Laura

Map plot snapshot from ECMWF model depicting the offshore low (NorCal) and the weakening Hurricane Priscilla (west of Baja CA). The field plotted is mid-level moisture (blues represent moister air) and mid-level winds.

After another fairly hot and dry spell across California, cooler and more active weather will once again return later this week as remnant moisture from then-former #HurricanePriscilla interacts with an offshore low pressure system. [1/3] #CAwx #CAfire

The sunlight highlighting the ruby eyes of a Virginia Rail.

Beach view with orange and red cloudy sky pre-dawn. The colors are reflected in. The wet sand.

I was on Turtle Nest Watch this morn... no turtles emerged, but I got to say a rad sunrise.

#photography #hawaii #beach #nature #sunrise #zen #marinelife

An old time-y illustration of a Pumpkins.

Today is Septidi the 17th of Vendémiaire in the year 234.
Vendémiaire is the month of vintage.
Today we celebrate pumpkins. #JacobinDay

More information on pumpkins

An juvenile male Anna's Hummingbird is slightly enfloofenated in the sunlight while perched on a twig with his eye closed, and you can see enjoy the details of his crown and gorget with only a few iridescent feathers appearing so far in his short life...

When your juvenile Anna's is still young enough to take naps...🥱

✨Starting around September, young males may develop just a few iridescent feathers on the crown and gorget. Now you know. 🤘😶‍🌫️

📸 Calypte anna, a juvenile male 🪶🌿

#TinyTuesday
#TheLittleThings
#Hummingbirds
#BirdLovers
#Photography

A brown and white osprey is frozen in mid-air with its wings spread wide and its legs and talons extended as it descends toward its nest below.

Osprey flying into #TalonTuesday with landing gear lowered. Just look at those fishhooks!

Jemseg, #NewBrunswick, Canada
April 2025

📸 #birds #osprey #OSPR #nature #wildlife #photography #Nikon #Z9 #Nikkor800pf

Some things I've learned in my first few weeks:

1) There is a grey market candy swapping racket between janitors, TSA agents, CSRs, and everyone else who has to stand someplace all day at the airport.

Hi-chews, sour candies, and gummy anything are in highest demand.

11) I know I'm in the rare minority that's still masking because I take things like Covid seriously, but even outside of a pandemic, I have no idea what kind of person would willingly go through an airport unmasked.

It's... you're crammed in with thousands of people, from everywhere. Breathing.

Honestly so fucking transparent that he's trying to "wash the California" off his record which is a facially fuckin stupid thing to do

Supreme Court: of course states can regulate, and restrict access to, medical procedures if there’s a compelling public interest

Colorado: (bans conversion therapy for minors)

Supreme Court: no not like that, we only meant abortion

Bookshop is having an Anti-Amazon sale, with cheap e-books and free shipping for print today and tomorrow:

bookshop.org/lists/ebook-...

Yep! Which is why the work of Solarcycle is so vital. www.solarcycle.us

Giant kelp fronds backlit by the sun

A school of bluish, reflective fish called smelt swimming through a kelp forest

A view through a kelp forest stand underwater

Another shot of kelp on the way back up from a dive, with the kelp backlit by the sun

And some more kelp forest photos, with some closeups of giant kelp (Macrocystis pyrifera) and a school of topsmelt (Atherinops affinis), also with @joshualudtke.bsky.social .

Giant kelp in a kelp forest near La Jolla, CA. The kelp is an olive green with yellow stipes and bladders, and the water is a beautiful turquoise blue.

Giant kelp in a kelp forest near La Jolla, CA. The kelp is an olive green with yellow stipes and bladders, and the water is a beautiful turquoise blue.

Giant kelp in a kelp forest near La Jolla, CA. The kelp is an olive green with yellow stipes and bladders, and the water is a beautiful turquoise blue.

Giant kelp in a kelp forest near La Jolla, CA. The kelp is an olive green with yellow stipes and bladders, and the water is a beautiful turquoise blue.

In August I went snorkeling in a kelp forest for the first time, right off of La Jolla cove! It was magical, and as expected, very eery - the way the kelp just fades into the blue is beautiful but intimidating. 🦑

Gift of Mrs. Phillip H. Gray, 1950

Dress
https://botfrens.com/collections/223/contents/98773

Tuscany before sunrise with mist sitting low in the rolling hills

Before the sun had risen, the ghostly white mist sat low in the Tuscan valleys, as the sky above was lit bright orange. I just love getting out early to capture moments like this!

#landscape #nature #drone #photography #tuscany

Tyrian metaltail flying through orange flowers

Having a patient who is Colombian really motivates me to go back to some of my photos from my March trip!

Hummingbirds in Colombia not only have iridescent gorgets. They also have iridescent tails 🤯

Tyrian Metaltail 📷🌿🪶

Ice Floes on Siene - 1880
https://botfrens.com/collections/41/contents/9304

So they’re pulling even more support for the COVID shot and are putting muscle behind trying to make MMR three separate shots. Why? Because they hope it’ll make kids get fewer of them if it takes three separate trips. They want your kids sick or dead.

A black and white close-up of a hummingbird's face with brush-like eyelashes.

A hummingbird's eyelashes 🖤
#macromonday #hummingbirds #birds #blackandwhite #naturephotography #photography 📷 🪶

Close up of the head and bent neck of a large heron, its beak slightly open as it looks down at a rock in the water. It looks ready to strike.

The rapt attention of a Great Blue Heron with its eye on a small fish

#birds 🌿

Dense forest sloping to the sea.

Santa Cruz Mountains twilight, fog shrouding the coast. #CAwx

We need a complete and total shutdown on right wing pseudo-intellectuals bloviating about how their substack posts are bravely defending the foundations of “Western civilization” against the radical left onslaught until we can determine if their ideas made more sense in the original German.

Full moon.

Tonight's Harvest Moon, above the Oakland Hills. Emeryville, California.

#moon #nature #eastcoastkin

I see pieces like this a lot, often w/ a spin of lamenting cultural degeneration, but reading is a LABOR issue, it’s declined because so many people are working overtime or two jobs & employers expect after hours work. France has Earth’s highest reading rate b/c long lunch breaks & labor protections

put the cotdamb cinnamon brooms away it’s not time yet

I feel like I can give a very specific Mom Demographic Insight here, and it's that stay at home moms and especially conservative SAHMs often really push themselves to come up with a reliable, BUDGET FRIENDLY weekly-ish rotation of meals that can quickly and maybe healthily feed the family.

Map of Queens showing 60th Ave, 60th Ct, 60th Dr, 60th Ln, 60th Pl, 60th St

You gotta love Queens

The moment before a Great Egret makes a landing in the marsh.

Stayman winesap