If you want to understand economic news a little better, Justin does a good job making things easy to understand.

Male Andean Cocks-of-the-Rock hanging out a lek. Males show up in groups and like to show off for the ladies. These birds can be found in the cloud forests of the Andes Mountains. Nono, Ecuador, 2023 🪶

This fancy bird is a Scarlet-bellied Mountain Tanager. Found in the Andes Mountains, they are an unmistakable black bird with an electric blue rump and wing coverts, and bright cheeks and belly. This one is a bit damp as it had just gotten done taking a bath. Zuroloma Preserve, Ecuador, 2023

Gray-browed Brushfinches are a found in the mountains of western South America. They are considered common, but have not been studied much so little is known about their natural history. They tend to hide in dense underbrush, but this one came out for some banana. Zuroloma Preserve, Ecuador, 2023

No sleep til Bogotá (Swainson’s Thrush)

This small spider wasp somehow got stuck in the house so I gave it a ride outside in the wasp rescue shuttle. It got a sip of water and cleaned up a bit before flying off. (Subfamily Pepsinae) PA

Not sure what is going on with this caterpillar. I haven't seen green lumps on one before. (Cucullia sp.?) PA

A white-tailed kite #birds #raptors

Feast your eyes on this beautiful bug book from the Edo Period in Japan! share.google/1cuuOHp0S4Dy...

Did you know that firefly glow as larvae and pupae? I found this shrimp-like pupa in my garden earlier this summer. 🍤

She’s done!❤️🦣 #Embroidery

Oak treehoppers are out! Known for their endearing maternal care, mamas remain with their babies until they emerge as adults and eventually leave the oak branch where they were born.

Lifer California Kingsnake I found on a desert road the other night!!!! This was not in my bingo card, I saw this snake from the car and immediately knew what it was and I was soooo excited!!! What a beautiful species!! #herps 🐍

A male White-banded Crab Spider hanging out in a flower, waiting for some unsuspecting insect to stop for a snack. The females tend to be flower colored, yellow or pink, and larger. (Misumenoides formosipes) PA

Btw, if you’re using a flash for macro photography AK diffusers come with this handy attachment that you can use to reflect light under your subject. Great for bugs that cling to the underside of branches.

It’s migration time which means SO MANY BIRDS!! Here are just a few you might see passing through the US and Canada. #birds 🌿 🧪

First Pipevine Swallowtail I’ve seen in a while. #inverts

Sweat Bee taking a little break from foraging in the asters. This bee was so chill I thought for a minute that a predator had caught it, but no, just a little pause at the end of the day. (Augochlora sp.) PA

Oak Treehopper Mama Update! Here she is with entire brood. They're getting big! So, why is it nice to leave some leaves around? These kids will hibernate over winter as adult females in leaf litter. (Platycotis vittata) PA

Need more people to post their ghost 👻🦀 And check out the crab feed which is this all day every day bsky.app/profile/did:...

in the field for #sturgeonsaturday ive spent the last 2 yrs investigating what is killing BC white sturgeon unfortunately, these deaths continue & we’ve had over 50 adult sturgeon die in the fraser river in the last ~6 weeks every fish i sample is another step closer to solving the mystery🧪👩🏻‍🔬🌎🌐

Fall blooms for happy bugs.

The Artpocalypse is nigh! @hvon.bsky.social showed us around the Artpocalypse Now! Art Market this morning. We’ll be here at Starbolt in Philly until 5!

Lesser Violetears are small hummingbirds found in Central America and western South America. "Its short bill and diminutive size restrict it to feeding from small flowers, requiring that it visits an estimated 2,700 flowers per day to meet its metabolic needs." 😮 San Gerardo de Dota, Costa Rica

It's #Caturday, and Squeezy has two of his favorite things: a box and a jingle ball!

Chase being stalked by a jumping spider. #caturday

A fuzzy friend in the yard yesterday. The snowshoe hares are starting to change colour starting with their ears. I took this through a double-pane window so it's a bit blurry, but still cute. #mammals

I cannot overstate how remarkable it is that under GOP rule, US federal health regulations have been captured by fringe crackpots who espouse views that the vast majority of the US public—and nearly 100% of health professionals—reject. Gift link:

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've been enamored with Jupiter since I was a kid and these close up views of storms are amazing. All US space program imagery is available to the public. You can download RGB raw files and process them yourself. HT to @kevinmgill.bsky.social for his work here.

For a timeline cleanse, here is one of my favorite butterflies. It's a Gulf Fritillary and when I first saw one I fell in love with their orange and white striped body. What a handsome butterfly! San Antonio, TX, 2019

I buried the lede here in the very last post of this thread. If you're learning macro, there is no need to focus stack. You can get lots of detail in one shot. Personally, I just use focus stacking when there are lumps and bumps that I want to include.

Jagged Ambush Bugs look like Bart Simpson to me. Here is one making a milkshake out of a Honey Bee. (Phymata sp.) PA

That previous photo is me taking a video of an adult, winged, female damselfly who is underwater and laying eggs in the stems of the underwater plants. Here is the view. You can watch her curl her abdomen around and insert the two eggs!! 🥚 🌿

Today is the last day to help make your voice heard for protection of our wilderness, places where we need to get away from the trauma of being human. Places of solitude. Please speak up for roadless rule. It’s easy and it only takes a few minutes at this link. earthjustice.org/action/prote...

Did you ask for a bird fact? No, but you're getting one whether you like it or not. 🪶

I saw someone post recently that they were learning macro and did a 100+ frame focus stack and I legit don't understand why anyone would do that? This assassin bug is a 6 frame stack to get that front leg in focus (it juts out toward the camera). Spiny Assassin Bug (Sinea spinipes) PA

Love Notes from Nature calendars turned out SO good. There are lots of reasons they're great 1) Each month has facts about the animal of the month 2) Each month has information about how we can help these animals 3) Your order funds our 2026 Philly Native plant project! www.etsy.com/listing/4366...

Reconstruction, even in its later failure, required breaking regular democratic norms and constitutional procedures on a massive scale. 13, 14, 15th were literally ratified at gunpoint! Rightly, but hardly regular. There has to be a counter-purge, you can't reboot the game of democracy without it.

This is now a red-shouldered hawk stan account 😍🪶🌿

Have you ever wondered why we’re here and dinosaurs like T. rex vanished? I wrote a book just for you. 🦖 ☄️🌿🐆

“Who me? As a tripod fish, I deal with stress and fear by transforming into an eyeless abyssal predatory elder god. What about you?” 🎥 Huge thanks to @frida.yolotzin for letting me use the baby tripod fish video, and @schmidtocean for permission to share the adult video.

Was not prepared for how damn loud she was 😍

We've more than halfway funded the new shark science and conservation exhibit in just a few days! Thanks, and keep it going! www.southernfriedscience.com/help-support...

If you MUST cruise around when your S.O. works a half day, there are worse places to do it.😍🥰🤩 #Yosemite #YosemiteValley #MercedRiver

Root of all weevil? Only if you're knapweed! #BirdGlamour recently saw the Knapweed Root Weevil in south BC! Calling south Europe & Mediterranean home, Cyphocleonus achates was released in North America in the 1980s to control spotted knapweed. It may be working? #WeevilWednesday #GlamorousByNature

Volume up for the lil' red ruckus. #TeamJavelina on #cameratap! (They're eating the birds' mealworms).

there is already a way to extend life and youth indefinitely 1. Be a stored-grain dermestid beetle larva (say, Trogoderma) 2. Every time food gets scarce, moult backwards into a previous instar 3. Proceed to grow as usual 4. Repeat step 2

If you’re in need of an uplifting story, check out this thread. 🥲

RFK Jr. is a menace.