#doodle-birdo

[peridots-pixiwolf]

[Start ID. A drawing of the Hollow Knight and Ghost, for the game Hollow Knight's sixth anniversary. Hollow passes to Ghost a cupcake decorated by an unlit "6" candle—Hollow's shown from the shoulders up, and Ghost is in full view as they sit on top of their sibling's head. The drawing is almost entirely in shades of cerulean, save for the pink clouds forming part of the background. End ID]

Happy birthday to them :]

[ornithological]

I want you to ramble about everything you love about tubenoses!!! Go!!!

OH SHIT-

well i love everything about them but i will mention a few!

they migrate pretty wild distances. some albatrosses circumnavigate the globe in a little over two months for example!! but even with species that are more close to home, manx shearwaters that breed in ireland and the UK go all the way to BRAZIL and back every year! and considering how long-lived these birds are, thinking about how many miles they must travel throughout their lives is so wild. many species can also go years without touching the ground, since it takes them a few years to reach breeding age

for albatrosses in particular, flying is no bother for them. they have this special tendon that locks their wings open so it takes no effort to hold them open. monitors have shown that their heart rate while flying is the same as when they are sitting on the ground, even while flying through storms. they can go ages without having to flap their wings because they're so good at riding the wind (known as dynamic soaring). in fact they have trouble flying in calm conditions. FURTHERMORE the tube nostrils of an albatross actually measure the exact airspeed when flying which is necessary for dynamic soaring

their sense of smell is spectacular too! it's been proven that overall birds have pretty decent sense of smell, but tubenoses are some of the best. they find their food over the open ocean by smell and actively track their prey this way! it's a reason that chum is often thrown overboard on pelagic bird trips, because the smell attracts the birds in!

they make very fucked up noises!!! i believe manx shearwaters frightened off vikings because they sounded like trolls or other beasties! cory's shearwaters sound even weirder and so do flesh-footed shearwaters. european storm petrels make a cute purring noise! bulwer's petrels sound like dogs for some reason. desertas petrels sound like ghosts. bonus fact, many female petrels and shearwaters make deeper and raspier calls, while the males sound higher pitched and clearer

also they can be really pretty!!! buller's shearwater, white-faced storm petrel, ringed storm petrel, cape petrel, blue petrel and snow petrel as some lovely examples

[hallownest-in-minecraft]

How we feeling about the new perfect candidate for the stags? (By that I mean the new camel mob from Minecraft Live)

Oh, funny you should mention that ... You're not wrong! But I've been cracking away at stags as horses, recently, and I'm quite happy with how they've come out. I may end up seeking alternatives for the camels, but looking over the footage, I am very, very conflicted about what to do, particularly because of the feature where two can sit on the camel at once, and also the size of them. I may put stags as horses on hold and watch how progress on the camel develops to decide. (On a related note—giraffe weevils like the grimmsteeds and Willoh are already going to Llamas, that is unlikely to change.)

You've given me a great opportunity to show off a WIP, though! Now, note that the texture doesn't have any kind of detail, the final version looks much better. There will be different colors for the different variants, based on real life beetle colors (but our classic Old Stag coloration would go to the gray horse if I continue them as horses).

[peridots-pixiwolf]

[Start ID. A simple, pixellated drawing of the Survivor from Rain World, perched at the edge of the cliff atop the Wall. They stare off into the cloudy sky and stars above, ears back as if awestruck, centered in the image yet perspective makes them look so small and far-off. The palette is mainly composed of dark, saturated blues and purples, green stars and pale Survivor standing out amongst them. End ID.]

@doodle-birdo heard you didn't have a drawing for today and I've been too tired to participate for most of the month, so I gotcha covered :]