The new-look 10,000 Birds may not be so new anymore but there are still plenty of fun features to explore. I’m particularly enamored of our comments section, or at least with its potential. You see, some of us get cool postage stamp portraits next to our comments…

Mike's Gravatar Corey's Gravatar

…while most others get a faceless image…

Generic Gravatar

Seems elitist, right? Yet nothing could be farther from the truth. In our meritocratic microcosm, everyone can have a unique signifying portrait by his or her name. If you want one, all you have to do is get your gravatar on!

What is a gravatar?

A gravatar, or globally recognized avatar, is quite simply an avatar image that follows you from weblog to weblog appearing beside your name when you comment on gravatar enabled sites. Avatars help identify your posts on web forums, so why not on weblogs?

Why not indeed? Why settle for a generic graphic when your every witty insight can be accompanied by your personal gravatar, building your brand from blog to blog? Join us in our effort to further beautify the blogosphere by creating your own free gravatar.

  1. Signup to get your own gravatar
  2. Find or create an 80px by 80px graphic that will serve as your digital calling card to the connected world.
  3. Activate your account when you receive your confirmation email. Proceed to get your gravatar on.
  4. Come back here and leave a comment so we can all cluck and coo over your new look!

Could this be any easier? Don’t put this off any longer. Not only will all your new comments be beauteous but your graphic will populate every comment you’ve ever made on a gravatar-enabled blog as long as they’re linked to the signifying e-mail address. So whether you’re a prolific commenter on 10,000 Birds or aspire to be one, go get that gravatar now!

Written by Mike
Mike is a leading authority in the field of standardized test preparation, but he's also a traveler who fully expects to see every bird in the world. Besides founding 10,000 Birds in 2003, Mike has also created a number of other entertaining but now extirpated nature blog resources, particularly the Nature Blog Network and I and the Bird.