So, in the face of my inevitable return to the mountain strongholds of Missoula, I now have one bird that I can count on being with me, country or city. Any habitat, any season, any continent, any time.
Red-necked Phalarope Phalaropus lobatus
By Su Houston at Venus Modern Body Arts, NY, NY.
Carrie Laben, after years of writing and birding in New York, moved to Montana to pursue her two great passions more effectively. She recently graduated with an MFA in Creative Nonfiction from the University of Montana in Missoula. When she is not cranking out essays and speculative fiction stories, or wandering around on mountains failing to see the birds she is looking for, she is likely to be drinking one of the many fine local microbrews or attending a potluck with something from the local farmer’s market in hand. On Mondays from 3 to 3:30 Mountain Time you can find her answering questions about birds on live chat at DaysAtDunrovin.com.
Nice! That’s definitely one of the sharpest bird tattoos I’ve ever seen.
Very cool, and well drawn. Do you have an auk tattoo?
Beautiful!
That is freaking gorgeous. Nice ink!
I see what you did there with that title…
Thanks, everyone.
John: I don’t have an auk tattoo… yet. I am saving that for when I publish my first book.
That is impressive.
Nice tat. The species that are always with me currently are Brown Thrasher and Marsh Wren, soon to be joined by every bird i see in 2011. Here’s a few of mine from an early blog post.
http://punkrockbigyear.blogspot.com/2010/12/my-other-bird-related-tattoos.html
Paul Riss
Punk Rock Big Year
Yupp, nice.
Is there a story behind chosing the phalarope?
Jochen: The Red-necked Phalarope breeds in Montana, and this tattoo is to celebrate my coming west for school, so I thought it would be a good choice. I also wanted to choose a species where the female is more colorful and would make a good tattoo subject. It’s sort of my feminist bird.