Author | Lightnews

Anne Opossum

@oopspossum.bsky.social

2.8K followers 440 following 140 posts

Wildland-urban interface trash animal. 🏳️‍🌈🏴‍☠️🍊 Botanist, scientific illustrator, macro nature photographer, pet beetle owner. ASD, bi ace, poly, Jewitch🍉. Opinions are my own. it/they/she Hyperfixation: neolithic - early medieval history

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Anne Opossum @oopspossum.bsky.social · Jun 26

Farewell-to-spring (Clarkia amoena) and hello summer!
Farewell-to-springs vary a lot in their coloration across their range from British Columbia to California. This, plus their good seeding ability, has made them a popular annual flower to grow in gardens.
#BloomScrolling #GardenSky #WestCoastKin

Photo of a field of pink wildflowers and dried grasses. One pink flower is in focus in the foreground, it has 4 pink petals with a dark pink spot on each petal.

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Anne Opossum @oopspossum.bsky.social · Jun 26

Most forget-me-nots have very small flowers and even smaller seeds, called nutlets (the texture of which can help ID to species).

Myosotis laxa are circumboreal, they are native across the entire Northern hemisphere!

#botany #SciArt #nativeplants #etch #ScratchArt #GardenSky #BloomScrolling

Scratch-art line drawing of a plant with many small flowers, growing on the ends of spiral curving stems. Different parts, angles, and life stages are included. The background paper is black, and the lines are rainbow.

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Anne Opossum @oopspossum.bsky.social · Jun 25

I have only seen places selling seeds to ship. It seems some local nurseries around the West have plants and bulbs available in person, seasonally.

Anne Opossum @oopspossum.bsky.social · Jun 24

Columbia tiger lilies, Lilium columbianum, are a native #wildflower across the northwestern US and British Columbia. Their bulbs were used by native peoples for food, and can be cultivated to spread in your garden.

#macrophotography #BloomScrolling #GardenSky #OnlyBeautifulThings #ColorsOfNature

Close up photo the of an orange lily flower in a forest, with sun rays gleaming through the out of focus trees behind the plant.

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Anne Opossum @oopspossum.bsky.social · Jun 23

All species of Larkspur are toxic, just like most plants in their family, Ranunculaceae. A familiar poisonous relative is monkshood, Aconitum sp.

#SciArt #botany #BloomScrolling #etching #ScratchArt

Scratch-art line drawing of a wildflower where the flowers have 5 petals in a star shape and a large spur coming off the back, with different parts, angles, and life stages included. The background paper is black, and the lines are rainbow.

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Anne Opossum @oopspossum.bsky.social · Jun 23

There are way less than there used to be. Lawn monocultures, habitat destruction, and irresponsible insecticide use is really doing a number on their populations.

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Anne Opossum @oopspossum.bsky.social · Jun 22

I saw #fireflies (that light up*, see footnote) for the first time last week! It was just as magical as seeing the aurora last year!

*I have seen #beetles in the #firefly family, Lampyridae, in the PNW before. It is just that most Washington and Oregon species don't light up.

#ColorsOfNature #DC

Photo of a small glowing green beetle being held in a hand in the dark.

Photo of a small glowing green beetle walking on a hand in the dark.

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Anne Opossum @oopspossum.bsky.social · Jun 22

It's me!!!

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Anne Opossum @oopspossum.bsky.social · Jun 21

Same.

Anne Opossum @oopspossum.bsky.social · Jun 21

Puget balsamroot, Balsamorhiza deltoidea, is a sunflower native to the west coast from British Columbia to California. It's populations thrive with frequent burning, but can still grow in a well drained Western Pacific Northwest garden

#SciArt #FlowerSky #GardenSky #NativePlants #pnw #WestCoastKin

Scratch-art line drawing of a wild sunflower, with different parts, angles, and life stages included. The background paper is black, and the lines are rainbow.

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Anne Opossum @oopspossum.bsky.social · Jun 20

Exactly!
Plus the one piece of merch I bought there 😆

Photo of a yellow shirt with a screaming opossum on it and text that reads:
"Yeah, so I'm already dead... on the inside, but I can still pretend.
Motion City Soundtrack"

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Anne Opossum @oopspossum.bsky.social · Jun 20

Yeah! There are two more dates this year, and they seem to be doing presale for next year's dates as they each happen.
It is not like warped tour used to be. Only 3 dates instead of like 50. Each one is a two day festival. And costs a lot more than the $20 tickets used to be
www.vanswarpedtour.com

Photo of a large outdoor stage with a performance occurring

Photo of 3 bmx bike riders each doing a different trick in mid jump

Anne Opossum @oopspossum.bsky.social · Jun 20

The amount of moshing was exactly what you would expect at a historically-punk festival.

At least A Day To Remember wasn't playing this one, otherwise there would have been surfing on the crowd surfers in addition to a general disrespect for your surroundings.

#WarpedTour #DC #emo #PopPunk

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Anne Opossum @oopspossum.bsky.social · Jun 19

I'm so excited that my #NativePlant baldhip #roses are finally old enough to bloom! They love the shady forests of the #PNW

#ScratchArt #etching #PriDemonTh #SciArt #QueerArt #botany #GardeningFeed #FlowerSky

Scratch-art line drawing of a wild rose, with different parts, angles, and life stages included. The background paper is black, and the lines are rainbow.
Text reads: Rosa gymnocarpa, baldhip rose

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Anne Opossum @oopspossum.bsky.social · Jun 4

Aurora were maybe visible in the lower 48 of the Pacific Northwest last night. Here is the best shot I got of it, with varying amounts of editing.
#vaporwave #JazzCup #aurora #NorthernLights #pnw #SkySky #PhotographyOfBluesky

Photo of a night sky, with a very faint smudge in the middle that could be aurora.

Same photo of a night sky, with a very faint smudge in the middle that could be aurora, but it is slightly more visible due to editing.

Same photo of a night sky, with a faint smudge/ live in the middle that is probably aurora, and it is standing out from a lot of saturation and editing.

Same photo of a night sky, that has been very highly edited in a vaporwave app to be very bright, have a lot of colors, and a sticker of the Jazz Cup design going across the corner.

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Anne Opossum @oopspossum.bsky.social · Jun 2

Mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) eating inside-out-flower (Vancouveria hexandra) and large leafed avens (Geum macrophyllum) while being occasionally observed by ancient dog (Canis incontinence)

Photo of a small food looking out a window at a deer

Photo of a deer slowly walking towards some more foliage

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Anne Opossum @oopspossum.bsky.social · Jun 2

There was drama this morning! See the following post for the entire saga of my amazingly observant guard dog/wolf who didn't even see the deer until she moved.
#DogsOfBluesky #mutt #JackRussellTerrier #RescueDog #wildlife #pnw #deer

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Anne Opossum @oopspossum.bsky.social · May 19

I believe it! My best friend lived in Dublin for 2 years like a decade ago. She still regularly rants about the slugs in her bathroom there 😆

Anne Opossum @oopspossum.bsky.social · May 18

Common camas (Camassia quamash) is usually shades of purple, but periodically all white individuals grow! They are not albinos, as plants with albinism wouldn't be able to photosythesize.

Prairie Appreciation Day at Wolf Haven International was great today!
#LandscapePhotography #NaturePhotography

Photo of a field of lavender-colored wildflowers, with a single white flower of the same species in the foreground.

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Anne Opossum @oopspossum.bsky.social · May 15

Pangolins are some of the most endangered mammal species in the world. They are popular in illegal wildlife trade, while being difficult to raise in captivity for conservation and re-release.
#wildlifeWednesday #SciArt

Grayscale illustration of a pangolin, a unique looking mammal that is kind of like a mix between an armadillo, porcupine, and an anteater.
Text says Manis pentadactyla, Chinese Pangolin

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Anne Opossum @oopspossum.bsky.social · May 10

Golden paintbrush (Castilleja levisecta) is a formerly endangered species. It is closely related to harsh paintbrush (C. hispida), and thus can hybridize, making a range of orange individials.
Prairie Appreciation Day was great this morning!
#pnw #botany #nativeplants #landscapephotography

Photo of a field of wildflowers. The flower in the foreground is bright orange, most of the plants behind it are yellow, and there are lavender colored flowers sprinkled across the background.

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Anne Opossum @oopspossum.bsky.social · May 9

Chum salmon (Oncorhynchus keta) are not very popular for eating, partially because their meat usually isn't orange. But! One run in Washington, the Nisqually run, do have orange meat.
They occur all around the northern Pacific, so there are probably other unique runs.
#fishfriday #pnw #sushi 🐡

Grayscale illustration of a lifecycle of a fish. Starting with eggs, and fish getting larger Ave darker as they go around the circle.
Text says Oncorhynchus keta Chum Salmon

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Anne Opossum @oopspossum.bsky.social · May 8

I wish I was eating uncrustables in Portland!
On a separate note, my spouse gets uncomfortable when I categorize uncrustables as ravioli.

Anne Opossum @oopspossum.bsky.social · May 7

Maybe next year! It happens the second Saturday of May each year. Other south sound prairies have started having them around may too. Wolf Haven International is having theirs on May 17th. There are others, but I don't know those

Anne Opossum @oopspossum.bsky.social · May 7

Make sure to go to Prairie Appreciation Day at Glacial Heritage on Saturday! It is just a few miles from Mima Mounds! Almost 1000 acres of Camas and other flowers, and it is the only day of the year it is open to the public

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