Author | Lightnews

Lauren Harter

@lbharter.bsky.social

160 followers 170 following 160 posts

(Mostly) desert #bird biologist and all-around bird nerd. ⚽️ fan, gardener, organism enthusiast, houseplant mom, cat mom, actual human mom. Not in that order. Opinions my own 🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍🌈💙

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Lauren Harter @lbharter.bsky.social · Jun 20

My 7000th observation on iNaturalist! I love iNat for encouraging me to pay attention to all the organisms, not just the feathered ones. Feathers are good too though. 🪶

#inaturalist

Screenshot from the iNaturalist app. It is topped with a small photo of a Northern Royal Flycatcher next to my username, hemispingus. Text reads “7000 observations” above a photo of a feather in my hand labeled White-winged Dove

Reposted by Lauren Harter

Emily in the Blue 💙 Delta @ezwez.bsky.social · Jun 14

#NoKingsProtest: Baton Rouge, LA @indivisbatonrouge.bsky.social @indivisible.org @velshimsnbc.bsky.social @msnbc.com @theweekendprime.bsky.social @maddow.msnbc.com @lawrenceodonnell.msnbc.com @jenpsaki.msnbc.com @democratswin.bsky.social @occupydemocrats.bsky.social @theguardian.com @theatlantic.com

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Lauren Harter @lbharter.bsky.social · Jun 19

Because who doesn't like pancakes?

Pancake pricklypear, Opuntia chlorotica, from central Arizona

#bloomscrolling #cactus

Close-up photo of a brilliant yellow cactus flower

Reposted by Lauren Harter

GhouloScare/Deathrow Screaming @jethroreading32.bsky.social · Jun 19

Why is it so difficult to trust Typhlachirus?

Well, for one thing, eyes are usually the window to the sole.

A brown, ethanol-preserved specimen of the eyeless flatfish Typhlachirus. The fish is broadly speaking a featureless, slightly tapered oval, sans eyes, sans teeth, sans pectoral fins, sans everything.

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Lauren Harter @lbharter.bsky.social · Jun 18

Post a bug that looks like AI but is actually real.

Saddleback caterpillar moth
#bugs

Photo of a bizarre caterpillar, short and thick lined with intimidating bristly hairs. It features two bristly pokers jutting up from each end. It is dark brown on the ends and lime green in the middle, with a dark brown saddle spot on its back.

Lauren Harter @lbharter.bsky.social · Jun 17

This giant walkingstick looked like a zoo exhibit, just chilling on a dwarf palmetto outside Baton Rouge Louisiana. According to Wikipedia, the largest #insect in North America!

Photo of a gray-brown stick that, upon further inspection, has legs and eyes

Lauren Harter @lbharter.bsky.social · Jun 16

Violet-toothed polypore, because purple #mushrooms

Photo of a tree trunk bedecked in medium-sized shelf fungi, most colored in concentric rings with orangey inner bits and purple outer rings

Lauren Harter @lbharter.bsky.social · Jun 14

Louisiana turned out today! #NoKings Baton Rouge

View down a city street with the Louisiana State Capitol at the end. Protestors line both sides of the street.

Lauren Harter @lbharter.bsky.social · Jun 13

A regal Mississippi Kite, daring dragonflies to fly above the treeline 🪶

Photo of a small gray bird of prey perched on a dead branch. It is peering back over its shoulder with its dark red eyes

Reposted by Lauren Harter

Sketchcraft - Rob Duenas @sketchcraft.bsky.social · Jun 9

Fight the Empire.

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Lauren Harter @lbharter.bsky.social · Jun 10

My Epiphyllum cactus is blooming 😍 what a beauty to wake up to

#cactus #flower

Photo of a flower with many long thin white petals extending from a cactus with many long, arching, smooth green stems. The flower has extra-long pale green bracts, and the reproductive parts are long and pale yellow

Lauren Harter @lbharter.bsky.social · Jun 7

I’ve already learned so much from it!

Lauren Harter @lbharter.bsky.social · Jun 6

Our shipment from the Princeton University Press 50% off sale came! 😍 This turned into a reading party, me with ferns, hubby with velvet ants, and child with fossil birds, all sharing interesting stuff every ~1.4 seconds

#books #nature

Photo of 16 books in a box: Terns of North America; Gulls of Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East; Habitats of the World; Into the Great Wide Ocean; Velvet Ants of North America; Ferns, Spikemosses, Clubmosses, and Quillworts of Eastern North America; Birds of the Mesozoic; Insects of North America; Dragonflies of North America; and Birds of China

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Lauren Harter @lbharter.bsky.social · Jun 6

Fewflower milkweed Asclepias lanceolata, a real stunner. #NativePlants #Louisiana #milkweed

Photo of a cluster of milkweed flowers in shades of vibrant orange

Lauren Harter @lbharter.bsky.social · Jun 5

I saw a cecropia moth caterpillar for the first time and it was 100% Heimlich from A Bug’s Life #insects #pixar

Photo of a large, mostly green caterpillar, its massive size not adequately conveyed as it demolishes a swamp titi branch with audible chewing

Reposted by Lauren Harter

Minnesota Star Tribune @startribune.com · Jun 4

Gov. Tim Walz is doubling down on trans rights — and criticizing members of his party who are retreating — at a time when the issue has become a political lightning rod nationally and back home in Minnesota.

Gov. Tim Walz backs transgender kids as Democrats grapple with debate over sports bans

The Minnesota Democrat has been critical of other members of his party who are retreating at a time when the issue has become a political lightning rod nationally and in Minnesota.

www.startribune.com

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Lauren Harter @lbharter.bsky.social · Jun 3

Spent a lovely morning botanizing at Abita Creek Flatwoods Preserve and especially enjoyed the carnivorous plants. Here are two sundew species! #plants #naturalist

Spoon-leafed sundew Drosera intermedia; a very small plant with dew-covered spatulas for leaves reaching a mighty 2 inches off the ground

Pink sundew Drosera capillaris, a tiny plant barely larger than the fallen oak leaves on the ground. Its several round-tipped leaves are studded with reddish spikes each ending in a drop of dew

Lauren Harter @lbharter.bsky.social · May 27

The aftermath of finding every chigger in Louisiana

GIF of Veruca Salt from Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory singing “I’m going to scream” while laying waste to the factory under the judgmental eyes of the Oompa Loompas

Lauren Harter @lbharter.bsky.social · May 27

In Louisiana 😄

Lauren Harter @lbharter.bsky.social · May 27

Went for a hike at a local park yesterday, in part searching for dwarf sundew. It wasn’t easy but we found them! Hands and knees botanizing 🌱 #plants #naturalist

Photo of a tiny sundew plant with spatulate leaves covered in dewy spikes

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Reposted by Lauren Harter

Gretchen Goldman, PhD @gretchentg.bsky.social · May 23

The Trump administration just dropped an executive order, "Restoring Gold Standard Science" and there's lots to unpack. This EO reveals more about how the Administration will approach scientific integrity and science in regulatory contexts. Some initial thoughts. 🧵
www.whitehouse.gov/presidential...

Restoring Gold Standard Science

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including section 7301 of title 5, United

www.whitehouse.gov

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Lauren Harter @lbharter.bsky.social · May 20

My supervisor is really keeping a close eye on me today

#frog #WorkBuddy

Photo of a green tree frog sleeping pressed up against a window

Lauren Harter @lbharter.bsky.social · May 19

I don’t know why it’s called a beggar moth, but it sure is pretty. #moths

A small orange moth clings to a dewy window. Its wings have two bands of silver spots, like stained glass

Reposted by Lauren Harter

BOU @bou.org.uk · May 19

Insights from a decade of using the Motus network to track boreal bird species from Observatoire d'oiseaux de Tadoussac, Québec to temperate and tropical wintering grounds | journal.afonet.org/v... | Journal of Field Ornithology | #ornithology 🪶

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Reposted by Lauren Harter

Great Basin Bird Observatory @greatbasinbirds.bsky.social · Apr 23

Through decades of monitoring we have learned that the upper El Dorado and Piute valleys in far southern #Nevada are a stronghold for Bendire’s Thrashers in NV and LeConte’s Thrashers in the world.

#desertthrashers #conservation #birds

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Avi Kwa Ame National Monument sign with Mojave shrublands, mountains, and partly cloudy skies in background.

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