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Brian Hoffman @buzzhoffman.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

This Ruby-crowned Kinglet showing off its spiky red crown is my contribution to today’s #RedHeads #BirdOfTheDay theme. #Minnesota #Birds #naturephotography #EastCoastKin #NoCoastKin

A small bird with grey-brown with yellow brown breast is displaying its red crown feathers and looking directly into the camera. A few bare branches and white sky provide the background.

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Council for British Archaeology @archaeologyuk.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

Have you ever spotted a face in a tree, an animal in the clouds? Grayson Walters looks at how Palaeolithic artists may have used the natural shapes of cave walls to create animals and human-like figures, and what this can tell us about early human imagination. 👉 youtu.be/u2j0hKaT_GA?...

youtu.be

Picasso Through Palaeolithic Perception

YouTube video by Council for British Archaeology

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Brian Hoffman @buzzhoffman.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

Seeing a White-throated Dipper was top of my list during our recent trip to England. Thrilled to watch this dipper feeding its fledgling early morning at Linton Falls. #BirdOfTheDay #Coastal&River #ECK #birds #birdphotography #birdsofbluesky #wildlife #nature

Two birds facing each other on a rock with water in the background. An adult is approaching its young with small bugs in its beak. The fledgling is waiting with beak wide open.

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Helsinki Birder @helsinkibirder.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

This is absolutely insane.

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John Hawks @johnhawks.net · 25/08/2026

“In broad strokes, the modern human population evolved from a merger of two ancient groups around 300,000 years ago, roughly 80% from one, and 20% from the other. The uniformity of this signal in all living populations suggests that it was a true formative event.” www.johnhawks.net/p/modern-hum...

johnhawks.net

Modern humans evolved from an 80-20 mixture of two deep streams

Genome models are converging on a scenario in which two stem lineages separated 1.5 million years ago, and merged together 300,000 years ago.

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Jon Phillips @jowiph.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

The Bucket of Infinite Owlets is an underrated magic item in D&D

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This Many Years Ago @thismanyyearsago.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

1632 years ago, on the 24th of August 394, Nesmeterakhem carved an inscription in Egyptian hieroglyphs and demotic script along an image of the god Mandulis in the temple of Philae. It is the last known ancient Egyptian inscription in Egyptian hieroglyphs. #otd #history 🗃️

A crude drawing of the god Mandulis from Hadrian's Gate at Philae, accompanied by a hieroglyphic inscription (above right) and a demotic inscription (lower right). The hieroglyphic text is the last one written in ancient times, and its author had a weak grasp of the writing system. The demotic inscription reads: "I, Nesmeterakhem, the Scribe of the House of Writings (?) of Isis, son of Nesmeterpanakhet the Second Priest of Isis, and his mother Eseweret, I performed work on this figure of Mandulis for all time, because he is fair of face towards me. Today, the Birthday of Osiris, his dedication feast, year 110 [of the reign of Diocletian]." The date is thus 24 August, 394 AD/CE. The hieroglyphic text says: "Before Mandulis son of Horus, by the hand of Nesmeterakhem, son of Nesmeter, the Second Priest of Isis, for all time and eternity. Words spoken by Mandulis, Lord of the Abaton, great god." (Source: Richard Parkinson, Cracking Codes: The Rosetta Stone and Decipherment (1999), p. 178.)

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Mark Sumner 🌒 @devilstower.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

“We who survive are hybrid humans, carrying in every cell the story of ancient travels and forgotten people. The ancient H. sapiens found at Jebel Irhoud are some of our ancestors, but they're far from the only ones. We each contain multitudes. None of us is ‘pure,’ and we should be glad of it.”

unchartedblue.com

The ghost in your cells

Our DNA tells stories of great migrations and mysterious homecomings.

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Brian Hoffman @buzzhoffman.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

A Green Heron being dramatic for today’s #BirdOfTheDay theme, #StrikeAPose. It is hunting in a pond covered with duckweed. #birds #herons #wildlifephotography #Minnesota #EastCoastKin #NoCoastKin

A Green Heron with raised feathers on its crown giving it a spiky hair look. It is clinging to a dead branch above water shaded green from all the duckweed.

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Exhausted archaeologist-exhausteologist @hknorton.bsky.social · 15/08/2026

My semi-regular reminder to #archaeologists to stop buying your 4-mil bags from this company 🏺

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Brian Hoffman @buzzhoffman.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

A metallic green sweat bee hovering near Russian Sage blossoms on my campus. This plant is a great pollinator attractor. I’m always grateful to our university landscape staff for creating these great #nature spaces. #insectphotograpy #bees #flowers #macro #eastcoastkin

This photo captures a bee in mid flight as it hovers near a flowering plant. The bee’s wings are a blur, its body is bright green, and its legs are golden color. The plant is a single stalk with little purple flowers regularly spaced up the length of the stalk. The background is an out of focus green.

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Brian Hoffman @buzzhoffman.bsky.social · 02/08/2026

I chose this Common Yellowthroat clinging to a branch for today’s #BirdOfTheDay theme, #BestOfJuly. It has been a very dry month in #Minnesota, so I was able to work my way deep into a swamp and then just wait for the birds to fly near me. Fun day #photography #wildlife #birds

A small bird with pale brown head and back, yellow throat, and white belly clings to an upright dead branch. The bird’s tail is spread and its wing lifted slightly as it balances on the branch.

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Brian Hoffman @buzzhoffman.bsky.social · 27/07/2026

For my #birdoftheday contribution in the #CHE theme (cormorants, herons, egrets), I’m posting this Great Heron flying against a grayish sky. I normally try to get some other element into my bird shots, but I like the graphic quality of this photo. #birds #nature #photography #Minnesota

A white heron flies across an empty white sky. The bird’s wings are extended and its long, black legs and feet dangle behind. The only bit of color is its sharp, yellow beak.

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Brian Hoffman @buzzhoffman.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

For today’s #BirdOfTheDay theme, #Birds&Flowers, I have a photo from this spring of a #Bay-breastedWarbler in a flowering crab apple tree. I was looking unsuccessfully for a rare Minnesota bird, but was pretty happy to get this nice shot instead.

A small bird in a tree full of white flowers and green leaves. The bird has a reddish crown, throat, breast, and flanks. Otherwise the bird is mostly grayish brown on top with a whitish belly.

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Brian Hoffman @buzzhoffman.bsky.social · 08/06/2026

For today’s #BirdOfTheDay theme, celebrating #WorldOceansDay, I’m offering this photo I took of an early morning #PelagicCormorant flying past #SegulaIsland in the western #AleutianIslands of #Alaska. #NorthPacificOcean

Silhouette of a long necked bird. The background is a series of dark and light layers - dark clouds at the top, bright sunlight shines underneath the clouds, a steep volcano rising above the ocean is slightly darker than the bright sky. The ocean has a thin band of bright water where the sunlight hits, then a dark band at the bottom of the frame where the clouds block the light. Overall the light areas are a slightly golden color from the morning sun.

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Fiona Tribe @fionatribe.bsky.social · 23/04/2026

Yes, Swiss scientist Fritz Zwicky coined the term “dark matter” which is impressive, but he also coined the term “spherical bastard” to describe people who are bastards no matter which way you look at them, and I think that should be celebrated more.

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Fiona Tribe @fionatribe.bsky.social · 08/12/2024

“Facts and truth are not sociologically equivalent. The purpose of a lie is often to hide or misinform, but myth can be illuminating, informative and truthful while perhaps not being factual.” ~ Austin Lawhead, Anthropologist

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Brian Hoffman @buzzhoffman.bsky.social · 14/04/2026

An American Robin surrounded by Willow buds in a classic sign of early spring in #Minnesota. #BirdOfTheDay #Robins #Birds

A bird clings to a tree stump. In the background are a maze of shrubs with fuzzy buds on the branches.

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Brian Hoffman @buzzhoffman.bsky.social · 12/04/2026

Here’s my contribution to today’s #BirdOfTheDay #juveniles theme, a pair of fluffy #GreatHorned owlets checking out their world. #birds

Two extremely fluffy owlets sitting side by side, both staring intently in the same direction. They’re in a nest of brown leaves stuffed in the branches of an old oak tree.

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Brian Hoffman @buzzhoffman.bsky.social · 09/04/2026

I like today’s #BirdOfTheDay theme #ManMadePerch because it makes me think of how I frame #bird photos to exclude human artifacts while also aware of the complexity of our natural and cultural worlds. I appreciate photographers who help me consider this complexity. White Wagtail in Kandestederne DK

Closeup of a slightly disheveled white, black, and gray songbird perched on a “shark fin” antenna on top a dew-covered, black car.

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Brian Hoffman @buzzhoffman.bsky.social · 04/04/2026

My contribution to today’s #BirdOfTheDay theme, #SmallBirdsInFlight, is this tiny #Golden-crownedKinglet gleaning insects from our neighbor’s Tamarack tree during fall migration. #Birds

This photograph captures a small grey bird in mid flight. The bird is stretching its beak towards the green needles of a Tamarack tree branch. The rest of the tree is out of focus in the background of the photo.

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Antiquity Journal @antiquity.ac.uk · 25/03/2026

NEW Discovery of 30 prehistoric settlements in south-eastern Anatolia have big implications for our understanding of the origins of sedentary life in Western Asia. 🆓 doi.org/10.15184/aqy... 🏺 #Archaeology

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Environmental Information: Use and Influence (Dalhousie Univ.) @eiui.bsky.social · 26/03/2026

The flood of #plastics flowing into the #ocean is a “pressing global #environmental #crisis.” Negotiations for a global plastics treaty are ongoing. Hussain & Zou compared successful #governance models and identify “essential mechanisms for #transboundary #collaboration” doi.org/10.1016/j.oc...

Title, authors’ names, abstract, and keywords from a paper about cooperation and transboundary governance in relation to the global plastics treaty

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Brian Hoffman @buzzhoffman.bsky.social · 21/03/2026

This Common Buzzard was definitely #LookingAtMe in #Rotterdam #KralinseBos, a beautiful lake and park with lots of interesting birds. #BirdOfTheDay #Birds #photography

Side view of a brown hawk with its head turned so that it is looking straight at the camera. A few out-of-focus green leaves partially obscure the hawks legs and tail.

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Dr Rebecca Wragg Sykes @lemoustier.bsky.social · 19/03/2026

🦣🏺 Great paper comparing Gran Dolina TD10.2 monospecific fauna with what turns out to be an equally distinctive lithic signature. Targetted mass-kills + focused stone sourcing = collab bison hunting & communal butchery, in proto- #Neanderthals c. 425-400 Ka. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Screengrab of two stone tools from figure. Against a black background, one on the left is an assymetric scraper, the one on the right is a déjeté scraper, made of lovely fine-grained, pale grey chert.

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Brian Hoffman @buzzhoffman.bsky.social · 14/03/2026

A Glaucous-winged Gull on the #Oregon coast. Heceta Head Lighthouse is in the background. I thought its grey wings added to the overall #GreyDay of today’s #BirdOfTheDay theme.

A large gull stands on a rock wall looking out into a stormy ocean. In the out of focus background rise steep, rugged shore. A lighthouse is perched on the shore high above the sea.

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Duncan Stibbard Hawkes @dstibbardhawkes.bsky.social · 13/03/2026

"Man the Hunter" is often conflated with Dart's "killer ape theory"; A pity because, though imperfect, the MTH conference was a departure from previous Hobbesian colonial Hunter-Gatherer narratives. In this new Target Article we map out some of that intellectual history.

sciencedirect.com

The Meanings and Dividends of Man the Hunter

The phrase Man the Hunter is associated with disparate meanings across communities of scholars, journalists, and the public, which has led to unnecess…

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Brian Hoffman @buzzhoffman.bsky.social · 13/03/2026

The #WildTurkeys in my home town have adapted to humans. This one offered me great #headshots as he walked by. One of my #firstoftheyear bird sightings on a brutally cold winter day. #BirdOfTheDay

A close-up of a Wild Turkey. The head and neck are a fleshy pink skin with folds and bumps. The head is mostly bare with just a few spiky feathers on top. The eyes are brown as are the fluffy neck feathers.

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Dr. Earyn McGee @afroherper.bsky.social · 05/03/2026

When I first saw this lizard, I thought it was a western fence lizard, but upon further inspection, I realized it must be a southern sagebrush lizard. The scale size and pattern were slightly different. Now that I’ve identified the lizard, can you #FindThatLizard? Reference photo by California Herps

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OwenTat Draws @owentatdraws.bsky.social · 01/03/2026

The bird report that I’ve been writing about my #patchbirding is now out! It includes many months of research, writing, illustrations, and photographs from the local community too. It is free to look through and I hope a nice read even for those not local 🐦 Here's a link: figham.neocities.org

A photo of a booklet being held out with a landscape in the background and watercolour birds around. The text on the front cover reads 'Figham Common' Bird Report 2025’

Five pages of the report layered on top of each other. Featuring text, illustrations and photographs on a dark green background.

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Brian Hoffman @buzzhoffman.bsky.social · 27/02/2026

My #BestOfTheMonth for February is this red morph #EasternScreechOwl. I am grateful to the other birders for their help in locating this pair. #BirdOfTheDay #Birds #Minnesota

A sleepy little owl tucked into a hole in a tree.

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Brian Hoffman @buzzhoffman.bsky.social · 26/02/2026

Osprey are amazing birds with #WideOpenWings of nearly six feet (180 cm). Thrilling to watch them dive on a fish. This #osprey was one of a nesting pair with two chicks near Centerville Lake in #Minnesota. #birds #BirdOfTheDay

Osprey soaring directly above the photographer with wings fully extended. The wings are surprisingly long compared to the bird’s relatively small body.

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Anika Besst @anikabesst.bsky.social · 26/02/2026

A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to chat with a player from the Harlem Globetrotters. Fatima “TNT” Lister has been apart of the team for 15 years and still adores seeing the missing-tooth smiles and gleaming eyes of the Globetrotter's youngest and more fiery fans.

mprnews.org

For one Globetrotter, the game is as much about connection as basketball

As the Harlem Globetrotters tour the country, veteran player Fatima “TNT” Lister reflects on a career built around performance, community connection and the responsibility of being a highly visible wo...

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Brian Hoffman @buzzhoffman.bsky.social · 19/02/2026

Here is a tiny Ovenbird perched in an alder thicket for today’s #BirdOfTheDay #BranchBirds theme. Spotted in #Hovland #Minnesota #birds #wildlifephotography #photography

A tiny bird with pink feet is clinging to a tree branch with smooth brown bark. Out of focus greenery shows this bird is in a dense thicket. The bird has turned its head so that it is looking at the camera with one black eye. Dark spots on a white breast are a striking plumage in an otherwise brown bird.

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Dr Rebecca Wragg Sykes @lemoustier.bsky.social · 13/02/2026

🧪🏺 Update - authors have new paper showing how useless gen- #AI is for archaeological illustration. All 400 images were multiply inaccurate (physically, socially, technologically, environmentally), even with improved prompts. JUST USE HUMAN EXPERTS & ARTISTS www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

screengran of figure from paper showing four different generated images of a "day in the life of a Neanderthal". All images contain significant inaccuracies from physical characteristics (extremely primitive) to material culture (glass containers), and the lack of women and children is also obvious.

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Butser Ancient Farm @butserancientfarm.co.uk · 03/02/2026

From 1066 to Robin Hood, longbows are an iconic part of English history - and what's a bow without its arrows? Blacksmith Joe Tyler and craftsman Lewis Beck show us how to make a replica Saxon arrow based on local archaeology! Watch & Subscribe: www.youtube.com/watch?v=AVae...

youtube.com

How to Forge and Fletch a Saxon Arrowhead

YouTube video by Butser Ancient Farm

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Streets.mn @streets.mn · 02/01/2026

Thanks for sharing Bill!

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Brian Hoffman @buzzhoffman.bsky.social · 01/01/2026

Today’s #BirdoftheDay theme is challenging for me. I love #B&W #photography but have always struggled taking good shots. This pair of #trumpeterswans on an icy lake seems a safe choice. The reflected swan face is my favorite element. #birds

A pair of swans rest on the edge of an open lead on an otherwise ice and snow covered lake. The scene is all white, black, and grey. The snow and swan feathers are white. The open water and swan feet/beaks are the major black elements. The ice adds shades of grey. One swan is sitting on the ice with its long neck curled so that its head is upside down as it preens its wing feathers. The other swan is standing immediately next to its mate. Its head is curled downward as if to offer an affectionate nudge.

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Dexter Patterson aka Wisco Birder @wiscobirder.bsky.social · 23/12/2025

Who wants to help me find a Brown Creeper? You Ready? Let’s GO!!! #WiscoBirder 📷👐🏾🫶🏾🪶

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Brian Hoffman @buzzhoffman.bsky.social · 21/12/2025

For today’s #AboutTheKids #BirdOfTheDay theme l chose this #HairyWoodpecker feeding a chick in our backyard maple tree. Sadly the tree is dying but at least we can enjoy its evolving bird habitat for a few years. #birds #wildlifephotography #nature

A close up photo of a male Hairy Woodpecker feeding its chick. The adult is clinging to the rough tree bark with its curved claws and leaning in towards the chick. The chick’s head is protruding from the nest hole. The chick’s beak is grasping the adult’s beak as it receives the food.

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Brian Hoffman @buzzhoffman.bsky.social · 19/12/2025

A beautiful #PaintedStork for today’s #BirdOfTheDay theme of #LongLegsAndNeck. I got this flyby shot while up in an observation tower at the #PrekToal bird sanctuary on the edge of Cambodia’s #TonléSap Lake. #birds #naturephotography #birding #wildlife #cambodia

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