Zane Roskoph
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scholarerrant.bsky.social
Zane Roskoph
@scholarerrant.bsky.social
350 followers 2.8K following 140 posts
Birder. Photographer. Traveller. Population ecologist. Compulsive collector of information. Sewage & wastewater treatment specialist. BAs in evolutionary biology and psychology (CWRU), MS in biology (Rutgers). Be warned, there will be puns. He/him.
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scholarerrant.bsky.social
This is pod of orcas versus seal on an ice floe.
November 20, 2025 at 12:02 AM
scholarerrant.bsky.social
Our dog Ursa sits in almost exactly the same way, though she usually trades some of the poise and balance for comfort.
A blonde mixed breed dog sits on a dark brown leather couch with a green pillow behind her. Three of her legs more or less together are in front of her, while her right front paw holds a human’s arm in place, making sure the belly rubs keep coming.
October 3, 2025 at 8:08 PM
scholarerrant.bsky.social
Our dog Ursa sits in almost exactly the same way, though she usually trades some of the poise and balance for comfort.
A blonde mixed breed dog sits on a dark brown leather couch with a green pillow behind her. Three of her legs more or less together are in front of her, while her right front paw holds a human’s arm in place, making sure the belly rubs keep coming.
October 3, 2025 at 8:04 PM
scholarerrant.bsky.social
I’ll be honest, I feel kinda bad for the people at PHL ATC tonight.
A photo out of a window showing a skyline with multiple planes towing banners. An airliner landing is visible on the left. A screenshot of the ADS-B feed showing six banner planes and three news helicopters circling over South Philadelphia, immediately adjacent to the approach lane for Philadelphia International Airport.
September 4, 2025 at 8:11 PM
scholarerrant.bsky.social
For those curious about the NCL Salten: it’s still stuck.
A map showing the container ship NCL Salten, flanked by two tugs, still aground on the Norwegian coast. A status update for the NCL Salten. Notably, the speed is 0kn and the status listed is “aground.”
May 25, 2025 at 12:31 PM
scholarerrant.bsky.social
A few examples of fossorial species are tiger beetles, of which the pine barrens has many species (here the six-spotted [Cicindela sexguttata], Consenta’s [C. patruela ssp. consentanea] and cowpath [C. purpurea ssp. purpurea]), and the northern pine snake (Pituophis melanoleucus ssp. melanoleucus).
A six-spotted tiger beetle stands tall on the white and tan sand of the New Jersey pine barrens. The beetle is a bright, almost metallic, green with the highlights having a nearly bluish cast and its legs are thin. Six small, almost invisible, white dots are present along the outer edge of the beetle’s wing cases. The fine sand grains are large in the image, emphasizing the beetle’s small size. A Consenta’s tiger beetle crawls over the sand and fallen pine needles of the pine barrens ground. The beetle is charcoal black and has three tan markings on each wing. The markings nearest and furthest from its head are roughly C-shaped and run around the edges of the wings, while the middle stretches almost to the middle of its back in a squiggly diagonal. Interestingly, the only known population of this beetle is in the New Jersey pine barrens. A cowpath tiger beetle stands on a gray pebble. The beetle is a shiny purple, with bright green highlights along the edges of each body segment as well as its wing cases. A tan marking shaped like a distorted parenthesis runs from the middle of the outer edge of each wing case almost to the middle of the beetle’s abdomen. Surrounded by scattered tufts of grass, a northern pine snake stretches out on the pine needles covering the ground in the New Jersey pine barrens. The nearly six foot snake has a base color of tan to light brown on its back, lightening noticeably on its sides, with a series of dark brown, saddle-like markings running the length of its body.
April 25, 2025 at 12:29 AM
scholarerrant.bsky.social
In fact, this particular fire is taking place right near the pine plains, a which owe their existence to their location at the convergence point between prevailing winds off the ocean and overland. Here is one of my pictures from that area. All the trees are mature. None are over eight feet.
A dirt trail runs through an expanse of pine trees, most of which are under six feet tall.
April 23, 2025 at 6:00 PM
scholarerrant.bsky.social
For those interested, Herr’s actually has a comparable product for sale right now:
A green bag of Herr’s brand kettle-cooked potato chips in fried pickle with ranch flavor. Both potato and fried pickle chips are on the bag.
January 16, 2025 at 8:56 PM
scholarerrant.bsky.social
One of those butterflies that, despite my best efforts, continues to elude me. I’ve seen their white cedar- and pine-eating relatives more. (All photos from the NJ pine barrens, where Juniper hairstreaks also live.)
A Hessel's hairstreak butterfly (Callophrys hesseli) hangs upside down as it drinks nectar from a pinkish black huckleberry (Gaylussacia baccata) flower. The butterfly is a bright green with a slight bluish cast and has side-by-side brown and white zigzagging lines on its wings. True to its name, an eastern pine elfin butterfly (Callophrys niphon) sits on a pine needle. The butterfly’s wings are marked with alternating wave-like bands of gray and brown and have scalloped edges. A Henry’s elfin butterfly (Callophrys henrici) rests on a gravel path. The butterfly blends in well with the pebbles. The butterfly’s upper wings are a bronze color, while the lower wings are a darker brown. The edges of the wings are lighter, grading to copper and gray. A brown hairstreak butterfly (Callophrys augustinus) rests on a pine needle. Most of the butterfly is in shadow, but the black and white striped antennae with orange tips stand out.
November 19, 2024 at 11:43 PM
scholarerrant.bsky.social
I once made a beautiful, terrible pun regarding Mike Lindell’s bankruptcy.
A Twitter post that describes the bankruptcy of MyPillow founder Mike Lindell. It reads “So he lost his Pillow case.”
November 12, 2024 at 8:59 PM