#moon #astronomy The Moon looked lovely, so I grabbed my telescope and my phone and took a picture. That bright spot in the upper left corner is "Aristarchus Crater" (Wikipedia: "Aristarchus_(crater)").
I'm a fan of the 13th century chronicler known as Matthew of Paris. I also post images/videos of birds and animals that visit my birdbath and sometimes, my amateur photos of the night sky. You might know me as "Michael".
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#moon #astronomy The Moon looked lovely, so I grabbed my telescope and my phone and took a picture. That bright spot in the upper left corner is "Aristarchus Crater" (Wikipedia: "Aristarchus_(crater)").
#birds A Mourning Dove is in the bath - and raises each wing - I've seen them do this before - no other bird seems to do this at this bird-bath...
#birds Another shot of the female Cardinal in the bath with some House Sparrows. The early morning light really shows the color of the feathers.
#birds - The early morning light brings the birds to the bath. One of those is not a sparrow...
#birds - Three snapshots of the same Blue Jay getting into and using the bird-bath. Yes - it looks like mange - but this is late season molt.
No bird pictures (other than a couple of poor images of Mourning Doves) in the last week. Either the bird-bath is not needed (cooler weather) or else they are commuting to their winter homes.
#astronomy #TCrB With just my cellphone a few minutes ago, here's Polaris and Kolchab with some mild cloudiness. Heavily edited to make it more clear. (I'm practicing for when T Corona Borealis goes boom - it will be about as bright at these two stars. Right now it's invisible to my cameras.)
avi-loeb.medium.com/does-3i-atla... #astronomy #comet #interstellar An interstellar comet coming thru our solar system has a "tail" that points *at* the Sun, rather than away. In addition, it is too bright for a normal comet. Something new is on the way!
THE BACKWARD TAIL OF COMET 3I/ATLAS www.spaceweather.com/archive.php?... "The tail of 3I/ATLAS points almost straight toward the sun. Normally, comet dust tails are pushed away from the sun by radiation pressure. 3I/ATLAS is doing the opposite—it's backwards." This is a fascinating read.
Thanks to @gwen4braves.bsky.social and @dragonfly68.bsky.social for correcting my mistake! Somehow (late last night when I posted this) I missed the tuft! (Hard to imagine...) My mistake is so clear in the morning (post caffeine) light! 👍 Much appreciated!
#birds - This is a Gray Catbird - it rarely comes to the birdbath - haven't seen one in over a year.
#birds Eastern Downy Woodpecker (presumably female - no red spot on the back of the head). I saw one in a tree a couple of days ago - and now it's visiting the birdbath! (First time ever getting an image of this bird. It's never come to the birdbath before!)
Apparently LLM's are being trained by Matthew Paris, a famous chronicler from the 13th century - most of his LATIN text has been included in this list, as well as books written about him (e.g., one by Richard Vaughn). This is clearly worrisome. www.theatlantic.com/technology/a...
#birds The Grackle is still waiting for it's feathers to grow in - either that or else many of them near my house are going through this stage at the same time. It's almost like some kind of zombie movie.
#birds A Mourning Dove sits on the edge.
#birds Robins and House Sparrows sometimes share the birdbath and sometimes they don't.
#birds Sparrows in the bath. I can't keep count. Can you?
#chipmunk - This image is from a week or two ago. It was beastly hot - so I put out a ceramic plate filled with water for the bees and anyone else. The camera caught a lovely pose from a chipmunk.
#birds Species interaction. Who knew Mourning Doves take precedence? Usually Robin baths take forever and are followed by a lot of preening. I love the entrance march from behind the plants.
#birds A Northern Flicker drinking in the early morning light.
#birds - One learns that birds keep small rocks in their gullet to help grind the incoming nutrition... but here's proof that this Robin is getting rid of one of them (and presumably will pick up a new one shortly).
xkcd.com/3126
Merle's Door: Lessons from a Freethinking Dog by Ted Kerasote
Thanks! My videos come from a trail-cam in my yard in the Northeastern part of the US. No feeders, just the bird bath.
I understand your feelings. I've heard other stories about territorial nest bashing and egg breaking by other species as well. I am glad to hear that your movable owl cutout strategy worked. Nice! May the songbirds thrive!
#birds This poor male grackle is in molt, and he's lost almost all the feathers on his head - which gives him this horrible appearance. And yet - the morning light shows how the rest of his feathers glisten and shine beautifully.
#birds A robin in the bath. If you turn up the audio - you'll hear early morning suburban traffic/construction sounds, but you'll also hear background birdsong and the slapping of the robin's wings in the bath.
#birds A grackle gets a drink from the bird bath - the shimmer of the feathers is something that astonishes me every time!
#birds A portrait of a Mourning Dove in the bird-bath in mid-afternoon light.
#birds This is a female Northern Cardinal taking a bath. I had no idea that the under-feathers were so colorful!
Certainly looks right to me! Nice images!
#birds Another visit from one of the Flickers.
#birds A delightful surprise - an immature (non-breeding) Goldfinch. I knew there were some near - but this is the first visit to the bird bath this year. (I kept the immature Robin interruption at the end for scale...)
That is a quote from a the Disney series "Andor".
Of all the things at risk the loss of an objective reality is perhaps the most dangerous. The death of truth is the ultimate victory of evil. When truth leaves us, when we let it slip away, when it is ripped from our hands, we become vulnerable to the appetite of whatever monster screams the loudest
The chipmunk is checking out the flavor of it's captured booty, presumably a tomato from our garden. Once it's value has been determined, it is quickly dropped down the hole (invisible in the grass) and heads out for more booty.
#birds A Mourning Dove contemplates the bird bath before drinking.
#birds - A Blue Jay is enjoying the bird bath, but all you see is a mess of water droplets and some hints of color.
#birds Two images of the American Robin - notice how different they are? 😉
Nice! So clear!
#birds Here's the video that starts one second later than the photo...
#birds A comparison picture: a Blue Jay and a Northern Flicker at the bird-bath. A few seconds later, in the video, the Flicker has stared down the Blue Jay and it leaves. Ten seconds later, it comes back to the bird bath.
What a cool image. Nice capture of a storm of caterpillars!
#birds - more camera-snaps of a Blue Jay in the bath - water droplets everywhere. The first one shows tail-high - almost a pure triangle with a flag on top. The second one is all a blurry mess with water everywhere.
#birds I just love how the dappled morning light shows off the birds in the bath. And again, so many sparrows - they are just delightful to watch!
#birds This is a slightly more dramatic presentation of how Robins and Sparrows *usually* interact. (as compared to my previous post about them getting along...) In this case, the immature robin never actually gets it's bath.
If you go to the Cornell site (www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Northe...) you can see different variants of the Northern Flicker (red- or yellow- shafted). That might provide some help in placing your new image-capture.
#birds Another portrait of a male yellow-shafted Flicker.
#birds This is a close-up of a juvenile Starling. The belly feathers make a fascinating pattern.
#birds The first time I saw this kind of ratty-ness, I thought the grackle was sick. Then I learned a little, and discovered this is what the middle of the molt looks like. Poor handsome guy is looking like a Skeksis (See Jim Henson, "The Dark Crystal").
To Socrates also a certain man said, "The words which thou hast spoken have not been [well] received," And he replied: "I grieve not at all that they have not been [well] received, but I should grieve if they had not been well delivered." (The Laughable Stories - Már Gregory John Bar-Hebræus)
#birds A female house sparrow sits on the edge considering her options.
#birds Seen from behind - a Northern Flicker. (Overheard: Well that's a unique identifying marker for that species!)
#birds Yet another portrait of a Blue Jay.
#birds This is a silly one - the sparrow is landing, but one foot is down and the other is raised. It looks totally off balance. Because the camera is slightly slow, the wings are just a blur - and that makes them look all wrong as well - which contributes to the silliness of the image.
#birds - a pair of Northern Cardinals in the bath. I rarely see them together - it's clearly a pair - usually one at a time will visit - so this must mean their offspring have fledged!
I saw this some time ago - went looking so I could share it with you... www.uliwestphal.de/elephas-anth...
I love how the adult is working all three in order. This is a lovely video. I only see a few feedings at the my bird-bath. It's always special.
#birds Mourning Dove
Some of those elephant images are so funny. This is particularly nice (because of the hooves)!
#birds Blue Jay & Robin collide. Sequence of shots showing a Blue Jay inbound to the bath which is occupied by a Robin. The first shot is them launching. Second is them separating. Third is both leaving. Happens in only a second - and they are moving so fast the camera only gets blurred images.
It astonishes me that we have the science and the tools to see this kind of event - a comet from outside our solar system is inbound, paying a quick visit, and then going back into interstellar space. Just Amazing! #astronomy #interstellar #comet apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap25071...
Another link with more information: www.cam.ac.uk/stories/merl...
Gawain using Excalibur; Merlin as Arthur's standard bearer. All this remained hidden because it was used to bind ledgers in the 1500's ... www.nytimes.com/2025/03/28/w...
Somehow I have an impression it was like a Cirque de Soleil performance. Juggling, music, singing, dancing, acrobatics. Richard clearly impressed Matthew with this tale.
Entertainment in AD 1241 Earl Richard of Cornwall, brother of King Henry III is visiting his sister, Empress Isabella, wife of Fredrick II, the Holy Roman Emperor, residing in Sicily. The Emperor arranges for entertainment... Here's Matthew of Paris' recounting of the event with images:
xkcd.com/3115/
#birds A pair of mourning doves in the bath. One is doing the wing-thing again...
Best image of a rabbit in a long time - it's looking up the stone wall - and in the next image is "gone" - so I presume it went up. We have a lot of rabbits in our yard this year. The small ones are very small and very cute. But... They are rabbits that eat things... so - they aren't too popular.
#birds There are two of them. But do you call them Tufted Titmouses, or Tufted Titmice? (These birds are rarely at the bird-bath - I see them about once a year. This is the first pair I've seen.)
#birds - it's morning - and a robin is at the bath. (I love how the sun reflected off the water makes ripples on its feathers.)
#birds - So ... how many sparrows is that?
Chipmunk portrait. (It sat like that for three seconds before moving - the camera got three separate almost identical images before the chipmunk took off.)
#birds Female grackle in the bath - shorter tail feathers and duller color in the feathers.
On the other hand, they are lovely-looking chairs, and with double arm-rests - I can imagine sitting next to someone, enjoying the day and reading a book... 🙂
I like the bluebird looking back over his shoulder. Something about the implications of his gaze.
Photographic data: Taken using the NightSight feature of a Pixel 4 phone from right in front of my house this evening. Effective exposure as recorded by the software: 4.38 mm lens, f/1.73, 15 sec, ISO 438.
This is the constellation Corona Borealis. There is a star that is not visible in the lower left corner of the image (too faint). It is expected to give a nova-flare in the near future due to historical data. This is one of my "before" images. I hope to capture "during" and "after" images.
Finally a clear evening. It hasn't exploded yet! #astronomy #TCrB
What the "highlight" part of the post didn't state: the robot performed with 100% of the effectiveness and safety as a human surgeon. I think the title's phrasing led me to ask my facetious question.
This invites the specific question: was the operation a success? (e.g., did the patient survive?) 🤷♀️
Many of the birds at the bird bath really look all messy when they finish. The robins especially can spend several minutes preening after the bath - and the camera catches much of it.
#birds It looks like the Cardinal is listening to the Sparrow. I keep thinking I hear "Really! It was THIS BIG!!!"
Correction: the dove TURNS and then raises the same wing a second time... This is more like what I would expect - from previous image captures.
#birds Here's a better image of the shaggy/damp robin - doing some preening. All the red is intermixed with the black. (And look at that mouth when he's preening his neck!).
#birds This is a spectacular look at what an "all wet" Robin looks like. The feathers are SO messy!
#birds Rub-a-dub-dub, three birds in a tub.
#birds Mourning Doves have this thing. They raise one wing up and just hold it vertical - to "air it out". In this case, the dove does it for both wings, one at a time. Haven't seen any other bird-bath visitor do this. (Sometimes they do this to ward of splashing of other birds...)
#sqrlpix
(all those splashy birds om the bath) -> (all those splashy birds in the bath)
For Earth Science geeks: www.npr.org/2025/07/07/n... #science #biosphere
#birds This grackle is wandering around the bird bath. His movement shows off his iridescent feathers in the sunlight. The lens is slightly dirty (all those splashy birds om the bath), but you can see how the colors flicker all over the place. (unedited)
Night-time (just before 2am) video of a skunk as it meanders around the lawn. It's markings are irregular - so it will be easy to see when I catch it on video again! (This was early this morning - camera has infrared floodlights which is why it's all in black-and-white.) #skunk
BBV Update: 4/4 About seven minutes later, Jackie arrived, with a lovely vocal greeting for Shadow and for everyone observing. (Still no definitive observations of the fledglings, Sunny and Gizmo.)
BBV Update: 3/4 The first positive sign was a flyby by one of the adults around 5:30 p.m. Then just after 7:00 p.m., a more beautiful sight as we were all happy to see Shadow fly over and land in the Twin Pine tree.
BBV Update: 2/3 We hadn't seen or heard from Jackie or Shadow all day, but then relief came to all who were concerned about their safety when both were seen together in the Twin Pine tree, one of their new favorite trees.
From the BBV Blog 1/3 The silence in the early morning the day after the big fireworks display over the lake was quite eerie, but as the day progressed the sights and sounds of Big Bear’s wildlife slowly returned.
I've been reviewing more of the footage. The junk in the bird bath is because a Grackle was digging into the garden mulch next to the bird bath and throwing it around to get underneath and the bottom side of the mulch. Much of it ended up in the bath!
This fox wandered through my yard at 5:13AM a couple of weeks ago. Since there are rabbits, squirrels, rodents, etc., I assume it was looking for breakfast.
This post is about light. Look at the fur of the chipmunk as it drinks. Look at the surface of the plants in the background and the image in the water. The waves from the drinking show how the water changes the light around it when the sun is in the right place. (the water-mirror is cool too)