Mind the claws

Birds and occasional gay stuff

[lestatfag]

STAY SAFE!! [ID: the Gilbert Baker pride flag with the words “Happy pride to all those who are unable to celebrate openly and safely. You are loved and seen!” in all-caps black text over it. /end ID]

[herpsandbirds]

Good News: Devils Hole Pupfish are Rebounding After a Dramatic Decline.

In response to earthquakes which caused limited food and a sharp population decline in 2025, the multiagency team, made up of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Park Service and Nevada Department of Wildlife biologists, acted quickly and released a number of captive reared Devils Hole pupfish back to the wild. This action was instrumental in ensuring the wild population’s survival and was the first time that captive Devils Hole pupfish have been returned to the wild. Currently, the wild population is around 70, nearly double the numbers seen in 2025. Did you know: The Devils Hole pupfish is believed to have the smallest geographic distribution of any known vertebrate species? It exists in a single submerged cave system, Devils Hole, within Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge in Nevada. The depth of Devils Hole is unknown. Professional scuba divers from the National Park Service have mapped Devils Hole’s depth to nearly 500 feet, but the bottom has never been found.

photo and text by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

[dragon-in-a-fez]

under US law, it's illegal for anyone who's not a member of a recognised native tribe to own an eagle feather. the penalty is a $100,000 fine.

14 years ago when I had recently moved to Alaska, I went hiking with an Aleut friend, and she pointed to a feather lying on the ground and said "hey that's a bald eagle tail feather, you should grab it!" and I was like "uhh I'm very white and that's very illegal" and she went "they're fuckin everywhere up here man. I have 20." so she grabs it off the ground and hands it to me and says "there, now it's a ceremonial gift from an indigenous person."

and I'm like, okay, cool, I guess this is how we do things in Alaska. nice.

so I keep this bald eagle tail feather around for years. display it in my home among other cherished memorabilia from places I've lived and visited, etc.

on a whim, I have just now looked it up. there is no exemption to that law for a ceremonial gift from an indigenous person. the last 7 years I lived in the US, I was technically a bald eagle poacher.

probably a good thing I don't intend to move back there anytime soon. I wonder what the statute of limitations is on bird crimes.

[dragon-in-a-fez]

@freedomisscaryshit I'm fucking dying I think you forgot the word "feathers" in your tags?? or do you just wish you could grab whole ass eagles that land in your yard??

[emotional-support-husband]

As an Indigenous person, it continues to astound me that there are such strict laws (written by White people) in our name, laws against...picking up things just found on the ground. Like, stop pretending this is "for" us. We don't want this.

[dragon-in-a-fez]

so, for clarity, that's not what this is. the law against possessing feathers is an anti-poaching measure, derived from a North American treaty protecting certain migratory bird species from hunting. that treaty has an exemption for indigenous people to allow tribes that use eagle feathers in ceremonial or religious practices to continue doing so.

[chekhovs-raygun]

i used to collect feathers (illegally) as a teenager and the thing is that it's incredibly important for feathers from wild birds to be illegal to possess because it ensures that they never become fashionable to wear. the reason we passed the migratory bird act was because the american and european fashion industry was driving species to extinction in a timespan of years. not just decades. the ecological devastation of exporting birds for hats was absolutely insane and people were watching wetlands and forests and meadows just empty out in realtime. look at the wikipedia article for the plume trade.

the law against 'picking feathers up off the ground' means that you can't go shoot an eagle then sell the feathers on etsy by saying you 'just found them'. you can't own them no matter where they came from, which makes sure that they're not going to come from any birds killed and then secretly disposed of.

these laws, as harsh and ridiculous as they seem, saved flamingos, spoonbills, egrets, and all kinds of hawks and eagles from extinction. the minute these laws weaken and people can make money off killing them again, they're fucked.

[lizardlicks]

this is one of those "no actually this regulation exists for a reason" laws much like work place safety and building fire codes (that Republicans keep trying to roll back) and is written in blood just like them as well. it's just not human blood this time, and the fact that people actually cared enough about long term future over short term profit to get it put in place is nothing short of astonishing. That it didn't get put in place in time to save several species is heart breaking.

[hapalopus]

And yes, it's still needed today, despite no one wearing hats. People will go to crazy lengths to acquire rare feathers

Dead Exotic Bird Thief | Field Ethos

By Andrew Court In 2009, a college kid named Edwin Rist broke into the British Natural History museum…

[unspeakablearchives]

(Source: Sen the donkey)

[rainbow-femme]

The three kinds of bird species name

1. God’s Specialist Little Boy

2. Hot Breasted Milf

3. Grey Bird With Brown Head

4. Walter’s Fingernail

[rainbow-femme]

[semutamusic]

[birdidentifier]

[catboybiologist]

[cheshires-wonderland]

@doveghost

[doveghost]

[what-even-is-thiss]

It’s crazy that countries on the edge of the Sahara desert are reversing desertification by just digging half circles

[what-even-is-thiss]

The ground in these places is too compact for water to soak in during wet season which leads to flooding but digging these holes gives the water a place to stop and soak in. And they’re pushing back the desert with this. By just digging holes.

[what-even-is-thiss]

The new plants also help even more water soak into the ground which reduces flooding even more.

These places also give people places to grow food and graze animals like people are turning completely dry compact desert into a refuge for wildlife and plants and solving regional food insecurity just by digging holes.

[untitledgoosegay]

Yacouba Sawadogo - Wikipedia

The half-circles are called zaï! They're a traditional farming practice in the Sahel desert, and their introduction + reintroduction can be largely credited to Yacouba Sawadogo, the man linked above! He reintroduced and innovated on the zaï on his own farm in the 1980s, and did extensive outreach (along with scientist Mathieu Ouédraogo) to encourage other farmers to adopt them as well.

He also promoted the use of cordons pierreux, which are basically just lines of rocks to reduce erosion, preserve sediments, and increase water absorption.

Immensely cool dude. He's been a personal hero since I learned about him.

[she-is-amused]

Ooooh, Mr. Sawadoga innovated the traditional zai method by adding manure and other biological matter to the holes! This put nutrients in the soil as well as helping even more with water retention and attracted termites whose tunnels helped loosen the compacted earth, all of which supported plant-growth like no zai before! Which increased water-retention even further! Oh excellent, excellent work!

[shannoneichorn]

It is a crime that the link preview doesn't show Mr. Sawadoga's face, so here's his photo from Wikipedia.

This is the face of a man adding beauty to the world and making the future better.

[byjove]

There were a lot of freshwater mussels on the 2021 US extinction list. They didn’t leave us with haunting recordings of them calling out for a mate they’d never meet, there were no drawings in vivid color. They were extremely important nevertheless and their loss is frustrating too. That’s why stream ecology and mollusks have always fascinated me. They were silent, stalwart little heroes and entire species were lost to pollution.

[byjove]

Yeah, I am bothered by extinct animals. Even this guy. They can’t all be thylacines.

[theraptorcage]

Went to the local sauna for trans night yesterday. Made a joke that got everyone chuckling, so I followed up with "i'm going to get such a good grade in social interaction, which is normal to want and possible to achieve."

Which two other people IMMEDIATELY clocked as from Tumblr. Which shouldn't surprise me, since ya'know, trans night but my god I have never been called out so fast in real life.

[quillusquillus]

it's nesting season again for the Big Bear Valley Eagle Live Cam pair and I figured I should share some of my favourite screencaps from over the years. these birds don't know how much I love them.

[deluxebug]

Please donate to save Jackie and Shadow's habitat from nearby luxury developments!

https://savemooncamp.org/

If you love them, please help them!

[whatbigotspost]

Gen Z men twice as likely as boomers to say wives should "always obey"

“It is troubling to see that attitudes towards gender equality are not more positive," said Julia Gillard of King’s College London.

[innerchildabortionclinic]

>Particularly among Gen Z, our data shows an interesting duality: they are both the group most likely to agree that women who have a successful career are more attractive to men but are simultaneously most likely to agree that a wife should always obey her husband and that a woman should never appear too self-sufficient or independent.

Incredibly stupid things are happening

[cryptiddies]

I know these two things seem contradictory, but there’s nothing a conservative man loves more than to tear off an angel’s wings. There are plenty of women that would willingly choose the obedient SAHM lifestyle, but these kinds of men always seem to go for the opposite. Why? Because it’s a power play. There’s no need to break a horse that’s already broken, and that would do nothing to validate that man, his ego, and his place in a world he sees as designed for him.

[ifoundmybeatingheartagain]

[derinthescarletpescatarian]

Another factor is that these men avoid dating conservative women who already want the lives they want them to have because those women's standards are too high. Specifically, such women expect to be the obedient stay at home mum, but they also expect their men to be the masculine ideal from the other half of the equation -- they tend to look down on their men if they cry, they expect them to be able to financially provide for the household, they want them to uphold their end of the bargain. You see this again and again in groups of conservative men who go out of their way to date liberal women; there is a power play, to tame someone untamed and bring her into line with his expectations, but there's also her lack of expectations of him. They want a woman who will do all the household and keep the home but ALSO will not reject him for not being able to afford to finance the family alone. They want a woman who'll respect and obey him but ALSO be fun and relaxed and let him show whatever emotions he wants. They want the Perfect Trad Wife who won't expect him to be the Perfect Trad Husband.

You see the same thing in conservatives who complain that all their leftie friends are abandoning them, but who won't just hang out with right wing friends instead. They don't want to hang out with other righties because a group of righties quickly becomes judgy and hateful and socially competitive, and is only fun to hang out with when they want to vent, whereas their leftie friends were more relaxed and fun. They want license to be unpleasant and expect unreasonable things of others, but want the people around them to be pleasant and not expect unreasonable things of them.

[sunspotpony]

We have some excellent commentary here, but I want you to keep in mind an adage that will serve you well on the modern internet.

"If something immediately makes me feel anger, repulsion, or joy, with even a simple blurb, it's probably manipulating me."

First off, Newsweek is hardly an unbiased source these days. The majority shareholder is Dev Pagrad, is exceptionally wealthy, and has been repeatedly pushing newsweek to be an arm of the right wing's propaganda machine. It is HARD LINE far-right, Anti-trans, anti-woman, anti-immigrant, anti-science To cite the Southern Poverty Law Center (by way of Wikipedia)

In November 2022, the Southern Poverty Law Center reported that Newsweek had "taken a marked radical right turn by buoying extremists and promoting authoritarian leaders" since it hired conservative political activist Josh Hammer as editor-at-large. It noted the magazine's elevation of conspiracy theorists, publication of conspiracy theories about COVID-19, views such as support for a ban on all legal immigration to the United States and denying adults access to trans-affirming medical care, and failure to disclose potential conflicts of interest in the content published on Hammer's opinion section and podcast. https://web.archive.org/web/20221106005834/https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2022/11/04/newsweek-embraces-anti-democracy-hard-right

Newsweek, when even linking to the study it cites, doesn't... actually link to the study. It just links to newsweek's "study" tab. It does MENTION the study, which allowed me to track it down. https://www.ipsos.com/en-uk/almost-third-gen-z-men-globally-agree-wife-should-obey-her-husband IPSOS is a MARKETING FIRM, whose CEO Jean Laurent Poitou, was the former head of Accenture, under whose leadership, sure did a lot of fraud, engaging in tax avoidance, and other such conservative-leaning behaviors, and who generally is affiliated with the traditional right. Let's add another one. The group "Global Institute for Women’s Leadership at King’s Business School, King’s College London" just so happens to be at the school that the Current CEO of newsweek is not just an alum of, but is a major contributor to the funding for. It's always weird when something extremely polarizing comes from, a group that's directly funded by the CEO or owner of the conservative newspaper that's publishing it, as well as from research done by a Marketing firm in the pockets of wealthy conservatives! Funny how that always seems to happen! But if we actually look at IPSOS's study, you'll see that a lot of the numbers have been gently massaged and their methodology is EXTREMELY opaque. After all, they're not a scientific institution. They're a MARKETING FIRM. The biggest conclusion if you read their own paper, is ACTUALLY, that MOST PEOPLE seem to hold progressive views on women's autonomy, but think that THEIR COUNTRY still majority holds draconian views on women's autonomy. Things their own study says:

A Majority of Gen Z believes that women shouldn't "always obey" their husbands.

A Majority of Gen Z has concerns that their society holds draconian beliefs about women.

What the results of the SPIN on this facts, as well as how many in the comments are reacting, is actually perpetuating the Traditional Right's views on Gender and Marriage. I need you to understand that it actively benefits the traditional right when you lean into gender essentialism and believe that Men Are Evil. That Men Are Monsters. It makes the default assumption of men be that they will always be predators, meaning that when they DO do something predator, nobody's surprised; well that's just how men are; when he finds the RIGHT woman who can Tame Him, then he'll behave; that's the duty of a woman after all; to put up with men abusing her until she finds one who is the Right One, who she can handle. What this article ALSO does, is scare progressive women, scares queerfolk, scares young folk, and makes conservatives feel emboldened and empowered. You need to ALWAYS, ALWAYS, remind yourself: "If something immediately makes me feel anger, repulsion, or Joy, with even a simple blurb, it's probably manipulating me." And more than that, you need to remember the follow up:

WHO BENEFITS FROM MAKING ME FEEL THIS WAY?

[aster-is-confused]

my favorite genre of bird picture

[theraptorcage]

Found a dead eastern screech owl in my neighborhood.

Called the PA Game Commission to collect it.

Not 30 minutes later I get a call from the field guy saying that the bird was gone???

I really hope it was taken away by a voracious squirrel and not picked up by the neighborhood kids on their way home from school.

[luciebryon]

New Horizon, an Animal Crossing fancomic 

2020

[letterful]

[elodieunderglass]

Exciting and topical BirdNews(TM) for you: a European robin has somehow ended up in Montreal. Nobody knows how. This is apparently the first time we've had one visit Canada, hopefully it will be okay in our winter!

First European Robin for Canada makes headlines

Canada's first European Robin has caused a stir after its discovery in Montreal. The bird was found close to the banks of the St Lawrence Ri

I love that people came running to Stare

[loubatas]

This is quite funny because right now in France we have a Belted Kingfisher, the very first time we've had this iconic North American species visit the country. No one really know how it got here either (got lost during migration? hitched a ride on a boat?). People are coming from all of western Europe to watch it

Maybe they just switched places with the robin

[elodieunderglass]

Exchange students

[myfootyrthroat]

I know there's... A Lot going on right now and we're all hanging on by a thread, but I've got a favor to ask.

A bill, HJ Res. 140, just passed Congress. This overturns some of Biden's environmental protections and would allow mining in the Boundary Waters watershed, a beautiful wilderness area here in Minnesota.

Please contact your senators and ask them to oppose this.

I'm including a couple of pictures that I took while I was up there doing research, but they really don't do it justice.

[myfootyrthroat]

Bump.

[myfootyrthroat]

@ahgoodthesea 's tags:

#i spent the day being politely aggressive at legislators#greenland and minnesota share a similar geology#and all the eco hippie warriors who would normally raise a ruckus over this are busy#standing in -9F temps to protest and delivering food to families and guarding preschools#so try to get angry that this administration is going after the critical minerals domestically too

It truly feels like they timed this to happen when the state (who otherwise is INCREDIBLY protective of the Boundary Waters) would be ... "busy"!

[thesmallernug]

@headspace-hotel @grison-in-space sorry for tagging but I think we all might benefit from you guys seeing this

[grison-in-space]

Yo! Those of you in other states who want to do something helpful, this would be real fucking helpful to call your Congress reps over right fucking now!

[chiaroscur0]

please, please help.

[theraptorcage]

So far the weather hasn't been too brutal here in Pittsburgh, so today is a cozy day of watching diorama making and playing Wingspan.