Salamanders, slugs, millipedes… Our deck is a minefield of critters in the rainy season. We have to use flashlights at night to avoid them. I made some signs to remind us & our visitors. 😁 (click thru ⬇️ to see @schofield.bsky.social’s pic of a big ol’ Arboreal Salamander!)

Omg look at this tiny spotted Banana Slug! 😍

Cat woke me up before 6:00 this morning, and as it turns out, that's a great time to do some slug-watching on our deck! So here is a Slug Appreciation Thread for you, mostly featuring this great big Banana Slug (with guest appearances by Reticulate Taildroppers!) Some time-lapse videos to start...

Hi friends, an important public online resource needs your help! The California Digital Newspaper Collection desperately needs donations after their state funding was cut. This extensive collection of digitized newspapers dating back to the 18th c. is invaluable. www.givecampus.com/schools/Univ...

Found an ankylosaur foraging down by the creek today.

A tiny bit of magic on the underside of a milkweed leaf, a Monarch Butterfly egg. #invert

I’m helping my kid make a lined full-length cape, and I *really* need just one corner of an infinitely-sized table

Lil Mama's still hanging around, even after our annual cutback for wildfire safety. She seemed to appreciate the convenience of the cut grasses and the blackberry branches left behind. She got pretty close to me for those last couple photos, and I could hear her grunting softly. Might be in labor.

Woke up early on Monday, and I was just in time to see Big Mama and her two brand-new little ones out the south window. She was still cleaning them. They are like bouncy spotted puppies with hooves & I LOVE them. I melted into a puddle and have not recovered. Don’t send help.

More pics from my Feb 5 trip to see the Sutter Buttes. I took a side trip to the Sutter County Museum in Yuba City just to see this: a fully restored Model 12 Yuba Ball Tread Tractor, built in 1915. If you ever find yourself in Yuba City, visit the Sutter County Museum. It is an absolute delight

Last week, I went to see the dawn light on the Sutter Buttes on my birthday. I wanted to see them against a flooded landscape, and I couldn't have picked a better day. This is the view from the Larry Munger Vista Point just west of Yuba City.

All right folks, let's start a Roadside Attraction thread. SHOW ME YOUR GIANT SILLY ROADSIDE THINGS! My town doesn't have one, but here's a photo of Duncan's late great "World's Largest Hockey Stick" and "Norm" the creepy giant gnome, formerly just north of Nanoose, now safely retired in Saanich

Well, our federally funded organization was just told to take down any DEIA displays in our offices, like pride flags. Meanwhile, a nice astronomer gave us this Hubble spectrum of HD 233622a, variable type B2V E star. Science displays are still allowed. 🏳️‍🌈 🔭

So I did it - I finally joined the Chileno Valley Newt Brigade! Volunteers like me spend one evening a week during the rainy season patrolling a segment of Chileno Valley Road, helping California and Rough-skinned Newts safely cross the road to & from Laguna Lake. www.chilenovalleynewtbrigade.org

Graffiti on the back of the pump shed at the San Geronimo Commons.

www.sfgate.com/bayarea/arti... Amanita phalloides (Death Cap) sold out the back of a pickup truck in a supermarket parking lot

Yesterday we drove out to Bolinas to visit a Gaza Surf Club fundraising pop-up. Strolled down to Bolinas (Brighton) Beach to snap a few photos. I just love this sign - it's *so* Bolinas, lol.

Epic stick just dropped on my back porch. UV blacklight revelation ftw

Yesterday in #RoysRedwoods: I went out ahead of the incoming atmospheric river to see how the forest is anticipating the drench. We’ve had a little over an inch & a half of rain so far this rainy season - a nice & gentle overture…

I haven’t thought about this song in like 30 years, but it’s been an earworm for the past couple days. I forgot how weird the video was. youtu.be/Yq7FKO5DlV0?...

Moon over the San Geronimo Valley tonight

STOP THIS IS A CUTE ANIMAL PIC CHECKPOINT. PLEASE SHARE A MINIMUM OF ONE (1) CUTE ANIMAL PIC BEFORE PROCEEDING. THIS IS A PRECAUTIONARY MEASURE TO PRESERVE THE MENTAL HEALTH OF THIS SITE. WE THANK YOU FOR YOUR COOPERATION.

What’s your anxiety-management strategy for tomorrow? I’ll be stringing a garland of glass beads and watching horror movies. Might need to get more beads.

Timelapse: Sunset over Pico Beach - San Simeon, California

Big kitty!

Some photos from the past few weeks: First up, some fresh Coast Redwood foliage from Samuel P. Taylor State Park. #SPTaylorSP

😍 #ABSOLUTION

Mama Raccoon and her three babies spent a solid 40 minutes having a spa break at our birdbaths last night. Here is a video of the fastidious fuzzbutts for your viewing pleasure. vimeo.com/1020291703?s...

Aieee, just one week until ABSOLUTION is unleashed upon the world! I am so stoked for this book that I’m re-re-re-reading the first three Area X novels. Gotta make some room on the @jeffvandermeer.bsky.social shelf!

Aurora over West Marin County, California just now. 🩷

Raccoons are hogging the water dish all night

Steller's Jay is a bird of action

My favorite entries from last week's "Sheriff's calls" in the Point Reyes Light: People worry about boulders, "something;" allegedly caffeinated deer; belligerent campers.

Got my trailcam set up again. First visitor last night was one of our local Raccoons...

From today in #Tocaloma: This morning I hiked up the Cross Marin Trail alongside Lagunitas Creek. Met this lil Western Fence Lizard (Sceloporus occidentalis) along the way. I don't usually see them under the big Redwoods, so this was a special treat. 😊

It's been too long since I've visited #RoysRedwoods; my old haunts in the flats have been under heavy trail construction, and much of the preserve is inaccessible (more on this later.) Paid a visit today for the first time in months...

@schofield.bsky.social spotted a little Reticulate Taildropper Slug eating a bit of birdseed on our deck last week, so now he's giving them lil snacks whenever we see one. 💚

From today at #BonTempeLake: Here There Be Orchids. Took a little hike this morning on the Shadyside Trail with @schofield.bsky.social. This is Corallorhiza striata, the Striped Coralroot - a parasitic orchid that feeds on mycorrhizal fungi.

We've been getting to know the Banana Slug neighbors who frequent our deck. I call this one Dot. vimeo.com/921660050?sh...

It was a good year for these lovely red mushrooms at #RoysRedwoods. I believe these are Hygrocybe coccinea, the Scarlet Waxy Cap. Such cheerful-looking little critters! ❤️

Three minutes in the life of a Banana Slug. From #RoysRedwoods on 14 February. It must feel so good to be a Slug. 💚

Porch salamanders! I found this pair of Arboreals (Aneides lugubris) today underneath a wet chair cushion I'd left on the deck. And it's not the cushion we found a couple under yesterday. So I'm torn: Take better care of my outdoor upholstery, or be lazy & make homes for cool salamanders?

Oh and it’s #LichenFrifay. Four from today. 🍄📷

Sometimes a science paper is also a work of art.

I have bunches of photos that I took over the course of my social media hiatus, and I'm so excited to finally share them with y'all! I'll be posting a big batch tomorrow - here's a teaser! 😘

Content warning: Slime-on-slime violence! This slime-lapse from February features a Badhamia plasmodium engulfing and consuming the immature fruiting bodies of Physarum album. Photographed over the course of 20 minutes. Amoebas are so wild, y'all. vimeo.com/920749181?sh...

Here is a slime-lapse video I made at #RoysRedwoods last month. This is also Badhamia utricularis, the Hanging Slime Mold, on an old California Bay Laurel log. This is their plasmodial (feeding) form. They really like that crust fungus! vimeo.com/920749086?sh...

From today in #RoysRedwoods: I spent some quality (and quantity!) time with the trees this morning, and I'm so glad I did. These are the fruiting bodies of Badhamia utricularis, the Hanging Slime Mold, on an old California Bay log. They are so fresh and new and perfect 🥹

From yesterday at Fort Ross, California.

We moved houses this summer, and the new place is on a half-acre of wooded hillside. Folks around here used to just throw their trash in the ravine, so I’ve been cleaning the land up. Here are a few of my favorite finds: First up, a tiny toy airplane…