New avatar is daughter's drawing of a girl reader, levitating.

An interesting new paper from some well known scientists about why we should value and conserve insects: because they are beautiful. https://academic.oup.com/bioscience/advance-article/doi/10.1093/biosci/biag085/9005881

#nonsense #bEit #wantto :akko_fistup: :ablobwobble:

🧵 1/2
Three good things

Today

1. We managed to trim the claws on all three of our cats which means my back and shoulders and jeans won't be scratched and shredded for a while.

2. We had another visit (seen on the trail cam) from the handsome young stag who has been hanging around at night.
And We didn't catch the bear on the trail cam (that's a good thing, so I guess that makes 4). Uploaded to the first comment.

3. On our walk this afternoon a chipmunk posed nicely for me as long as I wanted, so I took way too many photos.

Yours?

#3goodthings #ThreeGoodThings
#EllieKPosts #WildlifeWednesday #wildlife

Wahey to the delightful distraction of dabbling ducks.

Woolly alder aphids (Prociphilus tessellatus) on Grey alder (Alnus incana)

#TextureTuesday #insects #trees #nature #photography

Booked our Adirondacks camp site for next summer. This is a crazy process that involves checking the Reserve America website every morning at 9am until I can get the site we want. Now I just have to wait 9 months...

My 2 cats are avid participants in Project Feeder Watch. Oscar knows to change windows when he hears crows. Blake is happy on the kitchen floor (glass door) and is a part of Scurrying Chipmunk Watch.

Good Morning!

Yes, it's election day in the USA.

If you haven't voted yet, today is it.

Please remember you do NOT have to talk to anyone about your ballot after you've voted.

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/412482943

#Fungi #SlimeMould #Macro #Photography #Mosstodon

Today in Wetland Geometry: An A-coot Angle.

Taking refuge in small worlds.

US followers: Universal voter info link here! https://www.voterresource.org/vote-saraht

If you need to find out:

-Where do I vote?

-What hours are the polls open?

-Am I registered?

-How do I register?

AND MORE,

It's all here! https://www.voterresource.org/vote-saraht

When you touch a sleepy cat and they make a little "prrt?" noise and then stretch their toesies and go "hhrrNNGGGHHgghhhrr"

Boost if you agree

Someone was trying to hide from the camera between the leaves on the ground: Pimpla pedalis, an Ichneumonid wasp.
Their larvae are parasites of many species of moth caterpillars and sawfly larvae.

#insects #wasps #nature

Niizh manidoowag
is the Ojibwemowin phrase
from which the term
“Two Spirit” is derived.

I once asked my mom
how to pronounce niizh manidoowag.
She said, “That means ‘friends with ghosts.’
Why would you be friends with ghosts?”

I said that oftentimes
they are more reliable
than people.

This one time I asked my mom
how to say niizh manidoowag.
She said, “That means ‘friends with ghosts.’
Why would you be friends with ghosts?”

Because they have the best jokes, I quip.

A while back, I asked my mom
how to say niizh manidoowag.
She said, “That means ‘friends with ghosts.’
Why would you be friends with ghosts?”

And I tell her
who wouldn’t want
to divorce themselves
from the living, the present
and be lost to time
forever.

But I wonder
when my mom passes on,
would she want
to be friends
with
me.
~~ 'Friends with Ghosts' by Tripp J. Crouse from 'The Starry Field'

#FridayPoem #TodaysPoem #poetry @poetry

#SilentSunday

#SilentSunday #macro #flowers #bloomscrolling #fallcolors #autumn #photography

Perhaps even rarer, this seen on our front door by the ivy.

iNat & ObsIdentify suggest it's a black compost fly (Scatopse notata), but the gold between the antennae & around the thorax, & multi-coloured legs say otherwise.

Likely genus Apiloscatopse, perhaps A scutellata, v rare in DE 😱

#Heidelberg 🏰
#Photography 📷️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️
#BugOfTheDay 🐞
#MacroPhotography 🔬
#InsectsOfMastodon 🪰
#BackGardenEntomology 🪲