Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Samantha biobabbler

@biobabbler.bsky.social

1.6K followers 930 following 6.8K posts

Unbridled enthusiast of that nature thing, card-carrying conservation biologist, photography phan & word nerd. Have swiffer, will fend off mountain lion. she/her

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Samantha biobabbler @biobabbler.bsky.social · 38m

omg, yes, that was DEF a thing.😆

Samantha biobabbler @biobabbler.bsky.social · 39m

Near San Simeon, CA. Boardwalks on the cliffs above are open to the public, but the beaches 100% belongs to the wildlife. Lovely and peaceful.😊

Samantha biobabbler @biobabbler.bsky.social · 11h

Right?!?🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰

1 1

Samantha biobabbler @biobabbler.bsky.social · 12h

(So, I presume that giant i-beam is a pine needle?🥹🥰)

1 4

Samantha biobabbler @biobabbler.bsky.social · 12h

Made some new friends last weekend.

Hung out.

A grey-tan beach covered in grey-tan-white elephant seals snoozing on the sandy beach. Small, gentle waves lap at the shore, behind them.

3 5 46

Samantha biobabbler @biobabbler.bsky.social · 12h

🥹

Reposted by Samantha biobabbler

Mike Melton @mikemelton.bsky.social · 12h

#TapirTuesday was also a #TapirTwofer as Bananas visited me after this female who seems to be lactating. She was very pregnant in February and the gossip in the neighborhood is that she has her calf.

Let's hope she brings her baby to visit!

At @casabentbill.bsky.social

#tapiroftheday #tapirs

A Baird's Tapir standing in a garden looking at the camera. It's night.

5 22 220

Reposted by Samantha biobabbler

Sue Luxton @kelper60.bsky.social · 13h

The #Milkyway looking rather splendid tonight #Falklandislands #Chartresfarm #stars Old house stream bridge #galaxy #nightsky #space

9 40

Samantha biobabbler @biobabbler.bsky.social · 13h

Never seen (as far as I know) or heard of this TINY creature. 🥹😍

Eric R. Eaton @bugeric.bsky.social · 13h

Fulgoraecia exigua is the Planthopper Parasite Moth, a diminutive creature, the caterpillar of which lives as an external parasite of planthoppers, sucking the host’s hemolymph. Leavenworth, Kansas, USA, October 14, 2025. #bugsky #moth #moths #insects

Very small, dark gray moth with elliptical wings and comb-like antennae, sitting on window screen, head up.

Reposted by Samantha biobabbler

toxicofriendron radicans @toxicoradica.bsky.social · 13h

🌸 annual water aster 🌿
Symphyotrichum divaricatum

#nativeplants #ecoregion71 #flowerreport #bloomscrolling #bloomsky

a medium-sized composite flower with around two dozen pale purple ray florets and several dozen bright yellow disk florets tightly packed together in the middle. the disks in the very center have yet to open, but those nearer the edge are open. they have five pointed lobes & an upright style, all very bright yellow.

towards the lower right, an annual water aster flowerhead in bloom on a branch of an airy panicle near several flowerbuds. the blooming flower is seen from the side, on the plane formed by the pale purple, spread-mostly-flat rays. a profusion of bright yellow disks rise above the rays; below, long green phyllaries line the base of the flower, pale green with a darker green streak down the middle. in the top left, one flower has already developed into a puffy seedhead like a dandelion.

an annual water aster hiding within a swampy, densely vegetated ditch, surrounded by thick frostweed stems. the aster's thin green stem leans sideways, branches many times, & bears linear, green, grass-like leaves, and loose panicles of light purple and yellow flowers.

3 44

Samantha biobabbler @biobabbler.bsky.social · 14h

👊

Samantha biobabbler @biobabbler.bsky.social · 14h

😻

Did not expect to see something reminiscent of a DNA strand on the beach.😅

Samantha biobabbler @biobabbler.bsky.social · 15h

🥹🥰
🐓🦖🐸
💖💖💖

Samantha biobabbler @biobabbler.bsky.social · 16h

🤩🤓🐍

c0nc0rdance @c0nc0rdance.bsky.social · 16h

Lastly is the least impressive, safest version: the sugar snake.

Here we're reacting sugar, baking soda at high heat to produce molten sugar and CO2 gas. Perform this outside, have a fire extinguisher handy & lots of sand on a fire- & heat-proof surface.

The trick is a 4:1 ratio of sugar to soda.

2 8

Samantha biobabbler @biobabbler.bsky.social · 16h

aw, thanks! Was walking with DH & spied that, which stopped me in my tracks.😊🤩🤓

Samantha biobabbler @biobabbler.bsky.social · 20h

Kelp shadows. 😻
(You really have to click it to see it--long and thin horizontal.)

long thin bullwhip kelp strand undulating across wet beach sand, casting a wavy shadow

3 6 37

Samantha biobabbler @biobabbler.bsky.social · 22h

<omgILOVEGorey!>

Samantha biobabbler @biobabbler.bsky.social · 22h

😂😂🤣

Samantha biobabbler @biobabbler.bsky.social · 22h

Nice! So excited for the plants and everything reliant upon them. Same with our rain up here (she wrote, stoked to be wearing a fleece top, fuzzy hat, and fuzzy scarf indoors, and wrapped in a fleece blanket).
🥳🥳🥳