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oopspossum.bsky.social
Anne Opossum
@oopspossum.bsky.social
2.8K followers 440 following 140 posts
Wildland-urban interface trash animal.
🏳️‍🌈🏴‍☠️🍊
Botanist, scientific illustrator, macro nature photographer, pet beetle owner. ASD, bi ace, poly, Jewitch🍉. Opinions are my own.
it/they/she
Hyperfixation: neolithic - early medieval history
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oopspossum.bsky.social
Farewell-to-spring (Clarkia amoena) and hello summer!
Farewell-to-springs vary a lot in their coloration across their range from British Columbia to California. This, plus their good seeding ability, has made them a popular annual flower to grow in gardens.
#BloomScrolling #GardenSky #WestCoastKin
Photo of a field of pink wildflowers and dried grasses. One pink flower is in focus in the foreground, it has 4 pink petals with a dark pink spot on each petal.
June 26, 2025 at 8:17 PM
oopspossum.bsky.social
Most forget-me-nots have very small flowers and even smaller seeds, called nutlets (the texture of which can help ID to species).

Myosotis laxa are circumboreal, they are native across the entire Northern hemisphere!

#botany #SciArt #nativeplants #etch #ScratchArt #GardenSky #BloomScrolling
Scratch-art line drawing of a plant with many small flowers, growing on the ends of spiral curving stems. Different parts, angles, and life stages are included. The background paper is black, and the lines are rainbow.
June 26, 2025 at 4:52 AM
oopspossum.bsky.social
Columbia tiger lilies, Lilium columbianum, are a native #wildflower across the northwestern US and British Columbia. Their bulbs were used by native peoples for food, and can be cultivated to spread in your garden.

#macrophotography #BloomScrolling #GardenSky #OnlyBeautifulThings #ColorsOfNature
Close up photo the of an orange lily flower in a forest, with sun rays gleaming through the out of focus trees behind the plant.
June 24, 2025 at 7:57 PM
oopspossum.bsky.social
All species of Larkspur are toxic, just like most plants in their family, Ranunculaceae. A familiar poisonous relative is monkshood, Aconitum sp.

#SciArt #botany #BloomScrolling #etching #ScratchArt
Scratch-art line drawing of a wildflower where the flowers have 5 petals in a star shape and a large spur coming off the back, with different parts, angles, and life stages included. The background paper is black, and the lines are rainbow.
June 23, 2025 at 9:05 PM
oopspossum.bsky.social
I saw #fireflies (that light up*, see footnote) for the first time last week! It was just as magical as seeing the aurora last year!

*I have seen #beetles in the #firefly family, Lampyridae, in the PNW before. It is just that most Washington and Oregon species don't light up.

#ColorsOfNature #DC
Photo of a small glowing green beetle being held in a hand in the dark. Photo of a small glowing green beetle walking on a hand in the dark.
June 22, 2025 at 5:45 PM
oopspossum.bsky.social
Puget balsamroot, Balsamorhiza deltoidea, is a sunflower native to the west coast from British Columbia to California. It's populations thrive with frequent burning, but can still grow in a well drained Western Pacific Northwest garden

#SciArt #FlowerSky #GardenSky #NativePlants #pnw #WestCoastKin
Scratch-art line drawing of a wild sunflower, with different parts, angles, and life stages included. The background paper is black, and the lines are rainbow.
June 21, 2025 at 7:34 PM
oopspossum.bsky.social
The amount of moshing was exactly what you would expect at a historically-punk festival.

At least A Day To Remember wasn't playing this one, otherwise there would have been surfing on the crowd surfers in addition to a general disrespect for your surroundings.

#WarpedTour #DC #emo #PopPunk
Photo of a person standing next to a sign. The sign reads: "No moshing or crowd surfing You mosh or crowd surf. You get hurt. Your mom sues. No more Warped. *sad face emoji*" With a logo for the Vans Warped Tour on the side
June 20, 2025 at 7:15 PM
oopspossum.bsky.social
I'm so excited that my #NativePlant baldhip #roses are finally old enough to bloom! They love the shady forests of the #PNW

#ScratchArt #etching #PriDemonTh #SciArt #QueerArt #botany #GardeningFeed #FlowerSky
Scratch-art line drawing of a wild rose, with different parts, angles, and life stages included. The background paper is black, and the lines are rainbow. Text reads: Rosa gymnocarpa, baldhip rose
June 19, 2025 at 8:33 PM
oopspossum.bsky.social
Aurora were maybe visible in the lower 48 of the Pacific Northwest last night. Here is the best shot I got of it, with varying amounts of editing.
#vaporwave #JazzCup #aurora #NorthernLights #pnw #SkySky #PhotographyOfBluesky
Photo of a night sky, with a very faint smudge in the middle that could be aurora. Same photo of a night sky, with a very faint smudge in the middle that could be aurora, but it is slightly more visible due to editing. Same photo of a night sky, with a faint smudge/ live in the middle that is probably aurora, and it is standing out from a lot of saturation and editing. Same photo of a night sky, that has been very highly edited in a vaporwave app to be very bright, have a lot of colors, and a sticker of the Jazz Cup design going across the corner.
June 4, 2025 at 2:09 AM
oopspossum.bsky.social
There was drama this morning! See the following post for the entire saga of my amazingly observant guard dog/wolf who didn't even see the deer until she moved.
#DogsOfBluesky #mutt #JackRussellTerrier #RescueDog #wildlife #pnw #deer
June 2, 2025 at 5:07 PM
oopspossum.bsky.social
Common camas (Camassia quamash) is usually shades of purple, but periodically all white individuals grow! They are not albinos, as plants with albinism wouldn't be able to photosythesize.

Prairie Appreciation Day at Wolf Haven International was great today!
#LandscapePhotography #NaturePhotography
Photo of a field of lavender-colored wildflowers, with a single white flower of the same species in the foreground.
May 18, 2025 at 12:04 AM
oopspossum.bsky.social
Pangolins are some of the most endangered mammal species in the world. They are popular in illegal wildlife trade, while being difficult to raise in captivity for conservation and re-release.
#wildlifeWednesday #SciArt
Grayscale illustration of a pangolin, a unique looking mammal that is kind of like a mix between an armadillo, porcupine, and an anteater. Text says Manis pentadactyla, Chinese Pangolin
May 15, 2025 at 12:41 AM
oopspossum.bsky.social
Golden paintbrush (Castilleja levisecta) is a formerly endangered species. It is closely related to harsh paintbrush (C. hispida), and thus can hybridize, making a range of orange individials.
Prairie Appreciation Day was great this morning!
#pnw #botany #nativeplants #landscapephotography
Photo of a field of wildflowers. The flower in the foreground is bright orange, most of the plants behind it are yellow, and there are lavender colored flowers sprinkled across the background.
May 10, 2025 at 11:24 PM
oopspossum.bsky.social
Chum salmon (Oncorhynchus keta) are not very popular for eating, partially because their meat usually isn't orange. But! One run in Washington, the Nisqually run, do have orange meat.
They occur all around the northern Pacific, so there are probably other unique runs.
#fishfriday #pnw #sushi 🐡
Grayscale illustration of a lifecycle of a fish. Starting with eggs, and fish getting larger Ave darker as they go around the circle. Text says Oncorhynchus keta Chum Salmon
May 9, 2025 at 7:29 PM
oopspossum.bsky.social
White-lined Sphinx moths (Hyles lineata) are known as hummingbird moths, since they are so big. Even their caterpillars are huge and showy! The caterpillars do vary a lot in coloration. These were in Death Valley National Park last April.
#MothMonday #MacroMonday #entomology #DeathValley
3 photos. Left photo is of a large, sleek, brown moth, who is attached at the end of the abdomen in a mating position with another moth facing the other way. The top right photo is a close up of a large caterpillars head. The caterpillar has a smooth orange head, tiny orange legs, and it's thick body is black and yellow striped. The bottom right photo is a close up of the same caterpillars back end. It had a large orange spine pointing up, just above it's butt.
May 6, 2025 at 1:05 AM
oopspossum.bsky.social
Another person on here that I enjoy everything I see from them, to the point that I'm worried they will think I'm a weird stalker liking so much!

@hayleyfern.bsky.social's church illustrations are SOOOO beautiful!!!
hayleyfern.bsky.social Hayley Draws Churches @hayleyfern.bsky.social · Apr 25
#stpaulschurch #woodhouseeaves which has a darker appearance and stands high above the road. I drive through Woodhouse every work day but hadn't ever driven the back way and seen this beauty. That's one of the joys of this project- I have got out and discovered these places and buildings!
May 3, 2025 at 6:56 PM
oopspossum.bsky.social
Greater prairie chickens can display a quite noticeable sexual dimorphism, the males have large, brightly colored air sacks. During mating season they inflate these sacks while coo-ing and moving their feathers alluringly. This is called booming!
#SciArt #ornithology #birb #lekking #biology
Black and white ink illustration of a chicken-like bird. Its eyebrows and water balloon-looking air sacks on both sides of its neck being bright orange and yellow. Text reads: Tympanchus cupido, Greater Prairie Chicken
May 2, 2025 at 2:37 AM
oopspossum.bsky.social
Ooh yummy dinner!
#invertefest #macrophotography #snail #dandelion #garden
Close up macro photo of a snail eating at dandelion, surrounded by grass.
April 29, 2025 at 11:55 PM
oopspossum.bsky.social
Stoneflies (Plecoptera) are one of many ancient lineages of insects that have incomplete metamorphosis, meaning they don't (visually) change a lot between nymph and adult life stages.
The nymphs are also often signals of good water quality in streams!
#aquaticlife #entomology #flyfishing 🐡
Illustrations of two insects that look very similar. The one on the right has wings laid along it's back, while the one on the left has no wings, but many body parts are covered in small hairs.
April 20, 2025 at 9:08 PM
oopspossum.bsky.social
A couple weeks ago I went to my first snowy Renaissance Faire. Almost a foot of snow in April in New Mexico was quite a surprise.

#RenFaire #costume #NM
Photo of a woman dressed in a turquoise renaissance-style dress. The dress has green, white, and gold trim and details. She is wearing her hair in a renaissance-style green and silver snood. The background is a snow-covered field with dark green shrubs and a bright blue sky. Photo of a woman dressed in a turquoise renaissance-style dress. The dress has green, white, and gold trim and details. She is wearing her hair in a renaissance-style green and silver snood. She is sitting in a snow-covered field with dark green shrubs and a bright blue sky in the background
April 14, 2025 at 7:35 PM
oopspossum.bsky.social
Western buttercups (Ranunculus occidentalis) are a North American native wildflower, which can be confused with the invasive creeping buttercups (R. repens).

Illustration in #charcoal from a #PrescribedFire I worked on. Photo of buttercups in that prairie the next spring!

#botany #pnw 🐡
2 images. The right one is of a photo of a field of wildflowers, with tall, gangly yellow ones in the foreground, and light purple-blue ones filling the background. The left photo is of a charcoal illustration of the yellow flowers, each with 5 yellow petals, but otherwise in grayscale.
April 11, 2025 at 8:10 PM
oopspossum.bsky.social
Military bases around the world house surprising biodiversity, due to the lack of development!
Prairies do especially well on Joint-Base Lewis McChord due to the bombing creating fires, which the flowers are adapted to.

#FlowersOnFriday #WildflowerSky #pnw #WashingtonState
Photo of a field full of colorful wildflowers. There are dozens of purple and yellow ones all around two pink flowers at the center.
March 7, 2025 at 8:58 PM
oopspossum.bsky.social
Caddisflies (Trichoptera) are a sister taxon to butterflies and moths. It is easy to see the similarities in their caterpillar-like (and fully aquatic!) larva that mostly live in cocoon-like bags they make. There are even aquatic moth species!

#entomology #aquaticlife #artsky #bugsky #evolution 🐡
Black and white line illustrations of 3 insects. One insect is almost completely in a square "sleeping bag" of very small twigs. The next insect looks like the first insect, but is not in a structure, so it's caterpillar-like body is fully visible. The third insect looks like a drab, hairy, butterfly.
March 5, 2025 at 7:53 PM
oopspossum.bsky.social
*volume up!*
The weather in Western Washington lately: it's real froggy out there!

#pnw #forest #frog #amphibian #herpetology #naturevideo
March 4, 2025 at 2:17 AM
oopspossum.bsky.social
Last year in February I was traveling around #Alaska, chasing (and catching) auroras!
The KP index of geomagnetic planetary weather goes up to 9. This was near #Fairbanks was only a KP 4 night.

#aurora #TravelPhotography #landscape #NightPhotography #AuroraBorealis #snow
Photo of a snowy landscape at night, with a bright green aurora making a swirl across the sky.
February 25, 2025 at 2:31 AM