#bird colonies

[vox-anglosphere]

It's breeding season along the Atlantic coast - God bless them all

[liberaljane]

putting pressure on elected officials works. let's keep up the pressure to #CeasefireNOW and end the genocide.

Digital illustration of an upset asian woman with long curly hair. She is wearing a striped wrap dress and holding a dove. There's text that reads, 'keep up the pressure, end the genocide.'

[jadafitch]

Petit Manan Lighthouse, Petit Manan Island, Steuben. Possibly my favorite lighthouse. In the summer, this island is home to hundreds of birds. Including Atlantic puffins, arctic, common and roseate terns, as well as black guillemots and many more. Decided I couldn't draw them all, but here's a couple attempts to try and capture the island's vibes. Can you spot the oystercatchers? MERCH

[fairiedance]

Palestine Bird Designs

One of the first times I spoke with my friend (the one I am fundraising for) about Palestine he spoke so passionately about how birds represent freedom to him, as they come and go over the walls at will. Israel has caused absolute devastation to Palestine's wildlife, cutting off migratory pathways for land animals and destroying habitats. Birds (though still hurt by habitat loss of course) can pass over the barriers. Watching them fly across the walls is a bittersweet thing for those trapped within them. The flight of birds has represented freedom to so many cultures, but there's a certain extra emotional poignancy that comes with the symbolism for people who are trapped by the same barriers that the birds traverse with ease.

Of course this is not the only reason I make so many bird designs, doves are a standard symbol for peace and I'm also absolutely obsessed with birds in general, but the way my friend told it was very touching and I wanted to share. My various bird designs have gotten a lot of attention the last few days, so I'll compile all my birds so far in one place here:

You can find all my designs here. Redbubble will show you a random product, click on it to see all product options (shirts, stickers, notebooks, etc). ALL PROCEEDS will go to my Palestinian best friend to help him afford to bring his girlfriend over to America and to help his other loved ones around the Levant who are being hurt directly and/or financially by the attacks on Gaza, the increasing Israeli raids in the West Bank and the collateral damage in surrounding countries.

[starflungwaddledee]

is there an accepted collective name for waddle dees? for when they're in a group; like how you have a flock or birds or a pack of wolves?

if not can i formally suggest: wuddle.

because it's cute and sounds like a puddle of waddle dees. but also because it's similar to 'huddle' which is used for stationary penguins on land. (penguins are in fact actually collectively called a 'waddle' when they're walking, so there is... you know. That.)

[vintagehomecollection]

The 'Wisteria Porch' of Georgian Colonial design, was added to Endean, the Charles Summer Bird estate, at the turn of the century. It stretches 80 feet across the front of the mansion and is framed by a canopy of wisteria.

Interior Visions: Great American Designers and the Showcase House, 1988

[lesovyart]

I love ibises and if you hate them then we have beef

[arthistoryanimalia]

#ThreeForThursday:

Tea Service in the Shape of Quails

Gujarat (formerly Baroda), India, 1920-30

Silver, gilded silver, ivory

Virginia Museum of Fine Arts display

“The British were not India's only patrons of elegant silver.

Native princes - always engaged in dynamic cultural interchanges with their British overlords - also commissioned silver of the highest quality. Such patronage was nowhere more prominent than in western India, where the rulers of the state of Kutch were champions of their silversmiths. These leaders ensured their region's silver became the best known of India's styles through sponsorship at international exhibitions, beginning with London's Great Exhibition of 1851. This stylishly whimsical tea service in the shape of richly feathered quails was produced by Oomersee Mawjee Jr., son of Kutch's most renowned master silversmith, after he shifted to the employ of another western Indian ruler, Maharaja Sayajirao Gaekwad III of Baroda.”

[koshigurajumy]

Jumy-M Black-tailed gull in flight / 海猫が往く

[sitting-on-me-bum]

Necks, please

A colony of mute swans at the Abbotsbury Swannery in Dorset. There are around 600 birds at the swannery, which was established by Benedictine monks.

Photograph: Stephen Smith

[fatehbaz]

[T]he infamous Diable (Devil’s Island) [French prison in Guiana, South America] [...]. Seventy thousand convicts were sent to French Guiana between 1852 and 1938. [...] Alongside deportation of political prisoners [...], a [...] convict population [...] was sent to the bagne (common parlance for the penal colony) [...] as a utopian colonial project [...] via the contribution convict labour would make towards colonial development in French Guaina. However, [...] French Guiana [...] was predominantly used as a depository for the unwanted citizens of France and its colonies. The last remaining French and North African convicts were repatriated in 1953, whereas the last Vietnamese prisoners were not given passage home until 1954 [...].

[T]he same form of built environment and carceral technology [...] structures found on Con Dao [French prison in Vietnam] and [the French prison in Guiana] [were] built at almost the same time [...] to house the same convict populations (Vietnamese implicated in anticolonial struggles) [...]. Old world colonialism is thus displaced by new world imperialism. Both rely on the prison island and its cellblocks. [...]

---

The carceral continuities [...] throughout France’s penal colonies are supplemented by legal exceptionalism which works to redefine colonial subjects within shifting political contexts. [...] Many of the Indochinois convicts transported to the forest camps of French Guiana in 1931, including the Bagne des annamites, had originally been classed as political prisoners. The transfer was intended in part [...] to remove a number of anticolonial actors from Indochina. [...]

As political deportees sent to French Guiana were usually exempt from labour according to the political decree of 1850, this status had to be revoked to ensure the maximum labour force possible.

Consequently, those arrested on suspicion of specific acts of violence or property damage were reclassed as common criminals. Described by Dedebant and Frémaux (2012, 7) as “little arrangements between governors,” this was not simply a sleight of hand but written into legal codes. [...]

---

[M]any of the Vietnamese sent to French Guiana had to wait until the 1960s to be repatriated. [...] After their sentences were completed, convicts were not simply repatriated to France or other colonies.

A system of “doublage” intended to shore up colonial development meant they had to serve the same length of their sentence again on the colony. For those condemned to eight years or more, this became life. Opportunities for sustainable livelihood were limited in a territory possessing swathes of free convict labour. Worn out and sick from their time in the bagne, most of these men were unfit to work and relied on charity to survive. [...]

[T]he last living convict [of the Guiana penal colony] [...] died in Algeria in 2007 after being repatriated to Annaba. In an interview given in 2005, he claims that every night he dreams he is back in Cayenne: “when I think about it, I get vertigo, I spent my life there” [...].

---

All text above by: Sophie Fuggle. "From Green Hell to Grey Heritage: Ecologies of Colour in the Penal Colony". Interventions: International Journal of Postcolonial Studies, Volume 24 (2022), Issue 6, pages 897-916. Published online 8 April 2021. At: doi dot org slash 10.1080/1369801X.2021.1892507 [Bold emphasis and some paragraph breaks/contractions added by me. Presented here for commentary, teaching, criticism purposes.]

[jadafitch]

Matinicus Rock Light, Penobscot Bay, Matinicus, Maine. Hunting and eating puffins was common practice in Maine over 100 years ago. The first lighthouse keepers on the rock were also wardens, hired by The American Ornithologists Union. They were tasked with protecting The United State's last remaining pair of Atlantic puffins, as well as many other commonly hunted seabird species. Today, Matinicus Rock is owned by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Maine Coastal Islands National Wildlife Refuge, and is cooperatively managed by the National Audubon Society and MCINWR. Thanks to their work and the work of Project Puffin, there are over 500 pairs of nesting puffins, plus 400 pairs of razorbills, 1,000 pairs of terns, about 700 pairs of laughing gulls, and more.

[fairiedance]

Palestine Sunbird

The end of the ceasefire is heartbreaking but sadly not unexpected. I am still uploading Palestine designs regularly, ALL PROCEEDS will continue to go to my Palestinian best friend to help his loved ones through this war. He is the sweetest person in the world (and a truly brilliant scientist) and he deserves so much better than this. All designs found here.

The Palestine sunbird is a beautiful little passerine found around parts of the Middle East and Africa. They look somewhat like giant hummingbirds (though that is entirely convergent evolution, hummingbirds are actually in the same clade (Strisores) as potoos and frogmouths and stuff which is wild to me). These little guys were adopted as Palestine's national bird in 2015. My drawing is available on shirts, stickers, mugs and more.

...and I'm just realizing right after I posted this that the work isn't showing up right now since I tweaked the title in my shop. Hopefully it will be back promptly, until then my Redbubble has plenty of other designs to support my friend including a couple doves with keffiyehs. Sorry, Redbubble is a little neurotic about checking art with "controversial" keywords.

Edit: okay he's back

[nando161mando]

[yukipri]

Wow! I just saw the photos of your cat and he's the spitting image of my cat as a kitten! Can I ask how you got him?

I'll add some photos of my boy (his name is Clyde) as a kitten so you can see what I mean :)

Oh my gosh, your Clyde DOES look an awful lot like Rex!

Clyde's got a slightly large dark spot on his nose and an adorable dark chin, while Rex is all over a lil paler (though he's getting darker as he ages) and has a beauty mark. I don't think I've ever seen another cat look so similar though!

Thank you so much for sharing, your Clyde is adorable <3

As for how I got Rex, I adopted him from a rescue in a neighboring town. He, his mum, and his sister were found in one of their volunteer's backyard. His mum and sister were too feral and escaped all attempts at trapping, but Rex is very people friendly so they caught him easily, and wanted him to go to a home. It was really nice because we were able to meet his fosters (who helped trap him) directly and hear all about him before adopting. The guestimate is that we adopted him at around 6 months old, and he spent the first 4+ months outside, with his fosters having him around a month before he was made available for adoption.

He was very shy for the first week, and missed his foster parents terribly, but he just needed some patience. Now, a few months later, he is probably the most physically affectionate and cuddly of all the cats I've ever had! He frequently flops over on top of my feet to beg for belly rubs, or simply climbs up to sit on my chest.

He's still a growing boi, but I hope he'll end up as handsome as Clyde one day!

Cats tag: #YukiPriASLKittens

[proton-wobbler]

Semifinals, Poll 2

Oilbird vs African Penguin

sources under cut

Oilbird (Steatornis caripensis)

"They are the only nocturnal flying fruit-eating birds in the world (the kakapo, also nocturnal, is flightless)" - Wikipedia

eBird sightings: 3,559; IUCN Redlist Rating: Least Concern

What more can I say? Why do they echolocate if they have such good eyes? How does it help with finding and eating fruit? The genus, family, and order name (Steatornis) means "fat bird", in reference to the fatness of the chicks. Apparently there have been fossils of this family found worldwide, but the oilbird is the only survivor, living in northwest South America. Their habitat ranges from lowland to subtropical forests in the Andes, so long as caves and forests with fruiting palms and laurels are nearby.

African Penguin (Spheniscus demersus)

"These guys are such funny bastards. They're like horny toddlers. They loaf. They crave violence. They can swim faster than Michael Phelps." - original poll propaganda

eBird sightings: 3,034; IUCN Redlist Rating: Endangered

Penguins are unable to swim during their molt, as their feathers are not yet waterproof. African penguins typically take three weeks to fully molt and must fast, surviving off of fat reserves; they will lose up to half of their body weight during that time. They will live at sea for most of their lives (10-25 years), coming to land when it is time to lay their eggs. Oh also they're called Jackass Penguins because they bray like donkeys.

Images: Oilbird (Andres Vasquez Noboa); Penguin (Dorian Anderson)