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• Post #4471538

  Ahhhhhhhh (confused feelings about being very let down and disappointed by one friend, while feeling very cared for and appreciated by a different one)

• Post #4471537

  Sitting on the floor with my whiny old dog. Struggling lately to manage his arthritis pain well enough, caring for an ancient creature is so heartbreaking.

• Post #4471536

  We were trying Oscar on antihistamines but found they were making him too sleepy and sedated, so we stopped last night and now tonight he's EXTRA saucy and full of vim to make up for it

• Post #4471535

  I asked a friend for recommendations on affordable fountain pens and inks and she's coming through with obvious glee!

• Post #4341151

  A 🤍 of a heron. #birds #birding #herons

• Post #4241218

  In the backyard today: cardinals (including fledglings!), song sparrows, robins, and a red-eyed vireo (unusual in the yard!). You can feel the beginnings of movement, migratory birds shifting as they prepare to leave (like the vireo). Some have even left already, it's a very bittersweet time to me.

• Post #4091417

  Good morning from Mr Sleepyhead

• Post #4038136

  Someone with a fucking leaf blower blowing dirt off of their driveway, and the whole section of street stinks of gas.

• Post #3999148

  A female widow skimmer (Libellula luctuosa), glowing in the sun. #dragonflies #insects #insectphotography

• Post #3943504

  Lots of people have a thing against flies, but no one can tell me that this goth one, an adorned bee fly (Exoprosopa decora), isn't cool. #insects #flies #insectphotography

• Post #3767896

  When I was a kid I thought that the sound of cicadas was the sound the power lines made when overheated by the summer sun. I have a friend whose childhood belief was that it was the sound of the sun itself. Which is all just to say that the cicadas have started singing.

• Post #3633407

  I've wanted to see black terns since I first learned of their existence, and yesterday I finally did! They're not rare where I live, but neither are they common, and I just hadn't managed to go on any small adventures to look for them at the places they often turn up at (yes that was a pun). They're smaller than the terns I've seen before (common and caspian), but share the same fluttery flight, the same sudden dives. Terns are magical birds, I just love watching them. #bir...

• Post #3586313

  If you've ever wondered what a fledgling red-winged blackbird looks like, I've got you covered!

• Post #3528154

  Because things can never be simple, my father got a new AC unit for my sister's room (she's even more sensitive to heat since she got so sick, and she was always pretty heat sensitive), and she can't use it because it makes a horrible very low frequency noise that makes her feel ill (the kind of sound you can feel in your chest). And because he's like that, my father destroyed the box getting it out so can't return it, so my sister is going to buy her own damn AC and I'm...

• Post #3521890

  Baby watches their reflection. #birding #blackbirds #fledglings

• Post #3452876

  I'm having so much fun with iNaturalist over the past few months. Figuring out identifications for the plants, insects, fungi, etc. around me. I love when I post an observation down to the species level, and I think I've got it but I'm not 100% sure, and then it's confirmed by like, a grad student studying that specific genus of plants.

• Post #3452875

  Actually getting myself out early because I have a call with a friend planned, and when I have a call I just take a walk with my phone.

• Post #3348845

  I see so many people saying they've been swooped by red-winged blackbirds and I never have? Threatened, sure, in that way they'll stalk towards you singing their territorial song, but never swooped. I wonder how common it is? If you live in a region with red-winged blackbirds...

• Post #3348844

  A midland clubtail (I think? There's at least one other similar looking clubtail in my area), Gomphurus fraternus, pondering the leaves. #dragonflies #insectphotography

• Post #3348843

  I saw this dragonfly and, thinking myself clever, thought "ah! I know those wing markings, that's a (female) common whitetail" but no! When looking them up at home, I found out that this is actually a twelve-spotted skimmer, Libellula pulchella, either a female or a naiad but I don't know enough to tell the difference. Turns out dragonflies come in confusing plumage as well! And now I know how to tell them apart. #dragonflies #insectphotography

• Post #3328277

  A stream cruiser (Didymops transversa) with breakfast. I was thrilled to finally encounter a dragonfly who, for a short moment, actually perched near to me! #dragonflies #insectphotography

• Post #2567241

  Let's try something fun for my fellow lovers of the living world: paint an ecological portrait of where you live (with words!), focusing on native plants and wildlife, geological features, anything natural you want, without actually saying where you live or naming particular sites or features. Then others can guess what part of the world you're describing (in as broad or as narrow a way as they wish to: from an individual region of a province/state, to a whole continent). What do...

• Post #2558086

  An absolutely perfect little muppet of a baby northern cardinal, having just survived their very first hail storm (poor thing). #birds #birding

• Post #2111447

  Owww head AGAIN!!

• Post #2056106

  My walks are once more punctuated by the surprised shrieks and angry chattering of the chipmunks.

• Post #1981723

  A sweet flicker I met recently.

• Post #1978154

  My beloved white-throated sparrows are everywhere right now, digging in the leaf litter, chasing each other, singing, calling, and surveying their (temporary, as they're only passing through) domains. #birds #birding #sparrows

• Post #1898842

  Cute little creature noodling through the grass. #snakes

• Post #1795006

  The DeKay's brown snake I encountered for the first time recently! Extremely small, and very charming. #snakes

• Post #1788357

  An important change this year to my personal bird listing is completely embracing birds heard not only seen. There were already some on my life list that I'd only heard, because they'd been included in ebird checklists and that's what I use to keep track, but now I'm adding more. I just have to be confident in my identification, whether visual or auditory! Kind of realized I was prioritizing the "seeing" act in a way that really didn't feel good to me. Any way of...