David Syzdek

@dsyzdek

Polymath. Endangered species biologist. Views my own.

1,218 Following1,079 Followers4,261 Posts

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David Syzdek@dsyzdek· 18d

Got to see Big Boy a couple years ago. It was awesome. Worth a trip. And my mom grew up in Platteville, by the way.

David Syzdek@dsyzdek· 20d

That’s impressively warm for rain! Here in Vegas this evening I got about 20 minutes of sprinkles from this little cell that i caught the edge of it. Temp dropped from 104° to 102° during that time. The rain barely had a chance! The dew point went from 52 to 64 briefly and one clap of thunder.

David Syzdek@dsyzdek· 27d

My photo from a plane wasn’t great but I recognized Ball’s Pyramid!

Picture of balls pyramid in the western Pacific Ocean taken from a airline flight from Melbourne Australia to Los Angeles in January 2025. Not picture of the giant stick insects that live on the inland

David Syzdek@dsyzdek· 27d

I saw this through a filthy airplane window on a MEL-LAX flight and immediately knew what it was. Couldn’t see the giant stick insects that clung to existence under one shrub on the pyramid after being extirpated by invasive rats on nearby Lord Howe island.

David Syzdek@dsyzdek· 27d

Find the sidewinder.

Picture of a caliche ledge with a desert tortoise burrow into the side of a small, gravelly hill. The burrow is dark and has a flat bottom and curved top. Zooming in, there is a snake barely visible in the burrow.

David Syzdek@dsyzdek· 28d

I’m fascinated with the high quality sand that is mined at Overton, Nevada and shipped to the Los Angeles area to be used for glassmaking. The train cars get some awesome graffiti, probably in LA and not Overton. LOL.

The Union Pacific covered hopper car with a painting in graffiti style of a TV on it with two zombies sitting at a desk with a sign saying watch TV behind them.

David Syzdek@dsyzdek· 28d

I’m up early for outside work in a new spot near the Henderson Nevada airport and just saw a L-39 Albatross which is a new plane for me.

Picture of a small fighter jet out outlined against pale clouds and a sunrise sky. The plane is an L 39 albatross.

Screenshot of a parked airplane pictured on the flight radar 24 site showing HSH to nowhere.

David Syzdek@dsyzdek· Jul 11

Yep. Many adopted tortoises have a numbered tag and/or a phone number epoxied to their shell. They usually had an internal transponder tag too. My tortoise has one that is wearing off and needs to be replaced (he’s inside now due to yard work). This is much better than painting the poor animal!

A close-up photo of a vertebral scoot on a Desert tortoise showing a yellow tag with the numbers on it. The epoxy covering this tag is mostly missing, but you can see some possible numbers 4936492 printed on the tag.

David Syzdek@dsyzdek· Jul 9

It’s in my head. Saw it almost a decade ago.

A painting of a man sitting in a wheelchair. It’s disturbing because his legs are tentacles that are sprawled out on the ground. The entire picture is gray and black and tan like a pencil drawing. He’s old and he has a cane in one hand and he’s wearing glasses and has a hat on he’s slightly slumped and he’s looking out towards the sea, which is smooth and pale. A splash of red, the only color in the painting, is against the background in a small ragged band. It’s just a sunset. But your eyes keep drawing back towards the tentacles in front of them where his leg should be.

David Syzdek@dsyzdek· Jul 9

Picture of the total solar eclipse in 2017 taken by me in Idaho. The moon is a black disk, surrounded by a ghostly white ring. About 1/3 of the ring on the right is punctuated by small red prominences which look like red flames extending into space from the white ghostly ring.

David Syzdek@dsyzdek· Jul 8

This is utterly lovely! I love the Dutch word for it. I had no idea. One of my favorite things is to sit silently with a friend, and watch the day turn into night.

David Syzdek@dsyzdek· Jul 7

That’s a very optional part of the VIP tour. This tunnel ends at a grate on the middle of the face of the dam!

A photo of a Great on the face of Hoover Dam, looking out towards the Tillman Bridge and the Colorado river. The arms and phone of someone taking a picture is on the left of the photo. A tiny bit of Bluesky is behind the bridge arch.

David Syzdek@dsyzdek· Jul 7

My place does this.

David Syzdek@dsyzdek· Jul 4

Nevada’s state fish is pretty cool despite it having an adipose fin. Lahontan Cutthroat Trout. Should be one of the endemics though: Devils hole pupfish Railroad Valley Springfish Moapa dace (my favorite, my pic) Cui-ui Pahrump poolfish White River springfish

A picture of a Moapa dace. It’s a small fish kind of olive green with a reddish brown stripe down the middle and a darker back has a dark spot on the tail, a big eye, very small scales. It’s a beauty.

David Syzdek@dsyzdek· Jun 24

First rain at my place since February!

Carrot weather screenshot showing rain and the the evil AI says “I hope you fucking drown.“

David Syzdek@dsyzdek· Jun 24

The Nevada fires are close to where I always cut Christmas trees. This is what it looks like in winter. Sometimes.

A picture of a snowy road with footsteps on it, eating steeply up towards a bright blue sky with a brilliant sun. The trees are covered in Ryan and snow. The road is snow covered except for a few footprints. It is it is brilliantly clear.

David Syzdek@dsyzdek· Jun 24

Like the time I was at wedding reception and the alpaca that formerly belonged to Tony Tsieh (RIP) spit a gob of chewed up carrots right into my face? Like that time? I was deeply impressed with the accuracy, velocity, and distance. Life goals!

A pair of alpacas in a small pen. Both are wearing halters. One is white and the other is black and they have cool, emo, hairdos that are hanging over their eyes. It’s a wedding venue and there are two small goats in the background. And they’re in a small pen with pink and green lights. One of these alpacas belong to Tsieh, the founder of Zappos’s. I forgot which one that a lot of chewed up carrots in my face. However, this is a life goal. I didn’t know it was until it happened.

David Syzdek@dsyzdek· Jun 15

Thank you, Vegas Golden Knights for a fantastic hockey season and the most entertaining playoffs one could hope for. Congrats to Carolina for a strong win. Thanks, I guess, to Southwest Airlines for a late flight to allow to watch the end of the game in a bar at Denver International….

Picture of an airport bar in Denver. Guy in a Knicks shirt has his hand over his face. A tv shows a hickey face off. Beer taps and empty seats are visible.

David Syzdek@dsyzdek· Jun 9

We still only use pack animals (mules) for mail in two small places in Arizona. Is your package going to Supai or Phantom Ranch, Arizona? If not, blame Trump and not the mules.

A majestic photo of a burro, standing on a desert slopes, highlighted against the cloudy sky in the background over a creosote bush, and some other shrubs. The animal is standing regally. It’s brown, can see a bit of a black stripe down its front shoulders, and a white stripe on its back of its head. Its ears are back a little bit and its muzzle is white.

David Syzdek@dsyzdek· Jun 6

Your photos looks better than the picture in the Peterson Pacific States wildflower guide which, frankly, looks kinda weird.

Illustration from Peterson Pacific States Wildflowers showing “Tiburon Mariposa Tulip” a strange yellow flower with 3 triangular petals, a converted V shape of brown stripes, and brown hairs.

David Syzdek@dsyzdek· May 26

What a dork he is. Steve Irwin didn’t let non-venomous snakes bite him again and again. That said, even though black racer bites aren’t dangerous, it’s not fun getting bitten, and one can get an infection. it’s possibly harmful to the snake letting them dangle like that.

Picture of John F Kennedy at a lectern, titled “ask not what your country can do for you, ask what my nephew’s fucking problem is.”

David Syzdek@dsyzdek· May 26

Not just for increasing the whimsy of your next colonoscopy???

A colorful cardboard box that says fancy, mystery, edible glitter packets.

David Syzdek@dsyzdek· May 25

When you make your own wine and design the label yourself, you can put whatever taxa you want on it.

Close-up of a wine bottle with a label on it that shows a chuckwalla, a large herbivorous gray lizard with black specks basking in the sun in front of a rock crack in which another chuckwalla appears out from the darkness. The rock has a red sandstone with layers visible. The wine label says “chuckwalla’s delight.“ And you can see that it is 40% Cabernet 40% infidel and 20% petite Sarah.

David Syzdek@dsyzdek· May 25

Pick a Bond villain from the pictures you already have on your phone.

A picture of a bar top with Barb paraphernalia visible in the background like Tiki, glasses and bottles of mixers,. In the foreground is a pint glass of beer with a couple sips taken out of it and some foam on top. It is sitting on a Las Vegas welcome sign coaster. The bar top is covered in classic and old photograph album cover covers the most prominent one is a picture of a somewhat fat man and white clown makeup with a goatee little triangles painted above and below below his eyes. His beard and mustache or dark brown, but his face is pale white is dark eyes stare out from the photograph narrowed with some distain. It’s kind of a scary picture, kind of a scary, looking, dude, and the clown makeup is not helping.

David Syzdek@dsyzdek· May 21

You’ve been warned.

Grassy area with a circular tar seep in the middle with a neon green warning traffic cone that says “gooey” with a downward pointing arrow.

David Syzdek@dsyzdek· May 19

If you see this, post your getaway vehicle.

A frighteningly rusty old van from the 40s that is white and rusty and has Dr. Lecter’s butcher shop painted on the side.

David Syzdek@dsyzdek· May 12

I rescued my cat after my gf died unexpectedly 7 months ago. She had just adopted a kitten that I had met just once. Grieving with a purring mammal on your chest or lap is better than grieving alone.

A gray and tan cat with a white throat is lounging on someone’s lap while sitting in a chair. Its upside down head is looking at the camera, it has one amber eye, and one white eye and white long whiskers

David Syzdek@dsyzdek· May 11

I wish I can tell you. I live close to some of the best landscapes on the planet and rarely visit. It’s amazing when I do.

Sunset picture, taken in bad water at Death Valley showing a bright orange sunset reflected in a shallow water on a salt flat with bands of salt, visible as dark lines with dark mountains, reflected in the smoother water further out.

David Syzdek@dsyzdek· May 11

Eye chart at the veterinary ophthalmologist.

Eye chart but like the one with symbols for small children. It’s all t of mice, fish in fish bowls, balls of yarn, butterfly’s, bowls, windows, songbirds and other critters.

David Syzdek@dsyzdek· May 4

Saw this variegated fritillary near Valley of Fire over the weekend. The scientific name of this species is Euptoieta claudia and, according to Wiki, this species is extremely difficult to approach, and, because of this, its genus name was taken from the Greek word euptoietos meaning "easily scared"