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Amy Jo (AJ) Cousins

@ajcousins.bsky.social

5.8K followers 2.1K following 12K posts

Queer romance author. Obsessive book buyer. Slow runner. Newly fascinated birder. She/her, bi. Rep'd by Handspun Literary Agency. Volunteer Child Advocate for detained immigrant kiddos. Views my own.

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Amy Jo (AJ) Cousins @ajcousins.bsky.social · Dec 18

I released a new audiobook last year and neglected to tell anyone! 😂 Grumpy-grumpy, found-family holiday romance.

Adam Beckett did a FANTASTIC job with this one. He's an amazing performer.

Glass Tidings: www.amazon.com/Audible-Glas...

Infographic showing the audiobook cover of Glass Tidings by Amy Jo Cousins, narrated by Adam Beckett, against a background of snow-covered pine trees under a starry winter sky, with text at the top reading, "Can this grumpy shop owner show a drifter the true meaning of Christmas?"

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Amy Jo (AJ) Cousins @ajcousins.bsky.social · 14h

🥰

Amy Jo (AJ) Cousins @ajcousins.bsky.social · 14h

Absolutely brilliant. :)

Reposted by Amy Jo (AJ) Cousins

Olivia Waite @oliviawaite.com · 14h

A dream is nothing without a plan and this man came through

Razzball @razzball.bsky.social · 14h

Fan wearing a "Dump Here" jersey with 61 caught Cal's HR 🔥

Immediately changes into an identical 62 jersey

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Amy Jo (AJ) Cousins @ajcousins.bsky.social · 14h

I got so many toesies!

bsky.app/profile/ajco...

Amy Jo (AJ) Cousins @ajcousins.bsky.social · 1d

I love how delicately perfect her claws look. Female Red-winged Blackbird midjump in the early a.m. light. #birds

Photo of a female Red-winged Blackbird mid-jump from one stalk of dried prairie plant (maybe a sunflower relation or something connected to bergamot perhaps?) to another, her claws clutching the air, against a vaguely bisexual pales pink, purple, and blue dawn sky

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Amy Jo (AJ) Cousins @ajcousins.bsky.social · 15h

Local birder: Did you see the Cackling Goose? It's with the Canadas at the other pond.

Me: Thanks! (walks to other pond, anxious) Hope I can figure out which one is the Cackling...

Cackling Goose, sighing: Lady, this isn't gonna be as hard as you think. 😂 #birds

Photo of a dozen geese on a rippled greenish pond with lots of specks of stuff on the water's surface. All the geese are big ole Canada Geese, except for one dramatically smaller goose that looks just like a Canada Goose with a tiny short neck and a tiny bill on its little face. So silly.

Amy Jo (AJ) Cousins @ajcousins.bsky.social · 15h

Biiiiiiiiig stretch. 😁 Cook County lifer! Many thanks to EG for the directions and for mentioning the Cackling Goose (another lifer!) at the next pond. #birds

Photo of an immature Yellow-crowned Night Heron standing on a bare branch in a dead tree, stretching its right wing out and down as far as it can go until the feathers on the tip are spread apart as it sticks its right leg out and balances on the left alone. What a goofball.

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Amy Jo (AJ) Cousins @ajcousins.bsky.social · 15h

Ma'am. You have a little something... 🤭 #birds

Close-up photo of a female Mallard damn near shining in the sun on a rippled green pond, with a giant clump of white fuzz (maybe cottonwood?) stuck on top of her bright orange and black bill

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Amy Jo (AJ) Cousins @ajcousins.bsky.social · 15h

😢

Amy Jo (AJ) Cousins @ajcousins.bsky.social · 1d

😁🎉

Amy Jo (AJ) Cousins @ajcousins.bsky.social · 1d

On the lakefront the cormorants are often far out over the water, skimming along the surface, but at Riis Park yesterday, one was hanging out with the geese at the edge of the pond. 😍 #birds

Photo of a Double-crested Cormorant standing on a pinkish rock at the edge of a rippled pond reflecting green leaves and sunlight as the bird looks to the left, showing off his orange and black hooked bill

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Amy Jo (AJ) Cousins @ajcousins.bsky.social · 1d

Thx! 😁

Amy Jo (AJ) Cousins @ajcousins.bsky.social · 1d

TY! 😊

Amy Jo (AJ) Cousins @ajcousins.bsky.social · 1d

😍😍😍 Amazing!

Amy Jo (AJ) Cousins @ajcousins.bsky.social · 1d

It was sparrow city today. There were several families of White-crowneds around, young birds still hanging out with adults and much more likely to pop out of hiding despite the Cooper's Hawk hanging around. #birds

Photo of an immature White-crowned Sparrow, with its rufous striped head, perched on the round top railing of a chain link fence with a smoothly blurred tan and green tinted background

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Amy Jo (AJ) Cousins @ajcousins.bsky.social · 1d

Ooh, the only owl I've seen in the wild is a Great Horned, which was amazing, but I'm dying to see some of the others. 🤞

Amy Jo (AJ) Cousins @ajcousins.bsky.social · 1d

I love how delicately perfect her claws look. Female Red-winged Blackbird midjump in the early a.m. light. #birds

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Amy Jo (AJ) Cousins @ajcousins.bsky.social · 1d

TY! 😊

Amy Jo (AJ) Cousins @ajcousins.bsky.social · 1d

They all used to look the same to me too, but now I'm obsessed. 😂 And Clay-Coloreds are so striking! I've only seen one once or maybe twice. Definitely another fave.

Amy Jo (AJ) Cousins @ajcousins.bsky.social · 1d

TY! 😁

Amy Jo (AJ) Cousins @ajcousins.bsky.social · 1d

I was so excited! I'd never birded that particular park before, and it always feels like a crapshoot to go to a new park to find a new bird. 😂

Amy Jo (AJ) Cousins @ajcousins.bsky.social · 1d

Mind you, my first photo looked like this. 😂

Wildly blurry photo in which the vague orange and white splotch of a super out of focus Nelson's Sparrow can be seen near the middle

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Amy Jo (AJ) Cousins @ajcousins.bsky.social · 1d

They're SO PRETTY. I just assumed whatever I saw in the field wouldn't be as vibrant as some of the photos I saw, but it was gorgeous!

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Amy Jo (AJ) Cousins @ajcousins.bsky.social · 1d

World's Roundest Savannah Sparrow? 😊 #birds

Photo of an extremely round (but sort of sagging on one side?) Savannah sparrow perched on the edge of a lichen-covered stone block against a blurry white sky with patches of blue coloring the clouds

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Amy Jo (AJ) Cousins @ajcousins.bsky.social · 1d

LOOK AT THIS BEAUTY. 😍 Lifer! I didn't get a pic of the first one I saw, but I was confident of the ID, and then this gorgeous creature just *posed* for me. Nelson's Sparrow might be my favorite sparrow now. #birds

Photo of a GORGEOUS Nelson's Sparrow, with its gorgeous orange eyebrow, throat, and streaked bib and that striking grey cheek patch, on a thick twig against a blurred background of green and yellow and orange fall dune grasses

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Amy Jo (AJ) Cousins @ajcousins.bsky.social · 1d

Not really. 😂 I just figured out that if I up the exposure +4, I get usable images. I'm going to sit down now that I'm home and try again to figure out what changed from my previous settings...