MAY 9, 2026, bar-fauna: (loon's) unscheduled flight

 

If you liked this offering, you might want to refer to our entire collection of verses about human and animal denizens of bars, pubs and other watering-holes. Click HERE.

MAY 7, 2026, 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 5, 2026, waterfowl: 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-visitor 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 circumstance 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 a similar unusual sighting.     

MAY 3, 2026, 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, 2026, 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 29, 2026, American satire: results of DT's first impeachment trial (birds'-eye view)

 Reprise, originally posted February 9 and 10, 2020.

Authors' Note: Readers might want to check out prior posts, including that of Feb 9, entitled "Anagrammatic tribute to a Senator", and those of January 1, 9, 10 and 11, dealing with great egrets. The photos of birds were obtained from Giorgio Coniglio's personal collection, whereas those of political leaders were obtained from readily available online sources.

We hope that you enjoyed this playful photo-art. You can find 30 more submissions, mostly poetic on this topic in 5 collections on our full-service blog 'Edifying Nonsense'. Click HERE to start! 

APR 27, 2026, selected pics: brown-pelican yoga-student

 

Authors' Note:  

APR 25, 2026, submitted palindromes: RANDOM PILES 52

 

 

 You have reached the "Submitted Palindromes" thread on the blog "Daily Illustrated Nonsense", a light literary entity. Owing to advancing age and other considerations, the frequency of outpouring, 30 posts per month for the first 60 months, has been reduced stepwise after December 2024 and now numbers 10 per month. But each month you can still find a collection of palindromic phrases proferred by our seven palindromic assistant editors.

You can access this delightful entertainment right here by entering submitted palindromes in a search bar at the top of this post and scrolling downwards through the wordplay posts that you will discover.

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. 

 

 

APR 23, 2026, decorative touches: "Ravenel Bridge" (fabric art)

Decorative Touches: Ravenel Bridge

Continuation from "Pictures at a Renovation -- finishing touches" (fabric artwork), September 22, 2023. 

                                                                                fabric art by R.C.H., presented with thanks

APR 21, 2026, handyman's lesson: restoring your old greenhouse, introduction

You can watch for further lessons in the restoration process on April 20.

A NOTE FOR (potentially) DISAPPOINTED READERS !!!

Athough the Palm Court has been closed for renovations, portions of the Conservatory facility remain open, If you can't manage to come by for a look yourself, you can still take in the joys of a visit by clicking HERE.