Cormorants are a bird I think anyone can learn to recognize and appreciate!
They are all over the place, they swim and then dry their wings off on rock together! And crucially to a novice birder, they're made of interesting, recognizable shapes which are easy to make out as they perform these distinctive behaviors.
Apparently they have a bad reputation for being greedy because they eat so many fish for their size, and where's there's one cormorant there's another. But I'm no fisherman so I really don't mind at all!
(And anyway, some fishermen in China have long taken advantage of this. They train cormorants to catch fish for them! The cormorants apparently even keep count of how much they bring in and will make a fuss if not properly compensated. Cormorants even unionize! What's not to love ♡𓅧♡)
Jan 28, 2025
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one time all the geese at a local park with lots of lakes died from some sort of plague and in the next couple weeks there were just hundreds of cormorants. it was eerie and beautiful
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Today I witnessed a flock of little black cormorants (Phalacrocorax sulcirostris) in the ocean today fishing together. The social lives of animals, for me birds in particular, is such a joyous thing to witness. Its funny how competitive they are with one another, despite using fishing strategies that are enabled by team work.
Jan 23, 2024
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Ornithomancy is the practice of reading omens from the actions of birds — the first bird you notice on New Years Day is an omen for the year ahead of you.
The first day of 2023 I saw a heron fly above the sea I was swimming in; 2024 a cormorant from my window in the bay; 2025 it was two starlings, together on a lamppost. I’ve spent some time this morning researching starling symbolism and seeing what resonates. Communication, cooperation, group dynamics, mimicry, shape shifting... we’ll see!
I thought about my heron and my cormorant a lot throughout the year they marked, their little gift of googled symbolism. You don’t have to believe any of it, but it’s a nice bit of introspection to start your year off.
Jan 1, 2025
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ideally i would love to gain the trust and respect of a corvid 🐦⬛ they love to give and receive tiny gifts and i relate to that.
goose and swan are also great options though a bit riskier since these guys can get mad as hell and those long necks are powerful
i would also love to volunteer at a raptor sanctuary and help take care of falcons, owls, etc.
i feel pretty sad and disturbed by most caged birds and having a parrot, for example is a massive emotional responsibility, their lifespans also mean it’s a lifelong commitment, i probably wouldn’t go this route but respect those who do it right 🫡
Mar 2, 2025
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Feb 8, 2025
Lately I've been spending too much time scouring every corner of eBay I can for the cheapest and most delightful soviet era porcelain figurines available
I didn't even realize it until diving head first into this rabbit hole, but I have had soviet era porcelain figurines my whole life (a bunny and a bull for those curious), so I guess I was always destined to develop a fondness for the form, and eventually dig a little deeper into it.
There is something so incredibly charming and also incredibly interesting about these porcelain pieces! These little guys!
There's a lot of history to dig into that I've barely scratched the surface of AT ALL, but I'm fascinated by how porcelain reflected the common sentiments* of the times, the economic conditions, the artistic movements and ideas of the day, and also the ability (or lack thereof) of people to stay in one place and hold onto something so "useless" and easily broken.
I have very, very few things from any of my ancestors. Figurines like these make me think about the way history and art are passed down to us, forgotten, broken, left behind, sold in thrift stores and online, if they survive at all.
Figurine collections are kind of a barometer of safety and stability, or at least how dedicated to the illusion of it you might be.
They also make me think about how useful "useless" things can be. How even art that is purely decorative can be thought-provoking (by for example valorizing "folks"), or just make you happy (via being very cute! Or expert use of color and form!).
Grannies collect this shit for many good reasons and I'm starting to catch on.
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* Notably the $$$ collectors type ones are the ethnographic figurines, something I NEED to read an academic paper about.
Especially, because Ive noticed some of these figurines depicting "ethnic types" are inaccurate copies of earlier prints, which themselves should be placed under immense scrutiny! This is all extra interesting in the context of the porcelain industry transitioning from imperial rule to the soviet era. The ways of talking about ethnicity changed, (in addition obviously to y'know, everything!) but the products produced largely remained the same. Lots to think about!!!
Jan 31, 2025