Thank you!

Close up of blue bar check pigeon with red splash in wings and a lovely iridescent neck.

Hey, BlueSky is back! Guess I can finally post a #BirdOfTheDay theme of #HeadShots — any head shot will do. Alt #gulls. Here's a pretty blue check #pigeon up close at Wakodahatchee Wetlands.

#birds #birding #pigeonsky #floridabirds #nature #photography #EastCoastKin

First draft historical fiction. Did lots of background research but still crafting the story.

I'll never forget having an assignment refused in 5th grade for being fanfic of one of my favorite TV shows ... in the early 70s. I was forced to come up with something far more lame quickly. Fanfic wasn't so accepted back then.

From Moon Rise:

Kettering looked at her thoughtfully. “Miss Windover, would you do the honors?” Opening the car door, he encouraged Penny to slide in behind the wheel and pointed out where the button was to start the Cadillac.

#WIPSnips #WriteSky #WritingPrompts #WritingCommunity

I generally do. Being a travel writer for several decades gives me a lot of places to choose from to tweak just a little for story purposes: making up character's homes but trying to stick with real period shops and restaurants when writing historical fiction. For spec fic anything goes!

Aha! That's why we crave walls and walls and walls of books ... recreating a forest, horizontally!

Eastern bluebird in Ontario, Canada.

Bluebird posting will continue until morale improves 🪶

And we thank you for that booster.

Great egret with mating plumage illuminated by sunlight while perched in a large wax myrtle in the rookery at St. Augustine Alligator Farm, FL

Good morning! Today's #BirdOfTheDay theme is #LeafandLight any bird captured in sunlight with leaves in frame. Alt #CourtshiporConflict birds courting or squabbling.

This great egret in St. Augustine is there for the courting but looking lovely in the sun.

#birds #birding #photography #ECK

From Atomic Promise:

Bob groaned after Portillo left. He’d stepped in it, all right. Women were the hottest of Dick’s hot-button topics, and they’d butted heads over ladies since they’d bunked together at Cornell.

#WIPSnips #WriteSky #WritingPrompts #WritingCommunity

I knew ours is an American Robin but had never seen photos of yours before. Let alone so may today for your #Birdoftheday ... they are adorable!

And yet Microsoft (and others with AI agents) feel no need to license photos, art, or written words from us creatives they've stolen them from? 🙄

From Moon Rise:

“Mr. Hayes!” Penelope barked. "There is no need for you to handle our skirts. I am quite capable of arranging for them to be cleaned, thank you.”

At her tone of voice, heat rose in Charles’ cheeks.

#WIPSnips #WriteSky #WritingPrompts #WritingCommunity

What a lovely little Robin. I've not seen one like that. Likely not found in North America.

A black swan, descendent of a pair of royal swans gifted to the city of Lakeland, FL in 1957 after a request from a native of Lakeland whose husband was stationed on an air base in the UK. Gliding across the city reflections of placid Lake Morton, as they do, with a pigeon on the grassy shore and two other much smaller birds in the water.

Today's #BirdOfTheDay theme is #Reflections, any bird reflection; alt #Robins, any Robin will do.

One of the famed #swans of Lakeland, Florida, descendants of a gift of a pair of royal swans from Queen Elizabeth in 1957.

#birds #birding #lakelandfl #lakemorton #photography #nature #ECK

Keep locations of wild turtles to yourself, especially online. It can be exciting to see turtles in the wild, and to share your discovery. But if you post a photo of a turtle online, don’t include information on where you found it. Turtle poachers may mine the internet for this information and use it to target sites. If you want help identifying a turtle you saw in the wild, reach out to a local nature center or your state wildlife agency

An important takeaway from the article. I stopped posting exact locations of orchids along hikes some years ago for similar reasons: poaching. So damn sad.

Brothers sentenced for roles in conspiracy to smuggle native turtles from the U.S. | U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service In the 10-month period from November 2017 to August 2018, brothers Chu Sen Guan and Chu Wei Guan shipped more than 600 native North American turtles — including eastern box turtles, Florida box turtle...

Here's one published example. www.fws.gov/story/2022-0...

Not in the woods, other than to report suspicious activity to your state's wildlife agency. Most that are caught smuggling are caught at airports and ports. Too many aren't. It's horrific. All about $$$ no care for the turtles themselves.

Fabulous shot!

A placid scene of a fishing boat on calm clear waters under blue skies within a cove off Lake Michigan with a forested headland rising along the right side of the frame.

A summer's day along Lake Michigan at Garden Peninsula State Park in the UP.

#blueskymonday #mountainmonday #greatlakes #lakemichigan #photography #nature #photosky #stateparks #upperpeninsula #yoopers #michigan
#EastCoastKin

I had no idea until I met people working to combat the illicit trade of smuggling them out of the U.S. A lot of it flows through Florida ports, weirdly.

No idea where you are, but we hardly see them anymore either. I learned last fall that there's a horrifically brisk trade in smuggling them to China and that's why our Eastern box turtle population is so decimated.

Got that na-na-na earworm going.

Afraid that's business as usual for them. They don't vet if someone steals your book and posts it so they earn off it. Nor do they prevent resales of your books at usurious prices. I learned that very early on and won't sell there. Alas my publishers still do.

Haha. Thank you, Alan.

Gentoo penguin on a rock within a refrigerated habitat at the Tennessee Aquarium, downtown Chattanooga

Today's #BirdOfTheDay theme today is #JKLMNOP , any bird that has any of these letters at the beginning of their first or second names. The alt theme is #Urban , birds in an urban environment.

This penguin at the Tennessee Aquarium, Chattanooga, fits both! 😂

#birds #penguin #chattanooga #ECK

From Atomic Promise:

“Whoa, you’re right.” Schock had just been released last week. Another month, minimum, before returning to duty. Compared to what Demi was risking, his own job was child’s play. Victor took another spoonful of soup.

#WIPSnips #WriteSky #WritingPrompts #WritingCommunity

Congrats! It's so wonderful when that happens.

I hope Pinellas residents are pitching a fit about it!