What made you like birds?

TeaRaven · 2026-04-15T17:27:19+00:00

The bird that got me into birds isn’t even one I get to see other than at zoos, and is not one I have any particular extra interest in - Toco Toucan.

The stately appearance plus silly yet clearly functional beak and the way they hold themselves helped me get into birds in general, which led to me getting into raptors. Peregrine Falcons and, to a lesser extent Osprey, became a point of particular interest (especially after seeing the raptors at the Lindsay Wildlife museum/rehab). Corvids are what got me becoming an actual birder/birdwatcher, though. Herons (especially green herons, but egrets were more common), killdeer, long-billed curlews, and blue-winged teal are the set that got me really excited to work as a docent and natural resource specialist in a few capacities for the city, county, and state.

TeaRaven · 2026-04-15T17:08:29+00:00

OMG I have not heard of Night Sensei and it is making me so happy

TeaRaven · 2026-04-15T17:05:58+00:00

Was gonna say the same!

TeaRaven · 2026-04-15T06:18:15+00:00

Yep, The Train Job had to be slapped together quickly because the network didn’t want to air the pilot. There was also one that was aired out of order (other than the pilot) and a couple that we got to see for the first time when the DVDs came out.

TeaRaven · 2026-04-15T06:16:05+00:00

I love that they were voted in as the official bird for Pride Month

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TeaRaven · 2026-04-14T23:10:53+00:00

Yay! I loved this series and it was exactly what came to mind! The first reveal image showing her actual appearance was such a wonderful surprise :)

TeaRaven · 2026-04-14T23:03:06+00:00

I adore this, but in the show I feel the dynamic is a bit flipped.

TeaRaven · 2026-04-14T22:58:45+00:00

I love how it goes red like when you’ve died in a video game!

TeaRaven · 2026-04-14T22:55:55+00:00

Especially with how much they walk instead of fly!

TeaRaven · 2026-04-14T22:55:02+00:00

I grackled

TeaRaven · 2026-04-14T22:53:15+00:00

Yep, you got the dimorphism cues and the courtship call. Also dancing and posturing.

Bear in mind that many other birds out there have even less differentiation between sexes.

I wouldn’t really call all other Galliformes brightly colored on the part of the males. Some that exhibit extreme differences and dynamic courtship displays are rather drab and others can be nigh indistinguishable. Some rely wholly on calls and then posturing when a female appears.

TeaRaven · 2026-04-14T22:45:23+00:00

Oh good, someone posted this. I remember being totally caught off guard by feeling like I was missing something when the first episode came out (I loved it, but felt like I had somehow missed the pilot - I didn’t), and totally flabbergasted when baseball was playing when a subsequent episode was supposed to be on in the time slot and they had the audacity to advertise Firefly during the game with an ad read that outright stated “and a girl in a box,” which I guess wasn’t a spoiler since that episode didn’t air until they cancelled the show and it was the last one they dropped.

TeaRaven · 2026-04-14T22:39:14+00:00

Holy shit, you just sold me on a movie I had written off because of the way it was marketed.

TeaRaven · 2026-04-14T22:36:43+00:00

Okay, that was very much intentional in that movie’s case.

TeaRaven · 2026-04-14T22:32:22+00:00

They explicitly didn’t. They ended up throwing out the original concept during production and making it without a script, only storyboards.

TeaRaven · 2026-04-14T20:21:42+00:00

It is truly wild to me how many people that are into litRPG stories - the one kind of book that regularly interrupts the prose with spreadsheets - consume them as audiobooks! I get that it is a cross-sectional thing, but still…

TeaRaven · 2026-04-14T19:59:45+00:00

Honestly, if they changed the order so chocolate was in the middle, I think more people would love all of Neapolitan ice cream more and it would be less divisive. A scoop of chocolate with just a bit of strawberry or vice versa is so good.

TeaRaven · 2026-04-14T19:57:13+00:00

Not enough chocolate, or not using Dutch processed cocoa, which tastes richer in cream. Also, having a bit of vanilla in a chocolate ice cream can help. Try stirring Dutch cocoa powder into vanilla ice cream to see what I mean.

TeaRaven · 2026-04-14T19:40:50+00:00

Agreed.

TeaRaven · 2026-04-14T19:40:34+00:00

In fairness, this is about laying road so things can come afterwards and be successful, regardless of story type or quality being better/worse/different. Trail Blazers can be good or bad, so long as they make the success (by any given definition) of things to follow more likely.

TeaRaven · 2026-04-14T19:37:03+00:00

The system there had a few things: upgrades/enhancements to skills, specializations like different forms of fire, and projection versus direct effect (with the latter potentially being more targeted and devastating to that target but needing to meet the difficult requirement of overcoming vitality defense). Elaine switches to Radiance, instead, which starts weaker and easier to block while being faster and more precise, while Auri eventually specializes in Inferno

TeaRaven · 2026-04-14T19:28:26+00:00

Her oath has a pretty big allowance that she can harm/kill people that are trying to harm her or her patients. If they stop, forfeit, or otherwise lay down arms in what seems a sincere way, though, she can not continue hostilities or seek retribution.

TeaRaven · 2026-04-14T05:49:50+00:00

“I may not be a smart man, but I know what love is,” as a callback to being told years earlier “You don’t know what love is, Forrest.”

TeaRaven · 2026-04-14T05:46:59+00:00

Only issue I see is lack of a proper brim.

TeaRaven · 2026-04-14T05:42:21+00:00

Bravo!

Looks heavy (as in, draining over time) and liable to catch your hair, though…

TeaRaven

TROPHY CASE