Lauren Harter
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lbharter.bsky.social
Lauren Harter
@lbharter.bsky.social
160 followers 170 following 160 posts
(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 🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍🌈💙
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lbharter.bsky.social
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
Screenshot from the iNaturalist app. It is topped with a small photo of a Northern Royal Flycatcher next to my username, hemispingus. Text reads “7000 observations” above a photo of a feather in my hand labeled White-winged Dove
June 20, 2025 at 3:51 PM
lbharter.bsky.social
Because who doesn't like pancakes?

Pancake pricklypear, Opuntia chlorotica, from central Arizona

#bloomscrolling #cactus
Close-up photo of a brilliant yellow cactus flower
June 19, 2025 at 4:00 PM
lbharter.bsky.social
Post a bug that looks like AI but is actually real.

Saddleback caterpillar moth
#bugs
Photo of a bizarre caterpillar, short and thick lined with intimidating bristly hairs. It features two bristly pokers jutting up from each end. It is dark brown on the ends and lime green in the middle, with a dark brown saddle spot on its back.
June 18, 2025 at 3:51 PM
lbharter.bsky.social
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!
Photo of a gray-brown stick that, upon further inspection, has legs and eyes
June 17, 2025 at 3:53 PM
lbharter.bsky.social
Violet-toothed polypore, because purple #mushrooms
Photo of a tree trunk bedecked in medium-sized shelf fungi, most colored in concentric rings with orangey inner bits and purple outer rings
June 16, 2025 at 3:50 PM
lbharter.bsky.social
Louisiana turned out today! #NoKings Baton Rouge
View down a city street with the Louisiana State Capitol at the end. Protestors line both sides of the street.
June 14, 2025 at 5:15 PM
lbharter.bsky.social
A regal Mississippi Kite, daring dragonflies to fly above the treeline 🪶
Photo of a small gray bird of prey perched on a dead branch. It is peering back over its shoulder with its dark red eyes
June 13, 2025 at 3:55 PM
lbharter.bsky.social
My Epiphyllum cactus is blooming 😍 what a beauty to wake up to

#cactus #flower
Photo of a flower with many long thin white petals extending from a cactus with many long, arching, smooth green stems. The flower has extra-long pale green bracts, and the reproductive parts are long and pale yellow
June 10, 2025 at 12:24 PM
lbharter.bsky.social
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
Photo of 16 books in a box: Terns of North America; Gulls of Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East; Habitats of the World; Into the Great Wide Ocean; Velvet Ants of North America; Ferns, Spikemosses, Clubmosses, and Quillworts of Eastern North America; Birds of the Mesozoic; Insects of North America; Dragonflies of North America; and Birds of China
June 6, 2025 at 11:27 PM
lbharter.bsky.social
Fewflower milkweed Asclepias lanceolata, a real stunner. #NativePlants #Louisiana #milkweed
Photo of a cluster of milkweed flowers in shades of vibrant orange
June 6, 2025 at 3:54 PM
lbharter.bsky.social
I saw a cecropia moth caterpillar for the first time and it was 100% Heimlich from A Bug’s Life #insects #pixar
Photo of a large, mostly green caterpillar, its massive size not adequately conveyed as it demolishes a swamp titi branch with audible chewing
June 5, 2025 at 12:00 AM
lbharter.bsky.social
Spent a lovely morning botanizing at Abita Creek Flatwoods Preserve and especially enjoyed the carnivorous plants. Here are two sundew species! #plants #naturalist
Spoon-leafed sundew Drosera intermedia; a very small plant with dew-covered spatulas for leaves reaching a mighty 2 inches off the ground Pink sundew Drosera capillaris, a tiny plant barely larger than the fallen oak leaves on the ground. Its several round-tipped leaves are studded with reddish spikes each ending in a drop of dew
June 3, 2025 at 3:58 PM
lbharter.bsky.social
The aftermath of finding every chigger in Louisiana
GIF of Veruca Salt from Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory singing “I’m going to scream” while laying waste to the factory under the judgmental eyes of the Oompa Loompas
May 27, 2025 at 10:12 PM
lbharter.bsky.social
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
Photo of a tiny sundew plant with spatulate leaves covered in dewy spikes
May 27, 2025 at 3:54 PM
lbharter.bsky.social
My supervisor is really keeping a close eye on me today

#frog #WorkBuddy
Photo of a green tree frog sleeping pressed up against a window
May 20, 2025 at 3:55 PM
lbharter.bsky.social
I don’t know why it’s called a beggar moth, but it sure is pretty. #moths
A small orange moth clings to a dewy window. Its wings have two bands of silver spots, like stained glass
May 19, 2025 at 3:54 PM
lbharter.bsky.social
Fergie advises you to sleep in today

#cats
Photo of a tortoiseshell-marked tabby curled up in max relaxation
May 17, 2025 at 12:02 PM
lbharter.bsky.social
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.
Photo of a very small yellow bird being held safely by the legs
May 15, 2025 at 3:50 PM
lbharter.bsky.social
On a rainy day in a drought-addled desert, I got to watch this darkling beetle sip raindrops from a rock.

#desert #insects #naturalist
Photo of a large black beetle, dotted with water droplets, face-down on a large red rock
May 14, 2025 at 3:50 PM
lbharter.bsky.social
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.
Photo of a small bird being held safely by the legs. It is mostly gray with a brown back, black bill, throat, and face, and bold white lines above and below the eye.
May 13, 2025 at 3:52 PM
lbharter.bsky.social
I am in love with this teeny bee
Photo of a silvery bee perched on a stem. The tip of the photographer’s finger provides scale, revealing that the bee is less than the size of a fingernail
May 12, 2025 at 3:49 PM
lbharter.bsky.social
Joshua tree forest between rain showers

Avi Kwa Ame National Monument, Nevada, May 2025

#PublicLands
Photo of a desert scene under a cloudy sky, mountains in the distance. The small shrubs dotting the sandy soil look dead, but Mojave yuccas and Joshua trees gleam in the dim light
May 9, 2025 at 8:24 PM
lbharter.bsky.social
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.
Photo of a blooming creosote bush - peppered with small yellow flowers
May 8, 2025 at 3:38 PM
lbharter.bsky.social
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
A LeConte’s Thrasher being held safely by the legs. It is a pale gray medium-sized songbird, with a long, curved bill. A transmitter with a long antenna is just visible on its back.
May 7, 2025 at 7:51 PM
lbharter.bsky.social
While target netting for Bendire’s Thrashers today, this accommodating and unseasonal Sage Thrasher found the nets instead.

#BirdBanding 🪶
Photo of a medium-sized songbird being held safely by the legs. It has bold spots on the underside and a bright yellow eye. In the background are mist nets set around desert shrubs
April 29, 2025 at 11:16 PM