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Leslie Joy Mills

@ljoymills.bsky.social

27K followers 63K following 1.5K posts

Caregiver, former IP paralegal, world traveler, avid reader, real news junkie, journalist, animal lover, photographer, genealogist, master gardener, supporter of all arts, fan of great architecture and movies. Could not live without music and books.

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Leslie Joy Mills @ljoymills.bsky.social · 9h

I don't know about you, but I've never been afraid to speak my mind, especially in these times. Silence is complicity. Things will not get better if people won't speak up, protest, do whatever they can to fight back. Dictators don't want citizens to fight back; they want silence and obedience.

Reposted by Leslie Joy Mills

The Conversation U.S. @us.theconversation.com · 10h

More Americans are biting their tongues, not because they don’t care, but because they’re afraid to speak.

From DEI to the war in Gaza, people are more afraid to speak their minds now than during the Red Scare, according to a political scientist who has been conducting surveys.

buff.ly/Ls2m7mv

Self-censorship and the ‘spiral of silence’: Why Americans are less likely to publicly voice their opinions on political issues

Nearly half of Americans say they feel less free to speak their minds.

buff.ly

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Leslie Joy Mills @ljoymills.bsky.social · 9h

This in infuriating. Why in the world would anyone want to make it easier to carry guns around whenever/wherever you want, whether someone likes it or not? You would think that SCOTUS and the GQPs would do something to make everyone's lives safer, not more dangerous!

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Reposted by Leslie Joy Mills

The New Republic @newrepublic.com · 9h

SCOTUS has announced it will review a Hawaii law that forbids gun owners from bringing firearms on private property without the property owner’s explicit permission.

If it falls, the court could make it harder for states and cities to keep guns out of everyday life. trib.al/lrF0Sqm

The Supreme Court Could Make It Easier to Bring a Gun Everywhere

The justices just took up a challenge to a Hawaii law that bars people from carrying guns on private property against the owner’s wishes.

trib.al

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GardeningWell @gardeningwell.ie · 19h

🌱🦋🌎 #spéirgorm

GardeningWell @gardeningwell.ie · 1d

Want to make your garden more wildlife friendly — but don’t know where to begin?

Check out our “Start Here” page: easy steps, examples, and real tips to make your garden beautiful and full of life.

gardeningwell.ie/climate-acti...

A mixture of native flowers and exotics, all beneficial to pollinators, make an exquisite blend pink and purple. Easy on the eye and kind to the planet.

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Reposted by Leslie Joy Mills

Shannon Walsh @flutterbyflora.bsky.social · 15h

🌱This marigold took over this season! From last year's saved seeds❤️💛💚 #gardening #Gardensky

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Julie the ok gardener @juliejam.bsky.social · 14h

Common Checkered-Skippers on the Frost Aster today. Their caterpillars eat plants in the mallow (Malvaceae) family, probably Swamp Rose Mallow in my garden, where they aren't that common. Burnsius communis. #butterflies #lepidoptera #nativeplants #gardening 🌱🦋

A small butterfly with a white and brownish-blacķ checkered pattern fringed in white sits with wings outspread on a white aster flower. The body of the butterfly is covered in soft, feathery blue fur that extends onto the inner part of the wings.

A Common checkered-skipper sits facing the camera with wings out, tongue extended into an aster. The underside of the wings is paler than the top, mostly white with soft charcoal checkering. The face and underside of the body are white with pale blue hair. The eyes are black.

Another Common Checkered-Skipper facing down with wings outspread, showing the long feathery blue hair on the back. The Frost Aster is Symphyotrichum pilosum. Oklahoma Northern Crosstimbers ecoregion 29a.

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Reposted by Leslie Joy Mills

Cortney McKee @cortneymckee.bsky.social · 14h

🌱 went to Peebles Farm Pumpkin Patch in Augusta #Arkansas today. They've added a sunflower field (a cotton field & a zinnia field)where I took this photo of a bee at work.

Upclose photo of a large sunflower with a small bee pollinating.

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Kim @kimoco.bsky.social · 14h

I’m only doing so because I moved here 35 years ago into rent stabilized flat with a garden and never moved. 🌱

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Reposted by Leslie Joy Mills

Colton the fish squeezer🐟🪴📚🏕️🐝 @fishsqueezer.bsky.social · 12h

This is one of my friend Scott's orchids, it's an Epidendrum porpax with HUNDREDS of flowers. It's bigger than a basketball and is staggeringly beautiful.

🌱🪴

One side of an orchid with at least a hundred small flowers. They have upturned petals and a hanging red lip with a yellow center. The leaves are small and ovate-lanceolate with a center crease. There is some reflective material in the back.

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Leslie Joy Mills @ljoymills.bsky.social · 9h

Hey, thanks for sharing these gorgeous pictures! I love MN but am not lucky enough to live there.

Reposted by Leslie Joy Mills

State of St. Louis @stateofstlouis.bsky.social · 13h

Good evening from Shab-on-im-i-kan-i-sibi (Ojibwe- River Place of Gooseberries), Gooseberry Falls on Gooseberry River MN, which empties into Lake Superior

Waterfalls 🧵

Upper Falls

The Great Northern Adventure #LandYacht #Trip10 Day 18

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Leslie Joy Mills @ljoymills.bsky.social · 10h

Beautiful picture of a beautiful bird! I love it when we see an occasional bald eagle. They are majestic.

Reposted by Leslie Joy Mills

Brainfog @brainfog88.bsky.social · 11h

Bald Eagles rebuilding their nest. I caught this picture after it flew over my head and just as it gave up on carrying this branch and dropped it. Whidbey Island, Washington.
#birds #naturephotography #pnw ##whidbeyisland

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Reposted by Leslie Joy Mills

Prof Wieden @profwieden.bsky.social · 11h

Egyptian Geese are very good crocodile alarms. They are also good at driving crocs away! #birds #NileCrocodile #EgyptianGoose #Botswana

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Leslie Joy Mills @ljoymills.bsky.social · 10h

Didn't have a clue! We have occasional coyotes here, but I don't think we have trees with low enough branches for them. I don't know if Kansas coyotes climb!

Reposted by Leslie Joy Mills

J. Stryker | Memento Mori ☠️ @easterncoyote.bsky.social · 11h

Please share a weird animal fact. Or a lesser-known animal fact.

FACT: Coyotes climb trees. (Coyote Ethos: “Never tell me the odds.”)

Your turn!

Coyote in an evergreen tree. Full story here, including more photos: https://goeddelphotography.com/blog/coyote-climbs-tree-and-steals-bobcats-duck/

Coyote in a fruit tree. 📸: Janet Kessler of coyoteyipps.com—arguably, the most fun and informative website in existence.

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Lynzie Flynn @lynzieflynn.bsky.social · 11h

The Golden Hour
#mandarinduck #birds #wildlife #photography #audubon #nature #naturephotography #birdnerd #wildlife #natgeowild #bbcwildlife #bbcearth #birdsofbluesky #birdphotography #blueskyartshow #planetbirds #photography #bestbirdshots #lynzieflynn #beautifulbirds

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Reposted by Leslie Joy Mills

LibbyOK @libbyok.bsky.social · 10h

If you are wondering where all the pelicans are, I found them!! #cambria #pelicans #birds

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Wendy Miller @burrowingowl.bsky.social · 10h

Squadron of sandhill cranes putting their landing gear down, all in perfect formation! 🪶

Six sandhill cranes flying in a vertical pyramid shape, getting ready to land.

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Reposted by Leslie Joy Mills

Paul Wallace @paulmwall.bsky.social · 10h

Little blue heron, not blue #birds

Little blue heron standing on a pile of twisted branches. Despite her name, every feather on this bird is white. The bird’s back is to the camera and her head is turned to the right. She is a tall wading bird with long yellow-green legs and an S-shaped neck and a daggerlike bill. Some webby stuff, perhaps a spider web, clings to her beak, which is pale with a dark tip.

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Leslie Joy Mills @ljoymills.bsky.social · 10h

Well, he's a stunner, isn't he? Thanks for sharing...

Reposted by Leslie Joy Mills

Ethan Moon @ethanmoon.bsky.social · 10h

Male Harlequin Duck.

(Victoria BC, October 9 2025)

#birds #birding #ducks #harlequinduck #histrionicushistrionicus 🪶

A male Harlequin Duck standing on a tidal rock.

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Mike Melton @mikemelton.bsky.social · 10h

A young male Crowned Woodnymph this morning at @tapirvalley.bsky.social #CostaRica

#birds #hummingbirds #nature

Close-up of a perched hummingbird with iridescent green and deep blue-purple feathers, a slightly curved black bill, and a smooth green blurred background.

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ddebold.bsky.social @ddebold.bsky.social · 10h

I went for a walk at Shoreline Park this morning and captured these images of a Snowy Egret, a Brown Pelican and a pair of White-tailed Kites.

#birds #photography #wildlife #shorelinepark 🪶

Snowy Egret in flight over Shoreline Lake

A pair of White-tailed Kites in Shoreline Park

Brown Pelican rests on a water polo net on Shoreline Lake

Snowy Egret on the shore of Shoreline Lake

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