Given I'm not planning on traveling anywhere I've never been this year, I was getting a little bit worried that this would be the first year that I can ever remember that I didn't get a life bird (a new species for me). But some Roseate Terns in RI were there for me (below the Common Terns)! #584

Right? I was fine calling it Ruddy (although bummed, that wasn't a lifer for my friends), but also it's been weeks since any were reported in the state and I'm getting confused by these sort of images of Surf Scoters (from Chuck Homler on Wikipedia).

There were also a bunch of Common Eiders around, but they were closer to shore and the breakwall we were walking, and that beak sure is something!

Hey I need #birds help! I called this a scoter in the field based on the location (out at sea, in July in Rhode Island, maybe 200 m off shore) and the behavior (vibing out at sea), then the cheek line looked more like a Ruddy? But they aren't especially common there? Was my scoter instinct right?

I've been a bit sad now that the Fish Crows have mostly left my neighborhood back home in Columbus Ohio (after watching their nest for 70 straight days in my front yard). So my trip last week to Rhode Island was nice, there were a bunch of Fish Crows around to make me feel at home!

Piping Plovers are so cute and round. They're bird that I really think should be described in field guides as "little and cute" but I often forget just how tiny they are-- American Goldfinches aren't particularly large birds, so having them next to the Pipings reminds me how tiny the plovers are!

I basically never have content for #SharkSky (is that a thing or does one just tag @whysharksmatter.bsky.social) but this American Herring Gull lunch did feel kind of shark-like to me. I guessed dogfish based on a "sharks of Rhode Island" graphic, but iNat is suggesting Dusky Smooth-Hound.

When I was 21, I saw my first Least Terns at a bird walk at an academic conference. I tried to get a photo but had no chip in my camera. A random stranger offered me a spare from his wallet. At 31, I was watching Least Terns at an academic conference when my chip filled. A friend gave me a spare.

I think I'm finally caught up on all the emails I missed during my conference last week kinda felt like I could've just attached this screenshot from my sleep-tracking app with an apology that says "sorry for the delay, I was eepy because I'm definitely too old for this now"

perhaps it's because I know my sisters took the day off work to go to the lake, but I find this image--of children playing in the water of the Strait of Hormuz with distant violence on the horizon-- so fucking haunting. Excellent work, Razieh Poudat.

working from home at my mom's house as I wait on emergency repairs at my rental that have already taken a week and counting when I work from my home, my dog can lay behind my desk on a bed she's very grumpy the home office here only offers floor and also a beagle who MUST cuddle despite the heat

it brings me absolutely no joy to report that the America 250 flavor (strawberry lemonade) Monster drinks are absolutely delicious

Watching the match as the sports gods intended-- in a busy tavern with TVs, but tucked around the corner so streaming it for the table on a colleague's phone

When I was a kid we had a giant sandbox, got dump trucks of sand yearly. We didn't have individual birthday parties as kids, just one joint party for all our friends-- my parents chose a theme and buried toys for friends to find 20 years later, sandbox has long been a garden, yet toys wash out

I don't know enough about old timey furnace/AC combos to fact check the Google AI on this one, but results like this aren't something I take lightly when all my babies are in the house

"too much soccer, you need to go out and touch grass, you can because it's cooler now" I tell myself but it turns out a heat index of 97F/36C still isn't *that* cool the trees have finally given up (American Sycamores slough their bark as a heat response)

The recently fledged Cooper's Hawks would like to lodge a formal complaint with whoever controls the weather (cell phone video, I'm not bringing cameras out to encourage me to stay longer in this heat)

I normally just report spam, block, and move on, but AI bot shit pretending they are fostering "real conversations" makes me extra-mad, so here's one you can report and block too if you so choose @alexmarria.bsky.social

I haven't been out too much lately during daylight hours (because outside is an oven) so I was a little surprised to see that my recently quiet backyard park and yard have been overrun by packs of teens, just like those hysterical local news stories warned teenage American Robins, that is!

This is how she communicated that she was taking me off the meds, by the way. Sometimes your thyroid that has been getting killed by your own immune system since you were 14 "normalizes itself and does not require treatment" lololol After months of accurately predicting what this would do

For the last 6 months I've been fighting a doctor who kept insisting she knew better than I did about my thyroid. First few months she let me argue the plan, finally did it her way (pulling me off ALL MEDS) last month. So, please enjoy, how far off my TSH was last month (top), and now (bottom)

I'm pretty sure if someone interviewed me about living in this neighborhood, 20 years later, I'd say basically the same stuff, minus any mention of my own kids. They're critical of misbehavior (the preceding quote was about picking up needles) but immediately insist they're "great kids" 🥹

Her memorial bench in my backyard park is a Pokemon Gym, and someone added notes in-game to say she's memorialized for protecting this space. I've found some of her writing about how she planted native plants for wildlife but they ate her garden instead and that's fine and 🥹

I thought a gorgeous stag beetle was going to be my peak basement critter excitement for the day but look who was on the floor the next time I went down there!! Eastern red-backed salamander (Plethodon cinereus)!! I've wanted to find one in this neighborhood so bad and it's in my basement!!

extremely cool basement friend alert (pretty sure it's a reddish-brown stag beetle, Lucanus capreolus)

Still proud of my local lads. If you're going to be knocked out by anyone might as well be Mexico!

Wondering if Duolingo is intentionally syncing up with World Cup coverage or if I'm just coincidentally getting these units as I'm in las pausas de hidratación

Oh no, she has left the floor to get into my face. I'm fine I'm fine I'm just worried these men will have the worst few seconds of their career so far when they miss a shot

All that said, I kept the blond Supergirl wig option as a joke, but making my bird child be blond like me has been surprisingly healing (I use my bird child to grow more comfortable with diverse gender presentation, to heal my damaged agender self, and having them look more like me has mattered)

Merlin does! The step-by-step option on the home page walks through the ID without a photo or recording. But I also see folks describing birds on here and on Facebook ID groups, often with some extremely rough sketches of what they remember about the bird.