#airlocks and aviaries

[airlocksandaviaries]

OH MY GOD I LOVE IT

I designed a sticker in Cricut for @airlocksandaviaries

My attempt at 'space birds' I might redo the stars lol

[hellenhighwater]

Can I ask did you build your catio from scratch or did you build it from one of those catio kits? I've been considering putting one on my balcony for the cats but I'm trying to figure out what options are out there that people recommend

I built mine from scratch and it's actually primarily an aviary--Arson and Larceny get the main space when the weather is above freezing at night; when it's too cold, they move into the house. Malice and Vice get the whole space when the doves are indoors, and when the doves are out, they just get the little "airlock" area that exists to keep the birds from having a straight shot to the sky when I open the main aviary door.

The prefab catios are a great option if you don't have the skills or tools to build one yourself. Depending on the shape of your balcony, you may actually be able to enclose it entirely. I can't recommend a specific product though.

If you're able to build something custom, it's likely to be less expensive than the purchased options and you can probably go bigger than most commercial options. For what it's worth, for anyone wanting a large outdoor "catio," you can pretty easily modify large covered dog kennels to be cat-proof--you can add zip ties to the tarp roofs to close gaps, cut an opening in the cage wall to make window access, and so on. Not quite as much work as building something wholly from scratch! As a random example, here's a $280 dog kennel vs a $280 catio, both on amazon.

If you're lucky, you can sometimes find these kinds of kennels secondhand on marketplace and just modify them from there. To be properly predator-proof, if that's a concern in your area, a structure should be covered in 1/2 in welded wire hardware cloth, which can be attached with screws and washers, wire ties, or industrial zip ties. (My aviary proper is predator proof but the airlock section is currently not. ) Ideally, you also want to cover down into the ground to prevent digging in/out, if you're on the dirt. If you're not able to fully predator proof, then make sure that your cats have an escape route to get quickly back into the house.

There's tons of options and it mostly depends on what you have space and resources for, but if you can make it secure, a catio is a great option for extra enrichment.

[airlocksandaviaries]

I posted 1,703 times in 2022

That's 1,703 more posts than 2021!

216 posts created (13%)

1,487 posts reblogged (87%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@veradragonjedi

@sexygaywizard

@elytrians

@i-likestuff86

@acrowbyanyothername

I tagged 1,447 of my posts in 2022

Only 15% of my posts had no tags

#not my art - 103 posts

#tony stark - 64 posts

#dinluke - 49 posts

#stevetony - 49 posts

#star trek - 49 posts

#star wars - 48 posts

#data star trek - 44 posts

#the sandman - 41 posts

#star trek tng - 40 posts

#stony - 34 posts

Longest Tag: 140 characters

#'some people accuse me of having a favorite mutual. this is false. i love airlocks and aviaries and all you non-airlocksandaviaries equally.

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

the inherent homoeroticism of being the two main characters in an absurdist play... there’s just something about it. It’s distinctly different than any other homoeroticism and I can’t put my finger on why.

273 notes - Posted September 27, 2022

#4

yknow when ur reading a fic. And it’s amazing and it’s beautiful and everything is just so perfect. And you’ve gotten to the paragraph that’s basically the best part. And you’re loving all of the lines so far. But then there’s just that one line. That One Line. The line that just smacks you upside the heart with so much feeling, the line that almost shifts your worldview it’s so damn good, the line that makes you realize that this really is a Good Goddamn Fic. And it makes you go back and read the whole paragraph over again because it’s too good not to experience more than once. I just love that feeling.

Fellow fic authors, I love you. I aspire to do this to someone one day.

275 notes - Posted May 30, 2022

#3

I just think that pretty boy Steve needs to be tenderly held by his unhinged maniac nerd boyfriend with messy dark hair

300 notes - Posted June 28, 2022

#2

Since this seems to be the general consensus around here... 😂

630 notes - Posted April 4, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

What he said. A DinLuke comic I put way too much effort in based on that iconic tweet/retweet by Mark Hamil and Pedro Pascal themselves. 😂 I love it so much that they did that. And I loved making this drawing. 😊

2,006 notes - Posted March 17, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

Aw man this was so cool! @veradragonjedi of course my longest tag was on a post to you lol 😂 Also I'm super proud of my top tags! I love reblogging other people's art. And SteveTony will always be my fav!

[airlocksandaviaries]

@veradragonjedi @many-legged

Stupid idea

YOU HAVE JUST BECOME A TMA AVATAR

Your personal domain is based on your username

Which entity/ies do you serve?

I'm the end

[boissonsaumiel]

The brew I started with coconut water and Nature Nate's organic mystery honey smells like banana candy coming out of the airlock. The avocado honey mead smells like avocado honey.

With the other honeys I've been using, the sweet honey smell hardly comes through at all. I'm mostly just getting a yeasty fermentation smell + the scent of any spices/botanicals I added.

.

When my 2 half gallon carboys free up I'm going to use one for T'ej, and the other to try out this 正山小种红茶 (lapsang souchong) mead recipe I saw on youtube, that reportedly tastes like "if Laphroig were a mead." I love peaty scotch, so my curiosity is piqued.

That recipe used orange blossom honey, but I'm going to be using a (relatively) local aviary's Sierra Nevada Wildflower honey instead.

.

I wish I could get some more of that honey I bought the last time I went on a visit to Yosemite. It had this intense sweet floral pine smell. I got a 1lb jar, ate 2/3 of it, and turned the rest into an extra tiny microbatch of mead that tasted absolutely amazing (this is the batch I forgot at the back of a cupboard for 7 months).

The producer doesn't seem to have an online storefront. Their website is just a splash page with a message box. I did try contacting them today, but if they don't have an online storefront, that probably means they only do direct business with retailers, so I'm not getting my hopes up.

Technically the Travel Yosemite website is selling their honey, but only in overpriced 2oz novelty bear shaped bottles they make for tourists. Honey is expensive enough without paying tourist prices.

[theradioghost]

i wanna see the microraptor aviary :D

Oh boy!!! So I'm not actually that good at the modular building systems in park builder games (despite my hundreds of hours in Planet Zoo I've mostly stuck to the prefab buildings and decorations) so the main structure of it is pretty basic using the existing building pieces, but I tried to add some stuff inspired mostly by the small mammal and bird house at my local zoo, the Smithsonian. The little feeding trough type thing in the front is made out of bits of drainage pipe props, and I added air conditioning and kept it mostly shaded because I chose to build a tropical zoo and the Jehol biota was cooler and drier than modern day Costa Rica! (This has no gameplay effect atm, I just liked the thought.)

Off to the side and behind there's a little airlock door for imaginary staff access, along with one of the utility shed prefabs the game has because I really like em, plus some trees and plants as a screen.

And then what I'm happiest with is the off-exhibit area in the back, with perches and some little nest boxes I built.

They won't actually go back there, but they're so danged cute they're worth it anyways.

[hazelwander]

Me: Makes abandoned* zoo for my wastelanders to navigate in ttrpg

They: Reach a massive metal mesh section with a small entrance with two simple and rickety wooden doors on either side, airlock style

They: Proceed to make 3+ assisted trap checks on each door etc to figure out if it's safe

Me: Sitting there watching them panic over a century and a half year old aviary entrance trying not to laugh

Bonus: One is a griffin and when she gets inside, it occurs to her this is pretty effective for keeping flying creatures in- oh

[airlocksandaviaries]

HERE IT IS AS A POST OMG

I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU'RE OUT HERE MAKING FANART FOR MY CHARACTERS I'M CRYING FOR REAL

THIS IS SO CUTE 😭💖

I finished this piece of fanart for @airlocksandaviaries series, L, E, and I. And I think it came out really good! I'm really proud of it!

[airlocksandaviaries]

Hi Airlocks and Aviaries!

I recently watched your YouTube video essay on Steddie and your energy is just so chaotic and wonderful - I enjoyed every minute! I'm so glad you're a steddie shipper and a stevetony shipper too!!! Aaahhh!! I have another comrade to geek out with, if you'll have me of course. ��😊 I'd love to talk more! Keep being awesome!

Wowowow! Thank you so so much! I'm so glad you liked my video! I love geeking out about Steddie and Stevetony and would be absolutely honored to geek out with you! 😁✨

[airlocksandaviaries]

How my YouTube Channel (and subsequently, this blog) got its odd name.

[notalexhorne]

Knowing the layout of the Oregon Zoo, and this exhibit, it's not surprising that a heron got in there. This exhibit looks indoors, but it's not, really. There's a roof above it, but most of the exhibits are basically open tunnels that you walk through, to make it easier for people with walkers, strollers, and scooters to enjoy the zoo without having to navigate a bunch of barriers. The aviary is one of the only areas I can think of off the top of my head that's got doors, and it's airlocked so the birds don't escape.

Oregon Zoo is also in Washington Park, which is a huge woodland area right on the edge of the West Hills. Not too far away is the Willamette River, the Columbia Slough, and the Columbia River. Herons be everywhere. That homeboy would wander in and look at some lampreys is pretty damn Portland, honestly.

Right up there with getting mugged by a peacock for your sandwich on the list of things that might happen to you on your trip to the zoo.

The polar opposite of corporate accounts trying to come across as hip and super friendly are the ones for libraries, aquariums, parks systems and the like, that are basically just trying to get people excited about learning and the wonder of history/science by posting things like this:

[airlocksandaviaries]

OMG hi Zeke. This might be a misunderstanding, I'm not the one sexually attracted to airplanes, that would be my good buddy @calkale.

My username actually has nothing to do with airplanes!

Airlocks = airlocks like in space ships Aviaries = bird places

I wanted to combine sci fi with fantasy a little bit and that's why I named my YouTube channel (and later, my tumblr), after this. Also, I came up with it while in an Aviary.

But I appreciate this post ksdjghskdjg

[why-animals-do-the-thing]

The thing is that zoos are… kind of uniquely hard to traverse with any type of mobility aids, and different mobility issues require different types of accommodations.

Because I think you’re asking in good faith, I’ll give you my mobility issues as an example. I’m hypermobile, which means my disability is really variable. Sometimes I can hike a whole hilly zoo all day and be totally fine. Sometimes I can walk the zoo, but standing on concrete really hurts, so I can’t stay anywhere that doesn’t have a bench to observe the animal. Sometimes I can compensate for that by sitting on the ground (which gets in the way of other people and gets you odd looks as an adult) or squatting but if I’m having a bad knees day, I get stuck and need help or end up injured. And sometimes, I can’t do the walking or the standing, and I use an electric scooter that I rent from the zoo.

But none of these are perfect solutions. Let me walk you through the way electric scooters (ECVs), for example, can be hard to use at a zoo. Assume for the purpose of this someone is visiting alone and needs to mostly stay in the ECV.

Paths aren’t level, or smooth. Old concrete/asphalt, decorative pathing, or concrete with paw prints or leaf outlines in will rattle your teeth when you drive over it. If you’ve got chronic pain or joint issues, it hurts a lot to traverse. Same problem with larger, harder bumps for a lot of boardwalks.

Not everywhere is built for wheeled access. Doors are often so narrow it’s hard not to bash your elbows, or there are dead ends in buildings where you can’t back out easily or have enough room to turn around. Curved paths can be graded too steeply and you risk toppling over.

Indoor buildings, especially aviaries, don’t reliably have automated door buttons. I’ve gotten trapped inside buildings that only had buttons on the outside (because you can’t hold a door open and drive a mobility vehicle through simultaneously). I’ve also gotten physically stuck inside airlocks I was told were accessible that did not actually have enough space for an ECV to navigate.

Secondary fences are not designed for sitting people. Think how many adults lift their kids up to see! You get a great view of the fencing and bushes, and if there’s a window that goes to ground level you’re competing with lots of kids and other people for access to the viewing area.

Renting one is expensive! I think the cheapest I’ve ever seen one available was $20, and sometimes as much as $45. That at minimum doubles the cost of the trip to the zoo.

These are all issues you encounter in a powered vehicle - manual wheelchairs tend to struggle more with a lot of the terrain issues, because long winding slopes without flat spots are a common design feature.

So while you’d think that if “you need to rest more / can’t walk a ton” the solution is just “use a wheelchair,” I have found it can actually be even more exhausting and painful to use a mobility device than just hoof it on foot and plan my day around the hills and places I know have benches I can rest on. I’ve done a lot of facilities both ways and there’s some pretty major tradeoffs.

A solution to this would be zoo design with more accessibility in mind, but truly, just having more benches and putting them in places where people want to linger - like where they can see animals - goes a long way. So many exhibit viewing areas are just a glass wall over a concrete pad for guests to stand on, and nothing else! Creating viewing areas that have inherent accommodations solves a lot of that problem without putting the onus on disabled folk to own/rent/have access to mobility aids they might not need regularly outside of a zoo visit.

People never seem to want to hang out at animal habitats. If they can’t see something immediately, they just leave. If you’re patient enough to stay, sometimes incredibly magical experiences happen. Like this one.

Those are California condors. Biggest wingspan in North America, incredibly endangered, and the only species with approval from USDA for emergency use of the poultry avian flu vaccine.

Towards the end of the day, once things got quiet, I sat down near where one was foraging and just hung out. Then… they noticed me.

I can only upload one video so I’m going with the one where I was showing them my glasses, since they kept trying to peck at my shoelaces and fingers and I wondered what else they'd be interested in.

They stayed there with me for at least five minutes, given the duration of video I took. Just chilling, watching me, interacting a little. It was just us - nobody else approached. Until eventually they chose to go do their own thing, and I sat there in awe for a while.

It’s worth it to wait, when you can.

[hellenhighwater]

The extension is just going to be an airlock-style man trap, following the current roofline and adding two feet of length to the front of the structure. It'll also allow Malice to use it as a catio without having to bring the doves inside. Right now she only gets leash time when I'm outside to supervise.

The doves are not fast flyers and they don't tend to fly at people, so it's not been a problem to have just a single door. Still, best practices is two doors, so the addition will make it so that there's a catch area if they ever do make it out of the first door.

Mal is well-trained enough to not try to get at them, but the aviary is very predator-proof regardless, so using the mantrap as a catio should be fine. She'll still get use of the entire aviary when the doves are in for the winter.

Or at least she will until I get around to adding the next module, which will be an insulated loft so they can be out year-round.

Did your house have an aviary when you moved in?

No, I built it before I moved and brought it to my house--it's modular and can be put up in an hour or so, if I have a few extra people to help.

Right now I need to go to the store and buy some lumber so I can build an extension on it, but it's rainy and I don't really want to.