There are four living species of Banded Penguins, and one of them is the African Penguin. Someday I want to go to Capetown to see them, an...| thereisnosuchthingasagodforsakentown.blogspot.com
A Crowned Parrot isn't a single species; when I searched on eBird I found several different crowned parrots and crowned Amazons. I picked the White-crowned Parrot to write about because it's just so beautiful and brightly-colored. You can see lots of the colors in the video, but also check out the photos here on eBird. This bird lives in Central America; the video was taken in Guatemala. The scientific name is Pionus senilis. The second part refers to the white head, connected with old age a...| There is no such thing as a God-forsaken town
Here are this week's posts:| There is no such thing as a God-forsaken town
I have three nuthatch species on my life list: White-breasted, Brown-headed, and Red-breasted. Not the Pygmy, though. It's found in the western half of North America, usually in coniferous forests. According to All About Birds, "Pygmy Nuthatches cache seeds year-round by hammering them into crevices | There is no such thing as a God-forsaken town
I love this video because it is such a specific sighting, not a collection of various photos from who knows where. We can see the effects of the wind on this bird as it sits on a branch. We can hear the wind. And at the end the videographer pulls back to show us the larger context.| There is no such thing as a God-forsaken town
Book #82 of 2025 was Maine Characters, by Hannah Orenstein. Summary: nobody in this book had a life that turned out the way they wanted, but in the end they worked it out. | There is no such thing as a God-forsaken town
I've written quite a bit about hummingbirds in the past; here's one post from Birdtober in 2022. I've never seen this one and I sure would love to. Look at that bright purple iridescent throat! This species lives in the desert in the western United States. I looked into who Costa was, and it turns out that this hummingbird was named after a French nobleman by an ornithologist friend of his. Kind of a nice gift, I guess. With the eponymous bird names due to be changed soon, I spent some time...| There is no such thing as a God-forsaken town
I've written a lot about herons in the past; here's one post and it contains a link to others. Herons are so beautiful to watch, and the Gray Heron (Grey is the British spelling) is one of the most common ones we get here in Uganda. The scientific name of this heron is Ardea cinerea, meaning ash-colo(u)red heron.| There is no such thing as a God-forsaken town
This is an amazing bird, the largest falcon in the world. It's pronounced JER-falcon. | There is no such thing as a God-forsaken town
Two summers a year| There is no such thing as a God-forsaken town
I'm enjoying doing Birdtober for the fifth time. Andrea Holmes puts out these prompts every year for visual artists, but I use them to learn about birds and write poems every day of October. I always find that my busy days are more fun when I'm doing some tiny little creative thing like this.| There is no such thing as a God-forsaken town
I haven't seen this bird, which eBird describes as "cartoon-like," but I do live in its range, so the possibility exists! How fun would that be? I typed into Google, "Where can I see the White-crested Helmetshrike in Uganda?" and the AI responded that there have been no sightings in Uganda, but that is not true. Here's a better response from an actual human being.| There is no such thing as a God-forsaken town
I've written about quite a few different dramatic-looking finches here in the past: the Zebra Finch in 2022, the Saffron Finch that same year, the Strawberry Finch in 2023, and the Red-billed Firefinch last year. In the US, House Finches are so very common that it's hard to imagine this array of finch diversity. | There is no such thing as a God-forsaken town
The Common Loon is the ABA Bird of the Year for 2025, and I wrote about it here, along with a poem by Miller Oberman. I've never seen a Common Loon but I very much want to. | There is no such thing as a God-forsaken town
I wrote about the African Green-Pigeon last year during Birdtober, so this year I decided to learn more about the larger family of Green Pigeons. There are thirty species of them across Africa and Asia. I enjoyed looking at many photos of different varieties. The video below shows one of them. They are green because of carotenoids in their fruit diet. I wondered whether humans could turn green from eating carotenoids but found that occasionally people turn orange when they overconsume. Bu...| There is no such thing as a God-forsaken town
When I first started Birdtober this year, I'd never even heard of the Javan Green Magpie, but within moments of beginning to research for my poem, I learned that there may be only about 50 of them left in the wild. So no sooner did I learn that they exist than I had to mourn that they are almost gone. Because of their dramatic appearance, they are popular as caged birds, so they have been captured into near-extinction. Some people think they may already be extinct in the wild. eBird doesn't e...| There is no such thing as a God-forsaken town
I love that today's prompt is a chicken. The first prompt for 2022 was a rooster, and I waxed eloquent about how ubiquitous and beautiful these domestic birds are, even though we can't list them on eBird (wild birds only, please). | There is no such thing as a God-forsaken town
Shy bird| There is no such thing as a God-forsaken town
I wondered how I could combine the Birdtober prompt, the Venezuelan Troupial, with the Spiritual Journey Thursday prompt, Compassion. Read on to see how I did it.| There is no such thing as a God-forsaken town
Book #73 of the year was The Emperor of Gladness , by Ocean Vuong. This book is desperately depressing. Its picture of late-stage capitali...| thereisnosuchthingasagodforsakentown.blogspot.com
Book #62 of this year was The Labors of Hercules Beal , by Gary D. Schmidt. I mentioned recently that there are a few of Schmidt's books I...| thereisnosuchthingasagodforsakentown.blogspot.com
My husband and I spend most of the time a long way from family, but this summer we got to see many of the people on my side. During our visi...| thereisnosuchthingasagodforsakentown.blogspot.com
Robyn has added the third line! April 1 Linda Mitchell at A Word Edgewise April 2 Tricia at The Miss Rumphius Effect April 3 Robyn at Li...| thereisnosuchthingasagodforsakentown.blogspot.com
So technically, summer's end is still a long way away. But we'll soon be headed back to school, so in my mind, this sonnet about Labor Day is appropriate.| There is no such thing as a God-forsaken town
Jan is hosting Poetry Friday today, and she's encouraging us to take a moment off in the middle of this stressful moment in the news. So here's a poem I read on social media this week.| There is no such thing as a God-forsaken town
Book #51 of the year was When the World Fell Silent, by Donna Jones Alward. It's a historical novel about the Halifax Explosion of 1917 in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. This was a book club read, and while it wasn't one of our very favorites, we did enjoy it.| There is no such thing as a God-forsaken town
Book #51 of the year was When the World Fell Silent, by Donna Jones Alward. It's a historical novel about the Halifax Explosion of 1917 in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. This was a book club read, and while it wasn't one of our very favorites, we did enjoy it.| thereisnosuchthingasagodforsakentown.blogspot.com
Welcome to today's Poetry Friday roundup! Please leave your links in the comments and I will round them up the old-fashioned way. I have Com...| thereisnosuchthingasagodforsakentown.blogspot.com
