I may be a bit slower than others, but my main focus right now is to actually finish things. Which I did!
It took a while, and it came with a combination of chronic and temporary illness, but the last picture for CHIRPtember is finally here.
 
Alright, I chose the Great Cormorant (Phalacrocorax Carbo), because it's one of the few seabirds I've seen in real life, in the Netherlands, that is not a gull. It can often be found in this typical pose in which it dries its wings. Their wings are not really waterproof, since this helps with diving and staying under water for a longer time.
I've mostly seen them in the safaripark Beekse Bergen, where it is a visiting species, actual wildlife.
 
Another seafaring bird I've seen in that park, in their birds of prey show, is the Bald eagle. I had some interesting photos I wanted to share. This specific eagle is named Lady Maya, and she's been in the news about 4 years ago, when she got lost after having an argument with some gulls. They found her again after about a week of searching, relatively close by. As I understood she's still flying shows today; she's about 30 years old!
Handlers usually hang around after the show with the last shown bird, so visitors have the chance to see them up close. I got to meet Lady Maya a couple of times that way, and managed to take a silly shot of a majestic looking bird.
 
About the stamp: I sketched it out about two weeks ago, transferred it to a rubber plate, and then... October hit and I'm completely preoccupied with Halloween. Happens every year, and why I generally don't participate in art challenges in October. I ended up carving it while waiting for my computer to install updates last weekend! 
 
Besides the unplanned hiccups that caused delays I really enjoyed this challenge. I hope it'll be organised again next year, because I would love to participate again.

For 15 years the company of Innocent drinks has run The Big Knit campagne; in various countries for different charities, and is known in the Netherlands as De Goedgemutste Breicampagne where it was always dedicated to lonely elders. I participated in several years, but last time I did was 2017. This year however the campagne will come to an end, at least the Dutch version, so I felt like participating one last time.

The objective is to knit (or crochet) tiny hats, which are placed on top of the bottled smoothies that Innocent sells. Part of every sale is then donated to charity. 
When I first found out about this campagne (in 2012) there were only two days left til the deadline, so I send in just two mini hats, and decided to make many more for the next year. Ordinary hats bored me quite quickly, despite being able to play with colours and use up leftover yarn I was gifted by several acquaintances. But boy, did I love coming up with various figures and objects that would fit the basic shape that was required.

In 2013 I made more than 50 of these tiny hats, some made in series with different items on top, many Halloween inspired images and even fan art. I also managed to get several people to contribute during a weekly knitting cafe in my town, and together we send in over 130!
The years after I worked on my own, and always made a mix of colourful series and recognisable figures; like pumpkins, mushrooms, several animals, the entire Barbapapa family, and mini knit-works made on toothpicks.
I posted some of my earlier favourites on Instagram, here and here. I only ever saw two of them back again; one of the sushi hats was found by a friend, and I myself saw one of the ordinary ones in a shop at the nearest railway-station. I like to think that whoever bought the smoothies with my hats on them had a chuckle upon seeing them, and even picked those bottles because of them.

I couldn't dedicate a whole lot of time to them this year, but I had a big bag of leftover yarn ends I tied together to make the colourful mixed hats, so made many of those. In that same bag I found a mini wig that I knotted for a purple Minion in 2017; apparently I always figured I'd make two, but never did. Made a one-eyed version this time.

And I also found out I did make one tiny hat somewhere in 2018-2021 that I never send in; the one of Marge Simpson. Was inspired to make her simply by the yarn itself, it reminded me of her hair. 
Looking at the design now caused new inspiration, and I knitted one that resembles the shape but has different colours; a posh man by the name of Dandy, who can be found on Instagram (and TikTok) and in drag shows. This may be my favourite one I ever made (though I do believe I say that about anything new I make; 'tis the goal, haha), I may knit a complete doll of him after this.

The deadline to send them in was yesterday and I cut it close. I wanted to make a tiny lavender sprig to put in Dandy's hair, but simply ran out of time. 
As always with these kind of things ending it makes me both sad that I can't send in any more wild inspirations, and relieved because it frees up my mind for tons of other projects that I want to do.
Enjoy the last few that I made!

I currently have no pets, nor did I have many growing up. And when we did, they were animals we kept outside, because of allergies. I do remember us always having an Eurasian jay (Garrulus Glandarius) in a small aviary near the backdoor when I was little, named Garrit. It could imitate so many sounds, like the Doppler Effect! Which mostly tells you that the cars in our street drove too fast..? Or my mom sneezing in the morning, it could imitate that as well. I remember once I chased a mouse through the backyard and it fled into the aviary, where Garrit would dive straight at it. It liked more than just acorns to bury.
We've had two, both by the same name; I know the first one turned at least 16, the second one escaped (after about 10 years?) and flew off. I would advise against keeping them, their eggs were taken from the forests by an acquaintance, but they should remain wild birds.
 
So, this is an unconventional choice for the prompt pet, but here it is!
I can also check this one off from my list of birds I've had in my own backyard (of their own free will)! Which is why I made a bigger stamp than the previous two. Actually where I live now the most I've seen at once is four! I hear them in the large trees behind my house all the time, and I've seen them visit my improvised birdbath. I love them so much. They're smart and friendly, and they're nature's alarm bells.
 
This may be my new favourite of the stamps I made of birds.
It took me a while to get this one done, not because it was a difficult one (though the tiny stripes for the blue feathers were) but because of real life happening and me needing way more rest than I anticipated. So I didn't carve this one the weekend I planned to, but in the one in which I should've finished the sea bird. CHIRPtember may be done for most, but for me everything just gets delayed by a week.