Lauren Harter
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lbharter.bsky.social
Lauren Harter
@lbharter.bsky.social
(Mostly) desert #bird biologist and all-around bird nerd. ⚽️ fan, gardener, organism enthusiast, houseplant mom, cat mom, actual human mom. Not in that order.

Opinions my own 🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍🌈💙
My 7000th observation on iNaturalist! I love iNat for encouraging me to pay attention to all the organisms, not just the feathered ones. Feathers are good too though. 🪶

#inaturalist
June 20, 2025 at 3:51 PM
Because who doesn't like pancakes?

Pancake pricklypear, Opuntia chlorotica, from central Arizona

#bloomscrolling #cactus
June 19, 2025 at 4:00 PM
Post a bug that looks like AI but is actually real.

Saddleback caterpillar moth
#bugs
June 18, 2025 at 3:51 PM
This giant walkingstick looked like a zoo exhibit, just chilling on a dwarf palmetto outside Baton Rouge Louisiana. According to Wikipedia, the largest #insect in North America!
June 17, 2025 at 3:53 PM
Violet-toothed polypore, because purple #mushrooms
June 16, 2025 at 3:50 PM
Louisiana turned out today! #NoKings Baton Rouge
June 14, 2025 at 5:15 PM
A regal Mississippi Kite, daring dragonflies to fly above the treeline 🪶
June 13, 2025 at 3:55 PM
My Epiphyllum cactus is blooming 😍 what a beauty to wake up to

#cactus #flower
June 10, 2025 at 12:24 PM
Our shipment from the Princeton University Press 50% off sale came! 😍 This turned into a reading party, me with ferns, hubby with velvet ants, and child with fossil birds, all sharing interesting stuff every ~1.4 seconds

#books #nature
June 6, 2025 at 11:27 PM
Fewflower milkweed Asclepias lanceolata, a real stunner. #NativePlants #Louisiana #milkweed
June 6, 2025 at 3:54 PM
I saw a cecropia moth caterpillar for the first time and it was 100% Heimlich from A Bug’s Life #insects #pixar
June 5, 2025 at 12:00 AM
Spent a lovely morning botanizing at Abita Creek Flatwoods Preserve and especially enjoyed the carnivorous plants. Here are two sundew species! #plants #naturalist
June 3, 2025 at 3:58 PM
The aftermath of finding every chigger in Louisiana
May 27, 2025 at 10:12 PM
Went for a hike at a local park yesterday, in part searching for dwarf sundew. It wasn’t easy but we found them! Hands and knees botanizing 🌱 #plants #naturalist
May 27, 2025 at 3:54 PM
My supervisor is really keeping a close eye on me today

#frog #WorkBuddy
May 20, 2025 at 3:55 PM
I don’t know why it’s called a beggar moth, but it sure is pretty. #moths
May 19, 2025 at 3:54 PM
Fergie advises you to sleep in today

#cats
May 17, 2025 at 12:02 PM
While tagging thrashers at a soon-to-be-developed solar site in Arizona, we came across a good number of northbound migrants using the mesquite washes, like this Orange-crowned Warbler. 🪶

Handled with all appropriate state and federal permits.
May 15, 2025 at 3:50 PM
On a rainy day in a drought-addled desert, I got to watch this darkling beetle sip raindrops from a rock.

#desert #insects #naturalist
May 14, 2025 at 3:50 PM
Black-throated Sparrows are probably the most common bird of the Sonoran and Mojave deserts, and I’ll never get tired of looking at them. 🪶

Handled with all appropriate state and federal permits.
May 13, 2025 at 3:52 PM
I am in love with this teeny bee
May 12, 2025 at 3:49 PM
Joshua tree forest between rain showers

Avi Kwa Ame National Monument, Nevada, May 2025

#PublicLands
May 9, 2025 at 8:24 PM
My trip to the #desert took place during an unusual cold snap, and we were even rained out of thrasher surveys on a few occasions. The desert responded to the rain with a green-up and some blooms, although it is heavily stressed from long-term drought.

The creosote smell was amazing.
May 8, 2025 at 3:38 PM
Just wrapped up a whirlwind 2-week work trip to Arizona and Nevada. From a great bioblitz to surprisingly rainy thrasher surveys, it was all thrashers all the time. Highlights were successfully tagging three LeConte’s Thrashers, and all the friends and colleagues I got to see!

🪶#ornithology
May 7, 2025 at 7:51 PM
While target netting for Bendire’s Thrashers today, this accommodating and unseasonal Sage Thrasher found the nets instead.

#BirdBanding 🪶
April 29, 2025 at 11:16 PM