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ryanfm.bsky.social
ryan
@ryanfm.bsky.social
1.4K followers 300 following 480 posts
bird enjoyer
ryanmandelbirder.substack.com
please order my book about nyc nature thank you
https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/ryan-mandelbaum/wild-nyc/9781643263281/?lens=timber-press
they/them
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ryanfm.bsky.social
also sprach zara-thrush-tra
a spherical hermit thursh - a brown bird with a white front and speckled belly, looking directly at the camera on a distant branch, backlit
November 17, 2025 at 4:11 PM
ryanfm.bsky.social
murder mockingbird
a loggerhead shrike sitting on a fencepost with green in the background. its wings are slightly spread and its beak is slightly open. it is facing right. loggerhead shrikes are big-headed songbirds with a pale gray belly, darker gray back, stout black bill, thick black eye mask, and black wings with a large white spot in the middle of each wing.
November 4, 2025 at 6:09 PM
ryanfm.bsky.social
i was so lucky that i got to chase this common cuckoo - only the second ever in the lower 48 - in ny state last week. having never seen a eurasian or african cuckoo species before, i couldn't believe how big and conspicuous it was—cuckoos are mostly shy and hard-to-see in the western hemisphere.
a gray hawk like bird with thin stripes on its tail and back and white flecking on its face but with a thin slightly downcurved beak flying to the left with wings spread against a field with wooden posts. the same bird perched on the string connecting wooden fenceposts in a weedy field, wings held back to balance, looking right.
October 28, 2025 at 1:54 PM
ryanfm.bsky.social
i knew that the birdwatching was good in florida but i wasn't ready for just how many and how present the birds would be - birds that i expected to be in pristine habitat would just be in parking lots, street trees, roadside ditches, and vacant lots 🦉
a yellow throated warbler, a small black and gray and white bird with a yellow throat, in a live oak. i photographed this bird in a parking lot. a snail kite, a slate gray raptor with an orange beak and orange feet, sitting in a young baldcypress. this bird was in a city park. a florida scrub jay - a blue jay sized and shaped bird but without the crest, atop a tree. this bird was in a reserve behind a library. a roseate spoonbill - a bright pink wading bird with a long flat spoon shaped beak, across a water feature in a mowed lawn. this bird was in a suburban housing development.
October 9, 2025 at 8:36 PM
ryanfm.bsky.social
what it felt like to be given laughing gas for dental surgery when i was 13
a framed poster with a jumble of brown red and yellow words that sort of reads "it / fantastic life intrins / astic terrific is mag/ xcessive expressive / xpevted to neglecti/ be explorative lived/ everything / verywhere." the red words spell out "it life is hto be lived" and there is a foreboding jumble of pixelated words at the bottom
October 6, 2025 at 10:36 AM
ryanfm.bsky.social
i found a connecticut warbler on the way to work this morning and it we the exact opposite of what connecticut warbler experiences are supposed to be like
September 30, 2025 at 1:52 AM
ryanfm.bsky.social
i love that inaturalist includes common names for the birds from like... 1840
a screenshot of an inaturalist search for "red knot" where northern cardinal is described as "top-knot redbird"
September 23, 2025 at 9:56 PM
ryanfm.bsky.social
usually when i go on a tropical trip the most memorable thing i see is a bird but on @jerthorp.bsky.social's retreat last week it was the most beautiful fish i have ever seen in my whole life while swimming in a pool under a waterfall
a small cyan fish with a yellow and bronze stripe along its back, black stripes on its sides, and a black-based blue-green dorsal fin, swimming to the right against some stones the same fish facing the camera
September 23, 2025 at 12:04 PM
ryanfm.bsky.social
i will be giving an intro to quantum presentation in the colombian tropical forest tomorrow
a slide titled "Quantum birdwatching: quantization and uncertainty" the left column has two blurry antbirds smeared together with the caption "A one-antbird cloud, spread between two locations" and beneath that another blurry antbirds with the caption "An antbird with a measured location, but unmeasurable speed" to the right is text that reads "And there are certain values that can’t be measured simultaneously. If I measure the exact location of the antbird with my binoculars, then I can no longer calculate the speed. If I measure its speed with a radar gun, it becomes a cloud diffusing between the possible locations."
September 8, 2025 at 11:48 AM
ryanfm.bsky.social
stupid
August 31, 2025 at 12:40 AM
ryanfm.bsky.social
i walked up to a guy who was fishing because i heard the bells on his rod jingle and he just kept saying “no it’s a little one it’s a little one” and was so perplexed when i was like i don't care i just want to take a picture of the fish for inaturalist (inat says it's an atlantic croaker)
a small silver fish with a long low dorsal fin and darker streaks along its midsection hanging from a fishing line against blue water
August 26, 2025 at 12:03 PM
ryanfm.bsky.social
experimenting with some adult humor. "peep show." lol do you get it. because small sandpipers are called peeps 🪶
two small sandpipers against a white background in the mud, the ground white reflecting the white sky. on the left is a reddish one facing right and preening its breast feathers. on the right is a browner one with black legs staring at the ground.
August 19, 2025 at 11:36 AM
ryanfm.bsky.social
i can't believe the american ornithological society split the warbling vireo into the eastern and western "warbling-vireo." what the hell is a warbling-vireo. no they're not just a vireo who warbles, warbling is a way of life. it's who they are. a whole different kind of thing. i'm dying
a pale yellowish songbird with a grayish head black eye and thick bill perched on a stick, pointing its exposed cloaca to the viewer as it peers between its legs
August 14, 2025 at 11:38 AM
ryanfm.bsky.social
this was supposed to be a photo of a raccoon i walked by on the street but it stomped toward me and i got scared and ran away
a blurry photo that may show a sidewalk
August 3, 2025 at 3:01 AM
ryanfm.bsky.social
little gull in the big city 🪶
a small seagull flying to the right against the rockaway inlet with the nyc skyline in the background
August 1, 2025 at 9:51 AM
ryanfm.bsky.social
worldview totally shattered learning that dunlin should actually be dunlin'
wikipedia text reading "The dunlin (Calidris alpina) is a small wader in the genus Calidris. The English name is a dialect form of "dunling", first recorded in 1531–1532. It derives from dun, "dull brown", with the suffix -ling, meaning a person or thing with the given quality.[2]"
July 31, 2025 at 5:38 PM
ryanfm.bsky.social
good morning, i am doing a nature journaling workshop in brooklyn's prospect park this weekend! i hope you can join!! 🪶 🦉 🧪 tickets: www.eventbrite.com/e/pigeon-por...
an eventbrite poster advertising "pigeon portraits and prose in prospect park." machete circle, brooklyn ny, august 3 11am
July 29, 2025 at 10:51 AM
ryanfm.bsky.social
today i was trying to get a picture of this horace's duskywing and was following around for 10 minutes like a baby chasing a pigeon
a small brown butterfly with a complex pattern of brown, tan and white perched on what appears to be a poison ivy leaf
July 28, 2025 at 4:22 PM
ryanfm.bsky.social
hey
a blue jay in a tree looking over its shoulder
July 26, 2025 at 2:19 AM
ryanfm.bsky.social
i saved a life yesterday - scared this chinese mantis to drop the eastern amberwing it had just caught. the dragonfly sat on my hand until i placed it a safe distance from the invasive predator.
a large and long green insect sitting on some butterfly milkweed gripping an amber colored dragonfly in its left arm. a small brown dragonfly with yellow stripes on its throat and amber colored wings sitting on a middle and ring finger of a fist. there are low plants in the background.
July 23, 2025 at 10:55 AM
ryanfm.bsky.social
my favorite inaturalist thing is, of course, when years later an expert tells me a sedge i photographed during an inaturalisting spree is actually a cattail sedge, an endangered rarity that i happened to bumble into.

AI IDs are nice but interacting with experts is always the best part for me 🧪
a plant that looks like grass with an ovate, pointed, hairy fruiting body next to a long, flat leaf with two veins. the fruiting body is about the length of a finger's width. there is a finger behind the plant for comparison.
July 1, 2025 at 5:23 PM
ryanfm.bsky.social
guess the family of the tanager finch!

did you guess tanager or finch? HA! you are nothing but a small brained baby. for obviously it is a SPARROW.
🪶
an orange breasted gray bellied songbird with a black face and white/black stripes on its head perched on sticks in dense foliage looking to the right. it is a small plump bird with big feet and a stout bill
June 6, 2025 at 11:56 AM
ryanfm.bsky.social
if you take me or my closest birding friends on your bird walk we will convince you to treat every animal as if it was a bird 🧪🪶
a large black beetle with silvery speckles on the long abdomen and white outlined black spots on its thorax a long thin dragonfly perched on a roadside railing, black with yellow triangles on its abdomen, yellow markings on back, and silvery growing eyes a small orange salamander with pale orange, black outlined circles lined along its back a brown butterfly with orange outlined black eyespots on the forewings and hindwings
June 3, 2025 at 6:33 PM
ryanfm.bsky.social
this attack merlin keeps people off of the sensitive habitats 🪶
a small brown raptor with a streaked belly perched on a sign that says gateway national recreation area/AREA CLOSED/DO NOT ENTER/NATURAL RESOURCES PROTECTION AREA
June 3, 2025 at 6:28 PM
ryanfm.bsky.social
since linkedin first introduced AI autocomplete messages in 2020, this is the only way that rob and i have communicated. we chat often, sometimes daily
a linkedin chat between ryan mandelbaum and robert bauer where all of the responses are short AI generated phrases, mainly "i'll calll you" a linkedin chat between ryan mandelbaum and robert bauer: Anywhere Everywhere All the time Robert Bauer lagree 8:25 pm Very true Ryan Mandelbaum Yes Tell me about it Please Robert Bauer May I call you? • 8:26 pm. Are you busy? Ryan Mandelbaum Yes, you can Go ahead Robert Bauer • 8:26 pm Okay, thank you Have a nice day Ryan Mandelbaum You're welcome Have a nice dav Write a message... Robert Bauer Nice • 9:33 pm Congratulations! Great news! Great news! Great news! Great news! Great news! Great news! Great news! All the best NOV 17, 2024 Ryan Mandelbaum • 7:46 am Thank you 😊 What are you doing? 😊 a linked in chat where ryan mandelbaum and robert bauer are just repeating "goodbye" and then "bye"
May 21, 2025 at 3:19 AM