Grigory Heaton
@g-heaton.bsky.social
Physics grad student @ Caltech working on cosmic infrared background research. I mainly post about wildlife/nature photography and birding here | Pasadena, California | All photos are my own! (I will block anyone who uses gen AI images and you should too)
Very rare Bar-tailed Godwit at the Ballona saltmarsh near the LAX airport! This is the first one in southern california since I started birding, and they typically cross the entire Pacific from Russia to Australia and NZ in one shot. This one instead encountered an Accidentes billboard 🪶
August 13, 2025 at 3:53 PM
Very rare Bar-tailed Godwit at the Ballona saltmarsh near the LAX airport! This is the first one in southern california since I started birding, and they typically cross the entire Pacific from Russia to Australia and NZ in one shot. This one instead encountered an Accidentes billboard 🪶
The islands off of southern California are a hotspot for snail diversity, with 5 endemic species just on Catalina island alone. This Catalina cactussnail - the most common of the 5, widespread on the island - is spending the summer attached to a prickly pear cactus pad 📷
July 17, 2025 at 4:38 PM
The islands off of southern California are a hotspot for snail diversity, with 5 endemic species just on Catalina island alone. This Catalina cactussnail - the most common of the 5, widespread on the island - is spending the summer attached to a prickly pear cactus pad 📷
First Milky Way photo of the season! Northern tip of Catalina Island, offshore from Los Angeles 📷🔭
July 16, 2025 at 5:39 PM
First Milky Way photo of the season! Northern tip of Catalina Island, offshore from Los Angeles 📷🔭
Lesser Nighthawk takes flight over the Volcanic Tablelands outside Bishop, CA. This is one of the few places where you can find both Common and Lesser Nighthawk! 🪶📷
July 8, 2025 at 3:56 PM
Lesser Nighthawk takes flight over the Volcanic Tablelands outside Bishop, CA. This is one of the few places where you can find both Common and Lesser Nighthawk! 🪶📷
Skittish but spectacularly colored, Baja blue rock lizards only live in the cape region at the southern tip of the Baja California peninsula 🦎
June 30, 2025 at 3:19 AM
Skittish but spectacularly colored, Baja blue rock lizards only live in the cape region at the southern tip of the Baja California peninsula 🦎
Great Blue Heron with a bad hair day 🪶
June 25, 2025 at 5:53 AM
Great Blue Heron with a bad hair day 🪶
Eurasian Blackbird scoring an early-morning snack | Annecy, Haute-Savoie, France 🪶📷
June 23, 2025 at 5:59 PM
Eurasian Blackbird scoring an early-morning snack | Annecy, Haute-Savoie, France 🪶📷
The Trona pinnacles, >150ft high and deep in the Mojave desert, are all that's left of ancient underwater springs when this entire valley was under 100s of feet of water during the last ice age. A popular filming spot - if you've watched something that needs an alien planet, you may have seen these
June 23, 2025 at 5:25 AM
The Trona pinnacles, >150ft high and deep in the Mojave desert, are all that's left of ancient underwater springs when this entire valley was under 100s of feet of water during the last ice age. A popular filming spot - if you've watched something that needs an alien planet, you may have seen these
Wildflowers above the treeline above Aosta Valley, Italy 📷
June 19, 2025 at 6:11 PM
Wildflowers above the treeline above Aosta Valley, Italy 📷
Had a few days in the French Alps following the LIM25 conference in Annecy - awesome to see giant glaciers, even if it's depressing how much they've dropped in recent decades. Our glaciers in California are very small and I haven't actually seen any of them yet! Mer de Glace, near Chamonix FR 📷
June 15, 2025 at 9:57 PM
Had a few days in the French Alps following the LIM25 conference in Annecy - awesome to see giant glaciers, even if it's depressing how much they've dropped in recent decades. Our glaciers in California are very small and I haven't actually seen any of them yet! Mer de Glace, near Chamonix FR 📷
Jacarandas are in full bloom in Pasadena! Portra 160 film, FED-5 📷
May 28, 2025 at 4:02 PM
Jacarandas are in full bloom in Pasadena! Portra 160 film, FED-5 📷
Fog desert on the Magdalena Plain, Baja California Sur 📷
May 6, 2025 at 4:16 PM
Fog desert on the Magdalena Plain, Baja California Sur 📷
Infinite caracara glitch discovered (Puerto San Carlos, Baja California Sur) 🪶counted at least 105 along this short road near the town dump!
May 5, 2025 at 5:41 PM
Infinite caracara glitch discovered (Puerto San Carlos, Baja California Sur) 🪶counted at least 105 along this short road near the town dump!
Magnificent Frigatebird (yes, that's its actual name) making a pass on the sewage pond just southwest of La Paz, Baja California Sur 🪶
May 4, 2025 at 3:50 PM
Magnificent Frigatebird (yes, that's its actual name) making a pass on the sewage pond just southwest of La Paz, Baja California Sur 🪶
Cape Spiny-tailed Iguana chilling on the side of a harbor on the Baja California cape - these huge lizards are only found on the southern tip of Baja, from Cabo San Lucas up to some isolated populations in the Sierra de la Giganta #herps 📷
May 3, 2025 at 8:39 PM
Cape Spiny-tailed Iguana chilling on the side of a harbor on the Baja California cape - these huge lizards are only found on the southern tip of Baja, from Cabo San Lucas up to some isolated populations in the Sierra de la Giganta #herps 📷
I saw this gull in a dirt lot in Baja California, said out loud "huh this herring gull looks weirdly like a ring-billed gull", and moved on with the trip. Well, weeks later, I find out that this is very likely a Vega Gull from Siberia and only the 2nd ever reported in all of Mexico!! 🪶(see alt text)
April 29, 2025 at 6:54 AM
I saw this gull in a dirt lot in Baja California, said out loud "huh this herring gull looks weirdly like a ring-billed gull", and moved on with the trip. Well, weeks later, I find out that this is very likely a Vega Gull from Siberia and only the 2nd ever reported in all of Mexico!! 🪶(see alt text)
View of the imposing El Virgen volcano, looming above one of its many lava fields in the remote middle of the Baja California peninsula 📷
April 22, 2025 at 8:52 PM
View of the imposing El Virgen volcano, looming above one of its many lava fields in the remote middle of the Baja California peninsula 📷
Little Blue Heron from Guerrero Negro, Baja California Sur 🪶
April 22, 2025 at 5:46 AM
Little Blue Heron from Guerrero Negro, Baja California Sur 🪶
Willet getting into its breeding plumage! Refugio de Aves, Guerrero Negro, Baja California Sur 🪶
April 21, 2025 at 6:05 AM
Willet getting into its breeding plumage! Refugio de Aves, Guerrero Negro, Baja California Sur 🪶
Most people bird the Salton Sea in the winter when the big goose&crane flocks are around - but a quick day trip yesterday to the sea yielded some Bronzed Cowbirds, a Mexican species that shows up in the Imperial valley only in warmer months and can't be found anywhere else in California! 🪶
April 21, 2025 at 3:15 AM
Most people bird the Salton Sea in the winter when the big goose&crane flocks are around - but a quick day trip yesterday to the sea yielded some Bronzed Cowbirds, a Mexican species that shows up in the Imperial valley only in warmer months and can't be found anywhere else in California! 🪶
Xerarionta orcutti, the El Rosario Cactussnail, found only on the dry mesas surrounding El Rosario on the edge of the vast Baja California desert. Found this one estivating inside a dead agave and replaced best I could after photos. Last time these were collected seems to be the 50s 📷 #invertebrates
April 18, 2025 at 9:36 PM
Xerarionta orcutti, the El Rosario Cactussnail, found only on the dry mesas surrounding El Rosario on the edge of the vast Baja California desert. Found this one estivating inside a dead agave and replaced best I could after photos. Last time these were collected seems to be the 50s 📷 #invertebrates
Gray Thrasher, only found on the Baja California peninsula 🪶 📷
April 18, 2025 at 6:34 AM
Gray Thrasher, only found on the Baja California peninsula 🪶 📷