I can’t, this is too good 😂

Insomnia Thoughts ™, brought to you by Prednisone: iNaturalist is my real-life Pokédex I’m here for it 100% and 13yo, Pokémon-obsessed me would be utterly elated to know it exists in her future. (Continued)

My son’s Derpy costume looking rather like a tiger skin rug while I was working on it last weekend. Happy Halloween!🎃

Whelp, found my answer. Tachnid (parasitic) flies. My son is really sad, but we took it as a chance to watch a video on the flies and what we can do next summer for more butterfly success. He acknowledges that the flies wanted babies too. He’s now happily watching hamster maze videos.

Something like this has been sorely needed for a long time! Our standards for testing animal problem solving and intelligence have long been antiquated and not well rooted in a framework that includes our own intelligence and problem solving capabilities.

I suspect our monarch butterfly is dead. Does anyone know if this is likely a tachnid fly parasitism? Or something else, like a bacterial infection? Plan on dissecting it with my sons for an alternative science lesson. My oldest was so excited about the butterfly, but this is nature/insects too.

I’m realizing I don’t really have a pinned post when people first visit my profile. Here’s a response I gave on a thread in the meantime.

My 5yo’s watercolor painting of our neighbor’s tree. We love fall in this house ❤️💛🧡🍂🍁

As it turns out, coyotes are good climbers. They loped up and down these limestone cliffs like they were mountain goats. #mammals 🌿

Everything about this is why I chose to study corvids for my PhD 😂❤️

"Tears of the Mountain", the 3rd 2025 graduation short from french Gobelins school, is online. Directed by Luke Ashworth, Yehor Bondarenko, Alp Kurdoğlu, Romane Talva and Ange Yajima. Full film >> www.youtube.com/watch?v=eB9J...

Taking 9/10th grade students on a week-long camping/hiking/museum/field drawing adventure on the Colorado Plateau next week to study dinosaurs, focusing on dinosaur trackways. Thought @hkluterman.bsky.social might be delighted to see one of the books we’ll be using, along with Lockley’s 1995 book.

Seemed correct.

My field assistants helping investigate the stomach contents, and therefore the diet, of the modern pygmy Allosaurus. These small theropods seem to have a pretty varied diet!

My friend Todd’s paper on cassowary casques was published in @amornith.bsky.social’s journal Ornithology, “Species-specific casque shapes in the genus Casuarius and implications for visual display.” He had me do the scientific illustrations for the paper 😊 academic.oup.com/auk/advance-...

"I Contain Multitudes" This digitally painted piece honors coyote by tracing its lineage from the first cells of life to the animal trotting our cities and the wilderness today. The thread gives descriptions of all the extinct organisms shown in this piece (not to scale)

I wonder, if fungi could ever see all the photos we take and admire of them, would they wonder why we are so obsessed with dick picks of them 🤔 “My mycelia are down here 🙄”

My 40th birthday present to myself, because I’m an adult and I can buy myself cool dinosaur figures.

My birthday happens to be on #WorldCassowaryDay, something that my friend Todd, who researches them, will never let me forget 😂❤️

Last weekend I went fishing with some friends. I took both of the boys and…some fishing DID occur. My friend did a sketch of how it went. One son was flinging sticks and one was VERY mad I wouldn’t let him get in the deep, cold lake, clothed. Thank you so much @spainimation.bsky.social 😂😂

I actually guffawed 😂😂

Irruption.

I have an independent study student working on phagocytosis in white blood cells. We need a microbiologist who can help us with details of her methodology (whole blood). Anyone here work with or know anyone who works with culturing white blood cells to monitor their phagocytic activity?

Under the moonlight, you see a sight that almost stops your heart

We couldn’t make it ONE summer without my dog getting skunked. It had to happen the LAST day before the autumnal equinox 😂😂

“Prairie Life” An older piece with even older origins. My undergraduate years included significant research and exploration time in short-grass prairie ecosystems. These are the organisms and places I still love and cherish from a formative time in my scientific journey. Sacred. (Check alt text)

I wanted to get a video of this ghost crab but every time I got close to their hole they scuttled back in, so I tried getting clever with it. I made a little sandcastle and shoved my phone into it, hit record, and walked away. Crab was VERY suspicious of this addition to their environment.

I don’t post a lot about what I do professionally, which I should probably change because, dammit, I’m a good teacher. Anyway, I’ve made myself way too amused by one of my Paleo Class slides (about the Archean) and need to share it for other science dorks to (maybe) get a chuckle.

This is RAD. Another result of changing climates is population overlap and hybridization. I’ve always wanted to see a Steller’s jay x blue jay hybrid. Now I need to add this to the birdy bucket list! onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

“Just when you think you’ve seen it all, social insects reveal another surprise.” https://scim.ag/47sVFyS

Through the fathoms below you a shadow Is gliding up towards you with singular purpose

When I look at Therizinosaurus, all I see is a VERY large Canada goose with VERY long claws. #paleoart

I love my bird feeder camera, it’s a great way to see close up behaviors and the variety of species we get. What I /particularly/ love are the really awful AI identifications. Behold, a majestic common raven.

#paleoart I’m looking for people willing to talk to my students this semester about paleo reconstruction/art. I’m going to make out a big component of the paleo class I’m teaching. Students are 9/10 the graders. Local to Colorado would be wonderful, but happy to videochat people in from anywhere!

A personal sketch I may try to finish someday. The quagmire of depression. It’s hard to get out of, and hard to really want to when the mud feels like a comfort. (I’m doing okay right now. I have a healthy support system. Sometimes you just need to art about it.)

Doodle

Wilson’s plover and her chick, about to enjoy a crab meal 🦀 This was a thank you gift for a friend who studies shorebirds ☺️

Why am I this afraid after a social event? It went well! I met and talked to cool new people! Saw people I like and haven’t seen in a while and everyone was nice! I’ve been dealing with social anxiety much of my life (though a masked increase since the COVID pandemic), but I’m so sick of it 😖

A golden eagle piece I did a few years ago.

Miss you, Kumara. Thank you so much, @jcampbellsmith.bsky.social

People who have ko-fi…how does it work? Is it worth it?

An oldie about trying to text your friends about birds. I can't remember if I ever shared this here.

It's out! www.youtube.com/watch?v=HuHY...

More evidence for the advantages of mixed-age social groups, especially for organisms where problem solving and social attention are important in their success. I’d go so far as to say it can also predict some aspects of success in species living in highly human altered/created environments.

Anytime I’ve been MIA recently- this is what I’ve been up to 😝 manu buddies manu buddies manu buddies 😮‍💨 #polymerclay #manubuddies

Canid is going to canid. Jake found something to roll in. My rule is that as long as I can’t smell it with a human nose, he can go nuts 😂

embarrassing myself

Mockingbird’s Muses poster prints!

At the moment I don’t have any memorials to share. I enjoy the painting and making something meaningful for people mourning, but I’m grateful beloved animal deaths crossing my path are at a lull. This is another style I do…swirly style? I don’t have a good name for it. Enjoy a white-tailed deer ☺️

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated!