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Ominous Mayhem Sad Boi - Spotify, 2022

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I Had Way More Fun Than I Was Expecting With This One. Genuinely Surprised That It Wasn't A Common Starling

I had way more fun than I was expecting with this one. Genuinely surprised that it wasn't a Common Starling (I was honestly a bit nervous taking so much inspiration from starlings given my suspicions, but it really gelled with the way I wanted to go with it); genuinely delightful birds.

That said, I can absolutely see it being a jay - I imagine they were a bit more common back in the day, but I've even seen them in parks in somewhat suburban areas, and it's always a real treat to spot one :)

Bestiaryposting Results: Wuggthea

Another bird! Kind of speaks for itself, let's get to it.

Anyone unsure about what these posts are should check https://maniculum.tumblr.com/bestiaryposting.

If you want to see the entry these artists are working from, it's here:

maniculum.tumblr.com

Bestiaryposting -- Wuggthea

As a reminder, all previous entries in this series can be found at https://maniculum.tumblr.com/bestiaryposting . Rabanus says of the Wuggth

And if you want to participate in the next week's bestiaryposting, that entry is here:

maniculum.tumblr.com

Bestiaryposting -- Ghraggal

As a reminder, all previous entries in this series can be found at https://maniculum.tumblr.com/bestiaryposting . The Ghraggal is named for

Now, art:

A drawing of a small songbird with gray feathers. It is perched on a branch, and opening its beak incredibly wide.

@silverhart-makes-art (link to post here) has drawn a very naturalistic bird -- I would completely believe this was a real bird if you told me it was. The linked post explains that it has elements of both mockingbird & frogmouth, and why. I enjoy the neck & beak situation here: this is a certified Loud Bird.

A pencil drawing in a medieval-esque style with a decorative border. Seven pink birds with feathery crests on their heads perch on various branches of a stylized tree. All have their beaks wide open in song, and are striking various dramatic poses with their wings. Along the bottom are five people in medieval garb, all clearly engaged in loud, animated conversation. To the right of the image, looking out of a window in a brick building, is a sixth person in simpler medieval garb with an annoyed expression on their face. Except for the birds, the image is grayscale.

@coolest-capybara (link to post here) made the delightful decision to include our bestiary author in this image, noting the entry's apparent antipathy to noisy birds and gossipy men. That's the author in the window, suffering from the noise outside. (I also like the Stylized Tree.) For more about the inspiration and art references, see the linked post.

A pen and sepia ink sketch of a woman dressed like Princess Aurora from Disney's Sleeping Beauty film in her 'peasant' outfit (specficially, long hair, a long dress, bare feet, a blouse with short, slightly puffy sleeves and a strapless overbodice with front lacing). She is hurrying through a forest of stylised oak trees, looking cross and sheltering her face with her left hand from a flock of small birds, which flit around her and perch in the trees above. Many of them have open beaks as if they are chirping at her. Towards the foreground, there is the head of one of these birds, with its long beak open, almost as if it were photobombing the picture.

@cheapsweets (link to post here) has also included someone being annoyed by the noisy birds (and alt text, thank you). I really enjoy the contrast between the Disney-princess aesthetic and the birds actually being quite annoying -- also the photobombing Wuggthea in the foreground. For more on inspiration and thought process, please see the linked post.

A drawing of a "wug" from the famed linguistic experiment. (A creature with a simple, vaguely S-shaped body, stick legs, and dot eyes.) It has been given a beak, wings, and a feathery crest, and colored in shades of pink and purple. A speech line indicates that it is saying, "I'm a wug! thea thea thea". The "thea"s are written in the International Phonetic Alphabet and have little musical notes next to them to indicate that they are birdsong.

@pomrania (link to post here) took inspiration from the long-standing linguistics in-joke of the "wug". (Random personal fact: I have a shirt that I got free from the Linguistics department during my masters' degree that reads "Wugs Need Hugs".) I love everything about this -- the usage of IPA here is particularly clever I think. For anyone who doesn't know about the wug, it is explained in the linked post.

Digital art of a stylized tree with orange bark. The background is abstract textured blue-to-green, evoking a forest. The tree has no leaves and only a few spindly branches. There are clusters of birds sitting and flying around the tree. The birds have curved beaks and long tails. They are mostly black, with bright green almond-shapes around the eyes, a red patch on the back of their necks, muted orange wings, and light cyan tails.

@wendievergreen (link to post here) has given us a tree full of colorful, dramatic, presumably quite noisy birds. I really like the coloring choice here, especially knowing the reason behind it as mentioned in the linked post. Also yeah these guys look like they could make a racket. (And thank you for including alt text.)

Aberdeen Bestiary time!

A page of a medieval manuscript with a large square portion cut out of it.

... hm. Well fuck you too, unknown biblioclast.

Ashmole Bestiary time!

A rather elaborately decorated medieval manuscript illustration. The outside is a decorative red border with white dots, which contains a roundel with an outer circle of green and white stripes and an inner circle of pink with white dots. The space between the square border and the roundel is colored in blue with floral arabesques in white. The interior of the roundel is covered in gold foil, which has been etched with floral patterns. At the very center is a small songbird, apparently walking along the ground. Its feathers are mostly blue, with brown patches on its belly and head. Its wings are striped in white, green, brown, red, and blue.

That is a heck of a fancy border, and a reasonably nice-looking songbird. This bird is the jay, which is indeed a noisy one, so good job there.

Fellow USAmericans may be thinking of this guy:

A photo of a blue jay -- a bird with bright blue feathers, white belly and face, and black patterning. It is perched on a branch.

But of course these birds are native to North America and would be unknown to our bestiary author. They are actually writing about this guy:

A photo of a Eurasian jay -- a bird with brown feathers, right blue stripes on its wings, and some black and white patterning on its face, wings, and tail. It is perched on a branch.

I have never met a Eurasian jay, but given that its genus name is Garrulus, and the Wikipedia page I got this image from describes jays as "usually colorful and noisy," I have no doubt that it is as the bestiary author says.

I Had Way More Fun Than I Was Expecting With This One. Genuinely Surprised That It Wasn't A Common Starling

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