone. “It’s going to be okay. They haven’t let the parents in yet. They’re still in line outside. We can fix this. We can still fix this.” Kurt’s eyes pop open. “Sam’s here, right?”

“Yeah. Yeah!” Blaine exclaims, the inclusion of their friend in this scenario of some bizarre comfort to him. “He’s doing final checks on the lighting! Up in the catwalk!”

“Great,” Kurt says, over-enunciating consonants through locked teeth. “Can you go get him please?”

“Yes! Yes, I can! Sam! Sam!” Blaine bellows before he runs off behind the curtain. Kurt flinches, the headache simmering behind his eyes threatening to become a full-blown migraine. He considers informing his husband that he could have yelled just as easily, but quicker than quick, Blaine returns with Sam in tow, pointing animatedly at the tree, running his mouth a mile a minute. Sam listens, nodding and smiling, telling Blaine it’ll be okay every time Blaine stops to take a breath – which isn’t often. But a foot away from the tree Sam gets a better glimpse. He slows down. His smile falls. And to Kurt’s dismay, he shakes his head.

But Kurt adamantly objects to hearing anything that so much as stinks of bad news, so before Sam can say a word, he jumps the gun: “So, you can move them right? Just … shimmy up there and get them down?”

“Uh … no. I can’t.”

“Yes, you can,” Kurt counters, teeth clenched so hard they’re about to pop from his skull. “Skitter your way up there and pluck them out. It can’t be too difficult.”

“I’m sorry, Kurt …”

“We’re not going to hurt them,” Kurt interjects as if that might be the big hold up. “We’re going to relocate them.”

“Kurt …”

“There’s a cat carrier in the fifth grade room,” Kurt continues desperately. “We’ll toss them in there for the time being and then …”

“Kurt!” Sam barks, which he never does, so Kurt knows the impending answer truly is no. “We can’t move them.”

“And why can’t we?”

“Because those aren’t just any birds.” The three men look up at the exact moment nine fluffy bird faces peek over the edges of their nests and look down, probably wondering what all the commotion below is about. “Those are loggerhead shrikes.”

Kurt and Blaine both look at their friend with confusion on their faces.

“How do you know that?” Blaine asks.

“I happen to be an Eagle Scout. And an active member of the Audubon Society.”

“I didn’t know that!” Blaine pats his proud friend on the back. “Good for you, man!”

“Thank you,” Sam replies a la his favorite Elvis-impersonation. “Thank you very much.”

Kurt throws his arms up in frustration at the unexpected arrival of the mutual admiration society. “Okay! Great! They’re loggerhead shrikes! So?”

“Loggerhead shrikes are threatened. That means they’re protected. We can’t move them ourselves. We might not be able to move them at all without taking the tree with them.”

Kurt’s eyes bug. “We can’t … we can’t … the tree!? Oh great! This keeps getting better and better!”

“Kurt, relax.” Blaine takes the risk and puts his hands on Kurt’s shoulder. He tries to massage them, but they’re hard as rocks. “It’s okay. We can still sort this out.”

“And how do you suggest we do that!? Huh!? Our Christmas pageant, which your daughter is starring in by the way, and is supposed to start in …” Kurt spins around in search of a clock. When he can’t see the one on the far wall, ironical for the tree, he fishes his cell phone out of his pocket and checks the screen. His eyes bug out farther “… two minutes! has been hijacked by birds!”

“Look. They’ve been chill so far. Maybe we can have the pageant with them there and move them after. Problem solved.”

“You’re right,” Kurt agrees optimistically, seeing how, with no time to spare, this could be a feasible option. “We’ll let them stay! Problem solved! I mean, what’s a few birds? It doesn’t look like they can even fly yet. And they’re cute! They’ll add realism. They won’t be any trouble.”

“Not exactly,” Sam says, and Kurt as never wanted to punch him in the face so hard in his life. “There may be a whole other bigger problem.”

“And that is?”

“Those are the babies. Juveniles, specifically. I don’t see any moms. Or dads for that matter.”

“I know I’m going to regret asking this,” Kurt moans, resigned to whatever fate Sam’s knowledge is about to bestow upon them, “but … that’s a problem why?”

“Because loggerhead shrikes are protective. Being separated from their chicks, the parents will get aggressive. Also, if the babies don’t know where their parents are and they get nervous …” A series of jarring screeches interrupt Sam’s explanation. Kurt glares up at the birds, mouths open wide, cawing loudly into the air. Sam points up. “They’ll do that.”

“Great!” Kurt yelps, at the end of his rope. “So we have potentially agro birds loose in the theater, baby birds that spontaneously scream bloody murder, and a play set to start in half-a-minute, which we may have to postpone indefinitely in case we need to call animal control - do I have that right?”

“Basically, yes.”

“Well, skippidy do! Is there anything else!? Anything at all you’ve forgotten to tell me!? Because what else could possibly go wrong!?”

The doors at the back of the auditorium fly open and Kurt blanches, knowing that right then and there, his question is about to be answered.

“Kurt! Blaine! Come quick! It’s an emergency!”

“What? What, what, what is it now!?”

“Insane birds are dive bombing parents in line outside! Three people have already been pecked! Everyone is scattering! It’s like an Alfred Hitchcock movie!”

With the doors thrown open, Kurt can hear it – the panicked yells of parents outside, banging on the doors, begging to be let in. Above that, the shrieking of the birds searching for their babies echo through the halls, their screams so high-pitched and piercing, they make their way through the thick stone walls and heavy metal doors. Hearing their parents’ cries, the baby birds respond, frantically flapping their wings in an effort to take flight themselves and reach them.

Bitterly Kurt thinks all of his problems might be solved if they give it a go, plummet to the ground, and break their little birdie necks.

How un-festive of him.

Blaine looks sympathetically at his done-in husband. “Do you want me to go outside and handle this one alone?”

“No.” Kurt straightens his back, squares his shoulders, hands his clipboard over to Sam, and makes for the stairs to the stage, head held high like a gladiator going off to fight an unwinnable war. “I’ll go. Sam? Tell the teachers … there’s been a bit of a delay.”

“Right-y o, chief,” Sam says, leaving the stage with a solemn salute.

“And Blaine?”

“Yes?” Blaine says, falling in behind his husband, unwilling to let him walk off into the bird battle alone.

“Do me a favor?”

“Anything.”

“The next time I ask what could possibly go wrong - gag me.”

“Don’t say that …” Blaine smirks, preparing to die on the hill of bringing a smile back to his husband’s face. “Between that and all this bird talk, I can’t wait to get you home.”

[galacticbugman]

Wildlife at TCC South Campus

Here I am on a recent hike with some our our Student Activity members during our recent spring fest. I have always wanted to lead a hike on campus and share with people just just how many organisms we have on site and how important they are to our campus ecosystem. TCC South Campus may not look like the best place for wildlife but you would be totally mistaken. There is plenty of things to look at if you know where to look. 

I have been studying Tarrant County Community College Wildlife on two campuses the Southeast and South Campus. I still go to the South Campus but I did go to the Southeast Campus at times. I still go out to their ponds to look for wildlife. I must say that both are rich in wildlife but South Campus holds some particularly special creatures that always make me stop and start observing them. Let me dive into a few from years past and my most recent findings. Let me point out that this is something that was suggested to me in a round about way. 

A particular special creature that I always look for in late April to early May is the little chirpy and lively Cliff Swallow. We get two types of Swallow on Campus but these are my favorite. They like to nest at the Technology building often and they gather in great numbers and build their nests from mud and saliva. They often get into minor disagreements and pick on each other if someone winds up at the wrong nest. They are just minor squabbles with very little violence. They may peck a little and may flit around and slap another with their wings but it is over pretty quickly. This year I have not seen them yet which is kind of odd for them. Normally they are here now but this year they are coming in late. We do have their close cousin which is just as lively. The Barn Swallows are there now making their nests. These guy are migratory and come all the way from Capistrano and nest in this area of Texas and a few southern areas. They are one of my favorite things to watch when I am on study break. I always take my camera with me just in case I make some sort of personal discovery. I have to stand back a little because these guys are fast and I have had a few close calls with some of these birds. I had one almost run right into me and let me tell you that wouldn’t have felt good if he hadn’t veered off. Still a fun bird to watch when I am on campus. 

 On hot and muggy days we get a ton of moths. I was walking around the engineering building which is one of our hot spots for insects and birds. I was walking along the breeze way path that has a solar panel canopy and was walking along the side where the classrooms were and I spotted this moth and almost stumbled. This is Tersa Sphinx moth caught me off guard and I almost fell. This is the first and only time I have ever seen this moth. I have friends who have seen them before many times but for me I don’t get to see big moths that often but we get quite a few big moths as I may have mentioned in the past. There are times where I want to do a moth night on campus and see what goes on in the nocturnal world on campus. It is a world rarely seen by some but in my experience you see some of the coolest things at night. Basically in the day time you see some moths that are sleeping. This guy was waiting for the night to return. I don’t see too many big moths on campus but there are quite a few that I have to say totally blew me away. TCC South Campus has a lot of interesting moths. Let us visit another moth that I saw late summer day. 

Here is one that I found near the Nursing Building a couple of semesters back. It was when I was still taking math courses at the Nursing Building and I was outside just before my class started. I had run into a married couple I know from the Texas Master Naturalist program and the Native Plant Society of Texas North Central Texas. They had just walked into their exercise class when I saw it. This guy was on the round wall that looks like something you would see in the film Lord of the Rings the wall looks like something from the Shire. Anyway this Vine Sphinx caught me completely off guard too. I love giant moths and I have documented about five big moths on campus most of them are Sphinx Moths. This guy was easily three inches from head to tail and three inches at widest point. Some of my friends call this guy the “Stormtrooper” or it may remind you of Darth Vader for it looks like one of the masks from the Star Wars franchise. I have to agree that it looks more like a Stormtrooper. South Campus is home to many kinds of moths but there is also some interesting beetles to be found here. Some of them are considered to be rare. 

A few projects have been made on the iNaturalist site dedicated to TCC Wildlife. I have actually made one that encompasses all of the colleges in the TCC District. This guy came off to me as a little strange. I was walking one day before class. I was at the library which is another hot spot on Campus. Insects like to hang around on the pillars and just chill. This leaf beetle struck me as very unusual. He has a pattern that make me think of tribal print from Africa or something. This is a kind of Leaf Beetle that is called Zygogramma Heterothecae. I know that is a mouthful but it is the only name that I know this one by. This is one of my favorite beetles for when I documented it on the site it turned out to be the first one on spotted in the Metroplex. I didn’t expect to have such rarities on campus. Before 2016 I didn’t really do photography on campus. I did it else where but not here. It was not until 2016 when I became a Texas Master Naturalist and began to study the wildlife on campus. As they say better late than never. Still I have made over three hundred observations on Campus in just the matter of a few years. I haven’t seen too many rare things on Campus but I have seen a few. 

On our recent Spring Fest Hike that I lead we found this guy. This is one of those ant-mimic beetles. When we saw it looked just like an ant; it was small and even moved like an ant but it was far from it. It is a beetle in the Checkered Beetle family and is known but (here comes another technical name)  Phyllobaenus unifasciatus. This is one that had never been found in Fort Worth before according to iNaturalist. I use iNaturalist as a guide in many cases. It has become the tool that I normally use in all my outdoor adventures. It was kind of a cool spotting. I know the photo is a little dark but there was a lot of cloud cover. So this is all I got of the beetle. 

Today I made a very interesting find at the Wildflower Restoration area at the front of the Campus that goes all the way from the front parking lot to I-20. This guy is the Colorado Potato Beetle. I found him sitting in a Desert-Chicory plant. I wanted to get a better shot of him so without any hesitation. He did wind up barfing orange goo all over my hand but it that is when I put him back. These guys in the wild feed primarily on the members of the nightshade family but in the agriculture world these guys are very devastating to Potato crops. Though not rare this was the first one to be found on Campus grounds. It had been one I had been searching for since high school. I was in the Future Farmers of America Program and I participated in the State Entomology ID Contest and this was one that we had to study about. I had seen it in the contest arena but I have never seen it live until now. It is almost dime sized but much smaller than I had anticipated. I love it when I can find really cool things like this on campus.

Along the exercise track on the left side of the Wildflower Restoration area lies the area I called the “Mud Puddle” It is just a low area that collects with water and last winter I decided to walk around there to see if there was any winter birds that I could see. Ever so often I would walk around the tall grass and a bird would shoot out from the tall grass. This was the only shot I could get of any of the birds. This bird is one of the many winter visitors that TCC South Campus gets called the Wison’s Snipe. I did a report on these back in high school and this one kind of hit home for me. They are know for their elaborate flight displays and often make loud whistling sound with their tail feathers. they maybe a drab colored bird but their patterns (shown here) are dazzling. the dark stripes down the back, the little ruddy colored tail feathers, the black secondaries of their wings. At first I thought they were another bird called the American Woodcock or what some people refer to as the Timberdoodle. It almost has the same body shape but the Woodcock sits lower to the ground and makes a little Weemp! or  Meemp! that sounds nasally. These guys let out a loud barking alarm call that sometimes startles me. Sometimes things are so quite and I am focused then I get too close and then I hear that and my heart jumps to my throat. This is one of those special birds I see at Southeast Campus too. 

 In the summer time we have a plant that grows at the corner of the sceince building nearest to the corridor that takes you down the path to the engineering building. The plant (seen here) is called the Flame Acanthus. One day I was out making my rounds just killing time when I saw something moving with jerky movement. I stopped and got my camera in focus and took this photo of a hummingbird. I am still in a debate if it is Black-chinned or Ruby-throated but it is one of the two. This is the best shot I have of a Hummer feeding on a flower. This is one of the truly magical shots I have ever taken on Campus. 

A declining species that we have on Campus is the raptor like Loggerhead Shrike. Some days when I am on my way to school and I come to pull into the campus drive way closest to the Football Stadium across the street I will see these birds on power lines. However on the day I took this one I was walking the track with my mother. We had some time to kill and we deiced to take a brisk winter walk. I spotted this guy in a tree and knew exactly what is was. These guys are known for being a bird of pray (raptor) trapped in a song-bird’s body. These guys have a beak like a raptor and a the sounds of a songbird. They have a problem they can’t tear prey with their small birdie feet but they have a solution. They will catch what they find and impale them on a sharp barb. I have seen mice and snakes on some of the trees on campus and my only thought is that the Loggerhead Shrikes have been there. They are sadly declining due to human interference by architectural advancement. It is a pity really these birds are one of my favorites and we need to do all we can to protect these birds for they keep rodent, insect, and snake populations in check. They are one of the good guys of the open prairie and that is the place they call home. So we should be making more prairie and not tearing up more land to put parking lots and things. The more food that these guys have on a tree will make him more attractive to the ladies as I saw in a PBS nature special. With more food in the fridge so to speak he is stronger and able to provide more for their young.

  Let us not forget about the cute little furry guys that call our campus home. This is one that doesn’t always occur on campus but it does from time to time; meet the Striped Skunk. The engineering building is a hive of wildlife like I have said many times. This skunk was just one of the many species I found out there. This guy was in the blue drain pipe when I came around from making a bug run. I saw something black and furry and it didn’t look exactly like a feral cat. So I walked around to see if he would come out again. I then came back and then I saw that white part of his head and I then raised my camera and began to tell myself it was a skunk. He didn’t seem to sure if he wanted to come out of the pipe or not. He was pretty hesitant to come out. He would pull in and come out and make little sounds. Then finally he jumped out and startled himself and raised his tail. I was pretty far back and not anywhere near his firing range for he was turned away from me. This guy is the first wild skunk I have ever seen in my life. May not be a rarity for some people but for me it is. Normally these guys are seen the night so this could have wound up a dicey encounter but he didn’t try anything. Normally they are solitary only coming up to another one during breeding season. The males mate with the females and then wonder off the females raise their young by themselves and then once the young are able to fend for themselves they will leave mom and then she is back to being solitary. Skunks are one of my favorite mammals. I used to feed one at the Fort Worth Nature Center and Refuge so this was a really neat encounter. 

Let me take sometime to show you one of the most common of our mammals. We get a lot of Virginia Opossums on our campus. This one I got the day before spring fest. This guy was in a rush to find a place to rest. He looked like he was in a fever state looking for shelter. He was running around the Rotunda and going back and forth not knowing which direction to go. When I took this shot he almost looked like he was at a loss. He put his hand on the outer wall and was looking right at me. It was almost like he was saying “Talk about a rut.” I love the opossum but many people don’t seem to appreciate them because they look like big rats. They are not all that bad in fact you should consider yourselves very lucky to have these in your backyard and in your forests for they are the number one tick zappers on the planet. They eat more ticks than any other animals and that helps cut back on Lyme Disease and other horrible tick related ailments. In my book the Opossum is Awesome! It is one of the heroes of the natural world for it keeps the human and pet pests away and help save lives. So the next time you see an opossum just think it is on the prowl to do you a big favor. 

So this is a representation of the three main groups of animals we have on campus. I wish I could go into all of them for they all have something wonderful to tell. Each animal and person have a story. TCC South Campus is known for its quite atmosphere, clubs, and its bell tower but for me TCC South has a lot more to be recognize for. It may just be a school to some but to me it is a wildlife hot bed, a wild place; a place for wildlife to thrive. It is a habitat for countless species. Many people don’t take the time to notice the wildlife on campus. However when I am on campus I am always checking out every nook and cranny that I can get to to find the next best thing. Their is a magic to TCC South and it is not too hard to find it. The wildlife on campus is really special to me for I have been studying it for a while. It is vital that we take care of it and keep planting native vegetation and keeping it clean so that way more things can show up. Most of the things we get are arthropods but we get a lot of birds too. We get a good cross section of things. Some people don’t take the time to enjoy what I think is the most special thing about the campus. It is a hidden world to most but for me it is a world I love to lose myself in. Observing these things and documenting and discovering what other creatures call this campus home. For me this the true magic of TCC. Sure it is a peaceful place but the animals that we share with it add to that natural ambiance of the campus. The South Campus is by far the wildest place I have ever attended for schooling. It has a whole plethora of wildlife that I love to explore and even if it is just for a few minutes a day or about an hour a day I never miss out on personal discovery. This is what I want to share with people on campus. There is a whole world different from our own out there and that is why I created the South Nature Club to help people understand and appreciate the world of wildlife on campus and beyond. It is a wonderful feeling to meet a new creature on campus and it makes me want to tell people the value of that creature or organism. I hope this has been a little window to my feelings on Campus wildlife. A little window from the eyes of a student and a budding naturalist. 

I am Zachary Chapman and I will see you on the trail.