Dear Readers,

It seems I have acquired a troll. In a fit of pique (or boredom), someone went through and gave a large number of my posts a rating of very poor. Though these shenanigans merely boost my clicks and don’t actually hurt anything, I use stars and likes to gauge what my readers want, so it’s frustrating to get so many arbitrary ratings. Therefore, I thought this was a good time to mention that if you like something I post, I would be grateful if you’d give it a favorable rating. If you dislike a post, I would be equally grateful if you’d rate it accordingly. The more honest, legitimate ratings I get from my readers, the better the blog will be. Thanks, lovelies!

3/23/18: If it seems like I’m posting a lot about birds lately, it’s because I’m homesick for my little house on the wildlife refuge. I love living in the city, but the only birds I see are pigeons. I’ll try to dial it down, but not today!

Finnish nature photographer Ossi Saarinen takes pictures of all kinds of wildlife, but it’s his grumpy-looking bird photos that are always the most popular. Fully aware of the effect they have, the 21-year-old Saarinen likes to go for the creatures with the most personality.

I love how much Saarinen’s enjoyment of his subjects comes through. It’s thrilling to find a young and talented photographer with such a great sense of humor!

You can follow the very talented Saarinen on Instagram.

All images property of Ossi Saarinen.