MAY 19, selected pics: geese and goslings

a goose family relaxing in the shade
 on a warm mid-May mid-day

 

Authors' Note:  The above photos display recent sightings in Mt Pleasant SC, near the base of the Arthur Ravenel Bridge to Charleston SC.

You can view an illustrated poem about Canada geese, including goslings, HERE. And, there's a photo-collage that you can access HERE. 

These blogposts feature Canada geese who have made their permanent homes in both the US, as here, and in Canada.

The authors of this piece avoid comments on birthright dual citizenship, and leave readers to draw their own conclusion. 

MAY 16, selected pics: ruddy turnstones

ruddy turnstone in flight (background subtracted image)

ruddy turnstone (flying over beach with oyster shells)

Authors' Note:  Ruddy turnstones, sparrow-sized shorebirds, are intrepid and accomplished migrators, with a rigorous annual pole-to-pole itinerary. For a few years now, I have seen them in late May on the same small strip of beach near a harborside boardwalk in the Carolina lowcountry. They seem consumed, when there in groups of a dozen or so, not with global travel issues, but rather with mundane considerations such as which individual can claim rights to a small hole dug in the sand.

You can review an illustrated poem about these shorebirds in general HERE, and one about ruddy turnstones in particular HERE.

MAY 13, selected pics: juvenile "green" anole

 

Authors' Note:  The above photos were obtained in the authors' garden in the Carolina lowcountry.These cute little creatures are rather shy, and as they are strictly insectivorous, it's hard to entice them with food. Much to my chagrin, as well as that of the lizards, they are often misinterpreted as 'snakes', even by longterm human residents. 

You can readily find on these pages, a post with an illustrated poem about Carolina green anoles, and photo-collages highlighting their appearance in the suburban setting, HERE, and HERE.

MAY 10, poem and selected pics: shelduck (visitor)

poetry lyrics:/ Quacked the shelduck, "With no GPS/ We migrate. In high winds, we digress/

From our usual flight-path./ So one dark-stormy-night path,/

We land here, refugees in US/ (They prefer that we leave, that's my guess). 

Authors' Note:  The above photos commemorate the unusual sighting of a shelduck, a handsome European duck species, in Brooklyn, New York, USA, in early May, 2026. This particular bird was noted in the company of native mallard ducks swimming and feeding in a pond at the Prospect Botanical Garden. The bird is distinguished by its red face-plate, longitudinal black body stripes and horizontal brown belly stripe.

Occasionally, Eurasian species like the shelduck are forced off course in their migration southward from Europe to Africa by major storms, and land up along the Atlantic seaboard of the United States; this eventuality was at play here, as particularly bad weather had preceded our visit to New York City at the beginning of May. Attributable to the same storm, You-tube had posted a video of a visit to a Pennsylvania pond where a local duck expert had clinched the unusual sighting.     

MAY 7, selected pics: London-canal bird-babies

Photos from canal locales in London, UK, were kindly provided by Josh.

a family of coots

a mute swan family

Authors' Note:  The above photos display the wildlife in easy view along the waterways of the London canal system, of which Regent Canal is the portion best known by North Americans.

May is the time to see the fledgling birds on both sides of the Atlantic, and readers might enjoy the images of Canada-goose goslings found on our recent post.

MAY 4, selected pics: skinks' springtime return

 

Authors' Note:  The above photos hark back to a photo-collage, and illustrated poem featuring the broad-headed skink.

MAY 1, selected pics: yellow-crowned night heron

 

Authors' Note:  The above photos were taken by Giorgio Coniglio near the Charleston harbour in May 2026. The bird is focused on hunting in the pluff mud 

(sludge at low tide), likely for small fish, small reptiles, and its favorite foods -- crabs and crayfish. 

You can review an illustrated poem about these herons, native only to the Americas, HERE.

APR 26, selected pics: brown-pelican yoga-student

 

Authors' Note:  The above photos

APR 25 submitted palindromes: RANDOM PILES 52

 

 

You have reached the "Submitted Palindromes" thread on the blog "Daily Edifying Nonsense", a light literary entity that emanates through the blogosphere daily (almost), i.e. 30 times per month.

  On the 25th of each month you will find a slide-filling group of palindromic phrases submitted to the editors by a panel of 7 palindromists. These folks have all been working on this project since January 2020. The personal profiles for each of these contributors are displayed in panels published here at the start of things, and then, we have asked them to provide (palindromically, of course) their views on one of the iconic items in the classic literature, starting with "A man, a plan, a canal -- Panama", continuing with other well-known phrases, such as "Dennis sinned". Otherwise, their contribution will be grouped in monthly random piles (a phrase that you might recognize as an anagram of the word p-a-l-i-n-d-r-o-m-e-s).

You can access this delightful entertainment right here by entering submitted palindromes in one of the two search bars at the top of this post and scrolling downwards through the wordplay posts that you will discover, OR, just follow the links indicated above. 

Devotees of palindromic wordplay can further explore limericks and other short verses about the classic palindromes (and quite a few recent concoctions) that are randomly scattered on this blog after September 2000, or collected into grouped postings on our more scholarly blog "Edifying Nonsense" -- start HERE. 

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READY TO SEE MORE ?

To navigate around the 2,000 posts on this blog ("Daily Illustrated Nonsense", or D.I.N.), scroll downwards until you get to a widget with a clickable SUMMARY OF CONTENTS BY DATE displayed with blue fonts -- the most recent are at the top; the oldest at the bottom of the list. Then, just click on any year or month to view the detailed contents -- illustrated short humorous poems, wordplay, parody song-lyrics, funky photos, etc. 

 OR, go back to the latest post on this blogsite ("Elegy to Tom Lehrer") HERE.

 

APR 23, selected pics: brown-pelican yoga-instructor

 

"Sorry! I have a frog in my throat"

Authors' Note:  The above photos document the bizarre positioning adapted by these birds in digestibng large chunks of jagged, even sharp fish-carcasses, tossed away by fisher-guides after an expedition (see posts about the 'pelicatessen').