🚨 Changes to giveaway 🚨
Added 2019-12-02 16:22:23 +0000 UTC
So, someone brought to our attention that doing giveaways and raffles are actually against Patreon's terms of service. Because of the nature of a raffle, it's essentially a lottery, which promotes gambling, and is therefore not permitted here. BUT! We still want to give away fun prizes at the end of the month, so we have to change the format a bit. Winning can't be dependent on chance, so it will have to be based on participation. Here's what we're thinking: every week (including this one), we'll post something that asks for your input in the comments. At the end of the month, Josh will decide the winners based on the funniest or best comments for each week. ALL Patrons can participate, no matter the pledge! You don't have to comment on all posts to be a winner - though this will probably increase your chances.
That's it! We are really sorry for the confusion and change. I should have known!!
So for this week, we'd like to hear about your most recent or funniest encounter with wildlife. Looking forward to reading the comments :)
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In other news, Josh and I have been busy in the past week sending out orders for Christmas. This time of year is always the busiest for Josh, because people order much more than the rest of the year! This is what it looks like at False Knees Corp. headquarters:
Lots of envelopes, writing the addresses, and packing the right prints. It's fun writing the addresses by hand because you take the time to see where everyone is ordering from, and the prints are going all over the world! Most of the orders go to the US, but it's always interesting to see where there are discrepancies. For example, Seattle and Massachusetts are particularly represented, and it seems a disproportionate amount of people in Finland like False Knees! :)
And finally, here's the latest comic. Again if you want to get the chance to win prizes, comment on this post about a wildlife encounter you had!
Comments
Thanks! Is that what it is? It's hard for me to tell the difference haha
Cody Leggette
2019-12-22 21:54:24 +0000 UTCHahaaa, so typical! We get so paranoid at night in strange places.
False Knees
2019-12-22 17:52:19 +0000 UTCShe was a very smart birdie! My husband saw her flying in the neighbourhood being chased by kids. By the time he got of the car she was gone. Three months later in October is when I found her. Dave was shocked and said that's the bird I saw in the summer! She had been out so long. 😊
Christine Kowbuz
2019-12-22 17:46:47 +0000 UTCCrap! That doesn't happen every day!
False Knees
2019-12-22 17:44:41 +0000 UTCPraying mantises are another one of those strange animals you can come across in Canada too! So intimidating for such a small (relatively) creature!
False Knees
2019-12-22 17:44:01 +0000 UTCPigeons: the unofficial mascot for every city in the world
False Knees
2019-12-22 17:42:32 +0000 UTCHaha, opossums are super weird to encounter in person. We've had one in the yard at night. I remember it really taking me by surprise because it looks alien compared to most of what you see here.
False Knees
2019-12-22 17:41:56 +0000 UTCAwwwww!
False Knees
2019-12-22 17:40:28 +0000 UTCHahahaha!
False Knees
2019-12-22 17:38:49 +0000 UTCAwww, good thinking, bunny! I'm sad every animal apart from my cats assumes I'm a predator, but for the best I guess!
False Knees
2019-12-22 17:38:01 +0000 UTCI reeeeeeally wish that people could post images in Patreon. It's pretty silly that that's not an option. Thank you for sharing! We've got big travel plans for later in the year, and Australia is one of the top countries we're excited for :)
False Knees
2019-12-22 17:36:42 +0000 UTCApparently they're within range where I live, but I've never seen one!
False Knees
2019-12-22 17:34:55 +0000 UTCThat is adorable. I love the idea of a budgie going to live with a pack of pigeons
False Knees
2019-12-22 17:34:08 +0000 UTCMy dad set up a trail camera and caught footage of a fisher (mammal)! It was so cute. I want to set them up everywhere.
False Knees
2019-12-22 17:32:58 +0000 UTCWhat a lucky squirrel!
False Knees
2019-12-22 17:31:31 +0000 UTCHahaha!
False Knees
2019-12-22 17:31:19 +0000 UTCYeah, I have very divided feelings about people interacting with animals...
False Knees
2019-12-22 17:31:08 +0000 UTCI find it often takes a while to really appreciate how many animals live with us in cities! Well, some have more than others, obviously
False Knees
2019-12-22 17:30:35 +0000 UTCHow do they get in there!
False Knees
2019-12-22 17:29:42 +0000 UTCWow! Good on you for saving that baby! Is it not a peregrine falcon?
False Knees
2019-12-22 17:29:24 +0000 UTCWe saw some wild turkeys in a field arranged in a circle recently! Turkey + circle = turkle
False Knees
2019-12-22 17:28:37 +0000 UTCHahaha! Awwww RABID RABBIT!!
False Knees
2019-12-22 17:26:52 +0000 UTCSkunks are so cute! I can't get a good handle on how to draw them (why they have only showed up in one comic)
False Knees
2019-12-22 17:26:32 +0000 UTCMy partner and I were camping in the redwoods and we were told that there was a bear that had been visiting the area recently and that we should hide our food and be aware, but probably it will leave us alone. So late in the night we were sitting by our fire and everything was pitch black outside of our little circle of light, when we hear crackling in the woods beside our site. And my boyfriend and I start trippin', because neither of us have ever had an up-close encounter with a bear, do we stand tall and yell at it? do we play dead? Should we call our mothers? For 15 minutes we just sat very still staring into the darkness, listening to the snapping of twigs getting closer and closer. Finally it became too much so I stood up and I yelled, "hey! whoever is making all that racket, could you please stop? you're freaking us out and we're just trying to relax!" And the rustling stops. And then, from the darkness, the tiniest lil mouse hops onto a log across the fire from us, gives us a look, and then hops back down and scuttles away and we have a pleasantly silent rest of the night.
Eden Hogge
2019-12-06 21:20:45 +0000 UTCI live in a city with a river (and accompanying tangles of woods) that runs through its center. Which makes for some intersting wildlife encounters. One day, I came out my back door, and saw a large rat scurrying in the alley. Apparently, so did a Harris' Hawk who likes to hang in the tall trees on our street periodically, because the hawk swooped down over my head and grabbed the rat right off the cement in front of me, and took it off somewhere to eat it. Talk about fast food takeout.
Sean Gallagher
2019-12-05 17:01:14 +0000 UTCBlue Jays are immortal, right? Right? 50 years is nothing.
Sean Gallagher
2019-12-05 16:59:29 +0000 UTCI've always been a HUGE fan of praying mantises, but living in a big city my whole life, and in a country/climate not famous for these insects, I had never seen one. About 5 years ago I heard a scratching noise in my bathroom and it was a mantis trying to get out of the sink! I can't find the words to describe how surprised I was. Yelling, running in circles, calling people, the whole deal. I picked her up (not with my bare hands) took a few pictures next to a banana, and put her outside. I'm guessing she was female because the internet says that Chilean males have functional wings, and this one didn't take off. Lucky me, or I probably would've died because it was about the size of my palm.
Matías Ortega
2019-12-03 19:52:58 +0000 UTCWe don't have lots of wildlife here in Singapore but there is a gang of pigeons near my house, just chilling at the same area. My sister and I love to play a game where we guess who's the 'Godpigeon' (like Godfather) and who are they ganging up on today.
Clarissa Wee
2019-12-03 17:13:30 +0000 UTCThere was this one time that I was cutting through an alley to get to my friend's apartment complex. At the other end of the alley, a HUGE possum was coming from the opposite direction. We both froze and stared at each other for about 10 seconds before we both decided to turn around and take the long way around!
Richard Wong
2019-12-03 16:26:29 +0000 UTCI am currently living in Gwangju, South Korea as an EFL ( English foreign language) teacher. Gwangju is located in the south west portion of the country and is beautiful! (Korea also has some cool looking ducks with a lot of cultural history as well) Anyway! This past weekend with a coworker I went to an island called Jindo that is about a 2 hour drive South from Gwangju. The coworker my friends and I were staying with happened to have a beautiful Golden retriever named Lucky. This was amazing to me as for some reason Korea literally had no big dogs? Everyone who has dogs seems to only have small ones, most likely due to the space and population issue. The minute I saw the dog I was so excited I ran to it and started to baby talk like crazy. I was trying to get Lucky to come over to me but she kept looking at me like I was crazy. That’s when I realized...this dog doesn’t speak English you fool! This dog is Korean! Luckily (for Lucky heh) I’ve been studying Korean for a bit and have the level of a small toddler lol. A quick 일어와봐~ (eel lo wa bwa, come here) had Lucky flying over to me so fast I wanted to cry. At that point I was so sure she understood my Korean! This then commences 24 hours of Lucky attempting to eat all inedible things such as sea shells, tooth picks, pillow stuffing, MY CELL PHONE, and other bits and bobs. I continue to speak to lucky in Korean, the usual 먹지마! (Mok ji ma, don’t eat) 하지마! (Ha ji ma, stop that) but it’s in that moment Lucky decides I don’t speak Korean anymore 🙃 Moral of the story is It doesn’t matter what language you speak in, dogs will continue with their selective hearing and they are too cute for me to care.
Shannon Berger
2019-12-03 05:16:43 +0000 UTCMe and my wife have an adorable little chihuahua named Ziggy. Ziggy doesn't like the cold, being that he's basically a tiny fuzzy potato. He usually loves going outside, but when you open the door to let him out and it's just piles of snow and below-freezing temperatures, he'll look at you with a confused face and then walk back into the kitchen. It recently snowed enough that we have a foot of snow covering the backyard, except the little spot I shovel for him to use so his tiny bladder doesn't explode. He hates the cold, but he can be convinced to tolerate the cold temporarily in exchange for snacks. More than the cold, however, Ziggy hates squirrels. They're very upsetting because they're tiny mammals too, but they can climb up trees and fences and taunt him where he can't reach them. He'll run them off his land at every opportunity, and he'll even lay in a strategic spot in the living room that lets him see the big tree outside the window so he can see the squirrels and grumble about the sheer audacity they have to exist near his house. It should have been a routine potty break today, but the sun is out and it's warming up a little bit, so the squirrels are back! He stepped out the door warily into the cold and wet, but then he saw a squirrel. Such a trespass cannot stand, so he took off bounding through the snow like a gazelle barking angrily and driving his enemy back up the tree. His mission complete, he realized what he'd gotten himself into: snow up to his belly and at least 20 feet back to safety. What to do? Paw cautiously at the snow and see if that makes it better...nope. Try picking your way though the twiggy dead bushes where maybe the snow is thinner...nope. With no recourse, he was forced to stand in place looking cold and miserable until someone came to airlift him back home. He has learned nothing from his experience.
Jane V
2019-12-02 22:56:31 +0000 UTCThis past Spring I was walking down a little side street where there was a small lawn separated from some bushes by a narrow walkway. As I approached the lawn, a tiny bunny appeared there. He saw me and panicked, knowing he was supposed to flee, but didn't know how, so he ran parallel alongside me (even as I slowed down). Out of nowhere, his mother appeared in front of me on the path, dashed head five feet, then turned around to look at me. I swear she waggled her body to lure me into attacking her instead of the baby. I continued walking toward her, the baby ran to safety behind me to the bushes, then the mother also darted away to meet him, no doubt lecturing him on the proper procedure. I loved being part of the real natural world for a brief moment, even if I was made to play the role of the "predator".
Lori Stokes
2019-12-02 21:51:53 +0000 UTCOooh, one day when my boyfriend and I went on a hike we came across a lyrebird I suppose performing his mating dance. He was shaking his tail in front of his face (over his head), kinda like a veil. When you think about it, you don’t really know what a lyrebird sounds like because they make every OTHER noise in existence. This little dude sounded like kookaburras, cockatoos, car horns and mobile phones ringing. And that’s only what I recognised. We didn’t see any females show up while we were there. Poor guy, hope he got his girl. Wish I could post the short video I took!! 😂❤️ By the way, I live in Australia haha. Otherwise I share my home, TV and showers (and my dinners) with a character of an Eclectus parrot. Everyday is an adventure with him.
Jade Birch
2019-12-02 21:51:33 +0000 UTCRecently while walking the trails behind the retirement community in my neighborhood I came upon a flock of coots....American coots in the lake, not old ones wandering the grounds 😆
Cathy Mazzuchi
2019-12-02 20:32:55 +0000 UTCAaaawww! All your stories are so heartwarming and cute! I’m so glad you’re sharing them!
False Knees
2019-12-02 20:20:14 +0000 UTCMy husband and I have been very lucky to have shared our lives with many special budgies over the years. One especially, Little Edie, was extremely intelligent and always in trouble. I actually found her outside in a schoolyard living with a flock of pigeons. After six hours of tempting her with millet I caught her and brought her home to our flock. She didn't speak budgie but made pigeon and starling sounds for the first couple of months we had her. My budgies live right by a huge window looking over a park in Toronto. We have many daily visitors from sparrows, swallows, pigeons, and hummingbirds. One time we had a Red Tailed Hawk looking in the window, very terrifying! Well Little Edie got herself a boyfriend one day. A little purple finch would come and sit on the window sill and he and Edie would tap out messages to one another on the glass. As the summer went by, the little finch stopped coming but the next spring, who should appear one day but the same little purple finch, this time with his new mate (who didn't look to impressed to see an old girlfriend). He came that one final time to visit Edie and tapped out a 'so long' on the window. We were sad to see him go but so happy he was free and starting his own little family. Now our two boy budgies, 'Marty and Phil', have a female hummingbird who hovers at the window each day in the summer and has come every year for the past three years. I'm sure to plant her favourite flowers and look forward to next year.
Christine Kowbuz
2019-12-02 20:01:22 +0000 UTCThis new format is really neat; I'm already having fun reading everyone's comments! :D When my boyfriend and I started dating, he didn't know anything about birds, but was curious to learn more, and has NEVER found a problem he couldn't use technology to try and solve :P I was bummed out because we live in the city so we don't have much access to wildlife; he decided to set up a bird feeder on his apartment's balcony, and set up a little dropcam to detect whenever a bird was at the feeder & send us video. It was *extremely* cute and we started naming all the "regulars" who were appearing at the feeder... even in the depths of the city we got a pretty varied cast! (House sparrows, as expected, but also juncos, nuthatches, an occasional woodpecker, Bewick's wren, etc...!)
Julia H
2019-12-02 19:37:24 +0000 UTCI saw a squirrel with a cookie today
krissssssy
2019-12-02 19:30:58 +0000 UTCWe went to one of those drive thru wildlife parks in Texas, our daughter was about 8 years old at the time. They give you bags of feed to feed the animals. How sweet! How innocent! Until the end when we had to desperately fight to roll up out windows to fend off the emus that were attacking us for treats from the left, and the zebras attacking us for goodies from the right. We couldn't get out of there fast enough!
Lisa Villarreal
2019-12-02 19:03:01 +0000 UTCI was hiking near Seattle last weekend and reached a beautiful look out point. Surprisingly there were many birds flying very very close to the people. While it was amazing to see them up close, it was sad to see how accustomed to people they had become.
Connor Ladly-Fredeen
2019-12-02 17:59:53 +0000 UTCI unfortunately live in the city so I don’t have many encounters with wildlife. However, the other day I was waiting for the bus at the bus stop near a highway and spotted a BIG flock of little birds, a bit too far for me to identify them, but the beautiful shapes they made in the sky with their intricate flight patterns made my heart full. :)
Catarina
2019-12-02 17:12:02 +0000 UTCI also saw a bird in the airport yesterday!
Lauren
2019-12-02 17:01:58 +0000 UTCSo, I worked at a summer camp this summer, and there was this squirrel who would hang out on the tree near the bench where I would read in the morning. One day, though, one of the staff members was doing a site check, and this squirrel chased her around the perimeter of the camp! The rest of the summer it was known as the demon squirrel.
Lauren
2019-12-02 17:01:42 +0000 UTCI've had a few stories growing up in the countryside. This one time though I was at a friend's cottage and was sitting on the porch enjoying the sun and noticed 2 squirrels jumping from a couple of pine trees back and forth. I find it entertaining feeding wild animals so I started throwing them some peanuts. For the sake of the story we will call them Carlos and Mindy (I don't know the squirrel's genders but they seem to have their own personality so that differentiated them at least). They both climbed down shortly after, and although Mindy seemed hesitant Carlos immediately ran over and started picking up peanuts and taking them back up the tree (he wasn't shy, he was an arm's length from me everytime). Mindy took advantage of Carlos' hard work and began chasing him around the trees, it turned into a tornado of squirrel. Carlos would drop the peanuts and Mindy would run down and snatch up what she could, running to wherever her pine home was. Carlos was not pleased and seemed struck, standing still in shock everytime Mindy ran off. This happened for about 15 mins, each time Carlos stuffed himself with peanuts and losing most of his portion by the time he was up the tree. Eventually he gave up and just began eating every peanut where I threw them, all while Mindy kept grabbing the leftovers that fell from the tree during their commotion. Still not sure whether she was being a bully or just very clever....I hope Carlos survived the winter. And this isn't much of a story but here's a picture of me saving a baby hawk who got stuck in a water trough https://ibb.co/ZhdLVnN
Cody Leggette
2019-12-02 17:00:49 +0000 UTCI saw a few turkeys by the side of the road on my way to my cousins house and stopped and noticed there were about 4 or 5 chicks. I was pretty cool because I had never seen chicks in the wild
Daniel Gaffron
2019-12-02 16:47:30 +0000 UTCThis is not at all recent, but when I was younger, growing up in the middle of nowhere, I had a habit of talking to the animals I'd encounter (saying hello to the woodchucks in our backyard, or apologizing to the birds when the feeder was empty—something I still do, in fact). One day, there was a little rabbit in the yard, so I said hello. It hopped towards me. Now, if you also grew up in the middle of nowhere, talking to animals, you'd know that wild animals approaching you is a big NO THANK YOU, because they are probably sick and will bite you and give you all kinds of exciting and horrific diseases. So I said, "OK, that's enough little bunny." It hopped closer. I took a step back. It took a hop forward. I turned and ran to the house. It chased after me. I got onto the front porch and yelled to my mom, "There's a rabid rabbit out here!" She answered, "A what?" Me: "A rabid rabbit." My mom: "What kind of rabbit?" Me: "A BUNNY WITH RABIES THAT'S TRYING TO ATTACK ME." My mom came out, looked at the rabbit, and said, "Aww, what a little cutie." She then picked it up. Turns out it was a domesticated rabbit that someone probably dumped on our road, and that's the story of how my family adopted a (probably not rabid) rabbit.
Heather
2019-12-02 16:38:19 +0000 UTCI was out for a long walk around the neighborhood and almost stepped on a skunk! The little guy was ruffling around in some trashbags and was nearly invisible. Real cute though.
Ethan LP
2019-12-02 16:30:32 +0000 UTC
