Erika 🦜🥔
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erikaroper.bsky.social
Erika 🦜🥔
@erikaroper.bsky.social
470 followers 270 following 93 posts
Now sans underscore! Ecologist and Big Parrot shill. Cockatoo Influencer. Black-cockatoos, Hungry Parrots Project (iNat), native orchids, threatened species. Occasional random bird polls. Eastern Aus, on Dharawal Country. She/her.
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erikaroper.bsky.social
Prawn with discarded footwear and pencil.
🍤🐈
Photo of a grey tabby cat with white socks lying in prawn pose on a striped rug. He is surrounded by discarded footwear: two black Birkenstock sandals and one black boot, as well as a random red and white striped pencil. His human is very messy.
October 13, 2024 at 5:53 AM
erikaroper.bsky.social
They are vaguely reminiscent of our Apostlebirds, who are also cooperative breeders. Though Apostlebirds are almost monotypic, sharing their family with only one other species, the White-winged Chough (they both make little mud cup nests).
Photo of a medium-sized grey bird with standing on a wooden table next to a 1 litre Nalgene water bottle. It has a chunky pointed beak and a longish tail.
October 6, 2024 at 11:17 PM
erikaroper.bsky.social
Not me procrastinating on finalising my talk for #ISBE2024 next week…

Gotta get back into conference-mode and cockatoo-mode.

Anyone else going???

Cockatoo photo for attention (though we always need more cockatoo photos!)
Photo of a large black cockatoo perched on a slanted metal roof. The cockatoo has yellow spots on its face and shoulders, yellow barring on its chest, and red barring on its tail feathers. The background is blurred green leaves.
September 26, 2024 at 6:40 AM
erikaroper.bsky.social
🚨WOOD DUCKLING ALERT🚨
There’s a video too but this app doesn’t allow nice things 😹
Photo of two grey ducks with drown heads. They have five fuzzy brown ducklings with grey spots.
September 29, 2023 at 6:41 AM
erikaroper.bsky.social
Just look at this ham
Photo of a tabby cat lying upside down on his back with one back leg in the air. His eyes are open wide and his front paws are together. He is lying on a red tartan blanket on a bed.
September 24, 2023 at 11:28 AM
erikaroper.bsky.social
I guess with the mass exodus I should start posting more over here. I’ll do a proper intro eventually but for now, here’s yesterday’s office: looking for Sun Orchid (Thelymitra) leaves in a swamp in the Southern Highlands of NSW. It’s super dry so not much happening yet. Nice day out though! 🌍🧪
Photo of a swamp on a sunny day. A large open area of yellow-green vegetation, with tall eucalyptus trees in the background and a blue cloudy sky.
September 22, 2023 at 11:36 PM
erikaroper.bsky.social
Lap status: it’s a bit chilly this morning
Photo of a black cat and a tabby cat sitting on a person’s lap on a pink, orange, and green crocheted blanket.
September 22, 2023 at 11:27 PM
erikaroper.bsky.social
Saturday morning lap status: tea with Baci
Photo of a black cat curled up on a person’s lap. There is also a hand holding a cup of tea.
September 16, 2023 at 12:17 AM
erikaroper.bsky.social
Not me rewriting the lyrics of Single Ladies to be about swamp orchids in preparation for swamp orchid season 😜

It’s this one btw: Thelymitra kangaloonica. Ain’t she pretty? 🌍🧪
Closeup photo of a cluster of blue-purple flowers with six petals each, each shaped like a star.
September 12, 2023 at 5:41 AM
erikaroper.bsky.social
LEG
Photo of a tabby cat lying on the back of a blue sofa. He has his front paws tucked up nicely but his back leg, which is white, is stretched out and pointed down, hanging off the edge of the sofa.
September 2, 2023 at 1:52 AM
erikaroper.bsky.social
Mr S is supervising me while I finish writing something tonight. He was ever my greatest critic.
Photo of a tabby cat looking disappointed and disapproving with his tail and paws curled up.
September 1, 2023 at 9:09 AM
erikaroper.bsky.social
Yesterday’s office: sample collection for a statewide orchid genomics project! It’s going to be a busy spring as we have a lot of species to sample. 🧪🌍
Photo of a hand holding five small yellow envelopes with barcodes, in front of a woodland backdrop.
August 26, 2023 at 8:51 AM
erikaroper.bsky.social
Omg I thought this was Mr Stripes for a second! 🙀
Photo of a tabby cat with whit socks lying upside down on a red tartan blanket. He’s looking at the camera with his feet tucked up and one of his ears slightly squished.
August 24, 2023 at 10:08 AM
erikaroper.bsky.social
Today’s Office: Look who just landed outside my window, distracting me from reporting!

This handsome male King Parrot seems to have had a run in with something that has caused a beak deformity. Fortunately he’s having no trouble stuffing his face with berries! #HungryParrots🪶🌍
Photo of a large parrot surrounded by green leaves, taken through a window. The parrot is bright red with a green tail and wings. It has a yellow eye and a misshapen beak. The top of the beak is yellow and the bottom of the beak is black.
August 22, 2023 at 7:32 AM
erikaroper.bsky.social
Hey so what do we do about scraper accounts? I’ve already found a few, which is a shame. This one is passing themselves off as legit by putting credits in alt text, but that’s not the way to give credit. Especially if you also watermark the images you’ve shared (ahem *stolen*) with your own name 🙄
Screenshot of a profile called “Birds of the World” “at mybirdcards” that claims to put credit in ALT text. The banner is a photo of a hummingbird and the profile pic is a puffin head.
August 20, 2023 at 7:54 AM
erikaroper.bsky.social
A pair of Rainbow Lorikeets have stashed their kids in a tree in my yard and they are begging *constantly*. Begging lorikeets sound like a wheezy squeak, which is better than a lot of parrots, but it does start to get old fast.
Old photo of some Rainbow Lorikeets from a holiday in Narooma for tax 🪶🌍
Photo of a two brightly coloured parrots snuggling on a white metal railing. The parrots have red beaks, blue heads, orange chests, blue bellies, and green backs and legs. Their little toes are grey.
August 20, 2023 at 5:56 AM
erikaroper.bsky.social
Post-work lap status. It’s a Baci!
Photo of a black cat lying on a pink and green crocheted blanket, looking towards the camera. He’s got some of it in his mouth, and one paw outstretched with his claws out as he’s kneading it.
August 14, 2023 at 7:59 AM
erikaroper.bsky.social
In my family we call these Pants Ducks, as the plumes give them magnificent pants!
I saw thousands recently at Fogg Dam near Darwin, NT. And the Darwin Airport even has them on the carpet! One of my favourite ducks. #BirdsWithPants (for when we have hand tags lol)
Photo of a carpet with a colourful stylised duck on it. The duck is flying with its wings outstretched, and legs splayed out behind it. Photo of a carpet with several colourful stylised ducks on it. The ducks are walking along, some have their heads up, some have their heads down. They have striped bellies and plumes near their wings.
August 13, 2023 at 8:19 AM
erikaroper.bsky.social
Today’s office. A good place to take an enemy (so you can push them off the cliff).
Photo of a cliff with two old rusty benches, over looking a bush-filled ravine with a blue cloudy sky.
August 10, 2023 at 8:32 AM