Chromosomes
Kidding.
I mean, technically tru but
Anyway.
"But why," asks literally no-one, "Not a Pygmy Owl?"
Actually I have been asked this, by quite a few people. Pleasant surprise, frankly, if a tiring one. Hence the post about it.
There's a short story and a longer reason.
The short story is this:
Summer 2016, I volunteered for two months at the Hawk Conservancy Trust in Andover. I could talk about that all day, and rave about the place. But a lot of stories and such aren't mine to tell, at least yet, so I shall start with simply this one, because it is relevant and the answer to a genuine question people pretend to be interested in.
One of the many species at the Conservancy are ferruginous pygmy owls. They're tiny. Like literally about two inches tall. They must weigh a couple of ounces. They were fed a mouse and a half a day, between them, and the mice must weigh more than the owls (they were about the same height). Understandably the pygmy owls had the smallest aviary in the Conservancy, but it was hardly a budgie cage - a couple of metres tall and wide, and maybe two metres across. The owls tended to sit in the same top corner all the time, except when they got excited or were feeding and started zooming around twittering (I mean, they probably do still, the past tense is just because I haven't been able to confirm this fact for the past nine months) so impatient or unobservant public could not often spot them.
What they could spot, however, was a 5'4" me, in unassuming volunteer-green, enthusiastically scrubbing the soul out of the feeding shelf. This came to light when one day, going casually about my scrubbing, I heard from behind:
"Why, I don't think that's a pygmy owl!"
Two elderly gentlemen, holding hands and a rainbow umbrella, were looking in and laughing. When I looked, they waved, and I waved back.
Every time I saw them for the rest of the day:
"It's the pygmy owl!"
"Hush, it's not a pygmy owl, dear."
It got a few questioning looks from staff and guests and volunteers, but oddly enough no-one asked.
The short story is this:
Summer 2016, I volunteered for two months at the Hawk Conservancy Trust in Andover. I could talk about that all day, and rave about the place. But a lot of stories and such aren't mine to tell, at least yet, so I shall start with simply this one, because it is relevant and the answer to a genuine question people pretend to be interested in.
One of the many species at the Conservancy are ferruginous pygmy owls. They're tiny. Like literally about two inches tall. They must weigh a couple of ounces. They were fed a mouse and a half a day, between them, and the mice must weigh more than the owls (they were about the same height). Understandably the pygmy owls had the smallest aviary in the Conservancy, but it was hardly a budgie cage - a couple of metres tall and wide, and maybe two metres across. The owls tended to sit in the same top corner all the time, except when they got excited or were feeding and started zooming around twittering (I mean, they probably do still, the past tense is just because I haven't been able to confirm this fact for the past nine months) so impatient or unobservant public could not often spot them.
What they could spot, however, was a 5'4" me, in unassuming volunteer-green, enthusiastically scrubbing the soul out of the feeding shelf. This came to light when one day, going casually about my scrubbing, I heard from behind:
"Why, I don't think that's a pygmy owl!"
Two elderly gentlemen, holding hands and a rainbow umbrella, were looking in and laughing. When I looked, they waved, and I waved back.
Every time I saw them for the rest of the day:
"It's the pygmy owl!"
"Hush, it's not a pygmy owl, dear."
It got a few questioning looks from staff and guests and volunteers, but oddly enough no-one asked.
The slightly longer reason is this:
I've gone by a lot of online handles and a few different names. I didn't want to use any of them for the website slash blog; this is separate. I considered Ember Fell, but I'm not Ember Fell Publications, just a part of it. Not mine to use all by myself. I could, sure, have just used Tatiana AS Webb, but where's the excitement? Where's the story? Tatiana writes the books, Ember Fell publishes them, but someone slightly else runs the website.
So I searched for something new, and I didn't have to search for very long.
I've gone by a lot of online handles and a few different names. I didn't want to use any of them for the website slash blog; this is separate. I considered Ember Fell, but I'm not Ember Fell Publications, just a part of it. Not mine to use all by myself. I could, sure, have just used Tatiana AS Webb, but where's the excitement? Where's the story? Tatiana writes the books, Ember Fell publishes them, but someone slightly else runs the website.
So I searched for something new, and I didn't have to search for very long.
And sure - I could've just gone by Pygmy Owl.
But, after all... I'm not a pygmy owl.*
But, after all... I'm not a pygmy owl.*
* i like to believe i am a handsome, agile black kite. realistically, i'm probably either a striated caracara (impossible to train, smart but only uses it for mischief, refuses to fly unless forced to), or ironically something like a pygmy owl (constantly on edge, tiny but murderous, very loud in comparison to body size)
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| Actual representation of my Writer Brain and Editor brain when I get a cool idea |
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