#whydahs

[spinus-pinus]

Pin-tailed Whydah Vidua macroura

8/7/2022 Orange County, California

These are very interesting little non-native birds. The male, pictured here, grows this long tail during the breeding season to attract the females. They're very small birds, so seeing them fly around with tails this long is like seeing a flying lollipop.

They are nest parasites, and there are breeding populations of them in Southern California... but they don't parasitize native bird nests. Instead, they actually parasitize another non-native species: the scaly-breasted munia. While munias and whydahs do not overlap in their native range, they are apparently compatible enough for the munias to host whydah babies!

[x]

[herpsandbirds]

Pin-tailed Whydah (Vidua macroura), male, family Viduidae, order Passeriformes, found in most of Sub-Saharan Africa

photograph by Keith Hutton

[alonglistofbirds]

[1680/10977] Broad-tailed paradise whydah - Vidua obtusa

Order: Passeriformes Suborder: Passeri Superfamily: Passeroidea Family: Viduidae (indigobirds and whydahs)

Photo credit: Charlotte Morris via Macaulay Library

[scottpartridge]

Day 8 of birdtober 2023 from @aholmesartstudio is Pin-Tailed Whydah 

[birdblues]

Pin-tailed Whydah

[alphamecha-mkii]

[haveyouseenthisbirdpoll]

photo source 1

photo source 2

[originalleftist]

Pirate Trivia Time:

Here are some of my favourite bits of pirate trivia:

Ann Bonny's name has been spelled "Anne" with an e for 300 years due to a error in the trial record.

The sole surviving physical description of Ann Bonny and Mary Read by an eyewitness is basically "I knew they were women because they had big breasts".

Blackbeard once ransomed the city of Charleston for syphilis medication.

There is no known record of Blackbeard killing anyone before his final battle.

The word "buccaneer" has the same origins as the word "barbecue" (the boucan, a means of preparing meat).

A buccaneer, William Dampier, introduced the word "avocado" (among others) to the English language (he was also the first person to circumnavigate the world three times).

Wrecks of at least two pirate ships have been discovered: "Black Sam" Bellamy's Whydah Galley, and Blackbeard's Queen Anne's Revenge.

Arguably the most successful pirate of all time was a Chinese woman, Ching Shih, aka Zheng Yi Sao.

Bartholomew Roberts had perhaps the most cinematic pirate death- trading broadsides with a man of war in the middle of a tropical storm.

Yes, Stede Bonnet actually had a library on his sloop, the Revenge.

[rolitae]

New pattern available: Pin-Tailed Whydah!

One of my personal favourites. As a kid, I loved to watch them dance for their mates. This pattern has a total of 7 DMC colours and should be a quick one to stitch! The pattern fits comfortably on an 8" hoop.

Also, I am on Etsy now too! So, if that's more your thing, you can go and favourite or follow my lil shop from there. :) Ty <3

[scordoesart]

Season 2 is right around the corner but here’s an au

Picking up from the end of season 1, Stede and the part of his crew that was marooned are sailing around trying to catch up with the revenge, but are ill-supplied to be doing so both due to the small size of the boat on the open ocean and that Stede didn’t seem to have much in ways of supplied with him when he left Barbados. I don’t think the marooned crew would consider Stede as their captain at this time (given that he abandoned them to the kraken!Ed). Stede would probably be avoidant in talking about where he’s been (in the “rules for thee but not for me” way he operates) other than he’s back to stay, has no money, and only what little experience he’s had in his brief time sailing as skills. They wouldn’t abandon Stede though, seeing him as maybe the only person who could fix this mess. Stede and his bunch get picked up by another ship who, turns out, is also looking for the Revenge. This ship is either operated or in the command of Bellamy (though he’s using a different name these days because he’s supposed to be dead). When Stede introduces himself, he’s somewhat met with “a pirate captain without a ship and that wasn’t mutinied upon?” questioning (some amusement there on Bellamy’s behalf), and Olu or all of the marooned people explains to their understanding what happened on the Revenge while Stede was gone to the best of their ability. The tale of the Revenge’s crew’s current state was left in just drives them both to want to find it even more. (A good chunk of this story is tracking down information to find the Revenge, which fortunately, Bellamy still has information sources in spades. Sometimes things just happen on the sea. Maybe they run into Jack again?). Bellamy may or may not be a less than open about who he’s chasing after on the Revenge (haven’t decided, or maybe it’s something that eventually comes out but isn’t said directly at first? Bellamy would have little reason to give up his many-year alias/charade to Stede and also strikes me as the kind of man to hold his cards close until he wants to play them). Stede gets to know more about Ed as a person from someone who knew him years ago without Ed there to curate ( Much like Jack and Ed, they act like no time has passed next they meet. I think they would have had a kind of rivalry but also an underlying respect for one another. or at least some base kind of comeradery) and also about pirating when money isn’t your background. Just to complicate things, because Stede and Ed have escaped the royal navy, pirate hunters have been sent after the Revenge (Hornigold maybe?). This is discovered at one of the ports they stop at for information. Time is ticking for them to find the Revenge. Stede no longer has the family inheritance money to lean on, and from the change in lifestyle he’s had to take to compensate, he develops a kind of understanding if not respect for Izzy’s steadfastness in duty of running the ship. ------------- Meanwhile back on the Revenge.... Things keep getting worse somehow. Izzy knows he Fucked Up (see walking on thin ice with Ed), but keeps telling himself Blackbeard is back and this is what he (Izzy) wanted. It’s what’s best for Ed. Izzy tells himself this, but even he knows it’s all gone wrong. He can’t face that reality because Izzy only finds the value of himself in serving Blackbeard. This wasn’t always true. It’s not something he’s ready to confront yet. Izzy is also managing (not well) the missing pinky toe whose stump is healing about as well as Lucius’ finger did. His swordsmanship has also suffered due to the lack of balance from its loss. He must hide all this to the best of his ability to keep up appearances, but of course things will go horribly wrong. Ed notices none of this of course; too wrapped up in his own grief and trying to be the Kraken for the one last reliable person (Izzy) he’s scared will leave him if he isn’t being exactly what Izzy expects him to be. After all, Stede disappeared on him without a word, Jack helped Izzy sell Stede (though ed probably interpreted it as selling both ed and stede) out to the British. Ed and Izzy haven’t been talking outside of strictly first mate-captain business talk. And even then, sometimes it’s Izzy (nervously but with a front to show the crew otherwise) managing without Ed. Lucius is living in the walls at this point and sees and hears much from people when they think they are alone. Ed’s fragile state and crying. Izzy’s struggles with his foot and brief forlorn expressions when he’s alone. Maybe there’s times when he’d grip the ring, saying nothing but mind going mile a minute to something Lucius wouldn’t know at this point. He could probably pick up that it’s a thought of someone missed. Lucius can’t keep a secret for long so he’d start conversing secretly with some of the crew. Jim perhaps? The two of them have a precident of secrets kept a  la season 1. Those that were part of the Revenge both don’t see a way out of this and start trying to plan for a means of a way out of this. Would there have been more crew transferred from the Queen Anne’s Revenge to the Revenge to fill out the crew with competent pirates? Maybe. Eventually though Izzy can’t ignore that this isn’t anything like the usual moodswings of  Blackbeard he’s accustomed to managing. Things aren’t changing and he’s already been dragged too deep underwater by the kraken to surface from the situation. Might as well continue to try and keep the rest of the crew afloat and working as they should be. ---------- (A maybe possibility of an event but not sure how it fits in characterization wise?) Lucius eventually reveals himself to Izzy (under funny accidental circumstances probably). Perhaps when things have gotten Really Bad for Izzy’s foot and he’s bed bound with fever and infection? Would Izzy admit to Lucius he didn’t think an infection would be the thing to do him in? Probably not, but maybe in such a situation he would? (I didn’t think through this scene too much, but maybe some more direct hints that there was someone else (Sam) for Izzy a lifetime ago? But since Izzy never really dealt with the loss other than just shove it down, he doesn’t really want to talk about it? This would provide an opportunity for those that were left from the Revenge crew to gain a kind of respect and the briefest of peaks beneath the demanding middle manager demeanor Izzy has. HOWEVER, this seemingly conflicts with two of the truths Izzy upholds for himself: Loyalty to his captain above all else, and, pirates all just in the process of screwing eachother over) ------------ Back with not the Revenge... Bellamy, Stede, and the rest of the marooned crew eventually catch up to the  Revenge with barely enough time before the pirate hunters arrive. If Stede hadn’t but it together by now just who Bellamy was looking for, it would be outright said who specifically is being sought after. (Stede probably wouldn’t put it together that the man he calls Iggy has the name Israel or may be referred to by the nickname Baz) Stede could say it’s him and he’s returned, but Ed wouldn’t believe him. By now, Stede looks quite different a man. No matter what Stede says, It takes a proper pirate boarding and takeover to get Ed to listen. Maybe Stede getting stabbed by Ed (just like he was taught) to get Ed to listen. The revenge crew on both sides wouldn’t want to fight their friends/companions. The jig is seemingly up on romcom logic where everyone is going to be okay. Maybe Ed boils over and Stede sees the Blackbeard the books he has tell of? Does Ed kill someone in his kraken rage or just think he killed someone in order for him to snap out of it enough to allow that emotional vulnerability to show again? (It would have to be him directly doing it, not throwing someone into the sea, or fire, or anything like that. As with when Jack was talking about Ed burning people alive in ep 8, Ed considered it the fire doing the killing, not himself.) There is of course a dramatic and emotional reunion of all the couples. Them all dealing with what happened in their own ways. Izzy of course is beyond words. Not knowing how to emotionally deal with 1) Sam being alive. Sam being here. 2) Stede Bonnet is back. 3)Pirate hunters (Hornigold?) on the horizon coming right for them. That third point would cut everyone’s emotional reunions short, but also be the only one of the three that Izzy has any inkling of how to deal with after years of shoving his own emotions down and never dealing with them. The fight to even get on the Revenge having caused enough fatigue that a fuckery has to be used to get away. Stede gets to showcase what he’s learned as a practical, broke, pirate (and that probably not enough if he creates the fuckery without assistance from others). There’s a grand kind of confrontation between Hornigold and the two captains who were once under his command. Stede gains a deeper understanding of the man that in many ways shaped Ed (and Izzy and Sam and Jack and maybe other figures that could have been encountered while looking for the Revenge such as Anne Bonny and Mary Reed). And then finally, the crew can start to unpack and sort out the situation. It’s a long process. The world, under normal logic, wouldn’t wait for them to sort such things out. Maybe romcom time makes a comeback and they can sort through at least a good chunk of it. Ed, for his part, does a lot of growth or at least tries to. In the end, Izzy ends up leaving with Sam for retirement. Ed tells him to go, be happy. Releases him from service (much to Izzy’s conflicted feelings on it). Izzy insists that no that’s a big mistake. Ed insists that’s what would make Ed happy (even if that too is a lie in some capacity?): to see Izzy finally have that same happiness with Sam that Ed’s now found with Stede. -------------- As for what happened between Izzy and Sam all those years ago... Years ago, Sam was sweet on Izzy when they were both serving under Hornigold. It was a whirlwind romance. Sam promised Izzy fine things and retirement together- something so rare for those in their line of work. It seemed like the stuff of fairytales, but something made Izzy give Sam a chance to make it a reality. I haven’t decided what the reason they weren’t sailing together. Izzy and Sam would have been on different ships under Hornigold’s command. Sam with his own ship and Izzy under Ed’s command. Maybe Izzy’s sense of loyalty to his captain was there (as instilled by Hornigold in all his men), but at the time, he wasn’t giving both of his hands to his job. One for the ship and one for his own interests. Maybe Ed was jealous and didn’t want to “share” Izzy with a someone else and he pressed the loyalty to the captain aspect? Maybe there was some other fuckery a la Ed afoot? Maybe Izzy, being torn between duty and love, said he’d go with Sam once Sam got the money needed for that retirement? That seems to conflict with the intensity of which Izzy holds loyalty though. Hmm.... In any case, after splitting off from Hornigold and some time passing, Sam ended up reported dead along with almost all of his crew in the sinking of the Whydah. (The timeline with Hornigold’s involvement and if he’s still alive even seems to be pretty loose at this point as far as OFMD canon goes in comparison to history. Therefore the timeline between Bellamy being elected captain of what once was Hornigold’s fleet, his independent ventures, and the sinking of the Whydah can be played with fast and loose.) Ever since then, Sam’s been working under another name to regain those funds, find Izzy, and give his love the retirement he promised. News of what happened to the Whydah and Sam eventually made its way to Ed and Izzy. Izzy never really processed the grief. Just bottled it up and dedicated his whole self to his captain. Both hands to the ship. (“The only retirement we get is... death”)

[reinarandraw]

Same Sam Bellamy from my bellhands fic The Last Voyage, two different flavors.

Pre-Whydah Sam with his glorious long black hair and radiant personality and Post-Whydah Sam with his short haircut and gray strands. One was a social butterfly while the other one was more reserved. One liked to fight recklessly and with strange tactic to test his skill. One preferred to fight recklessly because reasons. One lived in the present, one planned for the future. One was more forgiving, one would bring hell to your doorstep if you cross him.

Izzy fell for the older Sam. Would he fell for the fun loving and thrill seeking younger Sam as well?

[terezadraws]

Hi, hello, I'm back! (I hope.)

I have been very innactive, mostly because of all the college work I had to get done. It was a very tough winter semester bfhsh but ! I think I should be able to post more again. And I also want to stay somehow consistent with my posting so we'll see how that goes.

Anyways, here is the rest of last year's birdtober that I started and never finished. But since I draw birds veeery often outside of the birdtober I think it is completely okay that I didn't finish it...

(also strawberry finch is literally called spotted tiger in czech and I'm still not over it)

[proton-wobbler]

Round 1, Poll 26

Bohemian Waxwing vs Shaft-tailed Whydah

sources under cut

Bohemian Waxwing Propaganda

"so often forgotten in the shadow of cedar waxwings and their broad range. bohemian waxwings are cool too and imo they look better"

Due to the high sugar content of their fruit diet, bohemes need to frequently drink water and will eat snow or drink sap from birch and maple trees to meet their water quota.

Bohemian Waxwing get their name from their frequently mobile lifestyle and their lack of territoriality. Nesting territories aren't defended, and the males often display to females and the pair will pass a piece of fruit back and forth until they decide to mate- up to 14 times!

Shaft-tailed Whydah Propaganda

"Those tailfeathers! A brood-parasite, but the chicks don't throw out those of their hosts."

Also known as the queen whydah, this bird will almost exclusively parasitize the nests of violet-eared waxbill. Unlike many brood-parasites, it is possible for the waxbill parents to raise both their own chicks, along with those of the whydah.

Once the breeding season is over, the male will lose his dark cap and long tail feathers and molt into the same plumage as the females.

Image Source: Whydah (Naun Amable Silva)

[draculavian]

Birdtober day 7-12 ! I'm using the list made by @/aholmesartstudio on instagram :)

[ltwilliammowett]

Whydah Galley - April 26, 1717, by Paul Garnett (1951-2021)

[applepies-and-starlight]

Death is not that big of a deal for Nymphs/Tempestans; you can disembowel one and if your axe is still buried in their guts their reaction will be "...uhh, do you want this back?"*

(*reactions vary)