Kit Straley, PhD 🐦🤓💚
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earlynerdgetbird.bsky.social
Kit Straley, PhD 🐦🤓💚
@earlynerdgetbird.bsky.social
500 followers 1.8K following 77 posts
#ornithology #ecology, bird nerd, Mothra, she/they, #NeuroDiverseSquad, profile photo by Peter Muka 📸, banner by James Smith 📸, @erlynerdgetbird from twitter
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earlynerdgetbird.bsky.social
sound up for a rainy waterfall
September 2, 2025 at 3:48 PM
earlynerdgetbird.bsky.social
PhDone
Two people standing under a colorful banner that reads “Dr. Kit Straley congratulations!” The banner has a bird with a graduation style cap.
August 2, 2025 at 7:45 PM
earlynerdgetbird.bsky.social
we learn about the food web early on in school, but it’s another thing to witness the spectacular growth of herbivores, all through the power of native plants! insects are declining, and one way we can help is by providing them with their native host plants. 🐛🌿💚
July 16, 2025 at 6:38 PM
earlynerdgetbird.bsky.social
bonus smiley butt
A fifth instar Promethea caterpillar on sassafras leaves. The camera is focused on its posterior, where a pattern of 3 black marks looks like a cartoon face.
July 10, 2025 at 4:54 PM
earlynerdgetbird.bsky.social
caterpillars will never cease to amaze me. this is happening every day all around us. in the woods. in the parks. in your yard, especially if you have native plants!
July 10, 2025 at 4:49 PM
earlynerdgetbird.bsky.social
they start out so smol 🥹
The view inside of a small tupperware container full of Polyphemus moth eggs and newly hatched caterpillars. There are many. The eggs are cream colored ovals with a thick brown band and are tiny! roughly 3 mm. There are also little green caterpillars with brown faces crawling out of the eggs and up the side of the container.
June 8, 2025 at 2:39 PM
earlynerdgetbird.bsky.social
wow thank you for all the moth love, everyone! he is a male Polyphemus moth that I raised last year. he started out as a teeny egg like these (see photo) and through the power of native plants - Quercus rubra specifically - he was able to pupate, chill all winter, and emerge as an adult this year!
A small tupperware container full of Polyphemus moth eggs. These were laid by 2 females. I haven’t counted them but there are definitely over 100. The females are only held for egg collection for one night, and are then released into the wild to continue laying and finish their life cycle. I raise a subset of the eggs to pupation, and the rest are released as 2nd or 3rd instars in my unofficial “head start” program (I raise moths for science but also as a hobby, these are hobby eggs). The eggs are small (~3mm), oval, and cream with a thick brown band. Dark splotching on the eggs in this photo comes from the adhesive the female uses to attach them to plants when she lays them.
June 6, 2025 at 2:28 PM
earlynerdgetbird.bsky.social
for your consideration - another moth! this is a female Promethea moth who is getting released today. 🍃🐛🦋
A female Promethea moth rests with her wings open. She is standing on the green fabric bottom of a mesh cube. Her body is dark raspberry red and fluffy. Her antennae are feathery and dark yellow. Her wings have complex patterns and many colors - dark red, burnt orange, raspberry pinks, tan, black, and cream. Her forewings have a dramatic black spot near the tips. All of her wings have a thick tan border, and the hindwings have extra raspberry splotches in the border. There is a scallop-edged white line in the middle of her wings, and on the side of that line closest to her body her wings have more contrasting and vibrant colors.
June 6, 2025 at 2:09 PM
earlynerdgetbird.bsky.social
so much is stressful right now, and coping is really hard. I’m trying to find joy where I can, so look at this moth I raised I am obsessed.
A male Polyphemus moth rests with its wings open upon my hand. In the background there is white fabric and a pile of giant silk moth cocoons. The moth’s wings are a beautiful red-brown. There are 2 dramatic “eyespots” on the hindwings that are black with yellow centers and blue edging. The leading edge of the front wings is a thick salt and pepper gray line. The antennae are large and feathery. Each wing has a very special small oval “window” that you can see through, in those sections they are missing the scales that give them gorgeous colors everywhere else.
June 4, 2025 at 1:07 AM
earlynerdgetbird.bsky.social
a brief moment of serenity with the moths
May 30, 2025 at 6:16 PM
earlynerdgetbird.bsky.social
they’re backkkkkkk
A female luna moth hanging upside down and slowing expanding her wings. She has a white fluffy body, dark magenta legs, yellow antennae, and spring green wings. She is surrounded by shiny silver metal in a criss cross pattern because I overwinter my cocoons in minnow traps. There are a few small droplets of rain on her wings.
May 16, 2025 at 12:21 AM
earlynerdgetbird.bsky.social
toof
A close up on a black cat’s upside down face with a single little white tooth peeking out of its mouth
May 9, 2025 at 12:49 AM