LightNews LightNews
banner
rattlesnack.bsky.social
@rattlesnack.bsky.social
64 followers 63 following 67 posts
Forestry 🌲 | Nature 🐝 | Strength training 🔥 | Travel 🌍

"Unless someone like you cares about whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not." -The Lorax
Posts Replies Media Videos
rattlesnack.bsky.social
Red-footed booby (Sula sula) colony on O'ahu.

They're used to humans and like to watch as you walk by.

#birds #bird #birding #usbirding #redfootedbooby #birdcolony #seabird #hawaii #hawaiibirding #oahu #nature
Adult white morph. This color is the most common at Hawaiian colonies. Adult brown morph. It's a common morph, but not commonly seen in Hawai'i. Fluffy nestling.
December 13, 2025 at 7:12 PM
rattlesnack.bsky.social
Ae'o (Hawaiian stilt - Himantopus mexicanus knudseni)

Endangered Hawaiian waterbird. Cute little dudes.

#hawaii #birding #birds #usbirds #usbirding #waterbirds #hawaiianwaterbird
#hawaiianstilts #oahu #nature
November 7, 2025 at 1:08 AM
rattlesnack.bsky.social
Some Hawai'i field work finds🔎

The cinnabar bracket fungus is one of the few natives at the project site 😅

#birds #bird #hawaii #oahu #conservation #fungus #ducks #nature #fieldwork
Some mallards hanging out. Western cattle egret perching in a tree. Cinnabar bracket. White rot fungus native to Hawai'i. Small little birb skull.
October 8, 2025 at 6:45 AM
rattlesnack.bsky.social
'Alae 'ula (Hawaiian moorhen | Gallinula chloropus sandvicensis)

This water bird is endemic to Hawai'i and currently endangered.

They're visually similar to the Common Gallinulle and also have calls that sound almost identical.

#birding #usbirds #birds #usbirding #hawaii #hawaiibirding #bird
Unfortunately, people feed them despite the numerous signs about not feeding the birds. That is what I could get so close for a photo.
August 24, 2025 at 5:15 PM
rattlesnack.bsky.social
I wonder how hard it was to get that chair up there 🤔

#hawaii #oahu #explore #nature #outdoors #Hawaiianislands
August 22, 2025 at 3:24 AM
rattlesnack.bsky.social
White-rumped Shama (Copsychus malabaricus)

Naturalized in Hawai'i

📍O'ahu

#bird #birds #birding #usbirding #hawaii #hawaiibirding #nature
July 28, 2025 at 5:46 PM
rattlesnack.bsky.social
Hawaiian coot (Fulica alai)

Endemic to Hawaii. Looks very similar to the American coot, which has green feet and a smaller face shield.

📍O'ahu

#birds #bird #usbirding #birding #usbirds #hawaii #hawaiianbirds #nature
July 16, 2025 at 11:20 PM
rattlesnack.bsky.social
Some busy white terns (Gygis alba) this morning.

They like to fly right over your head and next to you.

📍 Waikiki, O'ahu

#birds #bird #usbirding #birding #hawaii #hawaiibirding #nature #usbirds #coastalbirds
White terns nest year round, but peak season is February - June. I suspect they tend to fly close to you to escort you away from their nests.
July 7, 2025 at 10:23 PM
rattlesnack.bsky.social
Red-Crested cardinal (Paroaria coronata)

Native to S. America and a popular target in the illegal cage bird trade. Well established on O'ahu.

📍Honolulu

#usbirds #usbirding #birding #birds #nature #oahu #hawaii #hawaiibirding #bird #outdoors
July 4, 2025 at 8:57 PM
rattlesnack.bsky.social
Common myna (Acridotheres tristis). Native to Asia and well-adapted to urban environments.

📍Fort Derussy Beach Park, O'ahu, Hawaii

#birding #birds #usbirding #nature #hawaii #oahu #outdoors #usbirds #bird
July 4, 2025 at 4:46 AM
rattlesnack.bsky.social
"Unless someone like you cares about whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not." ~The Lorax

Blessed to be able to work in forestry 🌲 some recent field photos.

📍Mogollon Rim, Arizona

#forestry #nature #arizona #trees #wildwest #forest #publiclands #protectpubliclands
Beautiful canyon that's a favorite of my coworker. Largely unknown to the general public. Axle and Oliver waiting for my field partner to come back. Fire scar with downed snags due to windthrow. Same canyon, alternate view.
May 19, 2025 at 2:27 AM
rattlesnack.bsky.social
Female gila woodpecker (Melanerpes uropygialis) on a saguaro. Peep the second woodpecker poking it's head out of the nest cavity 🪶

📍Gilbert, AZ

#bird #birds #usbirding #birding #woodpecker #saguaro #arizona #Nature #flower
April 27, 2025 at 7:07 PM
rattlesnack.bsky.social
I'd like to hear the ridgeway rail instead, thanks 🙄🤷🏻‍♀️

#birds #bird #usbirds #birding #arizona #marshbirds #redwingedblackbird #meme
Image of red-winged black bird from Google. Meme made by me 😁
April 25, 2025 at 10:12 PM
rattlesnack.bsky.social
Western burrowing owl (Athene cunicularia hypugaea) in Casa Grande, AZ today.

#bird #birds #usbirds #birding #burrowingowl #owls #arizona
Chuffed I got to see some burrowing owls during burrowing owl survey training today. They're not elusive at all as you can see by their choice of home location. Suitable habitat is shrinking as the built environment continues to expand.
April 21, 2025 at 11:42 PM
rattlesnack.bsky.social
"End? No the journey doesn't end here. Death is just another adventure. One we all must take." ~J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King~

#forest #snow #arizona #nature #lotr #lordoftherings #it'ssnowing #quotes
Before you is a snowy landscape in NE Arizona. Trees are predominantly juniper spp., ponderosa pine, Douglas-fir, and miscellaneous riparian spp. Snowfall occurred April 2025. What is it with it always snowing in April?
April 9, 2025 at 4:28 AM
rattlesnack.bsky.social
"Some believe that it is only great power that can hold evil in check. But that is not what I've found. I found it is the small things. Every day deeds by ordinary folk that keeps the darkness at bay." -Gandalf

#lordoftherings #quotes #flowers #nature #flower #spring #lotr #gandalf
April 7, 2025 at 4:51 AM
rattlesnack.bsky.social
Storms that have rolled by while in the field 🌩

"Nature is painting for us, day after day, pictures of infinite beauty."

#forestry #forest #nature #arizona #storms #storm #thunderstorm #explore #beauty
Storms rolling in off the Mogollon Rim. Fast moving clouds led to tiny hail. Storms rolling in off the Mogollon Rim. Fast moving clouds led to tiny hail. Storm with some big lightning rolled in really quick on us while boundary marking a project. Had to scoot real quick back to the truck. Tip: Sometimes it's good to just stop and watch a storm to see how/where it's moving and try to determine distance. Storm just missing us while doing data collection. Radar showed it heading right at us while we were on a stand alone mountain at about 8,500'. Ended up missing us but decided not to risk being cooked.
March 28, 2025 at 5:05 AM
rattlesnack.bsky.social
Snow fix this year during field work! Absolutely stunning and the snow and fog made it so quiet.

#forest #forestry #arizona #snow #fieldwork #nature #photography #explore #adventure #adventureisoutthere
March 10, 2025 at 4:13 AM
rattlesnack.bsky.social
Chiricahua leopard frog (Lithobates chiricahuensis)

Located in a spring at a project site in NE Arizona. The spring was overflowing with these little fellas.

#arizona #amphibians #frogs #frog #nature #explore #photography #forest
February 28, 2025 at 3:56 AM
rattlesnack.bsky.social
Biggest ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) I've found so far, taping at 36" DBH.

Don't panic, this old guy will not be cut. See alt text for more details.

#forestry #forest #pine #ponderosapine #nature #trees #arizona #northernarizona #hazardousfuels #oldgrowth #tree #oldgrowthtree
The painting designation means this old growth is a unit boundary tree. The orange also signifies it's a leave tree. Old growth trees, typically those over 24" DBH, are not cut during thinning projects. This area is being thinned to reduce hazardous fuels around a community in northern Arizona. Fire suppression for the last 150 years here has created overstocked forests that are more prone to disease and insects outbreaks and burn at high severity rather than the low severity every 5 -15 years that they are adapted to. Most wood from ponderosa pine is used to create pallets or or biofuel since it is a soft wood.
February 15, 2025 at 4:43 PM
rattlesnack.bsky.social
Western bluebirds (Sialia mexicana) hanging out with me during my lunch break in the woods.

#birds #birding #usbird #usbirding #westernbluebird #arizona #nature #mogollonrim #oak #forest
Male Western bluebird in an emory oak. Female Western bluebird in lower down on the same emory oak.
February 15, 2025 at 1:54 PM
rattlesnack.bsky.social
Some of my favorite field finds so far. See alt text for details!

#forestry #nature #explore #outdoors
#arizona #wildlife #skeletons #bones #forests #wolves #wolf
Javelin skull found in NW Arizona in oak shrubland habitat. Mexican grey wolf print. Found on top of the Mogollon rim in ponderosa pine-juniper-oak ecosystem. Elk backbone found in NE Arizona in the white mountains. Vegetation predominantly ponderosa pine/juniper encroached meadow. Old wildlife tree designation found on a large oak on the Mogollon rim.
February 12, 2025 at 4:38 AM
Reposted
hiddenwilds.bsky.social
A fluffy bushtit, one of about a dozen in my backyard this evening. I like it when wildlife comes to me 😁

#birds #bushtit #sheclicksnet #birdphotography #photography#birdwatching
February 4, 2025 at 5:04 AM
rattlesnack.bsky.social
Ladder-backed woodpecker (Dryobates scalaris) searching for food on an ocotillo.

📍Sonoran Desert, Arizona - Nov. 2023

#birds #bird #usbirds #birding #usbird #woodpecker #nature #arizona #sonorandesert #explore
February 4, 2025 at 5:20 AM
rattlesnack.bsky.social
House sparrow (Passor domesticus)

#birds #bird #usbirding #usbird #usbirds #arizona #nature #sparrow
February 2, 2025 at 12:33 AM