#i am not a bird person but

[daily-hyosatsu]

This bar's calligraphy (word art?) could not be any cuter! But can you read it? Here's a more standard-looking version.

It says 百舌, read もず. It means shrike (esp. the bull-headed shrike), butcher bird, or any bird in the family Laniidae. Which can also be written 百舌鳥, or モズ in scientific contexts.

百 means hundred. Its readings are もも (which is rare, though it does show up in names), ヒャク, or ビャク.

舌 is new to this blog! It means tongue. It can also refer to the reed of a musical instrument or the clapper of a bell. It's read した or ゼツ.

So why are shrikes called hundred-tongue birds? Apparently it's because they can mimic the songs of other birds. I had no idea! Before today, the only thing I knew about shrikes was that they impale their prey on thorns (and the only reason I knew that was because of Hannibal). But now I know four things about them: the mimic thing, the impaling thing, their Japanese name, and that they are cute as shit. Just look at that little guy!

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Hey now, Let her cook!

[metamatronic]

“It makes sense why ASGORE took so long to hire a new Royal Scientist. After all, the old one... Dr. Gaster. What an act to follow!” “One day, he vanished without a trace. They say he shattered across time and space.” “Well, I needn't gossip. After all, it's rude to talk about someone who's listening.”

it’s 2024 and i’m drawing undertale fanart of *checks notes* the gaster followers??? yeah sure alright.

((also i know goner kid is monster kid’s sprite but baby alphys intern has my heart))

[todaysbird]

Today's bird is this Purple Swamp Hen

[cloneenthusiast]

Despite everything.

[chiropteracupola]

there's no rule saying you can't turn medieval kings into magical girls.

[clouvu]

Acorn x Wobin thoughts on the brain rn

[starry-bi-sky]

tales of the passerine - danny fenton being bruce wayne's first kid

okay okay. so this is like a continuation/elaboration of my oneshot/prompt i wrote about the idea that Danny was the first batkid. We have a lot of aus where he joins the family after the rest of the bats do, right? So hey! Lets shake things up a bit. Danny is the first to be adopted by Bruce Wayne.

Danny's parents and unfortunately Jazz die shortly after the events of TUE -- how so? I was gonna say an ecto-filter explosion, that would call back to the TUE explosion and trauma behind that. But lets do something new! Carbon-monoxide poisoning.

It's not too unexpected for something to break in the Fenton house, especially with the Fenton parents' questionable understanding of proper weapon handling and lab safety. The water heater broke from a stray shot by one of the weapons, and was promptly MacGyver'd incorrectly. Danny went to stay with Tucker for a guys' night, and came back to a dead silent house.

(Danny's neighbors got a very unfortunate shock when he ran to the next house over in hysterics.)

There was a lot of shuffling around with CPS, the police. People had to be called in to handle the equipment in the lab, and the GIW was rumoring to show up in aid to clearing the scene. When Danny heard of that, he immediately went and dismantled the ghost portal to the best of his abilities. He burned the physical blueprints of all his parents' inventions, their blueprints on the ghost portal, and their most dangerous weapons were destroyed beyond recognition. Anything to prevent the GIW from getting their hands on his parents' tech.

It opened up another investigation, but he was not under the list of suspects. He was placed in the care of Vlad Masters, where they then went back to the rebuilt castle mansion in Wisconsin. Danny, terrified of the future that has once passed and may do so again, shuts down in his grief. Inadvertently, he ends up somewhat repressing his ghost half. Something Vlad, who is grieving Madeline but relishing in Jack's demise and his custody of Daniel, is not very happy with.

Vlad's... gone into a bit of a mental health spiral. He's becoming increasingly possessive over Daniel, the final remnants of his friends and a liminal being like him. He doesn't like that Danny's repressing his ghost half -- both out of genuine concern as a ghost, but also because of his desire to control Danny and groom him into the perfect son. If you ever had a phase where you read Dark SBI found family fics, first off; me too bro, and second off; those are the vibes I'm thinking of.

Danny's mentally shut down from grief! And fear. He's dropped into a bad depressive state -- paralyzed with grief and the terror of the inevitable. Clockwork saved his parents because he believes in second chances, but what's the point of that when his family ended up dead anyways? Danny doesn't wanna believe that he's destined to become evil, and he's holding out onto that hope, but it's a thin line, and he feels utterly hopeless and trapped. He hasn't used his powers or ghost form since he trashed the lab, and Vlad has alarms set up to prevent him from trying to escape.

He's also unintentionally cut off Sam and Tucker -- both of whom are so scared and concerned for Danny too, and are trying their damndest to reach out to him. He keeps ignoring their texts. Danny basically haunts Vlad's manor. He goes out to eat if he has to, attends parties Vlad drags him to, and stays in his room all day if he can.

At parties, Vlad doesn't allow Danny to leave his side, or really talk to anyone -- not that Danny wants to. A product of Vlad's increasing possessiveness. Well, he almost doesn't let Danny leave his side. Danny has a habit of slipping off to hide somewhere for the parties whenever he can, and Vlad reluctantly allows it so long as he stays alone.

This becomes an advantage when eventually, Bruce Wayne returns to Gotham after missing for years, and holds a bright charity ball to celebrate the return. Vlad has been chomping at the bits to get his hands on Wayne Industries, and with the return of its owner there is no better opportunity to wipe out his rival. He goes, and he as normal, brings Daniel with him.

Vlad thinks Wayne will bleed his little heart out for Daniel's poor orphan sob story -- he's a fellow orphan himself, after all. He's not wrong; Wayne's little heart will bleed, just not in the way that benefits him.

Bruce sees Vlad and Danny approaching before they're even close enough to introduce themselves - and like with many of the children he will soon come to care for, it's like someone set a mirror into the past right in front of him.

Danny Fenton's suit is tailor-made for him, and despite the fact that it's his perfect size, the sag in his shoulders, the ducked down head, and the way he hunches into himself all pictures the image of a child in shoes too big for him. There's a far away, glazed over look in his eyes and grief marble-cut into the lines of his face. There's not enough makeup in the world that will hide the dark circles under his eyes.

("My nephew, Daniel Fenton." Vlad's hands are possessive on Danny's shoulders. Bruce immediately notices the way the boy tenses under his touch. "His parents passed recently, and as his godfather I was designated his guardian.") ("I'm so sorry, the loss must've been terrible.") ("Yes, carbon-monoxide poisoning caused it. Daniel was out with friends, when he came home... they had already passed.") (Bruce immediately dislikes that Vlad shared the details of their death unprompted -- he likes it even less when Danny flinches at the reminder and hunches into himself.)

Danny runs off at some point earlier into the charity. At this point, parties are still being held at Wayne Manor (because iirc google search mentioned that was a thing at first before it was changed), so he disappears and hides in one of the empty rooms nearby. It just so happens to be the same room Bruce Wayne hides in when he needs a break from all of the socialization.

Thus begins a long, long process of trust. Bruce can't reveal his hand as being smarter than he looks, but he can be compassionate. Kindness needs no measure of intelligence. He keeps Danny company for as long as he can before he runs the risk of being found.

Rinse and repeat. Vlad insistently wants Wayne Industries, and he'll go to as many Wayne parties as he can to get his hooks into the man. The problem is that Bruce Wayne is never alone, and getting him alone is impossible. Finding him too. It's like the man never stops moving. Always talking to someone, always circling somewhere. He orbits around the room as if he isn't the sun of the Gotham Elite's solar system.

Danny's had such repetitive behavior that Vlad never thinks to believe that Bruce Wayne is disappearing to go talk to him. That "Vlad's" son is even interacting with him at all. Danny never gives him a reason to think so, and neither does Bruce.

Danny doesn't actually acknowledge Bruce until a handful of parties in, where he hands Bruce a small slip of paper he smuggled in that says; "don't trust Vlad". Danny's face stays carefully blank, but he's so tense that his hands are trembling, and he's purposely looking away from him. Bruce plasters a smile onto his face, slips the paper into his pocket, and tells him "okay".

(he's been busy with his own goals with the mafia, but he sets aside time to investigate Vlad Masters. He was holding off. Until now.)

Danny does eventually start speaking to Bruce, he's starting to really like the guy. He's starting to see a little hope, even as Vlad is starting to get more and more agitated with him the more he refuses to use his powers.

He reaches out to Sam and Tucker again, and starts trying to reconnect with them. Vlad has spyware on his phone, and he limits the amount of times he can talk to them. A weird parental control lock of some sort that leaves a time limit on how long he can talk to them for. 30 minutes. Danny doesn't tell them anything about Mr. Wayne.

Danny, slowly, wants out of here, and he's slowly gathering the motivation to do it. Vlad is genuinely scaring him -- and Danny wonders just how truthful the past-future Vlad was when he told him that Danny wanted his ghost half separate. He starts trying to come up with an escape plan.

Vlad has anti-ghost wards everywhere around the mansion, and while they're always on, they boost to full power at sunset. The doors and windows are always locked, all main exits have alarms set on them. The only reason it's not super extensive is because Danny hasn't tried leaving at all yet, so Vlad hasn't had to tighten anything.

At night, Vlad locks the door to his room and puts up an anti-ghost ward around the room. The mansion is on the outside westward side of Madison, more entrenched in rural Wisconsin. The closest town is a four-way stop sign with one house on three corners, and an open bar on the fourth. Not much to go.

He refuses to go to Sam and Tucker; Vlad would look there first. It's too dangerous. Vlad would sound alarm bells and have a manhunt looking for him, Danny can't risk going just anywhere. Too much risk of being found, sold out, or caught. There's really nowhere for him to hide.

Until there is. Bruce is telling Danny about the history of Wayne Manor, and says, as casually as saying the weather; "The manor has dozens of empty rooms, I'm sure Alfred wouldn't mind filling another one if he could." And quietly, hesitantly, Bruce places a careful hand on Danny's shoulder, unrestrictive and gentle; "He wouldn't mind getting one ready for you if you need one."

And there it is. There's his out.

Danny, just as quietly, replies; "I'll keep that in mind."

The ball starts rolling.

Now I've been trying to summarize this au as much as possible for length convenience, but Vlad has been steadily growing more and more controlling. More emotionally manipulative. More agitated at Danny for not using his powers.

He wants Wayne Industries under his thumb but he's been steadily growing more and more concerned with Danny. He's started grabbing him, yanking him around, shaking him; trying to goad him into using his powers. He gets angry when Danny doesn't react, or tells him he doesn't want to use his powers. He hasn't outright attacked him, but he's getting there. This has been happening over the time it takes for Bruce to indirectly offer Danny sanctuary at his home.

It all comes to a head when Vlad stops going to parties at all -- something Danny has to pretend he isn't upset about -- because Vlad doesn't want him around other people anymore. Vlad rarely goes now without him, and only leaves to go to a Wayne function or to handle something at VladCo.

Danny can't wait for Vlad to leave long enough to escape. So he leaves during the night of a big storm. Vlad's locked him in his room, but Danny doesn't bother trying to go for it; he goes to the alarmed window instead. Danny's been repressing his ghost half so long that he can't access his powers immediately anymore -- he can feel it, he knows its there, but he can't quite reach it.

He breaks the lock by hand.

Immediately the alarm goes off through the entire castle, filling the room with red, and he scrambles for the rope the Wisconsin Ghost left for him a few months back. Danny's already out and climbing down the side of the castle before Vlad even reaches his door -- the only good thing about the entire room being ghost-proof is that Vlad can't get in that way.

The rope ends before it reaches the bottom, and he's still twenty feet in the air. It won't kill him if he lands it right. Danny takes his chances, and drops. He breaks his ankle, but he survives.

And he fucking books it to the back garden. He hears Vlad shrieking over the thunder and rain.

I'll save the full experience for a future oneshot, but Danny makes it out into the nearby woods and forcibly experiences what it's like to be in a horror game, trying to hide from the thing that's hunting you. There's only one thing going through his mind; "i'm going to die"

I have this mental image for this scene. Very stereotypical horror imo. Where Danny is hiding behind a tree, with a hand over his mouth, and Vlad is a few feet away from him, glowing ominously red through the trees, trying to search for him.

Danny doesn't get away from this unscathed, but he does get away alive. That's all he could ask for. He gets away by getting his ghost half awakened long enough to transform into Phantom and fly to Gotham.

But he gets to Wayne Manor, he gets to Bruce. Or, at least, Alfred answers the door from his insistent pounding. Danny's just in tears and Alfred gets him in the living room, wrapped in a towel, with ice on his swollen leg before he has to step out and alert Bruce.

Bruce already breaks multiple traffic laws on a nightly basis. And that's just with the sheer existence of the batmobile itself, not including the speeding and military artillery attached. He breaks double the amount trying to speed back to the cave and get out of the suit.

Right off the bat: Bruce will know, at least before Dick enters the picture, about danny's powers. He'll figure out something considering the fact that Danny traveled from Wisconsin to New York in a single night. That'll be a bit of complicated affair, but I've already got something in mind.

Actually it'll probably be very soon after Danny joins the family, because Bruce tries to offer to fight for custody for Danny - the state Danny was in at arrival is clear enough evidence for a trial. But Danny immediately shuts it down, says it's not going to work and then Vlad will know Danny's with him and he won't be safe. He tells him that Vlad cannot know Danny was with Bruce.

Danny's biggest regret was not telling his parents he was a halfa, and while he doesn't want to tell mister wayne (yet), he does tell him about Vlad being one. He needs to know why Danny can't be seen with Bruce. So he tells him, and Danny's current plan is to just hide out from Vlad until he turns 18. That way, he has no more legal jurisdiction over him. After that? He's not sure.

And to wrap this up, since this has already gotten very long and I can make more posts about this au later; I've thought about it, and I'm going to say that Danny does become a vigilante before Dick enters the scene. He goes by, as you probably guessed; Nightingale. "Gale" for short.

[oh-no-its-bird]

The biggest lie Naruto tells its audience is that you can be both a good person and a good shinobi.

[pallanophblargh]

Color! Composition still wonky, but this was done mainly to see how I liked the colors and such. I can reposition and resize birds/leaves/etc another time. And get a decent proper hexagon drawn up.

This has been an exercise in not letting perfection hold me back. I have to start getting back into art somehow, right?

[cobra-wives]

it’s always “eli and the hawk persona as a metaphor for masculinity/the queer experience” but it’s never eli and the hawk persona as a metaphor for the neurodivergent experience and masking. hawk is CLEARLY eli’s way of masking - he is literally following a social script, adhering to social cues and speech patterns he created to look tougher out of a need to SURVIVE. he literally distances himself away from demetri who is LITERALLY THE DEFINITION of neurodivergency (misunderstanding social cues, special interests, slower development when it comes to karate) out of fear that he might be perceived as anything that isn’t his neurotypical persona.

sure we talk about it, but we don’t talk about it in the sense of how powerful that makes the bond between him and demetri - “this is who you are.” “a loser?” “my best friend. i know you think that that mohawk defined who you are. but it didn’t. not to me.” it is the most POWERFUL thing to me when we get this narrative where demetri will stand by his side not in spite of or because of his neurodivergency but just understand that it’s a part of him. no babying, no shoving one part or another down - just acceptance. and only when eli gets that acceptance is the mohawk not a mask anymore, but a facet of his own personal beliefs, dreams and interests. hell, it’s why i can finally say that YEAH - I’M LETTING HIM WEAR THE AMERICAN MOHAWK. it isn’t some persona he wears anymore like a lie - it’s his enthusiasm for his special karate interest. and i like joking about flag desecrations, so why not.

this is a very happy/positive ramble, so i’m not going to get into complaining about how more often than not the mischaracterization of eli peeves me off so bad because my brain unconsciously connected it to people infantilizing autistic characters. LET AUTISTIC CHARACTERS HAVE FLAWS AND EXPERIENCE EMOTIONAL TURMOIL IN THEIR HIGH SCHOOL JOURNEY OF SELF DISCOVERY! IT’S FUN!

[stagefoureddiediaz]

When is an analogy about a falling tree actually about the complication of Eddie having moved his life to Texas only to realise he’s in love with his best friend?!!!

Because that’s what I’m getting from that Tim quote!! To talk about self flagelation, complications in reestablishing his relationship with Chris and then throw in a comment about never knowing what tree might fall on you to finish off the answer - was a choice!

And I can’t be the only one that is thinking back to 6x04 and the birdwatcher stuck under a tree (and the whole episode being about misunderstanding things and christopher lying and buck and Christopher’s relationship and things being complicated!) we’ve already had a callback to this episode as well this season with Buck riding white bikes and stopping traffic - we’ve graduated from a pushbike to a motorbike - things are speeding up!

[proudfreakmetarusonikku]

thinking about “i may not see you again” “it’s okay as long as I know you’re happy” as a perfect ending to c!tommy's character not just in the fact we may never see him again but it’s okay if we know he’s happy (bc like, tommyinnit spontaneously starts RPing as him sometimes, he’s an OC Haver who constantly brings up his blorbo to the point I’ve noticed and I literally don’t watch the guy, i highly doubt he'll stop all of a sudden he’s been doing it for years) but also in the sense that like. all of c!tommy's trauma was caused by adults who Did genuinely love and care for him in some fucked up way (be it as a brother, comrade, or protege-in-training) but used that love to control and hurt him and treat him like a shiny possession. c!jack affirming he is still loved and cared for but not pushing those boundaries and trying to Enforce their idea of what’s Best for him onto him is such a beautiful end to that pattern. c!tommy can be loved without being caged. sometimes loving someone is accepting you’ll never see them again and maybe that’s best. sometimes it’s letting them choose on their own terms. c!tommy was allowed such little autonomy bc he was seen as unable to know what would be best for Him. being able to be happy on his own terms is something he’s never really been allowed before. like hell even with clingyduo they’re great but they’re also, y’know, clingy, and that is an unhealthy trauma response. they’re not bad people for having it and they’re clearly doing a lot better by the epilogue, but even c!tommy's most positive relationships have had Issues with independence. the fact the last thing we see of c!tommy is him mentioning that he might not ever see someone again and them accepting it as long as it’s his choice while reaffirming that despite everything they love and care for him and want him to be happy is so cathartic and honestly such a sweet ending for him it makes me tear up to think about. the eternal cycle of toxic friendship he was stuck in for years is finally breaking, and he's able to be an autonomous human being even if it’s not what his friends selfishly think is Best For Him.

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Leave wildlife alone. He probably bites.

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[tj-crochets]

(yes there are perhaps more songbird-y songbirds but these are the ones that fit the color palette and the fabrics I have on hand) Use whatever criteria you'd like! It's for a baby gift for a family I do not know well, I'm looking for whatever bird seems the most "songbird in an autumnal woodland"-y

[thisisnotjuli]

to have a healthy balance in your dashboard ecosystem it is essential to have at least a couple bird mutuals [mutuals who somewhat frequently reblog or share pictures of birds, or art of birds], as well as a bird friend [a friend who you can tag on the bird pictures or DM the bird pictures to]. this contributes to the larger birdblr community [bird tumblr] and helps regulate one's dashboard, which is essential for a healthy, well balanced tumblr posts consumption.