ryan

@melodybirds_ it's species-dependent (crossbills like fires, for example) but in previous bad boreal fire we didn't see much of an impact on finches. more likely, it'll make it harder for us to actually do the forecast because it'll be harder to do cone surveys, lol

are these wildfires in canada gonna impact the winter finch forecast? i feel like it must be bad for the pine crops (unless it’s not that part of canada that’s having the fires rn)

@evornithology :)

@RyanFMandelbaum If only there was a book that could provide guidance to these areas

i really wish more people understood that a third of NYC is greenspace/natural areas with hundreds of species of birds and thousands of species of plants/insects including lots of rare stuff. i mean it's certainly not "pristine" and there's lots missing but it's really good!!

@goddessmode Very strange and very wrong habitat, they're probably migrating or dispersing! I wonder if the smoke has anything to do with it...

@RyanFMandelbaum I encountered three Hairy Woodpeckers last night. Two were chasing each other & very vocal.

Hairy Woodpecker seen at the Marine Park Salt Marsh (Gerritsen Inlet) kayak/canoe site today.

when the jar is in the night

I love my mom who paints scary bugs instead of killing them

today off of nyc. breaching in smoky skies.

@russ_owl here's one reason: in england, the "top birder" usually sees around 300 species in a year for the entire country, while the "top birders" in brooklyn usually see around 280sp in a year *in brooklyn alone* with 300+ sp for the whole city!

@RyanFMandelbaum 99% of the arguments I’ve had IRL about this have been with LA or London people who, for whatever reason, seem to be incapable of accepting this truth

NYC obviously has world-class culture, food, nightlife, etc, but it also has world-class nature. there are people who come from around the world just to go birdwatching here!

YOU. ARE. WALNUT SIZED!!!

@hwurmp come to nyc in winter!!!

this bird is fake. doesn’t exist.

i knew by shape/color that this was a Somatochlora-genus emerald, which is a premium box since there's lots of rare members. i used iNat and my books to make a shortlist and pare things down to two species. one, the delicate emerald, has dark wing spots, but this one doesn't.

insect photography can be like opening a blind box, since i photograph a lot of things to identify later. last night i was IDing my dragonfly photos and pulled a rare: a female kennedy's emerald, vulnerable in the USA and one of only 4 michigan records on inaturalist.

@djcows Yes, exactly

we must stop the evil golf courses from drinking our water

ahem

no one uses today's wordle word except in one of my queer birder whatsapp chats where we've used it to refer to an ebird checklist with an amazonian umbrellabird, a photo of a vesper sparrow, and the elevation of mexico city

@oigevalt great guy

every day I learn about a new kind of guy. look at this shit. nature is amazing

i may not have my ducks in a row but i have some of my pelicans in a line