Kristine M. Larson

If your geology department needs an excellent guest speaker, see if you can get @julieelliott.bsky.social to talk. She gave a great seminar on various fascinating aspects of Alaskan tectonics today, from a geophysical, seismological, geomorphic, and volcanological point of view. Top notch! ⚒️

my local park is full of hundreds of snow sculptures and someone has been adding museum labels

a leaf blower is being used to move water off a roof.

Why yes, use that leaf blower to remove water from the roof!

Last year, my kid discovered one of very few Pinguiculas ever in the country of Belize. Their closest relatives seem to be from the cloud forests of southeastern Mexico, but they look different. The Maya Mountains. We are just now putting all our observations together!

More hybrids. Today on the Texas coast. FulvousxBlack-bellied Whistling Duck. The barred rump is particularly intriguing.

Sunset in San Diego last night.

Last night in Bird Rock

Ripples in the Cretaceous Aguja Formation in Big Bend National Park. These formation is mostly composed of marine shales and mudstones but there are occasional sandstone layers that mark brief changes in depositional environment.

Local reporting on Balboa Park parking continues to omit the fact that, combining both directions for routes 3, 7, 120, and 215, buses stop at Balboa Park:

- Weekdays: Every 1 minute and 52 seconds
- Saturdays: Every 2 minutes and 18 seconds
- Sundays: Every 2 minutes and 30 seconds

Public Transport with RideSD · Luma Join San Diego Green Drinks and RideSD to kick-off another year of sustainability connections! We will be at Bivouac Adventure Lodge from 6-8pm and hear from…

San Diego peeps: @ridesd.org is doing a happy hour/panel with Green Drinks on oublic transit in the area. Good opportunity to touch grass and meet people interested in urbanism and decarbonization. luma.com/9d8th3jq

Older gentleman and teenager with skateboard sitting on the bus

Senior citizen and teenager with a skateboard taking the 30 bus on Mission Blvd (San Diego)

Immature Rufous Hummingbird @riceuniversity.bsky.social. These guys are getting ready to fly north for the summer, perhaps as far as Alaska. Before doing so, they need to replace some of their worn juvenile feathers. This one is still growing in its central tail feathers and inner primaries.

I saw one on Mission Blvd last week.

Fashion Valley Transit Center is Closed - Rain Detour - All Routes at Mission Valley Center Due to flooding the Fashion Valley Transit Ctr is closed till further notice. Passengers are advised to catch all Fashion Valley Transit Ctr Routes at Mission Valley on Camino De La Reina. Posted on Jan 1, 2026 at 10:35 AM

San Diego: Fashion Valley Transit Center is closed. This is the plan for the most severe Mission Valley flooding, so probably a good idea to avoid that area if you can.

I spoke with @carlzimmer.com about our terminated grant on wildfire smoke and homes:

Beach scene with a life guard station at night. Crystal Pier is lit up with white lights and a Christmas tree. San Diego

Happy Holidays from Pacific Beach.

Indigo Bunting (Passerina cyanea): This 13cm (5in) bird is native to the Americas. It winters in a range from South America to Florida, breeding from Florida up to southern Canada. It is a seed eating species. Terrific shot of this brilliant blue bird taken by Joe Povenz in the USA. #indigobunting

We moved to a small condo building in San Diego almost two years ago from Boulder. Pretty quickly we learned that no one composted. Not one. We have slowly gotten about a third to do so.

At the bottom, 2/3 four ground is covered in yellow ginkgo leaf carpet and looking off into a row of ginkgo trees that are about 20 years old next to a sidewalk on the left. The cold carpet goes all the way off to the vanishing point in between the rose that are about 20 feet apart.

Well, I tried waiting for blue skies and yellow ginkgo carpets on campus, but the Tule fog/stratus robbed me of that vision, so here’s the consolation view yesterday.

View of low tide, exposed rocks near Tourmaline in Pacific Beach, with surfers to the right.

Low tide at Tourmaline Beach viewed from Bird Rock

A Western Willet flying over me. In the fall, the Eastern Willets along the coast fly south to their wintering grounds and are replaced by Western Willets returning from the north. Willets are here year round, but the two species trade places every season. And yes, they are different species.

CVS phone AI just genuinely actually said "Villa Long Acting Jolla Drive".

View of San Diego and Mission Bay through trees from Kate Sessions park.

View from Kate Sessions Park, San Diego

After seemingly disappearing for 5 days, our Allen's Hummingbird @riceuniversity in Houston, TX has returned. Where did to go to all this time?

Reflections and sunset over water

Oslo i solnedgangen 2025-11-15

The most #SanDiego of headlines.
@abc10news.bsky.social

Another Allen’s Hummingbird @riceuniversity.bsky.social in Houston. Amazing we’ve now had two. Our garden is working!

Here in Houston @riceuniversity our soccer fields attract migrating meadowlarks in late October and early November. One might assume they are the expected Easterns but most have turned out to be Westerns. They r difficult to identify: subtle differences in face, tail and tertial patterns and vocals

This is well done.

A portrait of an Osprey

Osprey
Mission Bay, San Diego

#photography #birds #naturephotography #wildlife #wildlifephotography #sandiego #nature #birdsky