The cormorant and the great blue heron are perched on rocks, beaks pointing to the right. We see the long beautiful feathers of the heron draped down its back. We see the iridescent feathers of the cormorant on the left side of the bird. The gull looks like it's popping up from the water between the rocks, so we see just its neck and head, its yellow beak pointing right at us, its eyes seemingly crossed as it tries to look past that beak toward us.
In the photo, the lone bufflehead is flying just above the dark water; just a small bit of the bird's downturned wings is reflected.
We know that the bird is not a mature male because it has just one elegant white swoosh on its cheek, and its head is smooth, not fringed with a fancy headdress like the heads of grown males. The bird's left wing is accented with a white patch on its trailing edge. We can see blue water behind the fringe of both wings, and all around the bird.
I got the first one soon after my husband broke out in the shingles rash. I was in terrific pain for at least 6 weeks. Have not returned for the booster.
"I’ve had COVID enough in my life. I don’t need to do that again, so I’m doing this for health reasons."
-- Tom Hanks talks about masking as part of his routine in a recent appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, where he explained he masks in crowded settings as a way to safeguard his health.
In the photo, a female (or perhaps it's a juvenile) bufflehead looks away from her friends, her beak pointing toward the left as three of its macho friends pose with their heads at various angles: One looking over its right shoulder, one with its beak pointed to the left, the third with its beak pointing away from us - out to sea. All four birds are surrounded by shimmery, rough blue water.
If you see someone who is asking for help using this place, and if no one else is helping them, could you tag me into the conversation and/or link to my website https://fedi.tips?
I'm trying to provide unofficial tech support for people using Mastodon and the wider Fediverse. I'm especially keen to help new people who want easy-to-understand advice, but they won't see me and I won't see them unless someone tags me.
Got this bird at an interesting angle. Its body is twisted and its head is beginning to turn towards the bright pink flower on the left side of the frame that it is visiting in other shots in this album. We know this is a male Anna's hummingbird because its gorget sparkles bright pink in the sun.
Any San Francisco kid under the age of 5 can get a free book mailed to them every month under a new partnership announced Friday by city officials and Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library.
The first book that all children will receive in the mail, addressed to them, is The Little Engine That Could.
Yesterday morning—Saturday, 13 September 2025—I looked out into the backyard and noticed a dark shape perched on the back fence near the bird feeder. At first glance, I thought it was a squirrel, its tail hanging down in that familiar arc. But as my brain caught up with my eyes, I realized it was something else entirely.
I grabbed my camera and headed to the sunroom, hoping to get a few shots without disturbing the figure. Through the lens, the mystery resolved: a Cooper’s hawk (Accipiter cooperii), just hanging out, back to me, head turned nearly 180 degrees, scanning the ground below like a surgeon preparing for the first incision.
I cracked the door open and took a few more pictures. Then I stepped out onto the patio—and that was enough. The hawk lifted off and flew into the forest, landing in an oak tree just beyond the yard. It was still close enough for a few decent shots, but birds being birds, it tucked itself behind a veil of leaves, hidden but not gone.
Check out breathtaking photos of magnificent birds of prey, visit my photo gallery here:
"A Cooper’s hawk perches on a white backyard fence, its back to the camera, body taut and feathers layered like a well-kept archive. The plumage is grayish-brown, sleek and orderly, catching soft light that reveals subtle ripples and banding. But the drama lies in the head—turned nearly 180 degrees, twisted with avian precision, as if the neck were a hinge of pure intent.
Its sharp beak points downward, and its blazing orange eye scans the ground below, hunting without motion. The gaze is surgical, focused, and unblinking. This is not a casual perch—it’s surveillance. The tail feathers fan slightly behind, balanced and banded, while the wings remain folded tight against the body, conserving energy for the moment of strike.
All I saw was cheesecake boat and ocean for at least 5 minutes
Photo of a missing slice of cheesecake that looks like a cheesecake hull floating in a deep blue ocean. The "ocean" is actually the blueberry topping on the large cheesecake that we don't see completely.
@thejapantimes Let's all hold our breath for the no doubt thoughtful, thorough, and exhaustively clear and well-reasoned SCOTUS decision which makes explicitly clear that Trump is free to do whatever he wants but is in no way above the law.
Our dog stands under the kitchen table when he can tell I'm about to leave. I think it's his 'sad place'. Or possibly he thinks that if I don't get to kiss him goodbye then I can't leave. 💔
Do you want help with using Mastodon or the rest of the Fediverse? Or do you know anyone who wants help with using this place?
I'm really happy to help people directly, just get in touch however you want. You can reply to this post, or mention me in your own posts, or DM me, it's all good 🙂
Especially keen to help non-technical people, it is totally fine to ask even the simplest questions! 👍
If you prefer reading guides, there's also lots of help at https://fedi.tips
Based on what I'm hearing, It's very possible the #Pentagon has other options available when Trump gives the order to attack US citizens. #UnitedStates
Men and women in the chain of command will resign en masse before they spill the blood of citizens on US soil and that will be the signal to everyone what must happen next. #NationalGuard #Military
One of Our Own, by Lucinda Berry.
Hidden Nature, by Nora Roberts.
Conflicts in the Middle East and Africa, by Moosa Elayah (editor).
Wild at Heart: America's Turbulent Relationship with Nature, from Exploitation to Redemption, by Alice Outwater.
Eruption: The Untold Story of Mount St. Helens, by Steve Olson.
The Outsiders: A Thriller, by Gerald Seymour.
Man in the Woods: A Novel, by Scott Spencer.
Fire and Flood: Extreme Events and Social Change Past, Present, Future, by Thomas Princen.
The Caves of Steel (Robot, #1), by Isaac Asimov.
Mark Twain, by Ron Chernow.
The Thing in the Woods, by Harper Williams.
American Poison: A Deadly Invention and the Woman Who Battled for Environmental Justice, by Daniel Stone.
Antisemitism in America: A Warning, by Chuck Schumer.
Domestic life in New England in the seventeenth century : a discourse, by George Francis Dow.
The Destruction of Palestine Is the Destruction of the Earth, by Andreas Malm.
Lord of the Night is another Night Lords book where the horror and tragedy dont really set in until the end. Thats what really makes the Night Lord books slap, this dude crashed on a planet, accidently decided to incite religious fundamentalists into class war claiming the emperor sent him. He rationalizes the Night Lords to the many humans he befriends. He wins his crusade with them and recovers a present his dad gave him. It all goes bad after that. #warhammer#WH40K#AmReadingbookstodon group
@mcc Early Borland Pascal manual taught you how to program in Pascal and to use the compiler and tools by telling you the story of - i may not have this exactly right - a prospector and his mule named Daisy.
Great literature in the service of revolutionary technology.
The Crestomanci books are rewarding, original stories about a wizarding school and a British ministry of magic
Archer's Goon / Homeward Bounders are the books Gaiman wished he could write— DWJ's gift is the way she effortlessly weaves myth in & out of comfy "genre" fiction, whether that genre is fantasy or occasional surreal Sci-Fi
Also, Howl's Moving Castle is Miyazaki but weird (I mean this literally)
Why hasn’t Trump or the AG said anything publicly to condemn the arson attack on Gov. Josh Shapiro and his family? Silence is complicity.
Tweet by Brian Entin showing photos of severe fire damage inside the Pennsylvania Governor's mansion. The tweet states that an arsonist set the fire while Governor Shapiro and his family were inside. Four images show charred, soot-covered rooms with melted chandeliers, scorched walls, and destroyed furniture. A fifth image shows a booklet titled “Passover Crafts” with the Pennsylvania state seal.
I sense he will be as toxic to the Trump brand as he already is to the Tesla brand.
A tweet from Quinn Nelson (
@SnazzyLabs
) stating: "This graffiti at my local Supercharger would suggest that perhaps Elon Musk is damaging Tesla’s brand." Below the tweet, there is a photo of a Tesla Supercharger station with black graffiti reading "Nazi" sprayed on its white surface, located in a parking lot with cars, dry grass, and a building in the background.
@georgetakei I think that once they have stolen the gold from Fort Knox and all US seniors' Social Security and Medicare checks, El0n & the other president won't care what the stock price of any stock is.
Have been thinking about how fast things can change in a society. Given all the everything here in the #US, I’ve been revisiting some of my favorite #books about things-getting-bad-at-a-national-level. These two are about #Iran
Suppose you see someone, perhaps your co-worker or friend, or someone switched from Windows to Linux and struggling with the command line. What would you do?
"Donald #Trump boasted that he had “every right” to interfere in the 2020 presidential election as he vies to reclaim the White House this November." #Jan6 #election2024 #2024election
I suspect that at least 5 of SCOTUS judges have become convinced that interfering in the exact way that TFG interfered was part of his presidential duties.
Course if Biden does the exact same thing - well it wouldn't be exactly the same because of course Biden is not Trump.
