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mrtoads.bsky.social
@mrtoads.bsky.social
2.7K followers 390 following 9.2K posts
Grouchy old fart, enjoys books, birds, baroque music, alliteration and, of course, spiders (but then, who doesn’t?). Semi-skilled at a number of unimportant things like game-playing, computer surgery and natural history story-telling. Lazy.
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mrtoads.bsky.social
Nature book challenge. A book per day in no particular order, until you’ve shared ALL of the best nature books in your personal library. No explanations, no reviews,

#Books #Nature #Naturewriting
#naturebooks #conservation #naturebookchallenge #booksky
Spine of thick (and, alas, outdated) book entitled The North American Birder's Library Lifelist, Susan R Drennan, ed. The North American Birder's Library Lifelist, SR Drennan, ed. interior page of the Library Lifelist, showing some of the voluminous space available for information on each species.
November 11, 2025 at 10:58 AM
mrtoads.bsky.social
Nature book challenge. A book per day in no particular order, until you’ve shared ALL of the best nature books in your personal library. No explanations, no reviews,

#Books #Nature #Naturewriting
#naturebooks #conservation #naturebookchallenge #booksky
The Birdwatchers Companion For those quiet summer afternoons when the birds are drowsing.. The Birdwatcher's Companion, by Malcolm Tait and Olive Tayler A quote by Bill Oddie to encourage those who are about to take the field..
November 10, 2025 at 11:40 AM
mrtoads.bsky.social
Nature book challenge. A book per day in no particular order, until you’ve shared ALL of the best nature books in your personal library. No explanations, no reviews,

#Books #Nature #Naturewriting
#naturebooks #conservation #naturebookchallenge #booksky
Monarch caterpillar, hatching pupa, and adult, on the cover of Nature Program: Metamorphosis, from the National Audubon Society Metamorphosis, by AB Klotts NOT Metamorphoses, by Ovid - if you bought this thinking it was that, then, .. oh - too late.
November 9, 2025 at 11:00 AM
mrtoads.bsky.social
Nature book challenge. A book per day in no particular order, until you’ve shared ALL of the best nature books in your personal library. No explanations, no reviews,

#Books #Nature #Naturewriting
#naturebooks #conservation #naturebookchallenge #booksky
Forgot the flyleaf!
Flowering Trees and Shrubs, by RS Lemmon
November 9, 2025 at 10:52 AM
mrtoads.bsky.social
Nature book challenge. A book per day in no particular order, until you’ve shared ALL of the best nature books in your personal library. No explanations, no reviews,

#Books #Nature #Naturewriting
#naturebooks #conservation #naturebookchallenge #booksky
Forgot the flyleaf!
Tracks and Trails, by Bill and Mary V. Hood
November 9, 2025 at 10:51 AM
mrtoads.bsky.social
Nature book challenge. A book per day in no particular order, until you’ve shared ALL of the best nature books in your personal library. No explanations, no reviews,

#Books #Nature #Naturewriting
#naturebooks #conservation #naturebookchallenge #booksky
Forgot the flyleaf!
Your Book of Nature Activities
November 9, 2025 at 10:48 AM
mrtoads.bsky.social
It was a beautiful morning for birding, but a bit warm and not windy. Pretty quiet, on the whole; many of the usual birds, but nothing extraordinary and probably a dozen species were missed.
Still, unlike golf, here the good walk was not spoiled.
The old spring house Ant Lion pits show that they’re still active! The Sycamores show up very nicely now that the leaves are mostly down iNaturalist calls this a Short-tailed Shrew. Maybe so.
November 8, 2025 at 5:52 PM
mrtoads.bsky.social
Nature book challenge. A book per day in no particular order, until you’ve shared ALL of the best nature books in your personal library. No explanations, no reviews,

#Books #Nature #Naturewriting
#naturebooks #conservation #naturebookchallenge #booksky
Fruits and flowers on the cover of Nature Program: Flowering Trees and Shrubs, from the National Audubon Society
November 8, 2025 at 1:11 PM
mrtoads.bsky.social
Nature book challenge. A book per day in no particular order, until you’ve shared ALL of the best nature books in your personal library. No explanations, no reviews,

#Books #Nature #Naturewriting
#naturebooks #conservation #naturebookchallenge #booksky
Supplement - forgot to include this:
Set of collector's stamps to go with the above pamphlet, showing animals and their tracks.
November 8, 2025 at 1:09 PM
mrtoads.bsky.social
It’s a beautiful morning - good day to see what birds are out. Maybe another Golden Eagle!
November 7, 2025 at 12:43 PM
mrtoads.bsky.social
Nature book challenge. A book per day in no particular order, until you’ve shared ALL of the best nature books in your personal library. No explanations, no reviews,

#Books #Nature #Naturewriting
#naturebooks #conservation #naturebookchallenge #booksky
Photos of animal traces on the cover of Nature Program: Tracks and Trails, from the National Audubon Society
November 7, 2025 at 9:08 AM
mrtoads.bsky.social
Nature book challenge. A book per day in no particular order, until you’ve shared ALL of the best nature books in your personal library. No explanations, no reviews,

#Books #Nature #Naturewriting
#naturebooks #conservation #naturebookchallenge #booksky
A variety of animals adorn the cover of Your Book of Nature Activities: Shells and Aquariums, from the National Audubon Society
November 6, 2025 at 9:48 AM
mrtoads.bsky.social
Nature book challenge. A book per day in no particular order, until you’ve shared ALL of the best nature books in your personal library. No explanations, no reviews,

#Books #Nature #Naturewriting
#naturebooks #conservation #naturebookchallenge #booksky
The visual pages from the Dichotomous Key A Dichotomous Key to the Shorebirds of North America, by Richard Mellon
November 5, 2025 at 9:19 AM
mrtoads.bsky.social
#Books #Nature #Naturewriting
#naturebooks #conservation #naturebookchallenge #booksky
Found another stack cleaning my office!
A little guide to the various things you can find under rocks and logs in the mid-Atlantic. Great cover! Turn over the rock and see A Field Guide to the Underside of Life by DG Jewell (illus RJ Hurley)
November 4, 2025 at 3:49 PM
mrtoads.bsky.social
Spider Season isn’t just about big immigrants hoping to overwinter - sometimes little guys find their way in, too:
Tiny jumping spider. I’m not sure if it’s a little adult or a dispersing spiderling.. Wee little jumper
November 3, 2025 at 8:46 PM
mrtoads.bsky.social
After the pumpkin lobotomy, it’s time for tasty BRAINS!
November 3, 2025 at 12:50 AM
mrtoads.bsky.social
I’ve always felt it’s not really Spider Season until the first Trachelas “two-toned” spider arrives.
Today was that day.
Trachelas tranquillus, having sought shelter in a bathtub puff, being easily relocated to the basement for the winter She took a tentative step onto my hand, before recoiling in horror back into the puff.
November 3, 2025 at 12:12 AM
mrtoads.bsky.social
It was a very pleasant morning, with plenty of birds. Highlights included a Raven playing “I’m imitating you!” with an apparently irritated Cooper’s Hawk soaring around in circles, and lots of Purple Finches still around, possibly because of Boxelder “mast years”.
A smallish Boxelder tree carrying a metric buttload of their winged maple seeds.
November 3, 2025 at 12:06 AM
mrtoads.bsky.social
Another proud Tesla driver..
November 1, 2025 at 5:11 PM
mrtoads.bsky.social
No kids out tonight, alas. Too chilly and windy for free candy?
Traditional Jack!
October 31, 2025 at 10:50 PM
mrtoads.bsky.social
Oops!
Draw Steel rulebooks just arrived!
October 31, 2025 at 8:55 PM
mrtoads.bsky.social
Melting the candle down into it..
Jack with candle brain settling into a wax base
October 31, 2025 at 8:44 PM
mrtoads.bsky.social
It’s been a long time since I rock and rooooollllled, uhhuh.
Also since I did a slapdash last-minute Jack O’Lantern. About 30 years, I reckon.
Quick and dirty Jack before his candle brain is installed
October 31, 2025 at 8:33 PM
mrtoads.bsky.social
It was a lovely morning to go out birding; things were really hopping out there - the fall migrants are mostly gone, and winter residents have moved in. Highlights include large numbers of Purple Finches and Bluebirds - I’ve never seen so many on one walk!
A lowering sky, cool and damp with a moderate breeze. The birds were very lively! A good field for sparrows and maybe late warblers. Swarms of sparrows in the brush, with Kinglets, Bluebirds and dozens of Robins in the trees (among many other birds) Some clearing and lightening of the clouds paradoxically saw a lessening of bird activity
October 30, 2025 at 2:07 AM
mrtoads.bsky.social
It’s a little unusual to have this fellow up here looking for love during Spider Season. Normally our fall bathroom visitors are Trachelas (two-toned, Flat-faced Sac) spiders or Cheiracanthium (Yellow Sac). This Tegenaria funnelweaver male would normally stay in the basement where the ladies live.
October 25, 2025 at 12:34 AM