“Sometimes i feel like photographers have uncovered a special secret. A crazy, amazing, and beautiful secret. The key to truly living. All i want is to be alive”. – Karrah Kobus

Photo: “All my life i lived in a bubble”. (Photo by Karrah Kobus)

Golden-crowned Kinglets boldly bear their flashy lemon-yellow crest and a black eyebrow stripe. Taking a good look at them might be rather challenging, since they spend most of their time in the dense fir foliage or spruce. However, if you’re patient enough to find them, listen for their shrill, thin song. Though these “little Kings” are only a tad bit larger than a hummingbird, they can survive easily extreme cold by huddling close together. They breed in montane west and the far north and only visit North America during winter.

In one of the best collaborations this blog has seen in ages, professional illustrator Mica Angela Hendricks has been collaborating with her 4-year-old daughter on a series of wonderful drawings that pass back and forther between mother and daugher until reaching an always unexpected final form. Each drawing begins with Hendricks drawing a detailed retro-ish head, after which her daughter snatches away the sketchbook to create rudimentary body (or animal!) parts as well as other random details. Afterward Hendricks goes back in to polish things up a bit and behold: dinosaur women, slug ladies, and beaver astronauts are born.

Jenny Parks is a scientific illustrator that also happens to be a shameless nerd, with a penchant for drawing animals, dinosaurs, imaginary creatures… and occasionally, people as cats. Somehow, she found herself with a bit of internet fame with the illustration ‘Doctor Mew’, and has been baffled ever since. With a BFA in illustration from the California College of the Arts, and a graduate degree in Science Illustration from UC Santa Cruz, she now resides in San Francisco as a freelance illustrator, fulfilling her destiny to make a living drawing cute, fuzzy things.

An Indian farmer gets his shave done at the site of protest in Ghazipur, outskirts of New Delhi, India, Thursday, December 9, 2021. Thousands of Indian farmers suspended their year-long protest on Thursday after the government withdrew contentious farm laws and set up a committee to consider their other demands, including guaranteed prices for key crops and the withdrawal of criminal cases against the protesters. (Photo by Altaf Qadri/AP Photo)

Students at Godolphin School, Salisbury, England, receive their A-Level results on Thursday August 13, 2020. Thousands of school-leaving children in Britain have been left distraught after finding out Thursday that they were given lower-than-expected grades, with many questioning how the results were calculated after the coronavirus pandemic cancelled exams key for college applications. (Photo by Russell Sach/The Telegraph)

A horse is ridden out of the River Eden after being washed on the first day of the Appleby Horse Fair on June 7, 2018 in Appleby, England. The fair is an annual gathering for Gypsy, Romany and travelling communities. The event has existed under the protection of a charter granted by James II since 1685 and it remains one of the key meeting points for these communities. Around 10,000 travellers are expected to attend the event who traditionally come to buy and sell horses and it offers an opportunity for the traveller community to come together to celebrate their heritage and culture. (Photo by Ian Forsyth/Getty Images)

A news reporter doing a stand up near a sea wall in Cedar Key, Fla., is covered by an unexpected wave as Hurricane Hermine nears the Florida coast, Thursday, September 1, 2016. Hurricane Hermine gained new strength Thursday evening and roared ever closer to Florida's Gulf Coast, where rough surf began smashing against docks and boathouses and people braced for the first direct hit on the state from a hurricane in over a decade. (Photo by John Raoux/AP Photo)