We are officially at the 4 week mark since the ankle surgery. That means it is has been 4 weeks since I have put any weight on it. I have noted that is quite an accomplishment for me. Unfortunately, I have ANOTHER two weeks of this insanity before I can start the physical therapy phase and finally get start introducing weight bearing (in between the screams from the PT). I have been doing my best to keep myself busy. A huge chunk of time has been devoted to working on my backlog (did I just hear cheers, someone definitely cheered), trying my best to catch up on my post reading and all the work in the haunt lab – I’ve linked the latest short video at the end if you are interested). YouTube is now my friend – there isn’t stupid Cat video I haven’t watched! In all this, there are always posts I can work on, so let’s get to it!
Battling my inner Venom:
“Do it!”
“But I don’t want to do it”
“Yes you do, do it now”
“Umm, really don’t wanna”
“You shall do it and like it”
“But it pains me”
“You are already in pain, what’s the difference!?!”
“Hmm, that is a valid point, but I’d rather do something else…anything else”
“Do you really want to stare at that series in the queue anymore?”
“Sigh, but I’ll say you twisted my ankle”
Here you go, today’s featured ugh, feathered ugh, friend double ugh Finch – make it stop.
As a general rule, I take at least one picture of every bird I see when out in the field. The amount of additional shots I take of a specimen is based on a complex internal mental algorithm which would probably rival any current AI engine. Is the lighting halfway reasonable, did I get a good enough shot to officially claim the check, is there a good story to share on the blog, what is likelihood of seeing it again, are there new behaviors to document, where does it rank on my “cool birds” list, is it on my “crap bird” list (I’m talking about you Asshats link here) and is it out of region all come into play. The logic engine turns, the lights dim and depending on the results zero or more pulses will be triggered to the shutter finger. This processing is repeated, of course, on subsequent shots.
Every once in a while I surprise myself in the digital darkroom and ask myself – “what the hell Bri, did the algorithm glitch?” Hit the jump if you want to see more of apparently one of those surprise results from the field.
Every time I parse the queue looking for something exciting to bring my readers, I pass over this House Finch series. Scroll, eh, too soon, scroll, maybe later, scroll, possible – but what’s the story angle, is that an everyday Finch – hell no, scroll, scroll and eventually find something worthy of your time. I’ve been cooped in this house so long my brain must be turning to mush as I decided to finally get it out of the queue. What did the mental algorithm assess that was worthy of all these shots, not a real interesting bird as they are practically everywhere, was it doing something interesting, really just sitting there, is it on my cool birds list – certainly not, nor is it really in the hate column (they know who they are).
Do not have a good answer for you beyond I happen to like their settings. The red berries and tones in a number of these shots nicely compliment the red hues in the male Finch.
Long time readers may have noticed I do like a delicate bird sitting on barbed wire or specimens found in less pristine places like dumps or water treatment facilities. This next shot clearly fits that bill as you can see the perch selection, but harder to tell is this was also taken at a sewage treatment facility in Benson, AZ.
Not sure if I like double the amount of gash producing fencing with a blood splattered bird atop or rather a closer shot of a red drenched bird with less abrasive fencing. Any thoughts? – note, “Don’t care, it’s a damn House Finch” is a perfectly acceptable response.
A slight fib earlier as these shots are not actually a single series, however, they were all taken on our trip to Arizona back in January 2024. The first several were from the CT RV Resort in Benson, where others are from Saguaro National Park, Desert Museum and Sweetwater Wetlands all in the Tucson area .. plus the previously mentioned Benson STP. To come back with this many shots of a local seed guzzling feeder bird is rather shocking. Granted, I can’t just walk outside and take a picture of a House Finch sitting on top of a giant cactus.
I do know that if it wasn’t for that additional prickly element, I certainly would not have taken a picture of a female House Finch ha!
In all honesty, every bird outside of that small list of despised feather bearers deserves its moment in the spotlight. The last time I featured the House Finch here it Intrigued was back in 2018 from a trip out to Colorado (link here). 7 year hiatus.. yeah, that feels about right. We will see how it is goes in 2032 and maybe we’ll bring you another helping of these abundant Passeriformes. Until then, I’ll leave you with probably my favorite shot from the House Finch collection.
Sharp pointy things, check, eye glint, check, swashed in color, check, technically executed, eh, will do, with an added dash of palace intrigue as I had to do a bit of research on this specimen as I kept flipping back and forth between a Purple Finch and the House due to pale streaking on the breast. No peaking on the top feathers, the reddish hue is closer to the House and they are pretty scarce in the Arizona region as a general rule. Would have liked to have had a shot from the side to seal the deal – need to fix that shot selection algorithm LISP code to include that decision point for additional identification angles for future outings.
Now that the inner Venom has been subdued for the moment, thought I’d link to the latest video out of our Haunt Department. This was a short one that focused on the demonstration of a Spirit animation prop we bought last year and just now getting to it. There is a much bigger one on the way that covers one of the signature props from last year’s Haunted Trail – stay tuned for that. As you can see, I’m trying my best to keep my mind off this recovery hell I’m currently in
Take care everyone!
Life Intrigued 