It is not often I write up an entire post and then decide to pull it from publication at the last minute, but that is exactly what recently occurred. Pretty much everyone knows about my running mishap, so I am going to pretty much gloss over that setback beyond simply stating the recovery is going well and I’m doing my best to listen to Linda (she no longer frowns when I head out for a long run in the woods ha). There was, however, an unfortunately side effect that was probably worse than the injury itself and that is the “abundance” of time that it brought. Time normally spent keeping the country homestead up, working on Halloween props or the myriad of other physical activities that fill my normal days. I promised myself I wouldn’t do it and I still did it – the void ended up being filled with “the news”. I put that in quotes because I no longer believe we have resemblance of what that used to mean. It didn’t take long to become completely infuriated and without a good hard run to burn off the angst, it just continued to simmer into a full boil. My now shelved post (for the Mothership blog) outlined the hypocrisy that has inundated me for the past 6 or so weeks. As far as bodies of work goes, not too shabby of a post. Then I managed to sneak out and go for a long run – the same location and trail where the Ent broke me. While I was taking a picture (for posterity and future late night navigation when I revisit with a tree saw), it dawned on me I was smiling. Here I was at the scene of the crime and instead of being bitter and down, it was a feeling of relief and joy – I was back where I belong, standing in the dirt, surrounded by nature and thanks to the long time off, sweating profusely. No longer beholden to the lame stream media or political influencers my interest in reliving that crap had now disappeared. A previous run had already produced the title, just needed to repurpose it ha!
Hit the jump to learn more about today’s substitute feature!
Hopefully you agree this is sooo much better than talking about the propaganda pump and I also get to post it on the Wildlife sister blog – win, win! This rather accommodating White Ibis comes to you courtesy of our annual January trip to the Texas Gulf Coast – “Look over there, shiny object” back in 2022. I know, beyond the glowing Scorpion post (link here), I have not had any other posts on this year’s trip. Maybe I should have been working on my backlog during my time off ugh.
I am not sure what everyone’s familiarity is with this long snouted species, but they do tend to be a bit skittish – at least in a majority of the places we have encountered them. One of the few exceptions is at South Padre Island Bird Viewing and Nature Center. Likely due to the acclamation from the constant flow of bird enthusiasts at this hotspot, the large waders are quite accessible and accommodating. This particular specimen was more than happy to post on a nearby boardwalk railing while I tried to dial in a setting that worked with the dreary overcast conditions.
Guessing it will not be pleased to find out all that pretty posing was going to be used in a fallback post about a lying dummy ha! Unlike Pinocchio, the White Ibis does not call Italy home. Note, I did look it up just to make sure I didn’t make my own lie (that would have been embarrassing). They do have the Glossy, African Sacred (apparently invasive link here) and Northern Bald varieties. I think it is safe to say our White variety is much more of a stunner with their Sinatra eyes. According to Cornell, the White’s primarily hang out in Florida and along the southeastern coastline, down into Central/South America. Here’s a tidbit I was not aware of before penning this post – the Ibis does not develop the bill’s downward curve until about two weeks after birth. Never personally seen an Ibis chick and Cornell didn’t bother to provide a shot of one on their page, nor did Audubon. That sent me down an Internet rabbit hole looking for an image of a chick to show you and let’s just go with “trust me” for now and I’ll put that on my list to get a picture of next year!!
What I did find down that “hole” was the “truth” about something I had, up to this very minute, assumed wrong. Quick quiz (and no search engine cheating): What is the mascot of the Miami Hurricanes? If you answered “A duck” then, like me, you have seen their mascot and know it looks exactly like a DUCK. Mind blowing to me, it is supposed to an Ibis (link here). If you think Sebastian looks like an Ibis, I’d avoid renewing your driver’s license before seeing an optometrist. If you are curious, the reference site explains adoption of the Ibis because it has historically been a symbol of knowledge and, per the referenced site, “the last sign of wildlife to take shelter before a hurricane and the first to reappear after the storm”. Long story short, they liked this bird’s big cojones.
From the Ibis perspective will leave it there, but I’ll go ahead and paste in the last paragraph of the original post as I think it stands alone.
“If what they profess is true, then they wouldn’t have to lie about it. If they lie today, they have lied in the past and they will lie in the future. Debate is paramount, skepticism is critical to understanding and it is your responsibility as a member of society not to be deceived by Pinocchio.”
Life Intrigued 