I hope everyone is having a nice day!

mid-20s she/her I enjoy looking at and shareing about cute animals and the pretty and interesting things in our world, both natural and created. We all could use a bit more of them in our day!

[juncohouse]

Punay / Luzon Bleeding-Heart / Bleeding-Heart Dove

Gallicolumba luzonica

[aviantastic]

Tree Swallows by Linda H. Dulak - Audubon Photography Awards

[fluentisonus]

barn swallows depicted in the “spring fresco”, akrotiri, thera, greece. c. 16th century BC

[cryptidofthecove]

[english-mace]

nonononononono

‘saw from the 1600s’ = ~400 years ago

this fresco is from ~3600 years ago

[lenacraft]

Have been watching the tree swallows for ~3600 years. Wonderful. May we get another ~3600.

[birdsleepinginatree]

Enjoying watching animals and the beauty of nature is something that we can share with others no matter their location or time period. Surely in 3600 more years there will still be people sharing art they enjoy and moments of beauty that they have witnessed.

[onenicebugperday]

Emerald moth, Cathydata batina, Geometridae

Found in Central and South America

Photo 1 by stephenluk, 2 by carrollperkins, 3 by desertnaturalist, 4 by damontighe, 5 by julianbiol, and 6 (for scale) by smejiadu

[birdsleepinginatree]

Jackie you gave so much even though you were gone too soon.

Just heard about Jackie's death, she put up a good fight but sometimes nothing can prevent loss. The current news from what I heard is that is wasn't the fight she had with the intruding young eagles that she fought a while ago but a disease that she was found to have that seems to still not be identified, it weakened her and lead to her repeatedly being anemic. The good folks at the Ojai Raptor Center tried their best, but sometimes you can only delay the inevitable, especially with a wild animal that would lack a complete medical history and that may have hidden problems that won't be noticed until too late.

I, as with many others are deeply saddened by this news and I hope that Shadow and the children are able to get by and thrive even with this loss from their lives. For many years I have enjoyed watching Jackie and Shadow work together to build their nest, repair it every year and work to raise their next clutch. I don't know what will be next for this little family and the Friends of Big Bear Valley, but all I can do is hope for the well being of these lovely eagles that have brought joy and inspiration to so many people.

Other than wishing and waiting all I can suggest is donating to fobbv if you can to help them continue their good work and/or watching their nest cams when you feel able to continue sharing the lives of Shadow, Sandy, and Luna, connecting with Jackie's family though this little glimpses into their lives out in the wild that we are lucky to have.

Friends of Big Bear Valley | Inspiring environmental awareness, appreciation and enjoyment

The 15-mile-long valley, with its beautiful lake, sits inside the San Bernardino National Forest in Southern California. We work to conserve

FOBBV CAM

Friends of Big Bear Valley (FOBBV) is an educational environmental nonprofit that focuses on connecting people with nature. We are thrilled

[herpsandbirds]

Blue Peacock (Papilio acturus), family Papilionidae, Sikkim, India

Yes, it's mostly green, but that's what its called.

photograph by Srijana Sharma

[birdsleepinginatree]

Such a beautiful critter!

[fluffysheeps]

Chocolate strawberry gecko 🍓 ArtFight attack for fuzzi-squeegii

[herpsandbirds]

This is easily one of the CRAZIEST videos I've ever gotten. I was rafting down a river when a Yellow Jacket came, landed on my bright pink waterproof phone pouch, and started drinking from the water droplets that had gathered there.

The most amazing part is how the water droplet magnifies the Hornet's mouth parts, so you get to see them up-close!!!! It was FASCINATING to witness!

Here's some of my favorite still shots from that video:

What do you think? 🥰

[ostdrossel]

It looks like the House finches had another set of babies 😍 I love these little boogers so much, and it was such a pleasant surprise today. they all ran away when that scary molting Redwinged blackbird lady came 😆⁠ ⁠ Some of my VERY old photos have been shared on Insta today, and there were tons of reactions of people saying "this is AI" and making it sound like I am not one person doing stuff in their backyard (what is even the point of insinuating that "this is in ten yards, not one"?).

I promise this is all in my backyard, and I am not using AI to create or generate any photos or videos or text. Nature is amazing enough, it does not need artificial anything. The only AI happening is when one of the smart cams uses it to record a bird. In general, I am very much not a fan of AI, especially the generative kind. My own profession as a translator and subtitler is also threatened by it, so when people accuse me of using it, it feels nasty. But maybe that is the whole point of people being aholes to others online, to make them feel bad. Fuck AI, and the horse it rode in on.

[dizzyghoast]

every so often i remember how awesome the modern interconnected multicultural world is. i grew up getting to hear fairy tales from all over the world. africa, asia, europe, america. everywhere in between. i can have bagels for breakfast, curry for lunch, and ramen for dinner without even leaving the city limits. music and art and philosophy and technology that originated thousands of miles and years apart from eachother have come together and interwoven into something greater than the sum of its parts. its hard not fall into despair when thinking about the horrors but god. god the wonders.

[catilinas]

everyone i've talked to about this has been completely unaware so: if you didn't know already, there's going to be a solar eclipse, with totality or coverage of 90% or more in some places, over a lot of europe, on august 12th 2026. in the uk it will start just after 6pm, and the maximum will be at 7:13pm.

here is a map of the path of the eclipse (from timeanddate)

get eclipse glasses if you want to look at it. it is not safe to look at through sunglasses. ok informative post over o7

[herpsandbirds]

Agami Heron (Agamia agami), family Ardeidae, order Pelicaniformes, Costa Rica

photograph by Nancy Elwood

[podartists]

Tropical Squirrels | Olaus Murie (1889-1963)

[catsofyore]

The babby. 💕 Photo from my collection, 1932.

[fluffysheeps]

Bunny binkies! 🐇

[classicalcanvas]

Water Lilies painted by Claude Monet (1840 - 1926)

[riverwindphotography]

Indian paintbrush along the Gibbon River

(c) riverwindphotography, June 2026

[fluffysheeps]

Honey bun 🍯🐇 ArtFight revenge for @considermeharmless