#quietmagpie

[miasimia]

quietmagpie replied to your post: I can’t share my fun crafting with the people I...

Congrats! I hope your wedding party people like the fun invitation!

Thank you! I’m sure they will :) 

[miasimia]

quietmagpie replied to your post: The fire I'm on standby for is going off and...

Isn’t flying drones there illegal also??? Good job, guys.

Yeah, so most of the fires perimeter falls within what are essentially no fly zones as shown in my crude overlay here. 

There is an aerodrome (blue circle) which has a 4km drone free radius, and the control zone (big maroon polygon) which is managed by air traffic control. The bright red is the estimated perimeter of the fire as of Thursday morning. So if you have good reason you can ask for permission to fly in those areas, eg FENZ do have drones monitoring the fire overnight, but it is illegal to fly in those areas without express consent.  I may be a little off on the exact placement/size of the fire etc, but I think I am pretty close.  But regardless of standard regulations, unauthorised drones at a wildfire event are very hazardous to air ops. It really doesn’t take much to fuck up a helicopter, and it is vital that the pilots are able to do their job as safely as possible! Not to mention they can be hazardous to ground crew as well. 

[thenearsightedmicroraptor]

For the something you hate about it ask meme: the majestic pigeon

ok ok ok this is actually a hard one? Bc pigeons are brilliant BUT

I hate that people fEED THEM

THEY FEED THEM BREAD

DON’T DO THAT

You are the reason there’s so many pigeons everywhere and also the reason so many of them are scrawny and miserable and sick and missing toes and shit, don’t fuckin, do that, and then let ur children chase them around, if u mess with nature that way u have no right to complain about pigeons being everywhere and I hope one poops on ur sammich

anyway

I also really hate when I see one that is 100% chill and seems like it would be cool w me like, sitting next to it, having a chat and a coffee, but then has string or garbage around its foot and I am like ok, this pigeon is chill, I can help here so it perhaps doesn’t lose its foots, but then the pigeon WILL NOT BE PICKED UP and I run around w my hands outstretched after a pigeon who is unsteadily wobbling across the sidewalk but can’t quite be bothered to fly away, while I try to speak words of reason to the bird

IMAGINE WHAT ONLOOKERS WOULD THINK

I MEAN, WHO TALKS REASON TO A PIGEON, THEY’RE BASICALLY ANARCHISTS THE WHOLE BUNCH OF THEM

(no offense to anarchists. I think.)

Anyway then I look like a parody of myself, OR a real jerk chasing around a poor, innocent pigeon. I SWEAR I WAS ONLY TRYING TO HELP OK, DON’T JUDGE ME, U WERE THE ONE FEEDING IT BREAD WITH ALMOST NONE OF THE NUTRIENTS THE POOR BIRD NEEDS, AND CAUSING IT TO NOT FEAR HUMANS BECAUSE OF IT, AND ALSO THROWING THE GARBAGE THAT IS NOW TRYING TO CLAIN SAID INNOCENT PIGEONS’ TOES.

I AM DOING MY BEST HERE

[labbbugs]

quietmagpie replied to your photo “Bee samples ready to be processed!”

As someone who studies bees, I was at first confused as to why the heck anyone would store them in alcohol. Then I remembered tons of people use pan traps. Oops.

I never stored them in alcohol until I started working here. Most of them do come from bee bowls or blue vane traps. But it is nice (/more convenient) to just put everything caught with a net during a 30 minute pollinator survey in a jar of alcohol instead of a kill jar.

[labbbugs]

quietmagpie replied to your photo “Atteva aurea - the Ailanthus webworm Found on my walk to work :)”

It looks like a mosaic!

I love these guys because they are so pretty! and I get to see them during the day and at black lights!

[miasimia]

quietmagpie replied to your photo “According to my post, it was 10 months ago that we planted Tribble...”

Very cool. I've only seen the deciduous kowhais. I also really like the planting tree idea--it's a great way of honoring your pet.

Yeah! So this variety (sold as ‘Dragons Gold’) is one cultivated from a Stephens Island plant, so fairly different to the common mainland varieties although it is pretty common in cultivation. There’s another variety cultivated from the same trees with a slightly different flower colour too apparently. 

I really like this too, my family has always buried pets under trees, I just modified it because I didn’t want to leave them behind when we inevitably move. ♥

[miasimia]

quietmagpie

replied to your

photoset

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Check out this beautiful lady! Went on a work...

Those legs are amazing! Sounds like a really awesome trip!

Such a great trip! I wish I’d known about the place when we were in Wellington for Sirocco.

[skelelegs]

sallythewise said: Do healthy weight cats have fat deposits like that? Or was it a bigger cat?

This is my first (fresh) domestic cat so I can’t say from experience (and I’m not trained in animal health, just animal death, so I can’t say for sure). However, she had thick layers of fat on the outside and the inside was full from edge to edge with fatty tissue. I almost couldn’t see her kidneys and her heart was encased in fat and not visible at all. She wasn’t morbidly obese like some cats you see but she was hefty.

quietmagpie said: This is common in pretty much every well-cared-for domestic animal, even insects (I’m looking at you, domestic crickets). Chickens can have so much that it’s hard to see how they have room to fit an egg in their body cavity.

Well I guess that would explain why chickens tend to be so oily. But, I wouldn’t have expected fatty organs to be common. It was kind of distressing because I’ve never seen that kind of thing before (I guess working with wild animal remains, that’s not going to happen).