Sheri L. Williamson 🪶🌎🧪
@sherilwilliamson.bsky.social
Naturalist 🦋 birder 🦉 ornithologist & hummingbird researcher 🪶 field guide author 📖 photographer 📷 artist 🎨 gardener 🌱 chicken/dog mom, desert rat, border resident 🇺🇲🇲🇽, democracy fan 🗽. She/her.
https://bio.link/sherilwilliamson
https://bio.link/sherilwilliamson
A short time exposure of the aurora taken with my phone camera's "Night" setting.
November 12, 2025 at 4:53 AM
A short time exposure of the aurora taken with my phone camera's "Night" setting.
9:45 p.m. on the south side of Bisbee, Arizona, less than 6 miles north of the Mexican border. Photo taken using my phone's "Night" setting; in the live view, the aurora is a faint but noticeable red glow extending well up from the northern horizon.
November 12, 2025 at 4:50 AM
9:45 p.m. on the south side of Bisbee, Arizona, less than 6 miles north of the Mexican border. Photo taken using my phone's "Night" setting; in the live view, the aurora is a faint but noticeable red glow extending well up from the northern horizon.
Evans's book has been through several radically different several covers. My copy was a book club edition, which probably explains why it has a much more attractive dust jacket.
November 5, 2025 at 2:02 PM
Evans's book has been through several radically different several covers. My copy was a book club edition, which probably explains why it has a much more attractive dust jacket.
Here's more jacobin blue for you.
October 13, 2025 at 7:21 PM
Here's more jacobin blue for you.
If you see this, post an image you saved because it made you laugh.
October 11, 2025 at 7:46 PM
If you see this, post an image you saved because it made you laugh.
If you see this, post an image you saved because it made you laugh.
October 11, 2025 at 7:43 PM
If you see this, post an image you saved because it made you laugh.
If you see this, post an image you saved because it made you laugh.
October 11, 2025 at 7:32 PM
If you see this, post an image you saved because it made you laugh.
If you see this, post an image you saved because it made you laugh.
October 11, 2025 at 7:27 PM
If you see this, post an image you saved because it made you laugh.
With my favorite holiday coming up, it's time to share my favorite Halloween costume from 2015: a mashup of a traditional Día de los Muertos catrina character and the Kelly/Mouse "Skull & Roses" cover art for the Grateful Dead's self-titled 1971 live album.
October 11, 2025 at 6:06 PM
With my favorite holiday coming up, it's time to share my favorite Halloween costume from 2015: a mashup of a traditional Día de los Muertos catrina character and the Kelly/Mouse "Skull & Roses" cover art for the Grateful Dead's self-titled 1971 live album.
Sunday #bloomscrolling: Mexican Sage, Salvia mexicana 'Limelight', a natural mutation introduced to horticulture in 1978. Like many ornithophilous Mexican sages, it blooms in fall, perfect to welcome migrating hummingbirds returning to their winter homes but frustrating for northern gardeners. 🌱🪶
October 5, 2025 at 6:05 PM
Sunday #bloomscrolling: Mexican Sage, Salvia mexicana 'Limelight', a natural mutation introduced to horticulture in 1978. Like many ornithophilous Mexican sages, it blooms in fall, perfect to welcome migrating hummingbirds returning to their winter homes but frustrating for northern gardeners. 🌱🪶
Yay! A celebratory juvenile Brown Pelican from a visit to the Puerto Vallarta area in Jalisco, Mexico last January. 🪶
October 4, 2025 at 4:41 AM
Yay! A celebratory juvenile Brown Pelican from a visit to the Puerto Vallarta area in Jalisco, Mexico last January. 🪶
In every day of her public life, Dr. Goodall demonstrated that you don't have to be flamboyant, hyperbolic, or confrontational to make a difference in the world. May her example continue to inspire generations of scientists and activists.
October 1, 2025 at 9:28 PM
In every day of her public life, Dr. Goodall demonstrated that you don't have to be flamboyant, hyperbolic, or confrontational to make a difference in the world. May her example continue to inspire generations of scientists and activists.
It's #TuesdayRoosday! The ladies stopped laying weeks ago when they went into molt, and Ziggy seems to think they need a little coaching to get back to work. 🐓🪶 #roosplaining #chickens
October 1, 2025 at 4:43 AM
It's #TuesdayRoosday! The ladies stopped laying weeks ago when they went into molt, and Ziggy seems to think they need a little coaching to get back to work. 🐓🪶 #roosplaining #chickens
It's been a rough week. These are for you.
#bloomscrolling 🌱
#bloomscrolling 🌱
September 26, 2025 at 4:29 AM
It's been a rough week. These are for you.
#bloomscrolling 🌱
#bloomscrolling 🌱
The intersection of gardening 🌱 and the Alien franchise. #AlienEarth
September 21, 2025 at 4:15 AM
The intersection of gardening 🌱 and the Alien franchise. #AlienEarth
Fall migration is helping to keep the existential dread at a manageable level. After a rough night caring for a sickly chicken, an hour on the patio with binoculars rewarded me with the first returning Green-tailed Towhee and a female (un)Painted Bunting (a regional rarity). 🪶
September 18, 2025 at 6:31 PM
Fall migration is helping to keep the existential dread at a manageable level. After a rough night caring for a sickly chicken, an hour on the patio with binoculars rewarded me with the first returning Green-tailed Towhee and a female (un)Painted Bunting (a regional rarity). 🪶
We should see the first Sandhill Cranes in southeastern Arizona in just a couple of weeks! It's going to be a tough winter for them, with too little rain to fill the playa lakes where they roost. Hoping that avian flu doesn't add to their problems. 🤞🪶
September 15, 2025 at 3:16 AM
We should see the first Sandhill Cranes in southeastern Arizona in just a couple of weeks! It's going to be a tough winter for them, with too little rain to fill the playa lakes where they roost. Hoping that avian flu doesn't add to their problems. 🤞🪶
Song of the Monsoon 9:2: The weeds appear on the earth, the time of the whining of mosquitoes is come, and the voice of the string trimmer is heard in our land.
The summer rains have been fickle and spotty, good enough for bitey bugs and weedy plants but tough on flowers. More in alt text. 🪶🌱🦋
The summer rains have been fickle and spotty, good enough for bitey bugs and weedy plants but tough on flowers. More in alt text. 🪶🌱🦋
![A long-winged butterfly with a net-like pattern of black over a yellow-orange background rests with wings open on a bright yellow Cosmos flower. Arizona [Elada] Checkerspot is one of our tiniest butterflies. They visit our yard to sample nectar and lay eggs on our desert honeysuckles (Anisacanthus spp.). We've recorded over 90 species of butterflies in our desert oasis, including Mexican rarities such as Broad-banded Swallowtail and Silver Emperor.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:mp2ypatbzlpruuscy76f3axx/bafkreie55klrsgjaowr2x2x5x5im4uuc45izlgdovu35dpr7jtme2cpl2u@jpeg)
September 2, 2025 at 6:05 PM
Song of the Monsoon 9:2: The weeds appear on the earth, the time of the whining of mosquitoes is come, and the voice of the string trimmer is heard in our land.
The summer rains have been fickle and spotty, good enough for bitey bugs and weedy plants but tough on flowers. More in alt text. 🪶🌱🦋
The summer rains have been fickle and spotty, good enough for bitey bugs and weedy plants but tough on flowers. More in alt text. 🪶🌱🦋
Hummingbird activity is up, which provides lots of cheap entertainment but also makes a lot of extra work. This summer's monsoon fizzled into a non-soon, and the resulting scarcity of natural nectar forces hummingbirds and "tequila bats" to rely more on feeders. More in the alt text. 🪶🌱
![A hand holding six saucer-style hummingbird feeders of different sizes in front of planting beds with colorful flowers.
We clean our hummingbird feeders every 1 to 2 days this time of year. Feeders hanging in the open get licked dry every night by nectar-feeding bats (mostly Lesser Long-nosed, Leptonycteris [curasoae] yerbabuenae), and these get washed and disinfected with hydrogen peroxide daily. The sugar water lasts longer inside our homemade bat-excluder cages, but we still wash and disinfect the feeders every couple of days to keep our avian clientele happy and healthy (we let the bats finish off the leftover sugar water the night before cleaning - waste not, want not).](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:mp2ypatbzlpruuscy76f3axx/bafkreicesthyhvmzdddlypiqgq76za74hoqxow46fxtljbwtzvahtjngvm@jpeg)
August 26, 2025 at 7:47 PM
Hummingbird activity is up, which provides lots of cheap entertainment but also makes a lot of extra work. This summer's monsoon fizzled into a non-soon, and the resulting scarcity of natural nectar forces hummingbirds and "tequila bats" to rely more on feeders. More in the alt text. 🪶🌱
Dahlias are one of Mexico's many gifts to the world's gardens. This one needed a ridiculous amount of attention to protect it from drought, heat, and hungry wildlife, but what a payoff! #bloomscrolling
August 20, 2025 at 4:31 PM
Dahlias are one of Mexico's many gifts to the world's gardens. This one needed a ridiculous amount of attention to protect it from drought, heat, and hungry wildlife, but what a payoff! #bloomscrolling
A calling card left by the male of our neighborhood Cooper's Hawk pair, who comes to our water feature regularly to drink and soak his feet.* 🪶
* Coops seem to love soaking their feet, even in winter. It reminds me of an old-timey door-to-door salesman whose "dogs are barking."
* Coops seem to love soaking their feet, even in winter. It reminds me of an old-timey door-to-door salesman whose "dogs are barking."
August 12, 2025 at 7:35 PM
A calling card left by the male of our neighborhood Cooper's Hawk pair, who comes to our water feature regularly to drink and soak his feet.* 🪶
* Coops seem to love soaking their feet, even in winter. It reminds me of an old-timey door-to-door salesman whose "dogs are barking."
* Coops seem to love soaking their feet, even in winter. It reminds me of an old-timey door-to-door salesman whose "dogs are barking."
For #SuperSeabirdSunday, a Red-billed Tropicbird from Little Tobago Island in the southern Caribbean.
August 10, 2025 at 2:03 PM
For #SuperSeabirdSunday, a Red-billed Tropicbird from Little Tobago Island in the southern Caribbean.
🎶 My irrigation leak brings all the birds to the yard 🎶
After days and days of dangerous heat and no monsoon storms, the birds were quick to take advantage of spray from a new leak in one of our drip irrigation lines. At least a dozen species came to shower and wallow on the wet leaves. 🪶
After days and days of dangerous heat and no monsoon storms, the birds were quick to take advantage of spray from a new leak in one of our drip irrigation lines. At least a dozen species came to shower and wallow on the wet leaves. 🪶
August 9, 2025 at 6:54 PM
🎶 My irrigation leak brings all the birds to the yard 🎶
After days and days of dangerous heat and no monsoon storms, the birds were quick to take advantage of spray from a new leak in one of our drip irrigation lines. At least a dozen species came to shower and wallow on the wet leaves. 🪶
After days and days of dangerous heat and no monsoon storms, the birds were quick to take advantage of spray from a new leak in one of our drip irrigation lines. At least a dozen species came to shower and wallow on the wet leaves. 🪶
The monsoon also brings out insects of all kinds, friendly and otherwise. Butterflies are way up, but so are mosquitoes and tiny Culicoides midges whose bites produce huge welts and fierce itching. I finally invested in a full-body insect suit for gardening, yard birding, and photography. 🦋
August 5, 2025 at 7:46 PM
The monsoon also brings out insects of all kinds, friendly and otherwise. Butterflies are way up, but so are mosquitoes and tiny Culicoides midges whose bites produce huge welts and fierce itching. I finally invested in a full-body insect suit for gardening, yard birding, and photography. 🦋