MG
@megarnson.bsky.social
Seattle-area science communicator. I work with govt environmental scientists to make their work more accessible, usable, and enduring. Really into birds, books, baseball, and baking.
Since it's too cloudy to see them tonight, I'm instead remembering how transcendent--overwhelming!-- the northern lights were from the hill next to my house in May 2024. So happy so many other people are getting to experience this right now.
#AuroraBorealis
#AuroraBorealis
November 12, 2025 at 5:05 AM
Since it's too cloudy to see them tonight, I'm instead remembering how transcendent--overwhelming!-- the northern lights were from the hill next to my house in May 2024. So happy so many other people are getting to experience this right now.
#AuroraBorealis
#AuroraBorealis
Chonk indeed! We meet this moon snail (held by a naturalist from the Seattle aquarium) at low low tide a few years ago. 🐌😍
November 9, 2025 at 5:10 PM
Chonk indeed! We meet this moon snail (held by a naturalist from the Seattle aquarium) at low low tide a few years ago. 🐌😍
Quality PNW afternoon. Went to look for salmon with my daughter at Longfellow Creek in West Seattle. We saw a couple of fish, talked about beavers and 6PPDQ (she was captivated by one of my related work projects last spring), and snooped under a very low bridge to scope out these tracks...
October 27, 2025 at 2:22 AM
Quality PNW afternoon. Went to look for salmon with my daughter at Longfellow Creek in West Seattle. We saw a couple of fish, talked about beavers and 6PPDQ (she was captivated by one of my related work projects last spring), and snooped under a very low bridge to scope out these tracks...
And here's that big baby barred owl on the ground, not for the first time I later learned. I still can't believe I didn't have my camera... #birds
October 25, 2025 at 2:24 PM
And here's that big baby barred owl on the ground, not for the first time I later learned. I still can't believe I didn't have my camera... #birds
Can I interest you in a baby barred owl scaling a redwood with its claws and beak as a parent watches? It didn't know it couldn't fly yet and fluttered down right in front of us before quickly heading back up. It was amazing to watch with my own kiddos. #birds
October 25, 2025 at 3:37 AM
Can I interest you in a baby barred owl scaling a redwood with its claws and beak as a parent watches? It didn't know it couldn't fly yet and fluttered down right in front of us before quickly heading back up. It was amazing to watch with my own kiddos. #birds
Just found this cute note in a book my daughter brought home from the library 😻 When I translated it, she wanted to take credit and then immediately confessed she doesn't know Spanish yet.
#HolaMamáTeAmo #HiMomILoveYou
#HolaMamáTeAmo #HiMomILoveYou
October 16, 2025 at 3:00 AM
Just found this cute note in a book my daughter brought home from the library 😻 When I translated it, she wanted to take credit and then immediately confessed she doesn't know Spanish yet.
#HolaMamáTeAmo #HiMomILoveYou
#HolaMamáTeAmo #HiMomILoveYou
So many the past week and they go straight to the bin! Here's one that came yesterday (I think) and somehow escaped Trash Day.
August 6, 2025 at 1:49 AM
So many the past week and they go straight to the bin! Here's one that came yesterday (I think) and somehow escaped Trash Day.
I didn't know it until last night, but there's life before you meet #beavers and life after you meet beavers. Oh and then there's a whole other life also after you meet BABY beavers! King County is full of wonders.
August 6, 2025 at 1:06 AM
I didn't know it until last night, but there's life before you meet #beavers and life after you meet beavers. Oh and then there's a whole other life also after you meet BABY beavers! King County is full of wonders.
Recently I found a tiny juvenile lamprey while wading around a wetland for work and I would 100% read anything at all even remotely associated with an entire bag of them
June 22, 2025 at 2:54 AM
Recently I found a tiny juvenile lamprey while wading around a wetland for work and I would 100% read anything at all even remotely associated with an entire bag of them
I was too amped after this experience to describe it well or include a quick pic of the owlet's attentive parent. I've wanted to see these neighborhood birds for years... All credit to my budding birders for first spotting the baby. Can't believe I didn't have a real lens on hand 😔 #Birds #Seattle
May 21, 2025 at 1:53 PM
Y'all. This little barred owl was flapping around in the canopy before landing so dang close to us. We quickly retreated and kept an eye out for dogs, people, etc. A parent swooped down and kept a watchful eye as it scaled a tree back up to safety at least 20' up. #BirdsOfThePNW #birds
May 21, 2025 at 5:01 AM
Y'all. This little barred owl was flapping around in the canopy before landing so dang close to us. We quickly retreated and kept an eye out for dogs, people, etc. A parent swooped down and kept a watchful eye as it scaled a tree back up to safety at least 20' up. #BirdsOfThePNW #birds
OK #birds buds. 3 recent trips. 3 lifer woodpeckers (golden-cheeked, ladder-backed, acorn.) I want to extend the steak and I'm headed to #Raleigh soon for the @sciencetalkorg.bsky.social conference. Where can I find some east coast woodpeckers between NW Raleigh and the NCSU campus? #birding
March 22, 2025 at 4:28 AM
OK #birds buds. 3 recent trips. 3 lifer woodpeckers (golden-cheeked, ladder-backed, acorn.) I want to extend the steak and I'm headed to #Raleigh soon for the @sciencetalkorg.bsky.social conference. Where can I find some east coast woodpeckers between NW Raleigh and the NCSU campus? #birding
Well. California granted me a few days of distraction and a few lifers, including this shy ladderback woodpecker. I am always grateful for #birds that announce themselves ("TAP TAP TAP I'M A WOODPECKER UP HERE") or each other ("CAW CAW CAW GET OUTTA HERE, RAPTOR")
February 21, 2025 at 5:52 AM
Well. California granted me a few days of distraction and a few lifers, including this shy ladderback woodpecker. I am always grateful for #birds that announce themselves ("TAP TAP TAP I'M A WOODPECKER UP HERE") or each other ("CAW CAW CAW GET OUTTA HERE, RAPTOR")
2 days ago, hiking, lifer Costa's #hummingbird! My daughter needed a break and we paused <8 ft from a NEST in the shady interior of a yerba santa. With a COHU on it. FEEDING A BABY. I took a GREAT photo... and later dropped my phone in a pool. Mourned. Returned to the magic of the memory. #birds
February 19, 2025 at 1:47 AM
2 days ago, hiking, lifer Costa's #hummingbird! My daughter needed a break and we paused <8 ft from a NEST in the shady interior of a yerba santa. With a COHU on it. FEEDING A BABY. I took a GREAT photo... and later dropped my phone in a pool. Mourned. Returned to the magic of the memory. #birds
Live look at the conservation instructor:
February 8, 2025 at 9:34 PM
Live look at the conservation instructor:
Lifer green heron, a couple of years ago at a dreamy little King County wetland surrounded by highways, vacant lots, and farmland. #WorldWetlandsDay #Birds #wetlands #pnw
February 2, 2025 at 5:14 PM
Lifer green heron, a couple of years ago at a dreamy little King County wetland surrounded by highways, vacant lots, and farmland. #WorldWetlandsDay #Birds #wetlands #pnw
Paused @jeffvandermeer.bsky.social's Hummingbird Salamander and walked out my front door to find the remnants of a hummingbird nest that must have fallen from the fir tree above. The cup crumbled when I tried to scoop it up but it's been nice? a relief? to feel sad about something so small today.
February 2, 2025 at 7:28 AM
Paused @jeffvandermeer.bsky.social's Hummingbird Salamander and walked out my front door to find the remnants of a hummingbird nest that must have fallen from the fir tree above. The cup crumbled when I tried to scoop it up but it's been nice? a relief? to feel sad about something so small today.
I keep seeing this post again and picturing these
January 19, 2025 at 2:25 AM
I keep seeing this post again and picturing these
How do we feel about a bird *under* a sign? A nesting wedge-tailed shearwater following the rules at Kīlauea Point National Wildlife Refuge.
December 28, 2024 at 4:15 PM
How do we feel about a bird *under* a sign? A nesting wedge-tailed shearwater following the rules at Kīlauea Point National Wildlife Refuge.
Hello! The Oregon coast from ~Florence to Newport was awash in velella the first week of April of this year! We also thought they were garbage until enlightened by the rangers at Yaquina Head.
November 27, 2024 at 1:46 PM
Hello! The Oregon coast from ~Florence to Newport was awash in velella the first week of April of this year! We also thought they were garbage until enlightened by the rangers at Yaquina Head.
Oh, the joy of a lifer!! Saw my first golden-cheeked woodpecker in Mexico and didn't have a real camera handy, but this will do. Sorry to all the people who were disappointed to see just...a bird... when this random lady was gasping and pointing frantically at a mall palm tree 😂 #birds
November 25, 2024 at 8:00 PM
Oh, the joy of a lifer!! Saw my first golden-cheeked woodpecker in Mexico and didn't have a real camera handy, but this will do. Sorry to all the people who were disappointed to see just...a bird... when this random lady was gasping and pointing frantically at a mall palm tree 😂 #birds