Shauna Rasband
@concealocanth.bsky.social
evolutionary biology grad student @ UMD
studying birds and their funky hormones
*bi flag emoji* she/her
hobbies:
wildlife photography
drawing & painting
"world" literature & music
infodumping
follow me on iNaturalist (shauna1) or eBird (unashauna)!
studying birds and their funky hormones
*bi flag emoji* she/her
hobbies:
wildlife photography
drawing & painting
"world" literature & music
infodumping
follow me on iNaturalist (shauna1) or eBird (unashauna)!
I like the ones that you can use for art but watch out! They're poisonous. Like cinnabar and malachite. Not sure if you're interested in societal connections but there's a series of Ural malachite miner folktales about the deadly and beautiful Mistress of the Copper Mountain.
October 30, 2025 at 6:33 PM
I like the ones that you can use for art but watch out! They're poisonous. Like cinnabar and malachite. Not sure if you're interested in societal connections but there's a series of Ural malachite miner folktales about the deadly and beautiful Mistress of the Copper Mountain.
The Bristle-thighed Curlew range is because they saw one of those maps with Alaska and Hawaii next to each other and thought it would be a reasonable migration, only to realize it was a huge mistake, but there's no going back now.
January 7, 2025 at 6:47 PM
The Bristle-thighed Curlew range is because they saw one of those maps with Alaska and Hawaii next to each other and thought it would be a reasonable migration, only to realize it was a huge mistake, but there's no going back now.
For #MammalMonday let's look at the Eastern Chipmunk. Infinitely easier to identify compared to the Western species since out here we only have the one. "Chipmunk" is an Anglicization of Ojibwe "ajidamoonh," meaning "head first," or "one who descends trees headlong." An apt name to be sure.
December 9, 2024 at 5:37 PM
For #MammalMonday let's look at the Eastern Chipmunk. Infinitely easier to identify compared to the Western species since out here we only have the one. "Chipmunk" is an Anglicization of Ojibwe "ajidamoonh," meaning "head first," or "one who descends trees headlong." An apt name to be sure.
I'll have to go with Long-tailed Duck. Love the cold, love shellfish, and I am my husband's favorite.
December 7, 2024 at 10:59 PM
I'll have to go with Long-tailed Duck. Love the cold, love shellfish, and I am my husband's favorite.
Someone having a bit of fun with it at the NYT crossword desk. I could hear it 😂
December 3, 2024 at 11:35 PM
Someone having a bit of fun with it at the NYT crossword desk. I could hear it 😂
Just another #MallardMonday. Here's a Mallard hen shaking off after washing herself. Did you know that Mallards are the bird species with the highest recorded number of species its produced offspring with (39!!!!)?
November 25, 2024 at 2:55 PM
Just another #MallardMonday. Here's a Mallard hen shaking off after washing herself. Did you know that Mallards are the bird species with the highest recorded number of species its produced offspring with (39!!!!)?
Good morning. Here's a little jelly mushroom (Leotia species). This little guy is an #Ascomycete, meaning that it's more closely related to the #yeast in a pizza crust than it is to the #mushroom slices on top. Is it too early for pizza? I want pizza.
November 22, 2024 at 2:53 PM
Good morning. Here's a little jelly mushroom (Leotia species). This little guy is an #Ascomycete, meaning that it's more closely related to the #yeast in a pizza crust than it is to the #mushroom slices on top. Is it too early for pizza? I want pizza.
Always remember this!
November 21, 2024 at 6:32 PM
Always remember this!
Here's something a bit #goblincore. I found a fallen pair of Mourning Cloak butterfly wings silently resting on a hummock of moss. Mourning Cloaks are actually among the longest-lived butterflies, hibernating through freezes, living up to a year.
November 21, 2024 at 5:58 PM
Here's something a bit #goblincore. I found a fallen pair of Mourning Cloak butterfly wings silently resting on a hummock of moss. Mourning Cloaks are actually among the longest-lived butterflies, hibernating through freezes, living up to a year.
Here's a two-for-one #wasp pic. Left: double-banded scoliid wasp. Right: eastern tawny-horned spider wasp. They both pollinate flowers, but they also kill and parasitize other arthropods. The scoliid specializes on #beetles, and I'm sure you can guess what the #spider wasp goes after!
November 19, 2024 at 3:42 PM
Their punctuation-themed names come from small white markings on the outer wings, for example, the eastern comma:
November 19, 2024 at 2:09 AM
Their punctuation-themed names come from small white markings on the outer wings, for example, the eastern comma:
Not all #butterflies go for nectar. Commas (left) and question marks (right) much prefer animal dung, carrion, and rotting fruit. I have seen them feeding on a squirrel carcass and on dog poo. Nature is so beautiful.
November 19, 2024 at 2:06 AM
Not all #butterflies go for nectar. Commas (left) and question marks (right) much prefer animal dung, carrion, and rotting fruit. I have seen them feeding on a squirrel carcass and on dog poo. Nature is so beautiful.
Hey all! Post your #birds comparison photos if ya got em! Here's my black vs brown noddy (black is on the left: smaller body, colder-cast plumage).
November 18, 2024 at 2:56 PM
Hey all! Post your #birds comparison photos if ya got em! Here's my black vs brown noddy (black is on the left: smaller body, colder-cast plumage).
#WeirdDuck day. Let's talk about the Canvasback, a delicious duck that seasons itself by eating wild celery and fennel pondweed. Strict hunting limits have helped their populations rebound. Here's my photo. Check out that eye (it gets redder in the spring)!
November 15, 2024 at 4:15 PM
#WeirdDuck day. Let's talk about the Canvasback, a delicious duck that seasons itself by eating wild celery and fennel pondweed. Strict hunting limits have helped their populations rebound. Here's my photo. Check out that eye (it gets redder in the spring)!
Happy #ThursJay. Enjoy this Steller's Jay from the contact zone between the interior and coastal subspecies. The phenotype is interior with the white "eyebrow," but genetically, who knows? If the interior and coastal jays are elevated to species, not sure what will happen to these guys. 🪶 #birds
November 14, 2024 at 3:56 PM
I brought this to read, thinking I'd be sitting in the juror waiting area all day before being sent home. Two pages in and I was hooked, sealing my fate: I was promptly selected as a jury member and told No Outside Reading Materials.
November 13, 2024 at 3:12 PM
I brought this to read, thinking I'd be sitting in the juror waiting area all day before being sent home. Two pages in and I was hooked, sealing my fate: I was promptly selected as a jury member and told No Outside Reading Materials.
Last night I finished Black Moses by Alain Mabanckou. I am delighted to have discovered his writing, because there are few writers who can handle such subjects as total obliteration of the self by the inept, post-colonial state with such dark honesty, wry humor, sly joyfulness, and hope.
November 12, 2024 at 3:38 PM
Last night I finished Black Moses by Alain Mabanckou. I am delighted to have discovered his writing, because there are few writers who can handle such subjects as total obliteration of the self by the inept, post-colonial state with such dark honesty, wry humor, sly joyfulness, and hope.
Yesterday I was blessed with an unobscured (for 0.5 seconds of course) view of a Winter Wren. I now understand why many guidebooks call them a "little brown ball"!
November 11, 2024 at 7:59 PM
Yesterday I was blessed with an unobscured (for 0.5 seconds of course) view of a Winter Wren. I now understand why many guidebooks call them a "little brown ball"!
If you see this, post a photo taken in the mountains.
This is a pic I took of the endangered Mount Diablo manzanita, Arctostaphylos auriculata, one of the Californian endemic species found only on and immediately around Mount Diablo (a place called Tuyshtak in Northern Ohlone).
This is a pic I took of the endangered Mount Diablo manzanita, Arctostaphylos auriculata, one of the Californian endemic species found only on and immediately around Mount Diablo (a place called Tuyshtak in Northern Ohlone).
October 28, 2024 at 2:26 PM
If you see this, post a photo taken in the mountains.
This is a pic I took of the endangered Mount Diablo manzanita, Arctostaphylos auriculata, one of the Californian endemic species found only on and immediately around Mount Diablo (a place called Tuyshtak in Northern Ohlone).
This is a pic I took of the endangered Mount Diablo manzanita, Arctostaphylos auriculata, one of the Californian endemic species found only on and immediately around Mount Diablo (a place called Tuyshtak in Northern Ohlone).
Hunt's bumblebee visiting some motherwort flowers :)
October 18, 2024 at 2:50 PM
Hunt's bumblebee visiting some motherwort flowers :)
#botanists and #plants folk can you explain a mystery? I am trying to become less plant-blind so I identified this watershield (Brasenia schreberi) with iNaturalist. I was wondering if it is native, naturalized, or invasive, and cursory searches show that it's native... to basically everywhere?
June 17, 2024 at 6:28 PM
#botanists and #plants folk can you explain a mystery? I am trying to become less plant-blind so I identified this watershield (Brasenia schreberi) with iNaturalist. I was wondering if it is native, naturalized, or invasive, and cursory searches show that it's native... to basically everywhere?
Love that this bird is called the Peaceful Dove when it looks like its being tormented by thoughts
(photo credit to JJ Harrison, source Wikipedia)
(photo credit to JJ Harrison, source Wikipedia)
October 5, 2023 at 2:18 PM
Love that this bird is called the Peaceful Dove when it looks like its being tormented by thoughts
(photo credit to JJ Harrison, source Wikipedia)
(photo credit to JJ Harrison, source Wikipedia)
High grade oil paints are still made with linseed oil as a vehicle, 800+ years on. Artists also often mix more linseed oil with pre-mixed paints to thin them out, add luster, and slow drying. The volatile nature of linseed can cause studio fires as oily rags dry. But the luster is unmatched.
October 5, 2023 at 2:09 PM
High grade oil paints are still made with linseed oil as a vehicle, 800+ years on. Artists also often mix more linseed oil with pre-mixed paints to thin them out, add luster, and slow drying. The volatile nature of linseed can cause studio fires as oily rags dry. But the luster is unmatched.
My library book came with a 40-year-old bookmark.
September 28, 2023 at 1:44 PM
My library book came with a 40-year-old bookmark.
Absolutely devastated to report that I did not win this perfectly honk shoo mimimi item
September 25, 2023 at 12:08 AM
Absolutely devastated to report that I did not win this perfectly honk shoo mimimi item