Mark McClelland

I particularly love the ridges along the upper and lower mandibles so clearly visible here.

Close-up of a motmot's head in profile.

Another favorite from my visit to Hacienda San Jose Cholul in #Yucatán. Lesson's motmot (Momotus lessonii). "Toh" in Maya. (I don't think there are different Maya words to distinguish among the species of motmot endemic to the Yucatán peninsula.)

#Birds

Yucatán Jay hanging from the branch of a chico sapote tree, its gaze directed over the right shoulder of the viewer. A chico sapote fruit, the reason for the bird's visit to the tree, lies partially covered by green leaves. Feathers just above the eyes of the jay look a bit like large, wild eyebrows, giving the photo a slightly comical appearance.

A favorite pic from my visit to Hacienda San Jose Cholul in #Yucatán. In Maya, the bird is known as "ch'el" for the white plumage it has when young.

Narrow street in a Mexican town, which dead-ends at a cross-street lit by afternoon sun. A floppy eared dog stands in the street over some garbage it's been eating, and its gaze is directed at the viewer. To the right of the dog, we see a man on a modified three-wheeled motorcycle headed away from us, with the bronzed bare back of his passenger riding in the cargo/passenger area of the "motorized cargo bike". A red awning hangs over the entire vehicle to provide shade. Another such vehicle is parked on the sunny crossroad in the distance, and just behind it stands a couple with their arms around each other, looking into the dark interior of a shop. The wide window of the shop is protected from sun by a palapa awning. We see products for sale in the open window, including tall unlabeled bottles of honey. Two rustic mismatched wooden stools stand on the sidewalk outside the window, giving it an inviting look as a spot to sit, chat, and perhaps have a drink or a bite.

I don't take many #StreetLife photos, but I'm particularly happy with how this one turned out. Taken in Acanceh, a pueblo of #Yucatán with some noteworthy Mayan ruins.

Our planet's shadow moving across the surface of the moon last night.

I'm excited to see this growing fruit on the sweet-orange tree we planted last year. (In #Yucatán, you always have to clarify whether you mean bitter or sweet, since bitter orange is just as common here and is heavily used in cooking.)

Current mood

alol

I'll add that I love Raycast. Bringing navigation of apps and URLs and utilities all under one umbrella of a personal lexicon is a huge productivity boost for me. (On Windows, SlickRun has been this for me for 15+ years. Translating much of the same lexicon to Raycast eased my Mac transition a lot.)

Amen to that. It turns out that less is often less, and more is more.

As much as possible, I set up my computers to sacrifice all the clean and magical visual design principles in service of making it obvious how to do things.
- Mouseover-appearing controls: gone or permanent
- Disappearing scrollbars: always shown
- Cute flat uniform looking icons: labeled

Gulf Classic

Trump Killed a Major Report on Nature. They’re Trying to Publish It Anyway. (Gift Article) The first full draft of the assessment, on the state of America’s land, water and wildlife, was weeks from completion. The project leader called the study “too important to die.”

As I shared last week, the US's first National Nature Assessment has been shut down: but the authors, led by @phillevin.bsky.social, are determined to continue. Read more: www.nytimes.com/2025/02/10/c...

So much great writing here about the people our culture has lifted to power.

Billionaire Dipshit And His Strike Team Of Greasy Beavises Are Stripping The Wires From The Federal Government | Defector The most important thing to know about both the chittering Renfields gnawing through the ductwork of the American administrative state and the billionaire sociopath they serve is that they don’t care....

Billionaire Dipshit And His Strike Team Of Greasy Beavises Are Stripping The Wires From The Federal Government - defector.com/billionaire-...

Just a primer and a reminder that our Sanctuary City ordinance was upheld by SCOTUS in 2020 (not that that means anything any more)

My wife says she's digging deep for gifs she can send me to request morning tea. This is what I'm picturing.

Crescent moon and Venus from our rooftop

Dramatic sunset sky

#Yucatán

@lizneeley.bsky.social is publishing a weekly newsletter to track the ongoing attacks in science and higher ed. If you want to keep abreast without drowning in the news, I recommend it: buttondown.com/liminalcreat...

Happy Saturday y'all

People like to rip on #Duolingo for not really teaching you how to speak a foreign language, but it's been a huge help for me. I just had a 45 minute conversation entirely in Spanish with the woman who cut my hair, and I can thank Duo for at least half my Spanish education.

Photo from a Mexican junkyard, where I recently bought an antique rocking chair. The railroad spikes made me think of you, @maxbenign.bsky.social

This is one of my diaspora shards. Lovely to see you here!

I have two more bandanas on the website! sarajcary.indiemade.com/product/band...

YouTube video by AlbertOneVEVO ALBERT ONE - TURBO DIESEL

Here's a massive Italo-disco playlist, offered as Timeline cleanse and psychic armor.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNMW...

Crow in the snow

Crow, snow.
#JanuArty #snow
#crow #corvid #photography #birds

I particularly love the thoroughness. This bird wasn't just clearing a space for itself. It was driven by a mission to dispose of an unwanted threat. Anti-bullshit completionist at work. Fantastic.

A curlew flies over tilled fields. The fair weather sky is full of swallows

Curlew. Matt Hooper. Linocut

Bonus points for scientific name that sounds like one nasty little spell.