One of the things that I find most interesting about the Yellow Billed Cuckoo is that it's colloquial name is "The Storm Crow." It got the name because it's bird song is often heard on summer days before it rains. I remember the first time I came across the term, it was the name of one of the mechs in the MechWarrior game series. For years I imagined a literal crow flying around in tempests and tornados and thunderstorms and if you do an image search for "Storm Crow" you're gonna see a lot of fantasy drawings depicting just that. So imagine my surprise, some twenty plus years later, learning that this little guy is the actual bearer of the name. I never would have thought. Tangently related, a while back I was blathering about taxonomy and one of the things I talked about is how it's often a central issue in conservation. Turns out, in the western states, the population for the yellow billed cuckoo has declined precipitously and there's an attempt to designate a potential sub species for the western populations to give them protective status. Speaking of declining populations, I worry about the Rusty Black Bird because they're just darling to look at, so bright and colorful despite being what a lot of people would consider drab.

I'm about to get up off the couch to sew together some text blocks for bookbinding. I have two new types of paper that I both love and am frustrated by in equal measure. I also have probably a dozen or so text blocks that still need casing in, but, you know, it's always good to have extras. Right? I have some ideas for books, think I might share them next time kingmudsy makes a craft thread, just to get feedback.

Here's hoping you're all doing great. Spring is right around the corner.