#urban nerd

[reasonsforhope]

Humans are so cute. They think they can outsmart birds. They place nasty metal spikes on rooftops and ledges to prevent birds from nesting there.

It’s a classic human trick known in urban design as “evil architecture”: designing a place in a way that’s meant to deter others. Think of the city benches you see segmented by bars to stop homeless people sleeping there.

But birds are genius rebels. Not only are they undeterred by evil architecture, they actually use it to their advantage, according to a new Dutch study published in the journal Deinsea.

Crows and magpies, it turns out, are learning to rip strips of anti-bird spikes off of buildings and use them to build their nests. It’s an incredible addition to the growing body of evidence about the intelligence of birds, so wrongly maligned as stupid that “bird-brained” is still commonly used as an insult...

Magpies also use anti-bird spikes for their nests. In 2021, a hospital patient in Antwerp, Belgium, looked out the window and noticed a huge magpie’s nest in a tree in the courtyard. Biologist Auke-Florian Hiemstra of Leiden-based Naturalis Biodiversity Center, one of the study’s authors, went to collect the nest and found that it was made out of 50 meters of anti-bird strips, containing no fewer than 1,500 metal spikes.

Hiemstra describes the magpie nest as “an impregnable fortress.”

Pictured: A huge magpie nest made out of 1,500 metal spikes.

Magpies are known to build roofs over their nests to prevent other birds from stealing their eggs and young. Usually, they scrounge around in nature for thorny plants or spiky branches to form the roof. But city birds don’t need to search for the perfect branch — they can just use the anti-bird spikes that humans have so kindly put at their disposal.

“The magpies appear to be using the pins exactly the same way we do: to keep other birds away from their nest,” Hiemstra said.

Another urban magpie nest, this one from Scotland, really shows off the roof-building tactic:

Pictured: A nest from Scotland shows how urban magpies are using anti-bird spikes to construct a roof meant to protect their young and eggs from predators.

Birds had already been spotted using upward-pointing anti-bird spikes as foundations for nests. In 2016, the so-called Parkdale Pigeon became Twitter-famous for refusing to give up when humans removed her first nest and installed spikes on her chosen nesting site, the top of an LCD monitor on a subway platform in Melbourne. The avian architect rebelled and built an even better home there, using the spikes as a foundation to hold her nest more securely in place.

...Hiemstra’s study is the first to show that birds, adapting to city life, are learning to seek out and use our anti-bird spikes as their nesting material. Pretty badass, right?

The genius of birds — and other animals we underestimate

It’s a well-established fact that many bird species are highly intelligent. Members of the corvid family, which includes crows and magpies, are especially renowned for their smarts. Crows can solve complex puzzles, while magpies can pass the “mirror test” — the classic test that scientists use to determine if a species is self-aware.

Studies show that some birds have evolved cognitive skills similar to our own: They have amazing memories, remembering for months the thousands of different hiding places where they’ve stashed seeds, and they use their own experiences to predict the behavior of other birds, suggesting they’ve got some theory of mind.

And, as author Jennifer Ackerman details in The Genius of Birds, birds are brilliant at using tools. Black palm cockatoos use twigs as drumsticks, tapping out a beat on a tree trunk to get a female’s attention. Jays use sticks as spears to attack other birds...

Birds have also been known to use human tools to their advantage. When carrion crows want to crack a walnut, for example, they position the nut on a busy road, wait for a passing car to crush the shell, then swoop down to collect the nut and eat it. This behavior has been recorded several times in Japanese crows.

But what’s unique about Hiemstra’s study is that it shows birds using human tools, specifically designed to thwart birds’ plans, in order to thwart our plans instead. We humans try to keep birds away with spikes, and the birds — ingenious rebels that they are — retort: Thanks, humans!

-via Vox, July 26, 2023

[lexiord-art]

Introducing Blake!

At 23 years old and standing at 6'0", this hellhound is the second youngest of the group. Blake's a bit of a shut-in and is the only one to not attend school despite his intellect with a gift for tech wizardry. He instead has set up a repair shop he runs by himself. Most would say he's eccentric or moody, but his friends know that he's just timid, anxious at the idea of having to interact with others. Past that tough exterior, he's easily the most devoted friend you'll have. You can even drag him into your antics most of the time! Maybe...

[yourteresia]

My tiny backyard friends

[simvert]

The food isn't the only thing that's going to be experimental tonight…😏

[yourfavouritebookseller]

Book of Night by Holly Black

Books with a sequel coming out in 2025

[thelaughingmagician]

Batman Urban Legends #6

“Boo.”

[books-in-a-storm]

My Library📚

The Deadliest Bite, Jennifer Rardin

[nerds-yearbook]

Star Trek Beyond premiered on July 22, 2016. The film was dedicated to Anton Yelchin (Chekov), who died a month before the film's release. The film was used to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the Star Trek franchise. It was the first theatrical release that protrayed Sulu (John Cho) as being gay, which created some controversy. The move was meant as a tribute to the original Sulu (George Takei), who is a prominent gay man and gay rights advocate. However, Takei responded “I’m delighted that there’s a gay character,” he was quoted by The Hollywood Reporter. “Unfortunately, it’s a twisting of Gene’s creation, to which he put in so much thought. I think it’s really unfortunate.” J.J. Abrams handed over directing duties to Justin Lin as he was busy directing Star Wars VII: The Force Awakens. Simon Pegg (Scotty) co-wrote it with Doug Jung, Roberto Orci, Patrick McKay, and John D Payne. The film was nominated for numerous awards, but only won a Saturn Award for Best Make-Up. The film underperformed at the box office losing approximately 50.5 million dollars. The events of the film took place in March of 2263.

[cervinae-canine]

The defense classes are like warm blankets to me

[persephoneprice]

ok i will join in on this too...which mentor do you think i'd be? (btw you're so lysistrata to me bc i always just remember how much respect lyssie had for jessup not as a tool but as a human being and you def match that kind energy)

jsjsjsjjs mia 😭😭😭 you’re so sweet

you actually remind me of persephone

[applepi69420]

The Big Sleep - Raymond Chandler

Hey hey!! So sorry for the lack of updates, I’ve been quite busy with work and I’ve also started going to the gym! Working at an office job really does a number on ya lmao.

Anyways, I started reading The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler and so far, I have slightly mixed feelings. The plot is there i’ll give you that, but the way the writing is structured is almost too stagnant + there is constant casual misogyny (it was written in 1939 i’m not surprised). I can appreciate the artistic point of view while criticizing this piece so I’m curious as to how I’ll feel when I’m finished. Just wanted to give you all an update and I hope you all have a lovely day!!

[lobotomydaughter]

ik i could just ask this on discord but it’s not urgent so i didn’t wanna like. @ you or anything

i just had a couple of steph questions!! first: i swear i remember reading that steph was a vegetarian or had attempted being vegetarian at some point? but i can’t find anything about it & am starting to think i imagined it shsjjdkdjd

& then my second question: is she mentioned to like. enjoy any particular shows/movies or genre of shows/TV??

(these are for fics but like… minor, single sentence details so. def not urgent <333)

also feel free to throw any other interesting steph facts at me!! esp things you feel ppl forget / leave out 💞

ahhh you know i am always happy to talk about my girl <333 it’s after midnight for me so i am sorry that this isn’t the most eloquent answer and i am sure i am forgetting some things (i’ll add to this later/dm you if anything hits me) but to the best of my knowledge:

yes, stephanie is/was(?) a vegetarian. not sure off the top of my head if it was stated anywhere else but i dug up this screenshot from batgirls #13.

(for clarification this was when steph and cass body-swapped)

so no, you didn’t imagine it! though i can’t recall if she is still a vegetarian now, sorry.

now, your other question was much harder lol. i actually went and skimmed through all of the comics i have marked down as my favorite reads for her (+ a few non faves that i thought might have smth relevant) and most of the time when stephanie is shown watching tv or in front of a computer, all that’s ‘on’ is the news.

but! for you, livvy, i didn’t give up.

in nightwing #106, stephanie, cass and dick are all sitting down for their movie night. it’s cass’ pick that week but since steph did stay to watch, i think we can go on a limb and say that she at the very least doesn’t mind horror/sci-fi.

i know that she’s also referenced harry potter throughout her comics— usually just a throwaway line like ‘accio’ so from there we can infer that she does like fantasy/adventure as well.

(took some digging but i found an example in batgirl #18)

she’s referenced star trek as well, and at least in one conversation has been shown to know enough about game of thrones and star wars to joke about it with cass in batman: urban legends #5

i know that’s toeing the line of pulling at straws but given her more delved into interests in the action and fantasy genre i feel like it’s okay to assume that she does like those shows :) and if not who is going to tell me i’m wrong :) stephanie brown would love arya stark

all of this to say that stephanie has been shown to enjoy and understand pop-culture. a good portion of her civilian friends are alt as well, and i’d go so far as to say that given that, it wouldn’t be unreasonable to assume that she would enjoy independent films.

she’s a self-confessed music snob with an interest in art. i could easily see that playing into a joy for film festivals.

(didn’t include because this is already so long but after this panel — i already had it screenshot but i believe it comes from batgirls #1 — was her saying that they were looking for models and steph did consider it so i’d argue that she would enjoy fashion shows as well, though probably ones that are entirely student-run or by small designers)

(she hung that poster up on her bedroom wall next to her bed later on)

i know this isn’t covering everything, but i hope it’s enough to help!!! so excited to read your upcoming fics 🫶🏻 and as always if you have more steph questions or need a panel dug up, i am your gal

[pokemon-teacology]

Man, finding literature on invertebrate pollinator Pokémon is rough.

I'm doing a literature review on invert pollinator bug types and whether the colour of flowers change their preference for them, and there's tons of info on Combee and beedril, but pretty much every other Pokémon that fits the description of what I need has barely any research on their preferences. I know that Pokémon have specific personalities and are prone to personal preference, but damn it why havent we performed studies on general wild preference on pollinators??? You'd think after all this time people would start studying the vikavolt and butterfree lines :/ hell, not even cutieflies have much on them? The only studies I can find are ones from Kalos on flabebe and international ones on Combee.

I sta one of these days I might just become a bug-type specialist just to spite all of the studies that haven't been made that would have been really useful to my projects :/

I won't do that, I love my dragons too much, but damn it if I won't try.

[brooklynbridgebirds]

Bird Nerd Book Club podcast!

Had so much on the Bird Nerd Book Club podcast! Hannah had the most awesome questions to ask me about my latest book, "Find More Birds!"

[domkelly-artist-writer]

Another day, another VHS cover mock up, this time featuring one of my favourite series; the incredible Sink from John Lees Alex Cormack. Shawn Lee and Colin Bell.

I absolutely love this series, and wanted to pay tribute to it somehow. Be sure to check it out if you haven't!