Categorical gory detail

Most readers probably follow this blog by reading day-to-day, post-to-post as new entries are uploaded — I appreciate that: thanks for reading! Here’s another way to view the Three Star Owl journal — by categories. In case you haven’t noticed them, categories are the long list of words partway down the left-hand side-bar. It’s a good way to search topics that interest you which might have appeared on these pages, or to catch up on old posts, read a series in sequence (complete or in progress), or check out something you might have missed in a feature such as “Spot the Bird” or “Cranky Owlet” (who, I’ve just realized has not made an appearance for quite a while). Click on one of those categories, and a clump of posts will turn up, most recent at the top, on the topic you’ve chosen.

Every blogger sets their own categories, and many of mine are obvious, like “owls” or “natural history“.  I’ve used some, however, that are a little oblique: for instance, “close in” pulls up posts with macro shots, close-up photos, and detailed species accounts.  “nidification” gets you all the posts I’ve written on nesting, or more generally, reproduction and young life. “doom and gloom” gets you photos and essays on death, dying, and other mundane instances of mortality and bad luck. Fortunately, this last category doesn’t unleash a lot of posts, but, here’s a heads-up — it’s where you’ll find photos of dead organisms and disasters like our Thanksgiving Saguaro Plunge.  This is not a perfect system: it relies on me to be consistent and systematic about tagging each post with the appropriate categories as I add it, and that doesn’t always happen. But for the most part it works, and I invite you to try reading by category.

In fact, here’s one to start on. I’ve just added a new category, launched by the title of the last post: “drawn in“. This category includes all posts with drawings — sketches, watercolors, or digitally-created images — in case you want to check out which direction my non-clay renderings wander (excluding Cranky Owlet, which august personage deserves and is relegated to his own category, see above). Sometimes, as in the last post, the drawings are related to clay work, sometimes, not.

Finally, let me encourage you as always, but especially with hand-drawn items, to CLICK to ENLARGE: often the images embedded in the blog text have lower resolution than the version you see once you click — even when they’re not actually bigger, they’re clearer, have truer colors and sharper contrast.  See what I mean by comparing the image of the dove above as you see it with what you get when you CLICK.

Why not take a look, and let yourself be drawn in…