Content Maker Network Blog

While it’s tougher in online poker to get an opponent’s “tell,” it’s still possible. Obviously you can use body language in live poker but there are no bodies in online poker. Still, actions online can be enough to determine a “tell.” They are the act of inadvertently betraying information, and you don’t have to be seen to do that.

A “tell” can be any activity that that reveals useful information to your opponents.

One big one that’s still seen in online poker, although perhaps less so now with high-speed Internet connections, is a player just stalling when it’s time to make a big bet. Inexperienced players generally would stall before betting the river when they had a powerful hand, as if they were unsure of what to do. Now it’s used by many experienced players as a reverse “tell,” to try and pretend to have strength. So it can be unreliable. In addition, because some players are playing multiple tables at a time, the stall could just be because they are not paying attention as opposed to a betting pattern. That said, if someone has been playing fast and decisively but then takes their time on a certain hand, that generally tells you something.

On the other hand, if a player who has been playing slowly suddenly is making bets promptly as soon as it is his turn, this means something. It’s really up to you to decide what these mean and how these deviations from behavior affect a player’s strategy, but they should be warning signs.

A large amount of online players are now regulars, which means they do have rhythms or habits that you can capitalize on. Analyzing a player’s betting patterns is no less important in online poker than it is in live poker. Any deviations from the norm must be focused on. When playing online you can’t see your opponents, but you can see what they do. Just like in real life, what people actually do (as opposed to say, etc.) at the table is what matters. But that applies to you as well!

We all want to feel good about ourselves but many of us go about this in the ways that will never create self-esteem.

Do you believe that you will have high self-esteem when:

• You make a lot of money?

• You achieve a high position in your work?

• You have an expensive car or an expensive home?

• You are famous?

• You find the right relationship?

• You receive approval from the important people in your life?

While all of these can result in momentary good feelings, none of them create a deep and abiding sense of self-esteem.

Self-esteem actually has nothing to do with your achievements or with other people. Self-esteem results from two things regarding your inner relationship with yourself:

• How you see yourself

• How you treat yourself

Richard, a client of mine, is a very successful businessman. He is wealthy, lives is a big house, has expensive cars, a lovely wife and three children. But Richard consulted with me because of his low self-esteem. He was perplexed that he continued to feel so inadequate in spite of all that he had achieved and all that he had.

As we worked together, it became apparent that, no matter what the outer truth was, Richard continued to see himself as the inadequate child his father told him he was. His inner dialogue was often self-critical, just as his father had been with him. And not only did Richard constantly judge himself as his father had judged him, he treated himself as his father had treated him – ignoring his own feelings and needs. As a result, Richard was always looking to others for the attention and approval that he didn’t receive from his father and was not giving to himself. Instead of being a loving parent to the child within him, he was a harsh and inattentive inner parent.

Jackie, another client of mine, is a very successful actress. Yet fame and fortune have not given her self-esteem. No matter how many people tell her how beautiful and talented she is, she still feels inadequate and insecure most of the time. This is because, on the inner level, Jackie is constantly telling herself that she is stupid. “How could I have made that stupid remark!” “How could I have acted so stupid?” Mirroring her mother’s own self-judgments and her judgments toward Jackie, she is constantly putting herself down. Until Jackie learns to see herself through eyes of truth rather than eyes of judgment, she will continue to feel inadequate and insecure.

It might make it easier to see how you create your own high or low self-esteem if you think of your feeling self as a child within. No matter how much you achieve or how much approval you get from others, if you are treating your inner child badly – by ignoring your feelings and judging yourself – you will continue to feel inadequate. If you continue to see yourself through the distorted eyes of your parents, siblings, peers or teachers, and continue to treat yourself the way they treated you or the way they treated themselves, you will continue to have low self-esteem. If you open to seeing the truth of who you really are – a beautiful divine soul who just wants to love – then you will treat yourself as you would treat anyone whom you saw as a beautiful divine soul. When you take loving action in your own behalf, you will feel valued rather than inadequate. Loving actions might include:

• Speaking up for yourself with others and telling your truth without blame or judgment in conflict situations.

• Taking care of your body through eating well, getting enough exercise, enough sleep, and so on.

• Creating a balance between work, rest, play and creative time.

• Treating yourself and others with respect and compassion rather than with judgment.

• Attending to – rather than ignoring – your own feelings and needs.

• Taking the time to pray and meditate.

• Choosing to notice your thoughts and practicing inner self-discipline regarding your thoughts.

When taking loving action in your own behalf replaces your inattentive and judgmental behavior toward yourself, you will feel high self-esteem.

Margaret Paul, Ph.D. best-selling author of eight books, and co-creator of the powerful Inner Bonding healing process. Visit her web site for a FREE Inner Bonding course: www.innerbonding.com or email her at mailto:margaret@innerbonding.com.

Congratulations on the new arrival! Caring for your little bundle of joy is a truly delightful experience, when you want to lavish all your love and attention over this one unique person. Nothing is good enough for your precious baby for whom, if possible, you would even buy the moon!

Naturally, you want the very best for your child, and with the countless baby products flooding the market, this means you can pick and choose to your satisfaction. Moreover, many options are available to the parent of today, and it is upto you to make up your mind about whats best for your child.

Is breast feeding better than the bottle, what brand of baby food is more healthy, or, oh dear, shouldnt the nursery be painted a mild and soothing green instead of all this pink? Should you opt for cloth or disposable diapers? Are you doing the right thing? Help!

Relax. The most important thing when raising a child is to make sure it is healthy. Just as proper nutrition is essential for your babys welfare, so is hygiene and cleanliness. While nutrition can be easily taken care of with regular feedings of milk, hygiene is a different matter. With little or no control over their bodily functions, babies expel a lot of waste, and keeping them clean can be a daunting task. The solution? Nappies, of course!

There are disposable Nappies and cloth nappies. Disposable nappies are easy to use; use it once and throw it away. No washing, no fuss! However, disposable diapers are made of chemicals that can harm your babys sensitive skin. Also, with its synthetic texture, disposable nappies are not comfortable, and babies are prone to develop rashes or allergies. Diapers made from natural fibres are a welcome change from disposable nappies as they are soft and soothing to the skin.

Raising a child also means rising expenses! A baby will go through upto a thousand or more diapers before his first birthday. Disposable diapers cost more than cloth nappies, but in this case, being expensive does not necessarily mean its better. Cloth nappies are lower-priced and are reusable. So, one cloth nappy serves as well as many disposable ones.

To further cut expenses, using second hand cloth nappies is a good idea, and after your baby has outgrown them, it is recommended you donate them to other parents or reuse them for your next child, thereby reducing waste. If one baby will use more than a thousand diapers in a year, imagine the amount of garbage generated in a city from diapers alone! While disposable nappies contain chemicals that do not decompose, discarded cloth nappies are absorbed back into the environment, and are thus very eco-friendly.

In the modern nuclear family where both parents work, washing cloth nappies may seem a tedious process. A gentle wash in the washing machine solves this problem.

Some popular brands of cloth nappies are: the Bumble sized shape nappy, Rainbow Bots and, Prorap All in One Nappies. Terries are flat squares of terry towelling that can be shaped into nappies. These are all nappies that are sized, shaped and have a high second hand value, meaning they are very durable. Almost all brands of cotton nappies are made of light cotton-based material.

Comfort for your baby comes first, and with the menace of harmful chemicals in disposable diapers, cloth nappies seem the only solution. Comfortable, hygienic, eco-friendly, durable . . . with so many merits, it is no wonder cloth nappies are replacing disposable diapers everywhere.

There can be no doubt that cloth nappies are so good for your baby!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Vanessa Cane Is A Work At Home Mum Providing Valuable Tips
And Useful Advice For Online Purchases Of Items Such As A
Cloth Diaper,
As Well As A Baby Cloth Diaper.
Her Numerous Articles Offer Money Saving Advice And Refreshing
Insight.

Have you ever wondered if you could have a certain thing done to your car, did you wonder if it had ever been done, chances are that it has been done, and it can be done again, chances are that you can have what ever you want on or in your car.

I’ve seen things that you wouldn’t believe, things that I even thought couldn’t be done, custom paint, custom sheet metal work, custom gage clusters, or just about anything that you want, I know people who settled for something less then exactly what they wanted, because they thought that it could not be done.

The fact of the matter is, if you can imagine it, then it can be done, I had a customer asking me just the other day, if he had to settle for an automatic transmission, because of the kind of custom work that he wants done on his car, and the answer is no, you can have any transmission in your car that you want, there are companies that specialize in building parts that will work in your custom car.

You just send in your specs, and your measurements, and tell them what you want, and they will build it for you, and then ship it to the company that’s building your car, so you see, it doesn’t matter what you want done, it is always possible, if you have patients and the money it can be done.

You can do anything these days, chop & channel, custom paint work, mega interior customizations are possible to do, you can buy a crate motor right from the factory with 670 HP, and fuel injection, if you want more HP you can always add a supercharger, and if that’s not enough, well then nitrous is an option, but it’s so hard on your engine.

There’s heads that will give you up to 150 HP over factory units, and if you’re a first generation camaro freak, well the tubular front suspension is awesome, and if that weren’t enough already, now we have independent rear suspension, digital gage clusters, and the list just keeps on going, right in to the ozone.

For those of us who love custom cars, the scene is getting pretty hot, every day more things hit the market for your car, and if the shop that is doing the work on your car is good enough, then they can build you any hand made custom specialty things that you want for your car, you know, the one of a kind scuttle things that make people go HHHMM.

• Muscle car restoration

I live in Salt Lake City, Utah, and have been in the automotive business for about 25 years, and during that time I have worked in all facets of the industry, plus owned my own shops, like I do now.

• Automotive & muscle car links
• Muscle car information

Tinnitus can be considered as a widespread disease. Millions of people worldwide suffer in tinnitus.

But what is tinnitus? – Tinnitus is defined in medicine as ringing or buzzing in the ears. The sounds, which only patients can hear, can have a lot of different forms like high-frequency ringing or low-frequency buzzing. All kind of noises are imaginable. For people, who suffer in tinnitus, this is of course often very bothering and affects the person’s life considerably.

Causes for tinnitus are very manifold. Mostly tinnitus is caused by an extreme noise pollution. For example loud music in discotheques or at a rock concert is a quite common cause. But also psychological problems like stress can lead to tinnitus.

So to be able to cure tinnitus at first it is necessary to find the causes for it and to eliminate these causes. Only then a therapy can be promising. There are lots of different methods of treatment for tinnitus. However, every patient will react on them differently and so it is not possible to describe one method which will always help.

But one promising method, which is often disregarded, is acupuncture. Personal stories of tinnitus patients, who are treated with acupuncture, show that this method of treatment can be a reasonable alternative in comparison with orthodox medicine. In ear acupuncture special points at the patient’s ears are treated with needles. Normally such a treatment lasts for several months. But in most cases at least a decrease of the bothering noise is recognisable. Often it can be cured totally.

So a treatment of tinnitus with acupuncture should always be considered and discussed with an ear specialist.

Michael Mueller

It’s no secret; on the web, content is king, and is still the number one reason in finding your site on the web. Whether you’re selling services or products, you must meet the web surfer (i.e. your customer) needs by matching their search terms with your website’s keywords. Many people have made millions by adhering to that one and only principal, and is true whether you use an adwords campaign or rely on your webpages’ content, or a combination of both.

Finding web content – it’s the motor of your website

Setting up shop on the net would appear deceptively easy; find a product or service and put up a website, and wait for the orders to roll in. Late night TV might convince you of this fact, but truth is far too many websites exist in cyberspace, just floating around, looking pretty and going nowhere. If you want to create a lasting business on the net, you must start with three basic parts:

*Research your product or service thoroughly. Know it inside out. Who are your competitors and why are they doing better than you are? Who uses your product or service? Copywriters call this starting point the user profile. You pinpoint exactly who your customers are with as much demographic information you can put together.

*Narrow down your product or service to a specific niche. What do you offer that is special? This is one of the hardest points to tackle, and it is usually an ongoing project for most web businesses–unless you start with a very unique product/service. This point is your Unique Selling Position, and will be the focus of your website’s purpose.

*Find your specific keywords. These are actual search terms used by surfers looking for your products or services. Overture has the best keyword list, and it’s free. (Google also has a keyword list, but you must be a business subscriber to access it). There are other free and fee based keyword compilers available, such as Wordtracker, which pulls search terms from several different search engines. With that list in hand, you’re ready to begin creating content for your website.

Web content is spider food

Here is where you combine all the elements of your website: the topic research you’ve done for your web business, your Unique Selling Position, and your keywords list. This sounds far more difficult than it really is. If you’ve done your homework, the pieces will fall into place. Sometimes one or more parts of the puzzle becomes too difficult or too time consuming, then you will need to hire a web content copywriter to do the research and optimized web content for you. Whichever route you choose, it’s crucial to your web business that you have usable, information rich content on your web pages that you update frequently. Google particularly favors websites that regularly update their copy content, and the results in your search rankings will prove that point.

Need a rewrite? A.J. Horne of Horne Communications and Avamas (http://www.avamas.com) is a 10 year veteran of online marketing, from the design concept to selling strategies. She is a certified e-Marketing professional (CeMA) and is also a certified research technician. Added to her skills is a degree in Business and 25 years experience writing ad copy, press releases, and technical manuals. She offers new clients a free consultation and quote on all projects, with a guarantee on all work.

Credit card debt is easy to ignore. You make the monthly minimum payment on your credit card debt and you just keep charging. Have you thought about the fact that you are spending your retirement money now? Do you know how much money you need to retire comfortably? To retire in comfort requires planning now, not later. It is difficult to estimate the future spending power of your dollars but any money saved is better than no money.

Credit card debt and retirement just don’t equate. You can plan and estimate the price of vacations you take, the costs related to the vehicle that you drive or your monthly expenditure on food. The future value of your dollar has you stumped. Financial Planners tend to give high estimate of what you will need to retire, not taking into account that most people reduce their spending dramatically in retirement. The lack of exact numbers does not remove the need to plan and save to retire.

If you have a heavy credit card debt load, what’s going to happen when interest rates start to rise? That prospect may no longer be imminent but the day will arrive when the record low interest rates are but a memory….make the right retirement decisions now and retire in comfort later.

If you have a bad credit personal loan record, it’s not over. You can repair your credit rating and clean up your personal loans through systematic repayment. Even by just paying the minimum, you will eventually pay off the balance. The earlier you start dealing with your bad credit personal loan record, the earlier you can start building your personal net worth and be working to meet your financial goals through effective money management.

A bad credit personal loan record need not stop you from fulfilling your financial dreams and attaining your goals. Anything you want to achieve badly enough is possible, with a money management system. Don’t plan on living by a budget. Budgets are like diets, as soon as you start one or plan to start one, you tend to binge. Participate in a last bit of gluttony before the long starvation diet, or budget.

It’s possible to repair your bad credit personal loan record through improved money management techniques. Consider debt consolidation, low interest credit cards, and a home equity loan. There are many options available to you but you do have to be prepared to take a proactive money management stance.

Please feel free to reprint this article provided the following author’s credit and live URL link remains intact.

About the Author;
Ryan Atkinson is the founder of http://www.money-management-info.com/debt-management.html. Helping others understand the fundamentals of managing money. Click here to learn more about Debt Management through Debt consolidation & Debt Consolidation Loans.

Hemorrhoids are certainly not the most pleasant of topics, but they are a necessary one and a common reality every year for millions of Americans, mostly men and pregnant women. The painful, itching sensation in the rectum causes concern in many but rarely poses a serious problem. However, if the symptoms are ignored, if the underlying causes are not properly diagnosed and treated, the merely irritating condition can worsen.

When hemorrhoids occur, the tissue surrounding the inside of the anus at the end of the large intestine fills with blood to help control bowel movements. Normally, this tissue fills with blood to smooth the passage of fecal matter through the large intestine and out through the anal sphincter muscle to be eliminated from the body. When conditions are not exaggerated, when there is no undue pressure during the elimination process, the tissue swells and then contracts awaiting the next impulse to perform this necessary task. However, when excessive pressure or any one of a variety of other factors causes the veins within the cushions to swell beyond their normal capacity, and the painful condition known as hemorrhoids has begun.

Hemorrhoids affect nearly every man, woman and child at some time in their life. They can develop at any age, depending on an individual’s circumstances and underlying causes, but the probability of experiencing them increases greatly after age thirty. It has been estimated that 50% of people older than 50 have experienced hemorrhoids at least once in their lives, however, since most cases go unnoticed and unreported or treated homeopathically, it can be safely assumed that the percentage is much higher. In most cases hemorrhoids are minor, can be safely treated at home with a variety of over the counter medicines and are never reported to doctors unless they worsen or reoccur.

Hemorrhoids are common, irritating and in most cases if treated properly, not life threatening. Simple, over the counter remedies, lifestyle changes, improved bowel habits and diet awareness usually handles most cases successfully. Beyond that, uncomfortable but non-surgical office procedures will treat most of the more stubborn cases. And finally, there is always the surgical alternative which has proven almost 100% successful in ending even the most difficult situations. If you feel you have hemorrhoids, please seek a medical opinion. If you are not able to see a doctor, try the readily available treatments and see if the problem goes away.

Hemorrhoids Info provides detailed information about the causes, symptoms, and treatment of internal, external, and bleedings hemorrhoids. Hemorrhoids Info is the sister site of Warts Web.

This home buying tip will help you evaluate the seller’s asking price before making an offer on the home.

Why Is It Called an Asking Price?
The phrase “asking price” is very telling. Sellers will ask for a certain amount. They may get that amount, they may get more, they may get less — it all depends on the market. So the first thing to understand is that price and terms are always negotiable. If an asking price wasn’t negotiable, it would be called a fixed price.

What Makes Up the Asking Price?
A seller (and a seller’s agent) will look at market conditions, comparable sales in the area, home improvements and other factors. Based on that information, they’ll ask for a certain amount.

With that being said, there are some people who take a less analytical approach when setting the price. These people want a profit, and they’re willing to ignore reality in hopes of getting it. These types of sellers price their home well above market conditions and comparable sales, in the hope of earning a big payday.

The lesson here is that some sellers set realistic prices, while others don’t. So don’t every think: “Well, gosh, that’s the price they’ve set … so it must be realistic.” Always do your homework. Remember, if the home is priced high by the seller and gets appraised low by the lender, you could have trouble getting approved for the loan.

How Do I Research Comparable Prices?

1. Use the Internet
Over the past couple of years, a number of home-valuation websites have sprung up. These sites will give you the *estimated* value of a particular home, based on local sales data and other factors. Keep in mind, however, that the “freshness” of their data varies greatly. Check a home’s value on three different sites, and you’ll probably get three different price ranges. The key is to shoot for the averages.

Some websites to get you started:

* www.domania.com/homepricecheck
* www.homepricecheck.com
* www.homegain.com
* www.housevalues.com
* www.zillow.com

2. Know Your Market
Are you in a buyer’s market, a seller’s market, or somewhere in between? You should be able to answer this question without hesitation. If you don’t know what kind of market you’re in, you won’t know your true bargaining power. For example, in a seller’s market, you’ll probably be less successful trying to negotiate price. But in a buyer’s market, you’ll have more leverage. Keep up with real estate news and trends in your area. Know your market!

3. Follow Your Agent’s Advice
Real estate agents are tapped into the local real estate scene. A good agent will help you identify and evaluate comparable sales in the area. This kind of analysis will help you set a realistic offer amount based on actual data.

Conclusion
Don’t accept the asking price at face value. Verify and validate it. Do some homework to see if it’s realistic or out of left field. Keep up with the real estate market in your area. Choose a knowledgeable agent who can help you make sense of all the data. This home buying tip will help you become a smart shopper and a well-informed negotiator.

* Copyright 2006, Brandon Cornett. You may republish this article if you keep the byline and author’s note, and also leave the hyperlinks active.

Learn more!
This home buying tip was brought to you by HomeBuyingInstitute.com, the Internet’s largest library of home buying advice. Increase your home buying intelligence by visiting: http://www.homebuyinginstitute.com!

Why do birds appeal to us ? Most people enjoy the sight of birds, even people who have never been active birdwatchers. Although birds are less like us in appearance and habits than our fellow mammals, birds undeniably hold a special place in our hearts.

One reason that birds capture our imaginations is that they can fly, while we remain trapped here on earth. What child hasn’t watched a bird fly overhead and dreamt of being up there in the sky flying alongside ? What adults have not, at one time or another, wished that they could take wing and fly away from all of their everyday troubles and cares ? Birds are natural symbols of freedom and escape. After all, what could better encapsulate our vision of pure freedom than the ability to fly off into the sunset ?

Birds can soar overhead and they can also cover great distances. They are privy to a “bird’s eye view” of a single building or a park, or an entire city or landscape, making them a perfect metaphor for obtaining a fresh perspective on a situation, or for taking a larger view of an issue.

Birds often symbolize other things, as well, such as human character traits and qualities. There’s the proud peacock, the noble eagle, the thieving magpie, squabbling crows, and billing and cooing love birds. Gliding swans are the perfect picture of grace and elegance in motion. The hawk is a symbol of war, the dove a symbol of peace.

What else attracts us to birds ? Birds have feathers, soft to the touch and a joy to look at. Plumage seems to come in an infinite variety of lovely colors and patterns, from the subtle, earthy tones of the common house sparrow to the outrageous, iridescent regalia of the showy peacock. Birds are beautiful works of art, signed by nature. Their plumage adds color and spectacle to a humdrum world. Their colors may also suggest many different locales and associations to us.

For example, those small, round, brown sparrows are homey, comforting and familiar to those of us who live in temperate climates. They are our backyard friends and neighbors. American cardinals and blue jays are highly colored, cheerful sights to behold on gray days, from the tips of their tail feathers to the fanciful crests on their heads. They are a bit more exotic, yet they are still familiar backyard friends. Then there are those birds who live in far off exotic places, such as African pink flamingos and tropical parrots, who sport wonderful tropical colors. We love them, not only for their magnificent colors, but also for their association with far-flung lands and exotic adventures.

Birds also come in a great variety of shapes and sizes, which further adds to their appeal. We can relate to them, in so far as they, and we, have two eyes, one mouth and bilateral symmetry. Yet, they are also very unlike us. They have protruding beaks, from the sparrow’s tiny jabbing beak to the toucan’s enormous appendage. They have wings, more unlike human arms than those of other mammals, or even of reptiles. In fact, when their wings are folded against their sides, birds appear to have no arms at all. They also have thin, bare legs and they have claws. Their heads and necks flow smoothly into their bodies. Their forms create graceful outlines, whether round like a chubby European robin, long like an African parrot, or sleek like a regal swan.

Yes, birds are beautiful to look at, but the beauty of birds is not confined to the visual aspects of shape and color alone, because birds also fill the air with music. They seem to offer us their song simply to entertain us, and they ask for nothing in return. Like a garden bursting with colorful flowers, the fantastic colors and songs of birds seem frivolous and out of place in a world full of harsh realities. It seems as though they were put on earth expressly to make life more beautiful. They were not, of course. Their color and song serve biological ends in the process of natural selection, but that does not prevent us from enjoying such sights and sounds. We can listen in on their free concerts and derive pleasure and serenity from the experience. We can also be amused when a few species of birds even mimic our own speech.

Another characteristic of birds that we humans respond to is the fact that they build nests. They seem so industrious and we watch with wonder as each type of bird builds its own species-specific nest, ranging from a simple assemblage of twigs to an intricately woven masterpiece of craftmanship. “Nest” is such a cozy word. Birds build their cozy nests, care for their young, and raise their families, all in the course of a single spring or summer. We admire their patience and devotion and attentive care to their offspring. We observe and marvel at a parent bird’s countless trips to and from the nest to diligently feed the helpless chicks. Birds provide us with fine role models for parenting.

Yes, birds are homebodies during the nesting season, but they also migrate. Birds are free to come and go and many cover vast distances each year, as they travel between their summer and their winter homes. They are social creatures, moving in flocks and creating great spectacles as they fly. A glimpse of a V-shaped flock of geese passing overhead thrills us and stirs something in us. We admire their strength and endurance in carrying out such grueling journeys year after year. We envy them, too, for they are free to go beyond mere political boundaries and to cross entire continents. We up north are sorry to see them part each autumn and we are heartened to see them return each spring. The return of such birds as the swallows signals the return of spring, with its promise of birth and renewal.

Each spring we are able to welcome them back into our midsts, for nearly everywhere that humans live, birds live also. Birds cover the earth. There is such a diversity of bird species to fill each ecological niche on earth and to contribute to its balance by doing such things as eating insects and dispersing plant seeds. There are the ducks and moorhens of rural ponds. There are birds who live in the forests. There are birds in the mountains and birds in the deserts. The forbidding oceans have their hardy puffins and pelicans. Even frozen, icy places have their own birds, the lovable penguins.

Birds adapt to so many different habitats and situations, including human environments. The often ignored pigeon is a beautiful bird. (I have cared for and been grateful to have known many individual pigeons over the years.) As a species, they have managed to adapt to modern cityscapes, substituting cliff-like building ledges and bridge girders for their ancestral cliffs of rock. Other bird species may be less tolerant of such disturbances and avoid the prying eyes of humans.

Wherever they choose to live, birds remain symbols of untamed nature, surviving despite man’s interference with their habitats. They remain proud and free to the present day. They are also a living link to the mysterious and fascinating history of life on our planet, as birds are the surviving heirs to the dinosaurs. One look at unfeathered baby birds, with their oversized beaks and feet, and it is easy to see the dinosaur in them.

Each of us may have our own reason, or combination of reasons, for loving birds, but their appeal is indisputable and universal. Birds represent the perfect blend of beauty, strength, grace and endurance, from the cuteness of a tiny sparrow to the majesty of an imposing raptor. Birds fill both the eye and the ear with beauty. We enjoy them. We admire them. Sometimes we envy them. They add appreciably to the quality of our lives and to the diversity of life on earth and the world would be a smaller, sadder, emptier place without them.

Barbara Freedman-De Vito is an experienced artist, writer and teacher with a degree in Fine Arts. As an animal lover, she has also done wildlife rehabilitation work and conducted children’s workshops to promote kindness to animals and environmental awareness. Her Bird Art Prints for Nature Lovers, framed fine art portraits of many bird species, are available at her online shop.