A beautiful wild Corn Snake showing off its distinctive “piano key” belly. Despite the dramatic pose, these non-venomous snakes are completely harmless.
📹whiitetail
This pigeon flew into a spiky remnant of a storm shudder on the old feed store. Its feet got trapped; it flipped upside down and died.
Now, days later, the pigeons appear to be having an "Irish wake" with the corpse of their departed friend.
Even the white pigeon (the King of the pigeons of the old feed store; the "White King") has made an appearance. I cannot understate how rare it is to see this white pigeon; he is the only one in the whole flock here. It is a BIG deal that he is there -- and notice that he's standing closest to the deceased. This is a serious honor.
My fascination with these birds has only increased; I now check on them every day. They are not afraid of me, which is itself an honor -- rural pigeons are, unlike city pigeons, usually quite skittish around humans. At first I made them nervous, but they have now learned that I'm OK, and allow me to get close to photograph them.
These birds are extremely civilized and smart. They take care of their dead. They observe the street and its comings and goings keenly. They are shockingly clean and neat. These days we forget that people used to LOVE pigeons... and that we bred them to be our friends, only to turn our backs on them generations later, to call them "pests."
If the owners of this building attempt to eradicate this flock, I will build my own dovecote and sway them to move into it. I will even feed them. I want to make right on humans' abandonment of these wonderful, beautiful, civilized birds. While its rare I have any warm feeling for any animal, I really am growing so fond of these birds.
And I am honored to have met "the White King".
Most people send 10% as many text messages as they should. You should text your old friends when you think of them, you should text your new friends about the weather. You should text ex-girlfriends way more often. You should text mom more often but everyone agrees with that
Americans are obsessed with the concept of African children wearing the unusable t-shirts of the championship-losing team made before a sporting championship
4pm first meal of the day. Rice, chickpeas, hummus, onions, hot sauce. I would prefer to exist in a realm of pure ideas, with no physical form, so sometimes I forget to eat