Lauren Harter

The #wildflowers at Avi Kwa Ame National Monument are putting on a show! Pictured: a blanket of Wallace’s woollydaisy, a Mojave yucca inflorescence, and a tiny Nama bloom

#Desire can distract or it can serve. Today I gave in to a small indulgence. It brings me joy. In the coming days I’ll be working on deeper desires, to serve in community.
#UULent

Time for new house rules: whoever gets the bay leaf has to make the next pot of gumbo

Weird wet weather has Joshua trees flowering early — or late? Help the Yoder Lab map this “bonus bloom” to understand why A flowering tree in Yucca Valley, CA, observed by iNaturalist contributor wanderingmojave on December 9. A tree with lots of flowers in Tehachapi, CA, observed by iNaturalist contributor tina9294 o…

I started getting reports of an unseasonal Joshua tree bloom in the last few weeks, and looking over records on @inaturalist.bsky.social it's pretty widespread! So we're putting out the call for folks to record this "bonus bloom" and help us study it 🌿

lab.jbyoder.org/2025/12/10/w...

Screenshot from the iNaturalist app. It is topped with a small photo of a Northern Royal Flycatcher next to my username, hemispingus. Text reads “7000 observations” above a photo of a feather in my hand labeled White-winged Dove

My 7000th observation on iNaturalist! I love iNat for encouraging me to pay attention to all the organisms, not just the feathered ones. Feathers are good too though. 🪶

#inaturalist

#NoKingsProtest: Baton Rouge, LA @indivisbatonrouge.bsky.social @indivisible.org @velshimsnbc.bsky.social @msnbc.com @theweekendprime.bsky.social @maddow.msnbc.com @lawrenceodonnell.msnbc.com @jenpsaki.msnbc.com @democratswin.bsky.social @occupydemocrats.bsky.social @theguardian.com @theatlantic.com

Close-up photo of a brilliant yellow cactus flower

Because who doesn't like pancakes?

Pancake pricklypear, Opuntia chlorotica, from central Arizona

#bloomscrolling #cactus

A brown, ethanol-preserved specimen of the eyeless flatfish Typhlachirus. The fish is broadly speaking a featureless, slightly tapered oval, sans eyes, sans teeth, sans pectoral fins, sans everything.

Why is it so difficult to trust Typhlachirus?

Well, for one thing, eyes are usually the window to the sole.

Photo of a bizarre caterpillar, short and thick lined with intimidating bristly hairs. It features two bristly pokers jutting up from each end. It is dark brown on the ends and lime green in the middle, with a dark brown saddle spot on its back.

Post a bug that looks like AI but is actually real.

Saddleback caterpillar moth
#bugs

Photo of a gray-brown stick that, upon further inspection, has legs and eyes

This giant walkingstick looked like a zoo exhibit, just chilling on a dwarf palmetto outside Baton Rouge Louisiana. According to Wikipedia, the largest #insect in North America!

Photo of a tree trunk bedecked in medium-sized shelf fungi, most colored in concentric rings with orangey inner bits and purple outer rings

Violet-toothed polypore, because purple #mushrooms

View down a city street with the Louisiana State Capitol at the end. Protestors line both sides of the street.

Louisiana turned out today! #NoKings Baton Rouge

Photo of a small gray bird of prey perched on a dead branch. It is peering back over its shoulder with its dark red eyes

A regal Mississippi Kite, daring dragonflies to fly above the treeline 🪶

Fight the Empire.

Photo of a flower with many long thin white petals extending from a cactus with many long, arching, smooth green stems. The flower has extra-long pale green bracts, and the reproductive parts are long and pale yellow

My Epiphyllum cactus is blooming 😍 what a beauty to wake up to

#cactus #flower

I’ve already learned so much from it!

Photo of 16 books in a box: Terns of North America; Gulls of Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East; Habitats of the World; Into the Great Wide Ocean; Velvet Ants of North America; Ferns, Spikemosses, Clubmosses, and Quillworts of Eastern North America; Birds of the Mesozoic; Insects of North America; Dragonflies of North America; and Birds of China

Our shipment from the Princeton University Press 50% off sale came! 😍 This turned into a reading party, me with ferns, hubby with velvet ants, and child with fossil birds, all sharing interesting stuff every ~1.4 seconds

#books #nature

Photo of a cluster of milkweed flowers in shades of vibrant orange

Fewflower milkweed Asclepias lanceolata, a real stunner. #NativePlants #Louisiana #milkweed

Photo of a large, mostly green caterpillar, its massive size not adequately conveyed as it demolishes a swamp titi branch with audible chewing

I saw a cecropia moth caterpillar for the first time and it was 100% Heimlich from A Bug’s Life #insects #pixar

Gov. Tim Walz backs transgender kids as Democrats grapple with debate over sports bans The Minnesota Democrat has been critical of other members of his party who are retreating at a time when the issue has become a political lightning rod nationally and in Minnesota.

Gov. Tim Walz is doubling down on trans rights — and criticizing members of his party who are retreating — at a time when the issue has become a political lightning rod nationally and back home in Minnesota.

Spoon-leafed sundew Drosera intermedia; a very small plant with dew-covered spatulas for leaves reaching a mighty 2 inches off the ground

Pink sundew Drosera capillaris, a tiny plant barely larger than the fallen oak leaves on the ground. Its several round-tipped leaves are studded with reddish spikes each ending in a drop of dew

Spent a lovely morning botanizing at Abita Creek Flatwoods Preserve and especially enjoyed the carnivorous plants. Here are two sundew species! #plants #naturalist

GIF of Veruca Salt from Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory singing “I’m going to scream” while laying waste to the factory under the judgmental eyes of the Oompa Loompas

The aftermath of finding every chigger in Louisiana

In Louisiana 😄

Photo of a tiny sundew plant with spatulate leaves covered in dewy spikes

Went for a hike at a local park yesterday, in part searching for dwarf sundew. It wasn’t easy but we found them! Hands and knees botanizing 🌱 #plants #naturalist

Restoring Gold Standard Science By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including section 7301 of title 5, United

The Trump administration just dropped an executive order, "Restoring Gold Standard Science" and there's lots to unpack. This EO reveals more about how the Administration will approach scientific integrity and science in regulatory contexts. Some initial thoughts. 🧵
www.whitehouse.gov/presidential...

Photo of a green tree frog sleeping pressed up against a window

My supervisor is really keeping a close eye on me today

#frog #WorkBuddy

A small orange moth clings to a dewy window. Its wings have two bands of silver spots, like stained glass

I don’t know why it’s called a beggar moth, but it sure is pretty. #moths

Insights from a decade of using the Motus network to track boreal bird species from Observatoire d'oiseaux de Tadoussac, Québec to temperate and tropical wintering grounds | journal.afonet.org/v... | Journal of Field Ornithology | #ornithology 🪶

Avi Kwa Ame National Monument sign with Mojave shrublands, mountains, and partly cloudy skies in background.

Through decades of monitoring we have learned that the upper El Dorado and Piute valleys in far southern #Nevada are a stronghold for Bendire’s Thrashers in NV and LeConte’s Thrashers in the world.

#desertthrashers #conservation #birds

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A brown American toad and a baby snapping turtle sitting on a large roach in the creek.

I rescued a toad and a baby snapping turtle from the pool. I'm not sure they appreciate their new home down by the creek. 🐢🙂🐸
#toads #turtles #critters #nature #photography