#zone-tailed hawk

[unrestrained-balderdash-art-blog]

Migratory May Day 16: Zone-Tailed Hawk

Reference photo by Dale Clark

[animal-forgeries]

today's mimic: zone-tailed hawk, buteo albonotatus

the zone-tailed hawk has been suggested to mimic turkey vultures, most obviously in their flight pattern: the hawks fly unusually with wings raised dihedrally, and will rock back and forth in a similar manner to turkey vultures. additionally, the silhouette and the shape of the flight feathers resemble a turkey vulture much more than other similar hawks. this is an example of aggressive mimicry, since turkey vultures rarely hunt animals, while the zone-tailed hawk is an active predator. its prey will be more likely to ignore the presence of the bird, believing it to be a harmless scavenger. the kettling behaviour of turkey vultures aids the zone-tailed hawk, as it can blend into large gatherings of vultures. although up close the two animals are very different, even experienced birders may have difficulty identifying a zone-tailed hawk from its deceitful silhouette and flight pattern.

model:

photo by roy lowe

flight pattern comparison:

[rulers-of-the-sky]

Zone-tailed Hawk

[todaysbird]

the zone-tailed hawk is a medium-sized member of the buteo genus of hawks. they are primarily black in color, with grey and white barring on the underside of their wings and tail. they appear similar to the common black hawk, but they are more slender and have more pointed wings. they hold an unusual flight pattern for a hawk, swooping slowly; even experienced birdwatchers can mistake them for turkey vultures. it’s theorized that this helps them hunt, as potential prey may mistake them for a harmless vulture.

[kiwipineappleparasol]

Part One of Sonic Scribbles from The Past Months .

This was at first me just Revisiting an Old Fixation from Memory, and coming up with an AU and Designs for it where I Throw all the Characters and Storylines I enjoyed as a Kid into the Stirring Pot. Perhaps I will Divulge more into my Ideas Another Time. (As a Sidenote, I Haven't engaged Too Much with all of the Recent Stuff so that's not really Considered here.)

I don't have a Problem with most of the characters Original designs here, I just Wanted to make my own changes For Fun (Plus, I changed most of these Later On but We'll get to that Another Time) I did want to try to Undo the "Girls Must Have Full Outfits" rule When I did these however, Just Because

Notes and Extra Scribbles Under the Cut

Silver, Shard, Sally and Nicole are All from the future in which the world has been Metaphorically Shredded in a Blender .

Blaze is solely from her own dimension; No Sonic 06 Nonsense (or at least, if she Ends up in the Future it's clear she's Not from there . Probably brings Marine Along for the ride in That Case)

Knuckles is too busy doing his Silly Job to be the third member of the Hero Team, so Amy fills the Role sometimes.

Rouge is a Thief and a Freelance spy . With a long track record of Backstabbing .

Silver thinks his powers are a Curse after he accidentally threw a Semi-truck on an innocent civilian Once.

An Astute Sonic Fan might Notice what I based my Eclipse design off of . (Also yes I am an Eclipse Fan I love Shadow's Alien Brother who is a Single Father)

Tried to make Maria look more "Robotnik" Like

Jet serves the role of Sonic's Consistent yet Pathetic "Rival" (Nuisance) who will get into Competitions with him over Petty Bullshit

The Extra Scribbles:

Don't worry If you can't Read my Handwriting . Neither can I .

[na-bird-of-the-day]

trick or tweet🐦🎃🐦

For you, a zone-tailed hawk!

[lightningwaters]

[herpsandbirds]

Zone-tailed Hawk (Buteo albonotatus), juvenile, family Accipitridae, order Accipitriformes, Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge, OK, USA

photograph by Bill Shreve  

[whatsthebird]

What's the Bird?

Location: Elbert County, Colorado, USA

Date: July

We ask that discussion under questions be limited to how you came to your conclusion, not what your conclusion was.

Happy Birding!

Keep the game alive! Submit a bird HERE

Bird-326 graciously submitted by @dryad-lesbians

[tailschannel]

New Sonic Dream Team details from hands-on impressions

New details for Sonic Dream Team has emerged from a hands-on impressions article from DigitalTrends. News and notes follows...

Zones contain multiple objectives, some of which include: reach the stage goal, race through checkpoints, collecting keys scattered throughout the level. Each completion awards an orb to unlock more levels.

According to a developer, Dream Team took inspiration from other games like Tony Hawk's Pro Skater and Super Mario Sunshine.

The author said that the game "bares a surprising resemblance to classic 3D Mario games," but also said that it "properly replicates the feeling of Sonic’s early 2000s adventures with fluid, snappy races,"

Levels were filled to the brim with multiple paths meant to be replayed and accommodate different character types.

All characters play the same, with some special abilities: Sonic and Amy can boost, Knuckles and Rouge can climb and glide, Cream and Tails can fly.

(article contributed by Spectre from the Tails' Channel newsfeed.)

[cockmoment-theblog]

Round 1, Match 1 - Shoebill vs. Zone-Tailed Hawk

All propaganda is welcome in replies/reblogs!

[justnoodlefishthings]

I miss north american wildlife so much, man. I miss hearing insects and barred owls and gray tree frogs at night. I miss the cacophony of blue jays and carolina wrens and chickadees and cardinals and robins. I miss hearing the red tailed hawks and crows squabble in the tree tops. I miss going for a walk and seeing turtles and waterfowl and lizards and snakes and beetles. Everyone in Europe is just okay with living in an ecological dead zone because they don't know what they're missing. If I have to hear one more European wax poetic about how they're glad they live in a "safe" place with no large wildlife I am actually going to kill myself

[snowed-leopard]

Team Birdtress Two: 2/9, SOLLY!

Soldier: A red tailed hawk, dark morph, with said color morph making him him appear closer to a bald eagle. The red tailed hawk, to me, is a more quintessentially American bird than the bald eagle, it’s range is larger, and it’s screech is often used in place of the bald eagle in media (bald eagles have kinda weak ass screeches, comparatively). Which I thought fit soldiers history with ww2 and overall personality well the all American man gets the all American bird to me. Red tails have a massive variety in color, including letting them be nearly black, and could reasonably let soldier pass as simply a smaller and stouter bald eagle. His feathers are just redder because of how much of a red blooded American he is, at least according to him. The pattern just helps mark him as an individual. Soldier firmly believes himself to be a bald eagle, it’d probably hurt him to realize otherwise, he doesn’t want to think about why his wings are shorter, why the pattern is so different to the matte of a bald eagle.

Sources and ramblings below the cut :3

Next one’s gonna be done when I’m done 👍

I know there’s a lot of birds that perhaps looked closer to a bald eagle, zone tail hawks, wedge tail eagles, golden eagles, etc. but red tails have always just been what I envisioned. Soldiers whole thing is he wasn’t really a soldier, but he’s intensely loyal despite it, and I wanted to also give him that little depth of character where he so desperately sees himself as the perfect soldier, a paragon of America, that he’d deny himself the acknowledgement of the true self for it. And something so easy pass off as a baldy to a degree just worked. And again, I’ve seen one baldy in life but more red tails than I can count. I don’t know I’m back to late night incoherent posting again

[rulers-of-the-sky]

Zone-tailed Hawk

[todaysbird]

can we get a zone-tailed hawk post? ty!

here!

[obsoleteozymandias]

Pretty sure I saw somewhere you were familiar with Off by Mortis Ghost. May I humbly ask you for some headcanons of the dorm leaders with a reader that's Basically a Zone 1 elsen?

It's ok if you don't want to also

Anon ANON *grabs you by the shoulders and shakes you* I need you to know that this ask specifically is what made me return to my inbox today. 

Here’s what I’m thinking in terms of this: A reader would be a student with magic who is extremely shy, hardworking, and emotionally distant/blank. They don’t have much of a presence at school, and tend to blend in. 

But one day - everything happening to them (whatever it is, I’ll leave up to your imagination) leads to them overblotting, much like an elsen - their mouth spewing blot like smoke until it consumes their head and turns them into a specter/overblot form.

So for the sake of this ask, I’ll divide it into two parts per person: pre-blot and post-blot. I’ll also assume you’d be a member of their dorm. Also warning: this is long. 

== Twisted Wonderland Headcanons ==>

+Elsen!Reader

Riddle Rosehearts: 

Pre-Blot: Riddle notes your very shy personality quickly, picking up that you seem to actually be fond of rules and work. He admires your persistence, and finds a kindred spirit in your dedication to organization. But underneath that all…he gets the feeling there is an immense weight you carry on your shoulders, much as he did. He pays extra attention to you after that. 

Post-Blot: Riddle is the first to your aid after the blot. He’s the one in the infirmary, watching over you like a hawk. Some part of him thinks this is his fault. He’d gone through something similar, so why couldn’t he see the signs? 

As much as he despairs, when you wake and assure him you’d tell him anything and everything in the future, he seems to calm down. 

He’s at your side constantly after that, checking in on you and making not-so-subtle gestures to show he cares with a slight blush dusting his cheeks. 

Leona Kingscholar: 

Pre-Blot: Before you overblot, Leona honestly doesn’t even notice you exist, aside from noting the way you scurry about and wince at his shouts. He’s too busy being in charge, and dreading never being in charge of his own life. 

Post-Blot: Leona seems to take an almost analytical interest in you after you overblot. He was there in the infirmary briefly when you first woke, but after that he was scarce. Despite that, you’d catch him watching you from across the cafeteria tail swishing. 

Eventually, he corners you, and though you don’t grasp the whole talk due to being absolutely terrified of him, you come out of the conversation with a strange sort of mutual understanding. 

He’ll be on the lookout for you after that, and you can feel his eyes follow you wherever you enter a room. 

Azul Ashengrotto: 

Pre-Blot: Of course Azul knows your name, he knows everyone in his dorm (and everything about them he can leverage). You’re also one of the most diligent workers the lounge has seen in a long time, although you tend to fumble when talking to customers. Regardless, he acknowledges your hard work, although you rarely catch his eye. 

Post-Blot: Azul intentionally distances himself from you after your overblot. He suddenly seems to be busy whenever you’d normally speak to him, which, admittedly, wasn’t often. And yet you catch him staring at you more often, and your work shifts have lightened up, and suddenly you have a lot more free time. 

One of those times he invites you into his office, wherein he seems to…check in on you? But in a terribly roundabout and awkward way, like an estranged father. It’s awful, but by the end of it, he seems to be relieved to hear that you’ve recovered. 

Thus, weekly meetings in his office to just chat become a reguar thing. And soon, you even manage to talk about something other than work. 

Kalim Al-Asim: 

Pre-Blot: Kalim picks up on your antisocial and avoidant personality quickly. He won’t push you too much, but whenever he sees you he’s eager to invite you to this part or that party, whichever one! He just wants to see you smile, rather than the near constant grimace you seem to have on your face. Given his empathetic nature, though, and his past with Jamil’s overblot, he does begin to pick up on your exhausted wheezes and the empty look in your eyes just a little too late. 

Post-Blot: Kalim is at your side the instant you wake, and is showering you with attention and care all throughout your recovery. He makes sure you’re always comfortable, fed, and taken care of. He makes sure you want for nothing, and yet the guilt of having yet another person he was supposed to care for overblot weighs on him heavily. 

One night, as he talks to you about his day, he begins crying, unable to stop the guilt he’s been keeping inside. And when you reassure him and smile at him in that strange way you’ve always done, something in his brain clicks. 

You two are near inseparable after that, and even Jamil seems to get a bit of time off from watching Kalim as he hangs out with you. 

Vil Schonheit: 

Pre-Blot: Let’s be honest, no matter how beautiful you are, Vil will see you as an ill fit for Pomefiore at the beginning. Your constant dour mood, the way your shoulders slouch, and the strange way you don’t seem to talk in anything but a rasp not only unnerves him, but agitates him. He focuses on you like he does Epel, and though you follow his every word and command to a T, he can tell that there is something deeper beneath the surface. And one day, he pushes you just a bit too hard - if only to get a glimpse of whatever it is you have hiding under your strange demeanor. Chaos ensues. 

Post-Blot: Vil is in the infirmary when you wake up, but seems to be almost unaffected by what happened. For a few days, it's almost as if it never happened to him. And then one evening, he comes and sits next to you in your bed, and though its clear he had words prepared for this moment, he seems to lose them as he looks at you. And so he speaks from his heart. 

After your conversation, Vil keeps a watchful eye on you, and, much to his chagrin, he finds himself jumping to your defense at even the smallest slights or comments (in a very elegant and almost subtle manner). 

There’s an unspeakable bond between you two, in his mind. You followed in his destructive footsteps, and he’s determined to stop you from being hurt just as he had. He wants you to be better than him: to shine as he knows you were meant to do. 

Idia Shroud: 

Pre-Blot: Idia doesn’t seem to notice you at first, but between him being housewarden and your shared gloomy nature, you almost form a friendship with him, although it’s stunted and awkward. You’re one of the few people who he trusts to enter his room, and you soon have something of a routine of doing work together. You still jump when he laughs too loud, and sometimes his eccentricities freak you out, but he’s pleasant enough company for you. He assumes he’s done something wrong when you don’t show up for your hnag out time one day. Then he hears what’s happening, and his heart drops. 

Post-Blot: Idia is by your side before and after you wake up (well, at least his tablet is). He chatters to you in a way that concerns the other dorm heads, almost as if he’s afraid of what would happen in the silence between you two. He visits you in person when you assure him no one else is around, and you notice the dour look on his face, even more so than usual. 

Idia admits that he feels bad for not noticing the signs despite having overblotted himself, and seems to almost cave into his self-loathing in an instant. And yet you reassure him, and tell him it’s not his fault, and that you care about him, and that you’re glad he cares about you enough to visit. He insists, of course he’d visit you! You’re one of his best friends!

From there, you and him grow infinitely closer. Whether it’s eating breakfast together or playing games together, you two can be seen with each other at almost every hour of the day. 

Side note, but Ortho is delighted to see his brother attend class in person if only to sit next to you and chat face to face. 

Malleus Draconia (assuming pre-overblot for Malleus for the sake of simplicity here):

Pre-Blot: Malleus isn’t the kind to know every member of Diasomnia’s name. He’s busy, and more importantly, he’s important. Even if you wanted to speak to him, he’s got an entourage that would keep you away unless it was absolutely necessary (COUGH COUGH SEBEK COUGH). Lilia mentions your strange demeanour to him one day, and though he brushes it off, he does notice the slouch of your shoulders amongst the crowds of students, and the way you wheeze as you speak, as if life itself tired you out.

Post-Blot: Malleus isn’t much present after you overblot, being very occupied with his duties and studies, but strangely enough, Lilia is there at times. He seems to be watching over you for one reason or another, and though he does to cheer you up and help you recover, you suspect that he may have an ulterior motive. 

Malleus will check in with you shortly after you overblot, asking how you’re doing, genuinely interested in your wellbeing. He may be distant, but Malleus makes sure to listen intently, and even sends you an assortment of items to make you feel better. 

Just let it be known that when Malleus overblots, the Diasomnia dorm would be all the better off to have you in it.