Melinda Roy
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melindaroy.bsky.social
Melinda Roy
@melindaroy.bsky.social
Queer neurodivergent nature nerd and writer.
Writing appears in: The Malahat Review, filling station, untethered, Thimbleberry, Ex-Puritan, and others. Data analyst (citizen science and Higher Ed). Opinions my own.
Reposted by Melinda Roy
HEY SFF WRITERS 👋✨

We want your books.

So we can acquire them.

And print them.

For our ✨🪶 SOON TO BE LAUNCHED PRESS 🪶✨

Submissions are open until August 30. 12.5k-40k words.

Guidelines are live on our site, found down-thread.

Pass it on 👀
July 7, 2025 at 8:25 PM
Reposted by Melinda Roy
** deep breath **

✨ I am now accepting novella & novelette submissions for Augur Press — launching 2027! ✨

Nine years in the making, we’re making the leap to print books.

Guidelines are on our site.

Questions? AMA in the comments and I’ll answer.
HEY SFF WRITERS 👋✨

We want your books.

So we can acquire them.

And print them.

For our ✨🪶 SOON TO BE LAUNCHED PRESS 🪶✨

Submissions are open until August 30. 12.5k-40k words.

Guidelines are live on our site, found down-thread.

Pass it on 👀
July 8, 2025 at 1:43 PM
NEW MINI-REVIEW: Migratory microbiomes: the role of the gut microbiome in bird migration eco-physiology.

➡️ vist.ly/3n6v3fs

#ornithology #birds #gut #immunity #adaptation #energetics
June 14, 2025 at 3:04 PM
Reposted by Melinda Roy
This is a great relief, this post is good, and maybe I don’t have to ditch iNaturalist after all :)
From Scott Loarie
"I can assure you that I and the entire iNat team hates the AI slop that’s taking over the internet as much as you do."

"there’s no way we’re going to unleash AI generated slop onto the site."

his comment:
What is this - iNaturalist and generative AI?
Thanks @graysquirrel for spending time today and helping talk through how we got here. I want to assure everyone that WE ARE NOT CHANGING THE DIRECTION OF iNATURALIST. As I say every chance I get (an...
forum.inaturalist.org
June 14, 2025 at 5:08 AM
Reposted by Melinda Roy
June 7th, 11am CST - Poet Jessica Lohafer is hosting a cowriting session for pride month. Free, everyone welcome, optional prompts. Sign up :)
www.eventbrite.com/e/pride-writ...
May 30, 2025 at 2:43 PM
Reposted by Melinda Roy
life advice from the cassowary
May 13, 2025 at 2:42 PM
Reposted by Melinda Roy
LOCAL BIRD OUTRAGED BY PRESENCE OF HUMAN

"I went to my usual pond and she was just THERE, this big ugly creature. What does she even want?"

When questioned, human claims "But I live here. Also I built the pond."

The human retreated quickly while the bird hurled insults.

(American Robin) #birds 🌿
May 11, 2025 at 5:24 PM
Artist: Arezou Moeini
Installed at Two Rivers Art Gallery, a 3D representation of a 2d motif of the eight-pointed star a motif often seen in Iranian tiles and mosaics. Look for the star in the gaps as the video rotates.
May 9, 2025 at 5:42 AM
Exhausted but very appreciative of the Canadian medical system, its doctors, nurses, and support staff.
May 3, 2025 at 8:36 AM
Reposted by Melinda Roy
"If you or any other Canadians are not happy living on Treaty lands, they are free to apply for citizenship elsewhere."

Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation issues a scathing rebuke of Danielle Smith's talks on a national unity crisis.
May 1, 2025 at 3:29 AM
Reposted by Melinda Roy
In the US, domestic cats kill up to 4 billion birds and 22 billion mammals every year—plus hundreds of millions of reptiles and amphibians. In just 5 months, Britain’s 9 million cats killed 57 million mammals and 27M birds. The global toll on biodiversity is staggering.

apple.news/ArfCzk6grQ9W...
How much wildlife do cats ACTUALLY kill – and should we keep our pet cats indoors? — BBC Wildlife Magazine
We may love our pets, but the truth is that they can be a real problem for wildlife, says James Fair April 23, 2025 The Kerguelen Islands lie deep in the southern Indian Ocean about halfway between Ma...
apple.news
April 25, 2025 at 11:19 AM
I was in a hurry yesterday when I saw this friend. Had I known what I was looking at, I’d have taken a better picture of their face, which is noteworthily proud for a #moth. Brown-tipped Thorn.
Good day, sir. 🎩🫡 🦋🌿🍂
#lepidoptera
#insect
April 21, 2025 at 3:40 PM
Today’s winged thing: Echo Azure #butterfly on a dead fern 🦋🌿
April 20, 2025 at 2:56 AM
Today’s bird is a female Red-winged Blackbird, who was too busy nest building to sit still for long. 🪶🌿
April 18, 2025 at 7:23 PM
Reposted by Melinda Roy
People in eastern North America: when you're out on a nature walk, please remember to CHECK EMPTY SNAIL SHELLS FOR BEES. An iNaturalist user in Ohio just found the extremely rare eastern snail-shell mason bee (Osmia conjuncta). 🐌🐝🌿 #inaturalist #bees #osmia www.inaturalist.org/observations...
Osmia conjuncta
Osmia conjuncta from Moraine, OH, USA on April 16, 2025 at 10:31 AM by dillonmr. Found inside an empty land snail shell. Found with RASAMOTO
www.inaturalist.org
April 18, 2025 at 4:48 PM
Webinar happening tomorrow!
April 13, 2025 at 4:24 AM
Reposted by Melinda Roy
Hole-nesting birds adapt to the urbanised world by using human-made structures (drain pipes, ventilation openings, mailboxes etc). Report those unique places in an @inaturalist.bsky.social project run by @igstadnicki.bsky.social and help to protect wildlife.
🧪🌏🪶🪺
www.inaturalist.org/projects/urb...
April 11, 2025 at 12:32 PM
Canadian field naturalists and citizen scientists 🧪, have you joined the #Butterflies in My Backyard project on #inaturalist yet? Goal is matching butterfly and plant observations. Register for the intro session Sunday 2PM ET here: us02web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
🌿🦋
Welcome! You are invited to join a webinar: Butterflies in My Backyard (BIMBY) 2025 Intro webinar. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email about joining the webinar.
This webinar will provide an introduction to the David Suzuki Foundation's Butterflies in My Backyard (BIMBY) project. Participants will learn more about this community science project, including how ...
na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com
April 8, 2025 at 4:10 PM
Spotted these busy ants carrying a caterpillar this morning.

#ants
#caterpillar
🌿
April 5, 2025 at 11:15 PM
This would’ve changed my dad’s life. Born with a significant congenital defect in the fifties, he’s beaten every odd to survive, but as a kid he couldn’t run or do sports or lift anything. This would’ve changed his and his parents lives, which is the topic of my WIP memoir.
Northwestern University engineers have developed a miniature pacemaker that can be injected with a syringe rather than requiring invasive thoracic surgery! 🧪

www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_0h...

www.nature.com/articles/s41...
World’s smallest pacemaker is activated by light
YouTube video by Northwestern University
www.youtube.com
April 3, 2025 at 3:00 PM
It’s the season where my depression starts to lift, hopefully. These delicate ground facing fawn lilies don’t last long but are out in numbers under seaside Garry Oaks.

It takes them 7 years to bloom, please don’t trample them, or let your dogs trample them.
April 2, 2025 at 3:23 PM
Yesterday’s cat call, as I am in deep conversation with a friend, we walk past an open moving truck, and a voice from inside calls: “hey, wanna help us move in?”

No, I do not want to get into a dark trailer full of crappy furniture. Or your house. Also, I’m almost 40, thought I’d aged out of this.
April 1, 2025 at 2:58 PM
Today a friend told me I reminded him of Ms. Frizzle. Best compliment ever.
🪄🚌🦎🌿🐸🪲🐍🐢
March 29, 2025 at 2:12 AM
Living my dream life, saving newts in the dark. 🦎🔦
March 28, 2025 at 1:55 AM
Western Toad in the road! Watch where you’re driving especially on wet warm nights, as amphibians of all sorts are travelling to their breeding grounds. Western toads don’t mature to breeding age until they are 6 years old, and are endangered in British Columbia.
March 27, 2025 at 5:12 AM