@simonhco.bsky.social
Linguist / computational linguist. Keen hiker and nature photographer in Metro Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. I mostly photograph amphibians, fungus and birds, or whatever comes across my path.
Yes I posted it on iNaturalist. Consensus is Smooth puffball (Lycoperdon molle)
A mystery fungus. Maybe a puffball or the head of a mushroom (you can see where it broke from the stem at the top). Any help with ID appreciated.
Above Sasamat Lake, British Columbia.
#fungifriends #fungus 🌿 #naturephotography #macrophotography
When I told one of my kids this story they told me that most people don’t know what they want to do when they’re 14, and if they do, it’s not linguistics
When I was 14 I borrowed some books from the public library by Mario Pei about the development of Romance languages. I was intrigued at how you could describe the phonological changes. I decided to become a linguist. And I did.
Yay for public libraries
Reposting with #landscapephotography and #moodygrams tags for broader reach
Ok I asked about the word starting with S in this post. Did not present alternatives. I got one tentative vote for rhyming with cough. And one who absolutely refused to commit
I natively rhyme it with cough (although the only prior usage I can think of is the Slough of Despond in Pilgrim’s Progress). I have switched to [slu] here but that is weak evidence.
It’s not a common word. Will check with my resident Canadian English consultants.
Hmm I’m not sure how the residents pronounce it. Apple Maps has a hilariously odd pronunciation.
Finn Slough, a fishing village on the Fraser River founded by Finnish settlers in the 1880s. BC, Canada.
My first attempt at infrared photography with an unmodified Canon R5.
#Landscape #Infrared #Monochrome #infraredphotography
This is our last change ever in British Columbia (abolishing daylight saving changes) so I guess we’ll never get that hour back.
A twofer day today at Belcarra, hiking in the rain.
An ensatina (lungless salamander) and a rough-skinned newt. More details in alt text.
Belcarra BC.
#herps 🌿
This is from the summer of 2024. I’m on the lookout but haven’t seen any yet this year so I’m amusing myself browsing through my old pics
It’s following me!
Yes to “fishes” means multiple species.
But “fish (plural)” means multiple individuals, not necessarily of one species eg “many fish in the ocean”.
Linguists refer to types (eg species) vs tokens (individuals).
Fishes: multiple types
Fish (pl): multiple tokens
A Northwestern salamander maintaining perfect buoyancy just below the surface of the water.
Sometimes I think they look like they were drawn by a kid -- with the legs poking out and crudely rendered feet.
Mystery Lake, Mt Seymour, North Vancouver.
#herps 🌿
Continuing my Northwestern salamander theme: a salamander swimming up to catch some insects on the surface of the water.
Mystery Lake (1160m), Mt Seymour, North Vancouver. At higher elevations it's common to see the neotenic forms - adults that never metamorphosed.
Summer 2024.
#herps 🌿
View from above, where it's nice and dry and I can use my real camera.
My iPhone is waterproof, right? Right? Testing it for science.
This is what Northwestern salamander spawn looks like in clear water without a layer of silt. The mass is about the size of a tennis ball. You can clearly see each egg in the bundle.
Pinecone Burke Provincial Park, BC today.
#herps 🌿
Speaking of salamander spawn, here’s a mass that I found a few years ago. It was exposed when the water in the ditch evaporated so I moved it.
This was just a few meters from the spawn I posted today.
#herps 🌿
First Northwestern salamander spawn of the year in a ditch at Burnaby Lake. The earliest I have ever seen it here.
The water is very silty and settles on the spawn but you can still make out some eggs wrapped around a twig
iPhone photo. Not willing to put my macro lens on the water 😬
#herps 🌿
The amphibians are re-emerging. I haven't seen any Northwestern salamanders or any spawn yet so I decided to take a fresh look at editing some pictures from the summer of 2024.
Here, a salamander had swum up to the surface and snatched (most of) an insect, making ripples.
#herps 🌿 #salamander
Macro photo of an entire tree! A very small Douglas fir (probably, given what was all around) growing from a nursery log in a splash of sunlight.
Malcolm Knapp forest, BC
#macro #macrophotography 🌿
Why does the Austronesian map exclude the South Island of New Zealand and the Chatham Islands? 😢
Possibly Wolf's Milk (Genus Lycogala), a kind of slime mold. Still waiting for confirmation on iNaturalist but checking with the brain trust here too. A few mm in size.
Belcarra, BC.
#fungifriends #slimemold 🌿 #macrophotography
When I am hiking with my 100-500 lens I see big things far away but today I was hiking with my macro lens and it forced me to look at the very small things on every tree that I passed.
Cladonia lichen competing for space on a tree trunk at Belcarra, BC.
TIL a new word: 𝑎𝑝𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑐𝑖𝑎, the red tips.
🌿 #lichen #fungifriends #macrophotography
It’s a sign!
Sadly I did not see any amphibians today. Still too early in the season.
Belcarra, BC
#herps 🌿
lol. It wasn’t clear to me if the two holes were connected. I never saw an adult feed that one so I’m guessing the chicks were taking turns at the top hole
I was looking for something in my archives and came across this shot that I had somehow never edited.
An old pharmacy in Florence, Italy. 2019.
#travelphotography #urban #street #architecture