Kate Righter
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katerighter.bsky.social
Kate Righter
@katerighter.bsky.social
Nature journaling, art, poetry, and environmental education in Hawaiʻi. Join the club: http://hawaiinaturejournalclub.com/ #education #hawaii #naturejournal My personal website: http://katerighter.com/ #poetry #art
I did it! I made a zine! Free to download! One side is "how to plant" using all native Hawaiian plants and the other is a mini guided nature journal. Thanks @sarahmackattack.bsky.social for the inspiration! hawaiinaturejournal.org/planting-gui...
September 30, 2025 at 6:01 PM
Made a map of the project area where I volunteer a few times a month, because when I say "Hamakua" everyone says, "where?" Our next upcoming nature journaling and malama event is on June 16, 4-7pm.
June 7, 2025 at 12:59 AM
Another lovely evening at Hamakua yesterday, weeding the hillside to the sound of ae'o and alae ke'oke'o. The pohinahina cuttings are taking root and putting forth new leaves, always encouraging to see.
April 15, 2025 at 5:18 PM
Any other birders watching The Residence? The first ten minutes of the 4th episode are of a birding camping trip featuring bird journals (SQUEE)!! My daughter recommended the show to me and boy does she know me well. I'm saving the final two episodes as a treat for finishing my taxes so NO SPOILERS
April 11, 2025 at 6:46 PM
Marine debris sorting adventure yesterday! Met so many cool people doing science and cleaning up our beaches and educating others. Made these journal pages on site ✍️ #naturejournaling #marinedebris #volunteer
April 11, 2025 at 5:43 PM
Email newsletter going out tomorrow, subscribe (free!) if you're interested. 🪴 Also, can someone please recommend a free Wordpress theme that actually shows the featured image when posting links... 🫠
hawaiinaturejournalclub.com/join/
Join Us – Hawaii Nature Journal ClubToggle Menu
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April 9, 2025 at 11:02 PM
Let the beauty we love be what we do.
There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground.

onbeing.org/poetry/a-gre...
A Great Wagon
A poem by Rumi.
onbeing.org
April 8, 2025 at 10:26 PM
Look at how much the hillside I cleared of haole koa! j/k I only moved branches from a small section but I didn't injure myself or anyone else in the process so it's a win! Small note: the chainsaw part was done the past month. No one lets me use a chainsaw, and definitely not on a hillside.
April 5, 2025 at 10:57 PM
Spent some time captivated by the tiny worlds in the hollows of a lava rock at the beach this morning. I hugged the pohaku goodbye because it is now my friend and I promised to come back to visit. Baby snails! Little tufts of algae! 😍 #hugarocktoday
April 4, 2025 at 11:23 PM
Oh wow, yes, this. With maybe some whispered "look at this cool moss"... There's the silent book club, maybe a quiet walking club?
Wanted: Friends to be quiet (silent) with after several days of managing all the emotions around me. People who are content to be good vibes while we walk in the forest.
March 31, 2025 at 9:51 PM
How did I not know this existed before now?? Moss, lichen, and lizards, three of my favorite things... nature is amazing.
Mossy leaf-tailed gecko, Uroplatus sikorae, Madagascar. These lizards have some of the most amazing camouflage in nature. I especially love the fractal fringing on the bottom jaw, feet, and body, which helps break up the lizard's outline. 🦎🌿 #herps
March 30, 2025 at 2:05 AM
While in Furano, Hokkaido, Japan, I discovered the work of So Kuramoto. I have these postcards and a wonderful book of his art and poetry, and they really influenced my perspective of the trip. He is mainly known for his screenwriting and playwriting, and this art is from more recent years.
March 29, 2025 at 1:17 AM
Reposted by Kate Righter
Look I have zero excuses for this, but the idea popped into my head and now it's in your head, sorry
March 20, 2025 at 3:39 PM
Back from our family ski trip to Japan! Some friends wanted to know more so I'll be doing a little zoom presentation in April about the experience. I want to do more zoom classes/group discussions in general, I'm thinking Monday mornings Hawaii time (which would be late afternoon on the east coast)?
March 26, 2025 at 12:19 AM
I fell in love with science as an adult when I met people who approached it as a tool to understand things rather than a way to put things into obscure little boxes (and then to prove your superiority by telling other people, who have other ideas, that they’re definitely wrong)
Species aren't truly discreet easy-to-determine categories in real life, they're useful summaries of phenotypic and (increasingly) genotypic variation that help us understand the complexities of nature.

Species names will always be flawed and changing as we get better info, it's awesome!
March 7, 2025 at 7:59 PM
One of the (many) things I do is maintain a website with links and lesson ideas for nature journaling in Hawaii. My post on the ahupua'a system has gotten a bit of traffic lately and so I wanted to share it on here too, if you're interested!
hawaiinaturejournalclub.com/ahupua%ca%bb...
Ahupuaʻa: Hawaiian land divisions – Hawaii Nature Journal ClubToggle MenuPreviousContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinue
hawaiinaturejournalclub.com
March 6, 2025 at 11:17 PM
“Out of that love, remake the world” ❤️
Ray Bradbury; may you be in love every day for the next 20,000 days
March 6, 2025 at 7:33 AM
This is the sort of info that I like to share at parties, which is why I get invited to so many 😂 birds are cool!
More info on whether birds have a sense of smell (and the history of the research): auduboncnc.org/wrong-about-...

But more interesting, some birds have different odors humans can detect! Goldfinches in Kansas smell like maple syrup, auklets like tangerines: www.audubon.org/news/cookies...
Cookies, Honey, Tangerines, Manure—These Birds Have Some Strange Scents
There's still a lot scientists don't know about odor in the avian world, but this much is clear: Some species really smell.
www.audubon.org
March 6, 2025 at 3:00 AM
Got down to the beach for sunrise. The lens flare appeared on my painting right where the sun actually rose! What luck!
Photography 🤝 watercolor
February 21, 2025 at 8:45 PM
Took time for a swim, a quick watercolor of moku manu, and little chat with friends about our crumbling democracy
February 17, 2025 at 2:29 AM
Oh, my heart 💔
This is a mōlī (Laysan Albatross) chick who fledged from Kīlauea Point NWR last summer. It’s one of the few protected seabird colonies in the main Hawaiian islands. The entire biologist team (+ their only facilities management person) at this NWR was fired with no warning yesterday.
February 17, 2025 at 2:26 AM
Hoku moonrise.
February 13, 2025 at 7:24 AM
Why were the teenage boys calling the large birds “Phil”
February 11, 2025 at 4:38 AM
It’s a flock of akekeke (Ruddy Turnstone) at Hamakua! No one else on the bird walk tonight was excited as I was. Apologizes for the terrible photo, maybe I’ll bring something other than my ancient tiny phone on one of these.
February 11, 2025 at 4:32 AM
Question: Are Halimeda sp. called limu ekaha in Hawaiian? Anyone know? That’s what they’re labeled as in my field guide to coastal organisms but I can’t find a second reference anywhere.
February 11, 2025 at 4:29 AM