Rebecca Lexa, Naturalist

Master Naturalist, Nature Educator & Writer, Author of "The Everyday Naturalist: How to Identify Animals, Plants and Fungi Wherever You Go" (Ten Speed Press, Summer 2025); PNW Nature Tour Guide, All-Around Nature Nerd. AuDHD. Reblogs, OC, Weekly Deep Dives Into Natural History Topics - Asks Open! http://www.rebeccalexa.com - http://ko-fi.com/rebeccathenaturalist 

[rebeccathenaturalist]

So in addition to my weekly metalworking class, I also signed up for a one day nature-themed jewelry class this past weekend at the Multnomah Arts Center. In a space of about five hours I cut, filed, chased, shaped, and soldered these pieces of brass and copper into a Pacific trillium (Trillium ovatum) pendant about 2 1/2 inches across.

I think the part I'm proudest of is the fact that I managed to sweat solder the three sepals on the back at the same time, while also keeping the center (representing stamens and stigmas) which I'd already soldered attached. One of the sepals moved slightly during the soldering process, but you know what? I'll take it. Considering that before this class the most complicated thing I'd made were wire circles, I think I managed to pull off a pretty neat process here. (My chasing needs a LOT of practice, but that's okay.)

The piece still needs some filing and polishing to finish it off. The petals will return to their brass color, while the copper will be shinier. We're supposed to be learning how to make metal chain later in the weekly class, so I may make a bespoke chain for this statement piece.

[buried-in-stardust]

OP: "I've seen lion dancing and dragon dancing before, but this is the first time I've seen realistic lobsters fighting clams."

[squeakitties]

the prawn bomb exploded into shrimpnel

[squeakitties]

a lot of people were krilled

[seabeck]

Conifer chicken of the woods

[naamahdarling]

From previous fossils, they already knew the dinosaur had asymmetric feathers, which are vital to creating thrust in modern, flying birds. But the hard slab of limestone around this specimen had also preserved a key layer of feathers called tertials that had never been documented before in Archaeopteryx.

“It’s important that this is the first time these feathers have been seen,” John Nudds, a paleontologist at the University of Manchester in England who didn’t participate in the study, tells the Guardian’s Hannah Devlin. “These new feathers seen in this beautifully preserved specimen—as well as the asymmetric feathers—confirms it could fly.”

She could fly!

Article link!

@seananmcguire Something to brighten your day. She could fly!!!

[all-mammal-creechur]

Liberian Mongoose Liberiictis kuhni

Found in Liberia and Ivory Coast, it was not known to Western science until 1958. A live specimen was exhibited at the Toronto Zoo, but civil war in Liberia has prevented further study. Due to its limited range and the fact that it is heavily hunted, the Liberian mongoose is considered endangered.

image by Kevin Schafer

[byjove]

[flatchested-]

a quilt dedicated to dappled sunlight in dappled sunlight

[rebeccathenaturalist]

I had a lovely afternoon at SymbiOp Garden Shop in Portland for a book signing! I brought my colored pencils and a small sketchbook with me, and not only did I sign everyone's book with a little sketch, but I also drew this North American self-heal (Prunella vulgaris ssp. lanceolata). I enjoyed my time with the little plant so much that I decided it had to come home with me!

Oh, and there were two copies of The Everyday Naturalist left at the end of the day. Currently they are the only two in any bookstore anywhere that have colored pencil sketches along with the signature.

[monidoll]

dna is often explained as if it was computer code, but its important to remember its literally a bunch of physical strings. just as important as the sequence itself is how these physical strings are packaged and where proteins attach to them, because this determines which parts can even be read

[monidoll]

purified dna looks like this in bulk

[transmechanicus]

my beautiful singular gram of DNA

[elbiotipo]

Here are some other images:

It's not ALL DNA, I don't recall the specifics right now, but yes, it does turn into this stringy thing when you purify it for DNA extraction. I was amazed when I saw it for the first time, it really looks like what you would imagine it to be.

[dianeramic]

Dinovember day 11: Kulindadromeus!

[mihai-florescu]

Languages tend to peak at their word for butterfly. Never seen 2 that are the same, either. Papillon. Mariposa. Borboleta. Fluture. Vlinder. Schmetterling. Pillangó. Babochka. Farfalla. Sommerfugl. Perhonen. Farasha. Titali. Chōchō. Nabi. Húdié. Buom buom. Great job guys, i really mean it.

[rebeccathenaturalist]

I'm not normally one to jump on trends, but Disabled Hikers commissioned me to create this illustration of Jimothy, the raccoon with short spine syndrome that has captivated the internet as of late! He's a reminder that disability happens in a wide variety of species throughout nature. This illustration was done by hand (no AI, ever) in Micron fineliner pen and Copic alcohol markers.

Better yet, he's available as a sticker, a poster, a t-shirt--and, coming soon, an embroidery pattern! I've never had my art made into that before! (Ignore the low-res picture above; the printing will be done with a much nicer scan.) All proceeds benefit Disabled Hikers' work to continue making the outdoors accessible for all, and you can find their shop with all the merch here.

(And yes, I am open for pen and marker commissions right now--drop me a line!)

[mymidwestheart]

Well, that made me happy. 😌🎠❄️

[rainbowbarnacle]

[rebeccathenaturalist]

So these were posted over on the MushroomID subreddit; the person holding them reportedly ate the mushroom in the bottom of the bunch raw, and intended to eat the rest, claiming all of them were the same species, "borellis" (maybe a mispronunciation of Boletus). Is he going to be okay?

Well....not entirely. While the unspotted mushroom looks like a nice, edible king bolete (Boletus edulis), the other three are Amanitas, likely either a yellow variant of fly agaric (Amanita muscaria), or Amanita chrysoblema (a synonym for A. muscaria var. guessowii). While these are not the sorts of Amanita that have amatoxins that will dissolve your liver, they contain muscimol and ibotenic acid (the latter of which both enhances absorption of muscimol and can also be converted to it.)

So he likely won't die, but he's potentially in for some unpleasant cycling between drowsiness and delirium/hallucinations, probably some ataxia and other neurological impacts on physical movement, and a lot of vomiting, especially as he ate the thing raw. There is always the chance of severe, life-threatening side effects such as cardiopulmonary arrest, but this is pretty rare.

Yes, there are people who deliberately take A. muscaria for its hallucinogenic and relaxing effects, and there's debate over whether you can effectively reduce the active ingredients through parboiling. Still, there are reasons my personal rule for eating mushrooms is that unless everyone agrees it's safe to eat, I'm not gonna try it. Given that I often find B. edulis in the same places and at the same time as A. muscaria, I'm just going to eat the boletes instead.

A cursory look at the mushrooms he had would have shown anyone with any actual foraging experience that they were two very different species. The hymenophores are different--gills versus pores--and the Amanitas have remnant veils (spots, potentially rings and cups) that the Boletus lacks. That's not even getting into things like taking a spore print (the Boletus should be olive green, while the Amanitas will be white.)

This, once again, is why my foraging classes focus so much on identification skills, and getting into specific traits to pay attention to, rather than just scrolling through a bunch of pictures of edible species. And it's why I dedicated an entire chapter of The Everyday Naturalist to these same traits and identification skills for fungi. I know it's a lot of information to keep in mind, but this isn't something where you want to take a short cut.

As always, you're welcome to contact me at rebeccathenaturalist(at)gmail(dot)com if you ever have questions or want my opinion on a mushroom you found.

[slopforhogs]

Vildsvinejagt by Christian David Gebauer (1777-1831)

(x)

[herpsandbirds]

Tiger Beetle (Jansenia rugosiceps), family Cicindelidae, Vithura, Kerala, India

photograph by Santosh Roy