You’re being watched
How curious is it that the birdwatcher, the one who watches, is, in fact, the one being watched themselves? For whenever you watch the abyss, the abyss watches you back: she’s watching, watching the one who watches her.
Source: Bay Nature, photography by Martin Nicolaus.
Alt-text: a photography of a burrowing owl (Athene cunicularia) perched behind something out-of-focus, which is occluding her from being fully seen. Only the top of her head is visible, as well as her left eye (right side of the picture), directly gazing at the viewer with a scheming-like, half-opened side-eyed expression.
By a sesame seed bun
As a Portuguese-speaking Brazilian, I wasn’t aware of what a “sesame seed bun” was, until I searched for images and… ROFL 🤣🤣 I simply can’t unsee it now. (I knew “sesame seed bun” as “pão de hambúrguer”, lit. “burger bread”, hence why I didn’t understand your reference until I looked that up)
And considering how this kind of bread is equally soft, it’s an awesome reference!
Hehe. I’m glad I could give you a chuckle. My mind is good for something!
Plus, thanks for the lesson and sharing that yourself. Very interesting!
I always love our owl-derived language lessons here!
Very catlike eye
@starik@lemmy.zip @superbowl@lemmy.world
Oh, yeah, those eyes… This is one of the things I find the most beautiful in Athene owls, especially A. noctua (Little owl or “Athena’s Owl”), A. lilith (Lilith Owlet, once known as a subspecies A. noctua lilith, but ongoing talks among ornithologists are seeking to elevate this subspecies into a whole species) and A. cunicularia (the burrowing owl from the picture).
Their gaze, their eyes… it’s so deep, so mesmerizing, so lovely and tender yet so ominous and menacing, something I haven’t seen in other owl genii (each of which, of course, are amazing on their own traits, particularities and beauty), and that’s why, alongside literal religious (esoteric) reasons, I suddenly got myself fascinated by this specific genus of owls recently.
To add to the curious facts, one of the Chinese words for “owl” (specifically for Strigiformes) is “māo tóu yīng” (猫头鹰) which is literally “cat-headed eagle”. And given how they love to chase tiny mice, just like cats do, I find it such a lovely word.
Who watches the watchers of the birdwatchers?
