JohnDM
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jdmyeepa.bsky.social
JohnDM
@jdmyeepa.bsky.social
400 followers 530 following 350 posts
Ancient, in Chiang Mai 25+ years: bugs; traditional music of ethnic groups in Thailand, Laos, Burma; dogs; birdsong, sounds of nature. 20th century lived in UK, France, Algeria, Colombia, Malaysia. Hope one day to understand something
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jdmyeepa.bsky.social
Visitor to the house last night. Daphnis hypothous, Jade hawkmoth (I think, I can never tell it from D. nerii.)
It spent the night in the kitchen but I persuaded it to leave in the morning.
The third image is Daphnis nerii, I think #moths
Dark brown hawkmoth with lighter markings resting on a white curtain Dark olive green hawkmoth with grey and pale blue markings resting on some rough wood Dark green hawkmoth with pink and white markings resting on a light grey surface
July 5, 2025 at 10:17 AM
jdmyeepa.bsky.social
“I know not how it falls on me,
This summer evening, hushed and lone;
Yet the faint wind comes soothingly
With something of an olden tone”
Emily Brontë
Three shots from an evening walk in the woods
📷 mine
#nature #photography
a single stalk, dark trees, a pale orange sky with a golden sun to the right. some dry stalk on the left, bamboo leaves on the right all silhouetted against a golden sky. The sun is seen behind the leaves. stalks with a cluster of seeds with fluffy ends silhouetted against a golden sky
April 1, 2025 at 4:08 PM
jdmyeepa.bsky.social
Happy ending
same stalks, two leaning towards each other. Text: peace is restored with a hug same stalks, I see two waving at a third. Text: fond farewells a single stalk, dark trees, a pale orange sky with a golden sun to the right. Text: Graddad goes for a stroll while the sun is sinking in the sky
March 31, 2025 at 11:31 AM
jdmyeepa.bsky.social
Absorbed the other morning looking at these nondescript stalks. The more I gazed at them, the more they looked like a group of elderly folk such as you would see in a village square dans le Midi. Things got a bit heated- see the text in the images. Conclusion in comment #photography #nature
4 dried plant stalks with secondary stalks sticking out at angles from the main stalk silhouetted against a blue, grey sky with scattered white clouds. Text reads: discussions get heated two dried plant stalks with secondary stalks sticking out at angles from the main stalk silhouetted against a grey white cloudy sky, the stalks interlocking at the top. Text: two start to quarrel several thin dried plant stalks with secondary stalks sticking out at angles from the main stalk, some stalks touching each other silhouetted blueish white sky. Text reads: scuffles break out two interlocking dried plant stalks with a smaller one to the left. Text: old scores are settled
March 31, 2025 at 11:26 AM
jdmyeepa.bsky.social
OO7 at his finest
photo of Sir Roger Moore. Text reads "Sport" hunting is a sickness, a perversion and a danger and should be recognised as such. People who get their 'amusement' from hunting and killing defenceless animals can only be suffering from a mental disorder. In a world with boundless opportunities for amusement, it's detestable that anyone would choose to get thrills from killing others who ask for nothing from life but the chance to remain alive. -Sir Roger Moore (seven time James Bond) STOP.THE.CULL
March 30, 2025 at 12:24 PM
jdmyeepa.bsky.social
This Garden (Olive-backed) sunbird came to see what was going on in the kitchen. Not a songster, more a chatterer when not uttering monosyllabic chirps, as you can hear in the audio.
🦉 #birds

📷 mine 🎤 mine
March 29, 2025 at 10:13 AM
jdmyeepa.bsky.social
Heartbroken that no one loves #cicadas. 1- came in the house this am, noisy. 2- older pic, pretty. 3- a very special cicada- kindly named after me by my friend Michel Boulard. Immortality of sorts. See alt text for details #bugs #insects #entomology
cicada, black body, orange spots on a leaf. Probably Cryptotympana aquila small cicada with red body and black markings on a leaf. Mogannia saucia Body of a brown cicada with transparent wings open. Purana jdmoorei. Photo M. Boulard
March 28, 2025 at 12:14 PM
jdmyeepa.bsky.social
Colour matching: Combretum indicum (Rangoon creeper) out in my garden now. Pretty but stinky. 3 Arctiinae moths: Cyana bellissima (female), Cyana coccinea (male) and unid. Pretty, and inoffensive in every way. See them in the rainy season. #flowers #moths #nature
Clusters of drooping star-shaped pink and red flowers and some white buds with bright green leaves surrounded by dark green leaves. Top: A white moth settled horizontally on a black background. The wing tips are edged with yellowy orange and there are 5 red bars across the wings, nos 3 and 4 connected by 2 horizontal bars. There is a black spot in the middle of each wing. Middle: A pinkish red moth resting on dark green moss. Two irregularly shaped white bars across the wings edged in black. A white circle on each wing containing three black dots. The outstretched legs have bars of yellow and white. Bottom: A white moth resting on a white cloth. The wings have pink bars and irregular shapes running across them.
March 27, 2025 at 10:21 AM
jdmyeepa.bsky.social
Tiger and me in the morning sun.
Image 1 “Both light and shadow are the dance of Love.” Rumi.
Image 2 “The comic and the tragic lie inseparably close, like light and shadow.” Socrates. The smallest things can cast huge shadows. Don’t be fooled. Tiger doesn’t disagree #dogs #DogsOfBluesky
Elongated shadows of a man and a dog on a sandy path, The path leads up past bushes to the top where there is a tall tree against a deep blue sky. Does Tiger need an “explicit” warning? Elongated shadows of a man and a dog on a sandy path
March 26, 2025 at 3:52 PM
jdmyeepa.bsky.social
The Spot-throated babbler, nothing to look at but a mighty songster. I recorded one singing nonstop at breathtaking speed for 1 hour +. The free-flowing song has a remarkable range of timbres, tunes, rhythms.
You can here more here: whyp.it/tracks/90727...
🦉 #birds #birdsong
📷 see alt text 🎤 mine
March 25, 2025 at 10:15 AM
jdmyeepa.bsky.social
Ragu trying to play with some buffaloes. They don't seem interested. The other dogs pretty much ignore them, though Hella keeps a watchful eye on Ragu. I rescued Ragu from this area so she is well used to the buffaloes.
#dogs #DogsOfBluesky
March 24, 2025 at 10:24 AM
jdmyeepa.bsky.social
"What seems to be a loss may be a gain,
What seems to be darkness may be light." Rumi.

I don't take pictures of flowers, especially this sort, but occasionally one will pester me till I reluctantly give in.
Taken on my walks in the woods, some escapees.
#flowers #photography #macrophotography
Red Passion Flower (Passiflora miniata) Closeup of a flower pointing upwards against a dark out of focus background. The flower has 5 reflexed sepals and 5 “valentine-red” drooping petals. The corona has 3 whorls of filaments. Those in the outer whorl are purple and curved outwards slightly. The 2 inner whorls are erect, white and shorter. At the top is the yellowish ovary with 3 red styles that have large yellow stigmas. Just below the ovary are the 5 stamens with spotted red filaments and yellow anthers. The ant is on the petal bottom second left and is barely visible the image shows two orchids on a pale green stalk pointing diagonally upwards against a white background. There are some pale olive green out of focus leaves on the left. The lower petals droop and are a pale yellow; the upper petals are erect and white at the base and then pinkish mauve Globba schomburgkii, also known as the dancing ladies ginger or forest dancer. Golden-orange flower against a deep black background. The flower has an elongated central structure extending upwards, culminating in a star-like formation at its tip. The petals radiate symmetrically from the center and have a delicate, almost translucent texture, with fine details visible along their edges. The flower appears to emerge from a cluster of green buds, some of which are beginning to open. possibly Hibiscus rosa sinensis. The image shows two flowers on a stalk horizontal, sloping slightly downwards against a white background with trees with pale green leaves out of focus in the lower part of the image. The flower on the left is large with drooping pink petals; the flower on the right has smaller paler pink fluffy petals and a pistil with three of the four stigmas visible, also pink
March 24, 2025 at 10:09 AM
jdmyeepa.bsky.social
Things I post
Field recordings: #birdsong, #wildlife; hill tribe music in SE Asia
Photos: #moths and other #insects, other creatures, #nature, scenery around Chiang Mai, other travels
Life with #dogs
Reposts about current geopolitical turmoil
#DogsOfBluesky 🦉
#ethnomusicology
Left to right, top row: CD cover labeled Beautiful Bird songs from around the world, British Library (includes several of my recordings), image of a light brown bird sitting on a branch surrounded by pinkish red flowers and a golden light; White butterfly with half folded wings upper wing White with black edged bright orange tip. Underwing mottled brown. Resting on pink-orange hibiscus flowers; side view of a medium sized brown mixed breed dog seen from slightly below; a white raptor with black shoulder standing on top of a leafy tree against a plain blue background. Bottom row: 6 CD labels showing musicians from SE Asian ethnic groups; Large yellow moth with brown and orange markings and very long thin tails. Wings spread against a dark background . Main color yellow, darkish purple brown patches on wing edges and near the body. Body and surrounding areas orange; Two dogs standing on a rock against a background of trees. On the left a small black and white stray gazing up at the dog on the right, Ragu, medium sized fox-like.
March 21, 2025 at 1:12 PM
jdmyeepa.bsky.social
The mind of a bird. Red-whiskered bulbul and Oriental Magpie robin in my garden this morning (extracts from much longer songs). Both start with a theme, shorten it, lengthen and make similar variations on it. Composition, not mere repetition of phrases? Details in alt text 🦉 #nature 📷 mine 🎤 mine
March 21, 2025 at 1:00 PM
jdmyeepa.bsky.social
Fascinated by the patterns and colours of lichens and crumbling bark on my walk with the dogs this morning. Also invaded by a million ants. น้ำมาปลากินมด น้ำลดมดกินปลา "At high tide, fish eat ants; at low tide, ants eat fish." At no tide, ants eat me.
#nature #trees
Collage of shots of dark lines on crumbling bark and many different shapes on the trunks in muted colours of sepia, green and crimson
March 21, 2025 at 11:03 AM
jdmyeepa.bsky.social
Tiger says hello to an Elongated tortoise (Indotestudo elongata) that live wild in dry dipterocarp forest around Chiang Mai. He will sit and watch one for ages. The tortoises are not taking any chances. #dogs #DogsOfBluesky #nature #wildlife #reptiles 🐢
head of a small brown dog with nose almost touching a tortoise on the ground
March 20, 2025 at 12:03 PM
jdmyeepa.bsky.social
4 #raptors I've recorded in the last few days where I take my dogs. Not bad for a place of no interest to birders. In order: Black Baza, Grey-faced Buzzard, Shikra, Crested Serpent Eagle 📷 see alt text 🎤 mine 🦉 #birds
March 19, 2025 at 12:43 PM
jdmyeepa.bsky.social
Dogs will be dogs. The 17th c. Dutch dog marking the territory as its own shows “a strikingly irreverent attitude toward the sacred space.” Tiger today follows the well established practice and leaves his calling card on my friend’s motorbike #dogs #DogsOfBluesky #history
Detail of Interior of the Oude Kerk, c 1650 Delft Emanuel de Witte (Dutch, born about 1616, died 1692) This detail of the picture shows a dog urinating against a large white column; two men are walking and a dog lying in the background A small brown dog with leg raised, peeing against the back tyre of a motorcycle with a Thai registration plate. There are a few drops on the ground in front of him
March 18, 2025 at 12:48 PM
jdmyeepa.bsky.social
Out walking with 11 dogs (some free-ranging) when we met a herd of #goats- a new experience for both parties. Mutual respect shown; dogs the more curious; no fear, no competition, so no aggression. Ragu wanted to find one of the younger ones to play with. #dogs #DogsOfBluesky
March 17, 2025 at 12:10 PM
jdmyeepa.bsky.social
Looks very much like my recently departed and much missed Tiramisu
a small brown dog with black nose lying in a patch of sand
March 17, 2025 at 6:02 AM
jdmyeepa.bsky.social
Ragu completing her training for an attempt on the canine cross-Channel swimming record.
#dogs #DogsOfBluesky
The head and upper body of a medium sized brown dog swimming in a reservoir, large expanse of water blue, bank on the other side with wooded hills, several bare branches sticking up close by
March 15, 2025 at 11:44 AM
jdmyeepa.bsky.social
The cicadas have started! So it’s really summer. PM 36°C, soon up to 40. Thailand has > 140 cicada species, each with a distinctive tymbalization. I’ve recorded >60. Listen to the majestic Tosena albata (image T. splendida.)
📸 🎤 mine
#cicadas #insects #bugs #wildlife #naturephotography
March 15, 2025 at 10:44 AM
jdmyeepa.bsky.social
This is the actual recording I made with my phone. No intrusive sounds, but if you listen really carefully, some chirping insects. But you have to be really aware. #nature #landscapes #insects
March 14, 2025 at 11:09 AM
jdmyeepa.bsky.social
Early morning at the dam- no other living things to be seen or heard for miles. Magnum and Tiger, the survivors from 2012, taking in the view. "True silence is not the absence of sound, but the presence of awareness." Krishnamurti
#dogs #DogsOfBluesky #landscapes
One medium sized mixed breed black and brown dog with another smaller brown one standing facing an expanse of rough ground behind which there is a reservoir and hills in the distant. The whole scene is bathed in early morning golden sunshine.
March 14, 2025 at 10:48 AM
jdmyeepa.bsky.social
Only a brief shower a few nights ago but the frogs have started up in my garden. Not a frogologist but this looks like the Common tree frog (Polypedates maculatus). Calls with a delightful play of rhythms and timbres
📸 🎤 mine
#frogs #amphibians #nature #wildlife #addHerper
March 13, 2025 at 1:21 PM