Renée LaScala
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reneelascala.bsky.social
Renée LaScala
@reneelascala.bsky.social
“She was not quite what you would call refined.
She was not quite what you would call unrefined.
She was the kind of person that keeps a parrot.” Mark Twain

INTJ, Pharm.D., reader, birder, gardener, avid cook. Sharing homelife with parrots and rats.
Reposted by Renée LaScala
> Keeper Lydia spotted one of Audubon Aquarium's resident crawfish in the middle of a molt!

Video: brown crawfish wiggling out of its old carapace like they're shaking off a too-tight sleeping bag.

[via Audubon Zoo]
December 7, 2025 at 1:49 AM
Just…conversations.
December 8, 2025 at 1:50 AM
Reposted by Renée LaScala
Church Street in Burlington Vermont.
📸 Adam Silverman
December 7, 2025 at 5:56 PM
Reposted by Renée LaScala
EARTH-DIRECTED SOLAR FLARE AND CME: Both NOAA and SOHO coronagraphs have detected a full halo storm cloud heading directly for Earth. NASA simulations of the CME suggest an arrival on Dec. 9th. Earth is the yellow dot in this forecast model spaceweather.com/images2025/0...
December 7, 2025 at 9:12 AM
The Beavers and Dr Muraco (researcher/rehabilitator) got even CLOSER to their goal!
Folks, if you are playing PowerBall tonight, you’ll pay cash and probably get 💵 change. How about you send that to 🦫🦫🦫 right away this evening?

youtube.com/shorts/lScBl...
Beavers NEVER GIVE UP! And neither are we! Help us help #beavers! We need you now more than ever!!
YouTube video by Holley Muraco
youtube.com
December 7, 2025 at 12:11 AM
Reposted by Renée LaScala
A free Ukraine will outlive Trump and Putin.
December 6, 2025 at 6:56 PM
The beavers are up to 46% of their goal! They got another 3%!!

Any amount helps. This is a great initiative: to give 🦫🦫🦫 a sanctuary that’s an ecotourism destination too—here in America.

gofund.me/d2cfc9394
Donate to Purchase a nature retreat and beaver ecotourism property, organized by Holley Muraco
Calling All Beaver Believers!! Thanks to the generous offer fro… Holley Muraco needs your support for Purchase a nature retreat and beaver ecotourism property
gofund.me
December 6, 2025 at 9:05 PM
Reposted by Renée LaScala
I've just emailed my MP to tell them what nature means to me and that I want it to stay protected. Will you take action too?
action.rspb.org.uk/page/180990/...
Tell the UK Government they must do better for nature!
I've just emailed my MP to tell them what nature means to me and that I want it to stay protected. Will you take action too?
action.rspb.org.uk
December 5, 2025 at 1:10 PM
A generous couple, the B’s, are matching donations up to $50,000 for the Beaver Sanctuary + visitor center! It’ll be in the USA—easy travel😊
Your $5 gets $10 to the 🦫🦫🦫 and the ecosystem they’ll support— but only until Christmas. Soooo close now!

youtu.be/AgYk6Nd746I?...
December 6, 2025 at 12:08 AM
This book was a treat. Do get it as an audio, read by the author.
December 3, 2025 at 8:03 PM
Reposted by Renée LaScala
Access to the internet is essential, not a luxury. It's crucial for jobs, education, healthcare, and housing. The absence of affordable broadband in many communities is not just a "tech gap," but a critical civil rights matter. #DigitalDivide #CivilRights #TruthBombTuesday
December 2, 2025 at 10:58 PM
Reposted by Renée LaScala
Did you know? You can put festive squirrels outside your home to decorate for the whole holiday season, from December right to #SquirrelAppreciationDay on 21 January!
🎄🐿️❄️
#ChristmasNeedsSquirrels #SquirrelScrolling
December 2, 2025 at 5:06 PM
Reposted by Renée LaScala
96% of the highest-paid workers in the US have paid sick days.

Just 38% of the lowest-paid workers get them — including the thousands of retail workers working this holiday weekend.

Only in America do we call working people ‘essential’ but deny them paid sick leave.
The Hidden Costs of Denying Paid Sick Leave
Robert Reich
www.youtube.com
December 1, 2025 at 1:00 AM
Reposted by Renée LaScala
"Australia is the Land of the Parrot — few places in the world have such a dazzling array of colourful and clever members of the psittacine family.

There are 56 native species across the continent, including 42 varieties of true parrots along with 14 cockatoos."
www.abc.net.au/news/2025-11...
Who's thriving? Who's barely surviving? A guide to Australia's native parrots
Australia is the land of the parrot — few places in the world have such a dazzling array of colourful and clever members of the psittacine family.
www.abc.net.au
November 30, 2025 at 12:59 AM
Recommend also
This book has been so soothing. I have probably learned more about the foreign policies that shape the world just in the first three chapters than I have in at least the last 15 years of news media. 🙃 It's helped clarify a lot of the absolutely batshit nonsense of the current timeline. COMFORT READ
November 29, 2025 at 11:35 PM
Reposted by Renée LaScala
The Boston Globe identified the companies in Massachusetts that employ the most SNAP recipients. A key stat: "In Massachusetts, 74% of working-age recipients of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program are employed, half of them full-time."

Full article: www.bostonglobe.com/2025/11/28/m...
November 29, 2025 at 3:55 PM
Reposted by Renée LaScala
The word "remigration" is xenophobic and christofascist AF. It's a racist expression of ethnic cleansing and hate. Do not let it become normalized.
November 29, 2025 at 8:11 PM
Reposted by Renée LaScala
Turkeys are flavorless and dry, and they want to live. This Thanksgiving, @mbolotnikova.bsky.social encourages you to challenge the status quo and embrace plant-based alternatives, have conversations about ethical food choices, and create more sustainable and compassionate traditions.
8 million turkeys will be thrown in the trash this Thanksgiving
We don’t have to accept all that death and waste for a dry, flavorless bird no one likes.
www.vox.com
November 23, 2025 at 10:03 PM
Reposted by Renée LaScala
My fav bird, there's just something quite magnificent about Flickers. Female red-shafted Northern flicker with take off in slow motion to see the red areas of her wings/tail feathers better.

#birds
November 22, 2025 at 8:53 PM
Pecans are glorious.
Throughout history, pecans have been overlooked, poached, cultivated and improved. Today, American trees produce hundreds of million of pounds of pecans – 80% of the world’s pecan crop. (via @us.theconversation.com)
https://to.pbs.org/4rbKTV7
How pecans went from ignored trees to a holiday staple — an expert explains the 8,000-year history
Pecans are a truly American nut: They grew on George Washington’s estate, and they flew to space on an Apollo mission.
www.pbs.org
November 22, 2025 at 10:04 PM
Reposted by Renée LaScala
Great story about my state's premier annual apple and cider event! cider-review.com/2025/11/22/f...
Franklin County Cider Days
New contributor Kris Kazaks reports on the Franklin County Cider Days festival in Massachusetts (and neighbouring States), a celebration of cider and community.
cider-review.com
November 22, 2025 at 4:14 PM
Reposted by Renée LaScala
New paper from my former PhD student Raffaela Lesch's lab used a citizen science database to show that urban racoons, who arerapidly becoming less afraid of humans, also have shorter snouts than wild-type rural racoons.
Link: rdcu.be/eRcpT
November 22, 2025 at 10:57 AM
It’s a must watch⭐️
npr.org NPR @npr.org · 16d
Burns' six-part documentary uses voiceover, reenactors and drone footage to tell the story of America's founding. And it reminds viewers that the quest for a more perfect union is far from over.
Ken Burns' 'American Revolution' will make you think differently about U.S. history
Burns' six-part documentary uses voiceover, reenactors and drone footage to tell the story of America's founding. And it reminds viewers that the quest for a more perfect union is far from over.
n.pr
November 22, 2025 at 1:26 PM