The BBC and Yellowstone National Park have both recently released extensive archives of sound effects into the public domain; you never know when you might have occasion to know the exact sound of a grizzly crunching bison bones, the klaxon of a Romanian trolleybus, a shot from an 1870 17-bore twin-barrel shotgun, or the moaning of a frozen lake as ( Read more... )

Hi, just wanted to pass this along: The Internet Bird Collection is a site collecting photos, sound samples, and videos of birds all around the world. It is searchable by species as well as region. A majority of the pages will have videos and sound samples and I especially like that the sound samples will often distinguish what the bird is doing ( Read more... )

Place: Barnes, London, SW13 ( Read more... )

I am looking for birds it would be rare (rare enough for a relatively experienced birdwatcher to get very excited about seeing) to see in California in the springtime (early spring ( Read more... )

Hi guys me again, after an obscure animal detail. 8} I'm writing something on fairy penguins, but an essential part of the story hinges on how they raise their chicks. I know that some bird species will prioritize one chick (usually the eldest) during lean seasons: is this true of fairy penguins? Most of the sites I came across will give me general ( Read more... )

I'm writing a fanfiction which will centre around a complete beginner, a time traveller, learning archery in Sherwood Forest. I think Robin Hood was based in the 12th century, but there's a chance given the hour of the morning I have my dates wrong. Richard the First was around 1193 if memory serves, and Robin was supposed to fight with him in the ( Read more... )

Research ( Read more... )

I'm working on a novella where the main characters are psychopomps/grim reapers/death deities. I'm still in the speedy first-draft and gave the main character sparrow wings in passing. It was a detail jotted down for my own benefit and wasn't even mentioned until a minor character begins talking at length about death and its symbolism. Like the ( Read more... )

Situation: Y is having an argument with his sword, which is rather vain, reflected in the fact that part of its name translates to 'peacock'. As the argument escalates, Y ends up calling his sword a peahen, sending it into a sulk. He later says it again, in order to call out as little of his sword's power as possible ( Read more... )

I'm trying to find the details on what courtship between ravens is like. I've searched under "ravens", "ravens + courtship", "Courtship between ravens", and various other permutations. Plenty of links get me when it starts, along with some vague descriptions, but I need some concrete examples, please. "Displays of intelligence" just makes me think ( Read more... )