Last January, nearly a year ago to the day, I hosted I and the Bird #92. I invited birds from all around the world to join me at a picnic party, and had a grand time planning and hosting the event. But boy – after letting all those party animals loose at the house, the clean-up was a nightmare. I wanted to host again, but even just thinking about the day after gave me the chills. I’d have to hire a housecleaning service just to find my floor again. Surely there was another way?
So I sent out invitations for a beach party this year. Some 30 participants joined me for the 117th edition of I and the Bird. We all gathered at a favourite lookout of mine, at the edge of a lake I’m fond of (I put out a banner on the lookout tower, just to make sure everyone found the place). I provided a feeder in case anyone got peckish, but many guests found their own food. I spent a little over a thousand words on the last party; knowing that a picture’s worth a thousand words, I thought maybe, for a change of pace, that would be the way to go this year. It was easy to organize, I didn’t need to put out plates or glasses or prepare food platters or punch. No furniture to damage. Water to splash in if folks got bored. But best of all – no mess to clean up afterward!
Click on the birds in the image below to visit each post. Thanks to everyone who sent in submissions, I had a great time reading – and drawing – them all!
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IATB #118 is being hosted by Duncan over at Ben Cruachan. Send your links in to Duncan at dcfraser AT netspace.net.au by February 2.
seabrookeleckie.com 
Beautiful!
This is a fun and clever format and so delightful to explore!. Job well done, Seabrooke! ~karen
Really cool, Seabrooke! Glad I could be a part of it!
This is so cool…thanks for a great IATB!
Wow, that’s amazing. I wish I understood mapping like that (and could draw). Brilliant job Seabrooke
Your imagination and skill know no bounds. Brilliant! Thanks.
Absolutely ingenious Seabrooke! I love the concept and the drawing is so intriguing, it makes me feel like a kid again. I can’t wait to explore the posts.
I absolutely love this! I just found my wren and titmouse singing it out at the beach party. I can’t wait to click through all of these. The picture is wonderful and the mapping must have been a chore. Thanks for your work in creating an awesome IATB.
Great edition! I like the image map approach.
You’ve certainly displayed “the marvelous in nature” with this ingenious format! Pretty incredible IATB!
This is so good, Seabrooke. I love your drawing and the links to all those guests! Great idea.
Brilliant, engaging, and fun! This is my first time reading I and the Bird. I look forward to checking out each of the birds/posts and to future carnivals. Thanks
Nice image map presentation!
Oh! My! Gawd! You are absolutely brilliant, Seabrooke! What a fantastic presentation. I’m envious of your creativity. It’ll be a delight to go through this marvelous map.
And I’m still shaking my head in awe…
This is wonderful..one of the best!
Really neat, a real labor of love! I look forward to reading all of it!
Very clever and fun! Thanks for adding my eagle.
Good one Seabrooke!
Great edition and fun way to network. Still on the sidelines but watching and learning about the carnivals. I was also fascinated with your blog Seabrooke, amazing macros.
What fun! Its like those books we got as kids, where we had to lift the flaps and discover what was underneath!
How ingenious!
And I love the picture of myself with the ‘scope!!
I hadn’t thought of that comparison, but it’s a good one!
Seabrooke,
Your imagination provokes mine! What a wondrous talent you have. I’ll keep coming back. There’s another blogsite that’ I like because it’s so fun and imaginative at http://www.NaturalWisdom.info
Keep up the good work!
Dan
My first carny – delightful! Thank you.
Seabrooke- awesomely clever!! I absolutely love it! The drawing is excellent!
Very nice IATB
Hi Seabrooke – this is really clever and ingenious! Wonderful idea. I’d be interested in knowing more about how you actually mapped the links into the image (if you’re inclined to reveal your secrets) – you can reply offline if you like.
Thanks, Ted! The mapping was probably the easiest part of the whole thing. You can do it in Photoshop. I actually use a Photoshop clone, Ulead PhotoImpact, the user interface of which I find more intuitive, but it does all the same things as Photoshop. In PhotoImpact there’s an actual button/tool for image mapping; I presume Photoshop would also have a button, but at the very least there would be a menu option. It lets you create a selection on the image and then provide the URL you want associated with that area. When you’ve finished defining all your areas, you either export or Save As a webpage (.html).
To get it up on a website, you just upload the html file and the associated jpg file. This doesn’t work for the blog, of course, but you can get the html from the .html file (either by using Notepad or opening the local file in your browser and doing View Source Code), and then copy and paste the Body part of the code into the html view of your New Post window. Make sure you switch out the URL of the image to the proper address (whatever WordPress tells you the URL of the image is when you upload it into the media section).
I actually hadn’t done this before, prior to this post, though I knew it was a function in the photo editor. Fortunately it was quick and easy to learn!
Thank you, everyone! I’m glad you all enjoyed it! I had a good time putting it all together, and thought it might be a fun departure from the usual IATB presentation.
Brava! What a spectacular and original presentation!!!
Brilliant!!! I love what you did with this I and the Bird. Can’t wait to dig in and read the posts behind the birds. Yay for you, Seabrooke!
What an imaginative post. I find it exciting to check on the different birds at the picnic party. Congratulations and all good wishes.
Seabrooke, how clever! It I love the way you presented I and the Bird this time.
Wow, I haven’t looked at an IATB in quite a while, and I am so glad to have ventured over here to take a peek. Your poster is beautiful, smart, and innovative. I love how you created this. You have certainly set the bar very high! Well done.
Hi Seabrooke, finally making my way over to check out IATB #117. Love the image rollover presentation, a girl after my own heart! Nice drawing too – I always admire this talent in others because it is so lacking in myself!
Thanks again, everybody! It’s great to get all this wonderful feedback!