Joey's Animal Exploits

22 year old male college student with a love of falconry and entomology as well as biology in general. Anything that is my own content is tagged as Joey's animal exploits.

[joey2896]

It's been a while, found a baby bird just hatched today. This one hatched but I don't think there is anything we can for it. The other didn't make it out of the egg all the way.

[mizar113]

[morgans-mystics]

Salted Honey Pie 🍯

An old fashion pie recipe that’s super simple to make and a great Ostara/Spring Dessert! I’m making one for this Easter with my family.

Honey, Eggs, Cream are all Spring Foods. Honey symbolizes sweetness and the rewards of hardwork just like the little bees that work so hard to make it! 🐝

And Salt banishes negativity and is purifying!

This dessert is perfect for getting rid of the stress or worry of Winter and welcoming any sweet rewards from your hardwork in the future this Spring!

Ingredients:

One 9 inch Pie Crust (Store bought or one of your favorite crust recipes)

½ Cup of Melted Butter

¾ Cup of White Sugar

2 Tbs of Cornmeal

¼ tsp of Salt

¾ Cup of Honey

2 Eggs + 1 Egg Yolk

½ Cup of Cream

2 tsp White Vinegar

1 tsp of Vanilla Extract

Salt Flakes for Garnish

Preheat your oven to 350. In a large bowl, mix together your dry ingredients before slowly mixing in your wet ingredients one at a time…. (I never do this and just mix it all together randomly as I go, but it’s up to you.)

Feel free to add a sigil to the base of the pie crust. This is mine -

Pour mixture into your pie crust, it will be liquid and thin; that’s okay!

Cook for 45 to 60 minutes or until the top is golden brown and it starts to bubble.(I recommend 60 minutes on the middle rack. Mine didn’t burn at all!)

Take it out of the oven and let it cool for One hour or more to let it solidify. This step is very important to make sure it isn’t too liquidy. The consitancy should be like Pecan Pie Filling.

Garnish with Sea Salt or Himalayan Salt; any big salt flakes. But regular table salt will do just fine if the others aren’t available.

Done! 🍯🐝🍽😋

This can be used for Litha too!

[mossworm]

I cannot stress enough that you do not need a degree to become a naturalist / discover new species… you just need to care about living things and have a passion for them. Going to college just gets you closer to good resources (museum collections and career biologists) but you do not NEED a degree to access either of those things. 

It can be useful to get one if you can! But you do not NEED one and there is no time limit for getting one.

[nanonaturalist]

FYI to all my followers: I am not a “real” entomologist

I went to college and have a masters degree… in engineering.

I have never taken any course in animal biology, taxonomy, let alone entomology.

Everything I know about nature and wildlife, I learned by myself because I was interested in these topics. I went out on guided hikes the state parks put on with experts, and I made connections with people who had gone to college and studied wildlife biology.

I raised moth and butterfly eggs I found in my yard, sometimes hatching parasites instead. I reached out to people online through bugguide forums and via iNaturalist, and got to submit parasitic wasps that hadn’t yet been documented in Io moth eggs, to the entomologist at Texas A&M University who was revising the genus they were in—before I could have told you the difference between an assassin bug and a leaf-footed bug. I raised stick insects I found in my yard, and ended up shipping some to a real entomologist who had never photographed the species, and needed one for a field guide he is writing.

You will be amazed what resources you have available to you if you just ask. Lamenting your lack of access to museum specimens in the back storage areas? Contact the curator for your area of interest at your local museum, explain you are an amateur x-ologist, and you are interested in studying y species. Is there a time you could arrange to view the collections? THEY WILL SAY YES!!!! You’re a high school student, worried they won’t take you seriously? EVEN BETTER, THEY WILL LOVE YOU!!! Aim for a university collection if there is one nearby.

College is great if that’s your thing, but it won’t make you a naturalist. You will make you a naturalist.

June 27, 2019

[tapacamino]

GOD YES THIS *slams fist on table*

I have a degree in animation and I’ve worked for ten years as natural history curator in various natural history museums, with entomology being my focus. You definitely don’t need a science degree as long as you’re willing to learn.

Also, as a natural history curator I can confirm that we WILL say yes if you want to study the collections. That’s what museums are there for!

[nanonaturalist]

I will add!

I have a friend who got his PhD in physics who was the entomology curator at a natural history museum for several years, and currently works as a research scientist in an entomology research lab at a university. He studies the various ways insects manipulate light with nano-structured features on their bodies (hey, physics!) to understand how they might be able to see their environment.

Whatever skills you already have are useful for whatever naturalist-centric lifestyle you want to lead! I’ve got the adhd hyperfixation curse and a penchant for staying online for 36+ hours straight. Of course I surged to the top of the iNaturalist leaderboards (and doing my bug IDs on there is how I learned everything I know!).

What skills do you have? How can you use them to be a naturalist? Who can you network with to put those skills to work in a way that’s meaningful for you? The naturalist community is full of people with a common mission. Any newcomer is welcomed with open arms and we love helping newbies.

June 28, 2019

[nanonaturalist]

A news article about people like me (and you?!):

Link to article: Species Sleuths: Amateur Naturalists Spark a New Wave of Discovery

June 28, 2019

[yellowgnomeboots]

I don’t really know that much about bugs, I mostly just like looking at them. But one day i went “what the F is that?!??!” And contacted the museum in case this weird thing was a biosecurity risk, and it wasn’t, but now I have the second known population of this bug in my country living in my garden and a bunch of the ones I caught are preserved in the museum.

So even just paying attention to what’s around you while being moderately familiar with your insect ID book can have cool results.

[nanonaturalist]

^ This

We have no idea how many species of insects there are. One estimate is that we have discovered fewer than half of the known species of insects and other arthropods, and we have have already driven many more to extinction without ever having known about them.

I found io moth eggs in my yard, which hatched wasps instead of caterpillars. I couldn’t find any info online about egg parasites for io moths. Now those wasps are sitting in a museum collection. I need to check in with the wasp guy to see if he determined their species!

The reason so few insect species have been discovered is there are so few scientists with the funding to go out looking for them. That’s where we come in! Go outside, enjoy a nice walk around your yard, a park, a garden, anywhere. Look around you. Look for patterns, and see if you notice something strange or unusual! If you find something? Reach out! A local museum is a great start. Another option (a fav of mine) is iNaturalist.

Fun story: the emerald ash borer is an invasive beetle in the US that is driving ash trees to extinction in the eastern part of the country, and it’s slowly spreading west. A couple years ago, a 10 year old kid took a picture of one in Dallas, TX, way outside of where it had been seen, and posted it on iNat. Authorities were alerted, and they were able to monitor the area, confirm the presence of larvae, and they are taking measures to contain and prevent their spread. Without this kid, we wouldn’t know the beetles were there until the trees started dying, because Dallas is so far west of where the beetles had been seen!

Link to article about discovery of the beetle, featuring my IRL nature friend Sam Kieschnick! [link]

This kid changed the course of history for our state’s ecosystem by taking photos of that beetle.

Anybody can do the same!

June 28, 2019

Edited to add photo and link to story about the EAB discovery

[nonbinary-entomologist]

I have found several new county records of plants just because I like to take pictures of plants and bugs and I can date the first one back to when I was like uh 14 bc I have a photo! I wish I could go back and collect to make a formal record but it’s still fun knowing I found some plants that people overlooked!

[americasgreatoutdoors]

Located on the little finger of Michigan, Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore includes 65 miles of Lake Michigan shoreline and numerous inland lakes and streams. Of course, the park’s most dramatic features are the 400-foot-tall sandy bluffs that slope down to the lake’s cool, blue waters. Visitors can enjoy epics views of Lake Michigan, canoe on one of the many inland lakes, hike the myriad of trails through the lovely forests or visit the Manitou Islands. It’s all just part of a wonderful opportunity for bird watching, wildlife viewing and enjoying nature at its best. Photo by National Park Service.

[systlin]

But seriously, when we got our property, it was all just…grass. A sterile grass moonscape, like a billion other yards. With two big old maple trees. Just grass and maples, that was it. 

But then I got my grubby little paws on it, and I immediately stopped fertilizing, spraying, and bagging up grass clippings and leaves. I ripped up sod and put in flowers and vegetables. I put down nice thick blankets of mulch around the flowers and vegetables. 

When I first was sweating my way through stripping sod, I saw a grand total of 1 worm and 0 ladybugs. The ground was compacted into something that would bend shovel blades. 

Now, six years later, I can’t dig a planting hole without turning up fourteen earthworms, and there are so many ladybugs here. Not the invasive asian lady beetles; native ladybugs. They winter over in the mulch and in the brush pile. I see thousands of them. 

The soil is soft and rich. There are birds that come to eat, and bees of many sorts.

Like this is something that you, yourself, can absolutely change. This is something that you, personally, can make a difference in.

[systlin]

Like, last year I watched no fewer than twenty-nine monarch caterpillars grow up on my milkweed and fly away as butterflies. I watched swallowtails and moths grow. There are hummingbirds fighting over flowers now.

I did that. Me. You can do the same.

[mindblowingscience]

Australia Is So Damn Hot Right Now Snakes Are Seeking Refuge in The Worst Possible Places

The heat wave has parched landscapes, triggered damaging wildfires, pushed demand on the power grid to the brink and toppled significant records, Capital Weather Gang's Angela Fritz wrote last week.

In Australia, snakes sometimes slither into suburban backyards and homes. When the weather gets warm, they lounge in the sun. When it gets hot, they seek cool places: a wall crevice, under a refrigerator, under a barbecue grill, behind an air-conditioning unit.

When it gets too hot and dry, they seek places with moisture, as some Australians are quickly learning.

Luke Huntley, a snake catcher in Queensland, had to remove snakes from people’s bathrooms, as the country experiences a record-setting heat wave.

Last week, he removed a seven-foot python that had slithered into an open door and climbed into the shower not only to escape the heat but also to find water.

Days earlier, he pulled a small tree snake that had coiled in another homeowner’s toilet bowl.

Continue Reading.

[arrymoon-deactivated20221207]

australia is so hot that the snakes are in hiding and half of north america is so cold just being outside long enough could kill someone and global warming “is a hoax”

[screwyouandrew]

hes fat cause he’s full of love and he is running to give everybody a hug

[bitterness-with-bliss]

In reality, frogs that are “full of love” are actually full of poison.

[screwyouandrew]

Love arrives in many forms

[the-first-to-fall-deactivated20]

It is time to draw all the KayleTrox memes I’ve been wanting to draw since the Rework announcement. Enjoy!

[strangebiology]

Rosie the shark has been saved!

Urban explorer Luke McPherson found a preserved shark carcass in an abandoned wildlife park, and produced a captivating video. I saw the video (thanks to Tumblr!) and interviewed him for Ripley’s Believe it or Not! 

Soon after, the tragic story of the shark, named “Rosie,” gained spread through the web, and virality led to a lot more trespassing (my B). 

It also led to people asking for someone to “Save Rosie.” And it worked, McPherson reports. As 9News shows, workers drained the toxic chemicals from Rosie’s tank, and will move her to a rock and gem shop called Crystal World, so she can be displayed once again.

(Photos from Luke McPherson, Robert Jones, and FB)

[vikan-pykan]

Impudent ig :D

[systlin]

But seriously, if alien PLANTS ever show up, citrus and oaks are going to be trying to breed with them IMMEDIATELY. 

We make fun of ourselves for being willing to fuck aliens, but I guarantee you that citrus and oaks are right there with us, aggressively trying to cross-pollinate with any new and interesting conquests. 

[disgustingplants]

[botanyshitposts]

#another iowan talking shit about plants #new stereotype alert!!!!!!!!

if you spent any amount of ur life in iowa literally surrounded by endless fields of maize (’beautiful rolling hills of gold’ or whatever bullshit people who dont live here call it) and you remain unwilling to call plants out about the rate at which they fuck, always, constantly, ceaselessly, aggressively, than you have learned nothing and i hope u walk into the bathroom in the middle of the night and experience a scene like the bloody bathtub one in scream where u pull back the curtain and theres maize growing up the drain into ur home

[systlin]

@botanyshitposts U get it thank you. 

[gallusrostromegalus]

I haven’t lived in Iowa for three generations and the urge to talk smack about plants still runs strong.

[delphinidin4]

Please tell me about oak hybrids! I’ve learned a lot about citrus hybrids recently, but not about oak hybrids!

[gallusrostromegalus]

Full disclosure: I’m not an arborist, but this is how i remember it being explained to me by DBG’s Dan The Arborist:

It’s not actually clear if Oak Trees HAVE species.

To elaborate:

One oak tree looks/grows/and even tastes very much like another, to the point where some botanists and arborists are going “Can you really call this a different species when the changes are so miniscule that they could be chalked up to differneces between individuals?

Yes, Taste.  sometimes the only way to tell one oak tree from another is that the bark is slightly more bitter than a different kind fo oak.

FURTHERMORE, when you DO find two very different-looking Oaks from different parts of the world whose last common ancestor was back in the goddamn Pliestocene, you can plant them next to eachother and they will gleefully comingle their DNA into a perfectly viable new tree.

Which will somehow manage to look exactly like another, unrelated tree.

So the theory espoused by Dan The Arborist, on that cold march morning after he’d spent 5 minutes loudly and somewhat profanely rambling in front of the most Charlie-Brown-Christmas-Tree-Looking Motherfucker of an Oak Bastard Child as mentioned above, goes as such:

Dan thinks that Quercus is a genus comprised of a single, highly variable species of tree that’s managed to take over most of the temperate parts of the world by being a little whore, unquote.

Those variants are the botanical equivalent of breeds, and a scrawny little Scrub Oak and a majrestic Burr Oak are the same species in the same way that a Chihuahua and a Newfoundland are both Dogs.

This is very much up for debate in botanical circles but if Dan discovers another redheaded bastard oak growing in the gardens he will take it to the next conference and thrash it about until they see it his way.

[buckinwildstory-deactivated2019]

Quercus is a genus comprised of a single, highly variable species of tree that’s managed to take over most of the temperate parts of the world by being a little whore  

I need this as an illuminated botany text page or something. I have not laughed this hard in weeks.

[gallusrostromegalus]

@theshitpostcalligrapher takes comissions!

[leodrune]

green magick for the home

an apple can be used for a simple house blessing; cut an apple in half, and eat one half in your home. place the other outside, in the backyard or front porch, as an offering to good spirits for protection and warm energy.

bay leaves can be placed in the corners of a room to banish evil from it and protect those within it.

a cactus can be grown near a house to offer strong protection; even stronger protection is gained by planting cacti at all for corners of the home.

planting catnip in the garden, or hanging it above your door, will attract good spirits and good luck.

chamomile can be sprinkled about in the home to break curses and unwanted spells cast on or in the home.

cilantro brings peace and harmony to a home.

clover can be sprinkled around a home to banish unwanted spirits.

garlic can be hung in a home to bring its inhabitants closer together.

ivy plants can be hung to deter unwanted guests.

lavender can be burned and its ashes sprinkled about to cultivate rest and tranquility within the home.

orange peel can be placed in windowsills to bless the house with angel and sun energy.

peppermint can be burned as a smoke cleanser to remove illness and negative energy from a new home.

a sprig of pine can be hung in the home to bless it and its inhabitants.

sachets of saffron can bring happiness to the home.

thyme burned or hung inside brings good health to its residents.

[justabirdy]

VIXIV is live on kickstarter! This is a boardgame about wildlife and the people who manage them!

The game pits you against other players as interns attempting to catch the eyes of professional mentors while also managing the populations and resources of local wildlife, the natural spaces they inhabit, and ecological impacts that affect them!

This is a wonderfully competitive game that has the byproduct of teaching about real world ecology, and earth sciences!

Designed by myself, @contemporary_conservationist and @learnloudly this game is a love letter to modern conservation, ecology, and the animals that professionals in our varied fields have dedicated their lives to!

If you have any interest or connection to wildlife, ecology, biology, wildlife management, or environmental education, this is a game you will enjoy!

Find out more on our kickstarter page (link in my bio!) Support us and help us get kickstarted! . . . . . . . . . . . #wildlife #boardgames #kickstarter #game #nature #biology #ecology #tabletopgaming #education #environment https://www.instagram.com/p/BslO-iklMOX/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=bpqwcunjibiy

[catchymemes]

[shortvideosandstuff]

[nncharlesz]

Okay, head’s up. This little critter is called a slow loris. NEVER TAKE ONE AS A PET. They’ve experienced a boom in popularity as pets in parts of Asia and then the rest of the world, and this is not okay. 

Why?

A) They’re endangered

B) They’re venomous. The only known venomous primate, to be exact. They store it in their inner arms.They’ll get in defensive posture, suck the venom from their glands, and them bite. And the bite can kill a human. (Seriously, one nipped Lady Gaga in Feb 2014 when she thought it would be a good idea to use one in a music video. They dropped that idea, thankfully.)

C) They’re endangered directly BECAUSE OF THE EXOTIC PET TRADE

D) When the poachers trap them, THEY CLIP THEIR FUCKING TEETH TO MAKE THEM “MANAGEABLE.” Many slow loris’ will die before ever being sold because of complications with HAVING THEIR FUCKING TEETH CLIPPED. (There’s a reason the loris’ in the videos are only eating soft foods…)

E) The exotic pet trade on slow loris’ BOOMed because of youtube videos like the one above.

You wanna help these adorable looking critters?

International Animal Rescue: ‘Adopt’ a Slow Loris

Little Fireface Project

And please make it very clear to everyone who thinks these videos are cute, that the animal in question has been stolen from it’s natural habitat and horrifically abused just so it could be a “cute” pet.

[motherbychoice]

Okay. This guy really is so very cute. But it’s just fucking weird to me to keep a primate as a pet.

And its even worse when they have been mistreated in order to be a ‘good pet.’

[mizar113]