Rebecca Gelernter
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nearbirdstudios.bsky.social
Rebecca Gelernter
@nearbirdstudios.bsky.social
7.4K followers 810 following 5.1K posts
Science illustrator and designer. I like things with feathers. She/her

Portfolio: www.nearbirdstudios.com
Prints: www.inprnt.com/gallery/nearbirdstudios
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nearbirdstudios.bsky.social
A clean man
A smallish parrot from the side, mostly green from this angle, sitting on a platform. He's wet from a bath, and has draped some large plastic beads hanging from a toy over himself.
November 21, 2025 at 8:34 PM
nearbirdstudios.bsky.social
This reply was my favorite
Tweet by Matthew, @MrWeir: "I once wore a silver jacket to college, turned up late for class, said 'sorry I'm late', lecturer said, 'that's ok' then waited til I was halfway across the front of the full class before following up with 'trouble with the spaceship again was it?'.
November 12, 2025 at 8:48 AM
nearbirdstudios.bsky.social
It's invisible to the eye, but it's technically an aurora
A night shot of a starry sky framed by trees. There's a faint pink glow across the middle of the image.
November 12, 2025 at 5:44 AM
nearbirdstudios.bsky.social
Hard to say for sure, but spring peepers are a strong contender!
A small treefrog perched on a slanted solar panel for a fence light. They're a warm, light brown with an x-shaped marking and facial mask in darker brown. They're facing the camera, which is a little above their eyeline, and with the slant of the solar panel, their back is visible.
November 6, 2025 at 4:03 AM
nearbirdstudios.bsky.social
He was mad because I moved my coffee
A cute little parrot on a desk, standing behind a computer mouse, looking nonplussed.
November 4, 2025 at 6:23 AM
nearbirdstudios.bsky.social
Witch hazel 🌿
Moody photo of witch hazel flowers, pale and spindly.
November 2, 2025 at 6:28 PM
nearbirdstudios.bsky.social
Spooky fruit
Jack-o-lantern carved as a human skull
October 31, 2025 at 10:08 PM
nearbirdstudios.bsky.social
Parrot-assisted* drawing

*it does not help.
A smallish parrot sitting on my hand as I try to draw on a digital tablet. He's chewing on the top of the pen.
October 31, 2025 at 12:32 AM
nearbirdstudios.bsky.social
Three weird little plant guys growing together. Assorted lycopods - Shining Firmoss, Fan Clubmoss, and a tree-clubmoss (Dendrolycopodium)? 🌿
Shining Firmoss (Huperzia lucidula) growing between fallen leaves. It's four little towers of short, spiky leaves. Two clubmosses, Fan Clubmoss (Diphasiastrum digitatum) on the right and I think a tree-clubmoss (Dendrolycopodium) on the left. The tree-clubmoss is more robust and spiky. Fan-clubmoss from above. It looks like a tiny evergreen, with spiky little leaves covering its small stem and branches. Fan Clubmoss from above. Its branches are longer and flatter than the tree-clubmoss's, with leaves that don't stick out as far.
October 30, 2025 at 8:14 PM
nearbirdstudios.bsky.social
Beaver evidence 🌿
A lone tree standing in front of a marshy wetland. There's a significant wedge chewed out of the tree about a foot above the ground, and there are wood chips below it. Out in the wetland, to the left of the tree, is a beaver lodge. It's late October, and the trees on the other side of the wetland are muted orange, yellow, and bronze.
October 30, 2025 at 7:45 PM
nearbirdstudios.bsky.social
Fall Sarracenias
The colorful lids of two Sarracenias and the full tube of another. The lids are yellow and orange with red veining, and the tube is burgundy. In the background are more red and green tubes.
October 30, 2025 at 7:21 PM
nearbirdstudios.bsky.social
This mutant fern looks like a fish skeleton
A small fern with a tip that splits in two. It looks like the spiny vertebrae and part of the tail of a fish skeleton.
October 30, 2025 at 2:49 PM
nearbirdstudios.bsky.social
This one's for the expat New Englanders
Yellow-orange maple leaves. Sugar or Norway, I'm not sure. Mapleleaf Viburnum leaves and berries. The leaves are largely warm purple with some hot pink, and the berries are dark blue. More maple leaves, these with more red in them. An orange sassafras leaf with some less colorful neighbors.
October 29, 2025 at 11:12 PM
nearbirdstudios.bsky.social
Journey
The trail of a leaf-mining insect through an orange maple leaf. The gallery is pale with a dark line running down the middle, and the whole thing starts small on the right, zigzags around, follows a vein for a while, and eventually ends where the insect emerged, much wider than it was at the start.
October 29, 2025 at 11:03 PM
nearbirdstudios.bsky.social
It's always nice to find an American Chestnut, even a little one. The roots are still here. 🌿
American Chestnut sapling with a few remaining leaves. Two are yellow with green around the veins, the rest are already turning brown and getting crinkly.
October 29, 2025 at 7:57 PM
nearbirdstudios.bsky.social
Get yourself on an entomological society's mailing list
Gmail screenshot of a subject line: "Wanted: (live) assassin bugs"
October 27, 2025 at 10:25 PM
nearbirdstudios.bsky.social
Comfy
Cute little parrot sitting in my hand, perched on my ring finger with pointer and middle fingers across his chest and belly and thumb on his shoulder. He's put himself in there and is very cozy.
October 24, 2025 at 12:18 AM
nearbirdstudios.bsky.social
Louie's having a great time this morning with two new toys, and he's singing about it

Pic not from today, but if I try to take a picture I'll distract him 😁
A cute little conure eating a piece of strawberry.
October 21, 2025 at 2:06 PM
nearbirdstudios.bsky.social
WIP from last year 🪶🐡🌿
October 21, 2025 at 11:28 AM
nearbirdstudios.bsky.social
Wild Bergman is one of my favorite native wildflowers 🌿
Nursery sign for Monarda fistulosa, Wild Bergamot, but they've written "Bergman" instead of "Bergamot". It also gives some species info amd has a picture of the flowers, but I'm just here for the typo.
October 20, 2025 at 3:16 AM
nearbirdstudios.bsky.social
Outstanding. From www.ctinsider.com/news/article...
Text from linked article: "One woman wore a banana hat. “I’m not a terrorist, I’m a banana,” she said."
October 19, 2025 at 12:08 AM
nearbirdstudios.bsky.social
🎶This TIIIiiiiny MAAaaan🎶
A Crimson-bellied Conure sitting and the edge of a sofa cushion in front of a laptop, receiving scratches on his neck. He looks happy and cute.
October 17, 2025 at 12:38 AM
nearbirdstudios.bsky.social
Illustration I did for this paper on feather development onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... 🐡🧪🪶
Figure showing simplified cross sections of a developing feather at different stages, sagittal and transverse views.
October 16, 2025 at 11:47 PM
nearbirdstudios.bsky.social
Feeling the loss of Joann Fabrics' ridiculous Halloween decorations this year, but I did find this incredible creature in Michael's
A large, bloodshot, blue eye with spider legs. Or a spider with an eyeball for a body? The legs look more like warped black bones than anything you'd normally associate with an arthropod. I'm holding it up in front of a pegboard with more decorations.
October 9, 2025 at 11:31 PM
nearbirdstudios.bsky.social
October 6, 2025 at 5:42 PM