#misc. passerines

[corvus-coraxiom]

I've been thinking a lot about that one post that's like "deer are smaller than you think otters are bigger than you think" etc. And while there are Some birds that are talked about in the reblogs I feel like it'd kinda be fun to make a bird version bc I'm in an Infodumping mood. So:

If You've Never Seen One Before...

- Eagles are bigger than you think

- So are geese

- You were right about ducks. Mostly

- Crows are smaller than you think. If it's bigger, that's a raven

- Turkey vultures are bigger than you think. Black vultures are smaller

- Hawks are smaller than you think but you were pretty close

- Falcons are also smaller than you think but a LOT deadlier

- Owls are either a lot smaller or a lot bigger than you think depending on the species there's not really an in-between there.

- Great blue herons are MUCH bigger than you think. You were probably right about the size of green herons tho

- Wild turkeys are smaller than you think until they start flying (yes they can in fact fly and are actually pretty good at it)

- Most woodpeckers are smaller than you think except for That One Kind which is a lot bigger.

- Doves are smaller than you think

- You were right about pigeons

- You were also probably right about most songbirds except for bluejays. They're bigger than you think and also a LOT meaner (said with love 🩷)

- Seagulls are about the size you were thinking until they're up in your face trying to steal your food and suddenly they're MUCH bigger.

[jakebark]

I’m honestly in love with how you draw Jake 💕

I appreciate it! 💕 that means a lot to me

in return, have some western/cowboy au jake i’ve not posted here

[duskdragon39]

Speedpaint Link [FLASHING WARNING]

My final pieces for this year's Fandom Trumps Hate event! @juuls asked me to design a header for her ongoing @fanfic-reading-challenge - something that was general, usable over multiple years, and maybe referenced a fandom or two.

Which meant, of course, that I ended up jamming references to at least 9 different fandoms in there, along with a lot of references to various fanfics. At my last count there were 18-19 different references to various things in there - you're welcome to try and guess/find them, or you can check the list under the cut.

Happy reading, y'all, and thanks to Juulna for the really fun project :D

Fandoms:

Critical Role - The massive tree with the city beyond it in the mountains and the two moons were inspired by Critical Role and Exandria's two moons. Vague reference/inspiration, that.

Skyrim - The mountains framed with the aurora/magic with the castle in the foreground was inspired by Skyrim and the view of the Greybeard's mountain looking from south of Whiterun. The dragon isn't one of Skyrim's, alas.

Animorphs - there's a little andalite in the spaceship. It's not a true andalite ship, alas - I didn't feel like redrawing the stupid thing by the time I got around to adding the alien in.

Gravity Falls - Yes, that's a picture of Dipper looking up at the moon on the desk.

D&D - The polyhedral dice box and a D&D 5E book can be seen on the desk. Technically the dragon is a reference to one of my own campaigns.

Undertale - Frisk (minus their distinctive stripped shirt) is listening to something while leaning up against the wording sign. Napstablook can be seen amongst the other ghosts - whether the one in the top hat is Hapstablook is up to the viewer.

Star Wars - A lightsaber can be seen at the front of the desk.

Minecraft/DSMP - The "Cat" music disk is sitting on the edge of the desk.

MCU - Thanos' headstone can be found in the bottom right of the image. It reads "Here lies Thanos, ???? - 2019."

Supernatural - A joint headstone for Sam and Dean Winchester can be found in the lower right corner. It reads "RIP Sam and Dean Winchester - We had to install a revolving door."

Fanfics:

I've not read most of these. About 1/2 were pulled from the most kudoed fics on AO3, the others were from my favorites. I tried to get a really broad spectrum of fandoms in there. So uh. Apologies if something controversial got in there.

Survival is a Talent, by ShanaStoryteller

Yesterday Upon the Stair, by PitViperOfDoom

A Lullaby For Gods, by Aseraphfell

Home Sweet Home, by PitViperOfDoom

The Internet Is Not Just For Porn, by cyerus

Passerine, by blujamas

Salvage, by MuffinLance

call me, beep me, by [orphan_account]

Labyrinthine, by DuskDragon39. Don't @ me, it's on the book below the main text block and in my nearly incomprehensible handwriting.

Misc:

The text on the cat's book is from an unpublished animorphs AU fanfic I'm writing. This does not count towards the overall reference count.

The basset hound under Frisk's feet is based on Juulna's lovely basset.

[raevenlywrites]

Happy STS! ❤️ I really love so much all the lore/worldbuilding things you post about your wips... Like Tybee's puzzles, and that story about the stars, and this other story about the goddesses too... Can I have anything more about it? Any kind of lore or worldbuilding facts? Thanks, I'll love it -chauceryfairytales

Here is an old file I found called “A bit about shapeshifters”. I hope this fits the bill @chauceryfairytales

A bit about shapeshifter races in Asylum

A preface: All modernday shapeshifters share a common origin, long lost to ancienthistory. The magic that forged them drew inspiration from thenaturalized world, from the fey creatures that arose from theElements. While modern peoples neither know nor care about theseorigins, it is worth keeping in mind that not every shapeshifter iswhat it seems, or thinks itself to be. Those with fey origins, nomatter how remote, are subject to different realities about magic.Those of the common shapeshifter ancestry have lost much of theirmagic over the generations, and now, most individuals are “normal”,outside of carrying a second animal soul.

Serpents: venomous(cobras, vipers) and non-venomous (pythons, and boas)

The venomous lines tendto have powerful magic, usually mirroring the color of their scales.Pythons and boas usually do not, though some interesting individualshave popped up here and there. In ancient times, cobra magic usuallydominated anyone of split parentage, and venomous tended to rule outover non. It is possible to be born split formed or blended form,displaying the talents and scales of both parents. Usually, suchpeople still only have a single serpent form, but there are rumoredto be some who call two entirely separate sets of scales.

For various reasons,serpents are often hit hardest during times of fear and war. Many ofthe lines known in ancient times are long lost, and with them, themagic they carried. Stories remain, but to most, they are just that:stories.

Avians: raptors (owls,hawks, eagles, and falcons) and passerines (basically any bird thatisn't a predator) *and corvids

Divided into twoclasses, the raptors and the passerines, based loosely on the birdtype they call. An ancient legend says that the first passerine wasborn when he lay down his magic willingly, to foster peace in awar-torn world. In our modern world, it is true that passerine typesalmost never have any magic, but even in the raptor types, magic isless and less common. Those raptors who do possess magic tend to bevery old, and very secretive. This may be due to the still lingeringdistrust of the griffics, a legendary nation of chimera: gryphons,hippogriffs, and wyverns. Even though nothing but rumors remain ofthe nation today, their reign was so absolute, fear of winged magicis hard to forget.

*Crows, ravens,magpies, and jays make up an outlier group known as crovids. Magiccan be found in their ranks, but not often. Some of these shiftersare of a similar background to the first passerines, while otherscome from more fey-like origins. The legends and superstitionssurrounding these groups are as varied as the cultures they findthemselves struggling to be a part of. In Riverside, most of thecorvids live uptown with the raptors, in a loose alliance with thewitch community. But it is equally common for corvids to integratewith passerine groups, or, in large enough numbers, to form their ownunits.

Felines: nations(tigers and lions), families (leopards and panthers), and solitaries(any) *and foxes

Like most of thepredator races, felines are better known for their martial prowessthan magical. Aside from the lions and tigers, felines tend to besolitary creatures, forming small familial bands, if anything. Eventhe great tiger nations are made up of smaller tribes, operating asindependent war-bands unless called together by their overlords. Somefeline forms also crop up in mixed species family groups, especiallyin remote and wild places like the North and the West, where magic ismore common, and unpredictable. Such peoples almost never ventureinto the more modernized lands, and so little is known about them.But, presumably, they feel the same nomadic urge common to otherfeline types. Like the cat types they call, feline magic tends to befickle, and it is not uncommon for a first shift to occur as late asearly adulthood, though it can occur much younger.

*While foxes are notclassically feline, behaviorally, they fall into this category. Likethe corvids, their ancestry may be common with other shifters types,while other lines descend from fey types. Fox magic, when it cropsup, leans towards illusions and dreams, Fire, or Earth.

Canids The Pack(wolves) and the solitaries (jackals and coyotes) *and The Den(hyenas)

Straight up,traditional Werewolves, without all the moon-gaga, silver-fearingbullshit. Wolves form rigid pack structures, with clear lines ofdominance leading to their absolute Alpha. Occasionally, Lone Wolvesare tolerated within a Pack's territory, either by being minor enoughto ignore, or by paying appropriate tribute. Lesser canids likejackals and coyotes are either ignored, or bullied. Might makes Rightin the canid world, and so the fierce dedication to structure is allthat keeps them from tearing themselves apart like animals. Fiercelyterritorial, the health of the local wolf pack either meansmeticulously guarded Order in their area, or barely contained gangviolence. Thankfully, canid races tend to be devoid of magic. It isalso not uncommon for their shapeshifting magic to be controlled,monitored, or even suppressed by their group's energy until puberty.

*Call a hyena a dog andthey will bite you. Despite, or maybe because of, their similardominance behaviors, hyenas and wolves war nearly every time theyclash. As a general rule, hyenas fight less for dominance, usuallyforming a clear line of command based on experience and age, ratherthan brute strength. In Riverside, the local Den are somewhatmilitant, divided into small bands of four or five that look an olderleader, with those units grouped together to make a squad, squadsinto sections, and so on. Currently, there are five “generals”who form a council under the highest leader, known simply as The Den.

Herd: Horses and Deer*and rabbits

Herd families are adying breed. With the growing sprawl of urbanization encroaching onthe wilderness, wide open spaces are harder and harder to come by.Intimately tied to the land's own magic, fecundity is becomingincreasingly reduced as space is becoming a premium. In today'smodern world, horse families are less and less nomadic, buying up anyland they can and forming homesteads. They live in the most perfectdisguises: as horse farmers and cattle ranchers. Few nomadic bandsremain, serving as caravan guards and escorts in those remote placeswhere civilization refuses to take. Deer families, if they stillexist, are never seen outside of their native forests.

*While not properlyherd, rabbits crop up in those same odd families in the North andWest.

Misc.

Shapeshifter magicreflects the land it comes from. While some elements of form areinheritable, local elements influence the form a child's magic willtake. Nica, for example, is hawk like her father, but being born onAmerican soil, her soul took the form of a Red-Shouldered Hawk whenit reached for a specific shape, while his was something reflectinghis native European land. So, depending on a myriad of conditions, intheory, ANY naturalized animal could potentially show up in ashapeshifter's soul, provided it resonated with the basic type (bird,serpent, feline, canid, herd). Add to it the mingling of fey-typelines into “pure” shifter lines, and the magic becomes even lesspredictable.

[mrmrsvegan]

what is your response to the claim that we are FRUGIVORES??? of course as humankind we developed on starches, but what do you think of people basing their diet around fruit today?

https://www.britannica.com/science/frugivore

Frugivore, any animal that subsists totally or primarily on fruit. Although the diets of many animals include fruits, many species practice frugivory exclusively. Such animals include several species of bats, such as the Jamaican fruit bat (Artibeus jamaicensis) and a number of flying foxes (Pteropus), many passerine birds, and some fish of family Characidae.

There are no humans that fit that bill that are reproducing and any species sustainable rate.  There are about 150k+ chimpanzees left on the planet, while starch fueled humans (corn,rice,wheat account for the bulk of human calories) are racing toward 8 billion.  

I enjoyed reading this; https://veganbiologist.com/2016/01/04/humans-are-not-herbivores/

https://www.vrg.org/nutshell/omni.htm

Here is a simple learning page on the differences. https://courses.lumenlearning.com/boundless-biology/chapter/digestive-systems/

We know human’s lives are cut shorter when the % of animal products in their diet increases. https://nutritionfacts.org/2016/10/11/what-about-eating-just-a-little-meat/

So you can put just about anything down your mouth, we can cover an apple with blood and a lion will probably eat it, or blend a banana into liver and a tiger will probably lap it up, that doesn’t make them omnivores.  Humans have an added advantage that we can derive short term life saving calories from a number of sources, but for true long term health & reproductive ability, starchy plants are our omni engine, thus creating the designation of Starchivores to be more precise, just as there are apes that are Grassivores who can not thrive on fruit. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gelada  & omni bears who eat only cellulose = pandas.  Humans definitely can not survive long on meat only (eskimos eat the digested contents of herbivores stomachs where cellulose is turned into sugar) so we are not carnivores by any stretch of the imagination & with 40% of us unable to absorb fructose efficiently  (especially infants) Frugivore is out the window.  Its obvious we can derive nutrition from animal products, animal fat assimilates into our bodies effortlessly.  We are a starch dominate omni, who, if want to increase the odds of living a long and healthy life will minimize animal intake.

https://www.drmcdougall.com/misc/2013nl/apr/130400.pdf

So to answer your question, I don’t see basing a diet off something a large % of the population can’t do as a sustainable leadership role, but if people enjoy it and its not harming others or themselves then I am happy they are eating any form of a vegan diet.