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Karen @kpdooty.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 10h

I hiked down to the bottom of the fort to see the Great Cormorant. Along the way I found out my shoes were waterproof and slipped on a wet leaf. The cormorant roost was empty. I ran into Birder BS and Boatmobile, who thankfully had a CAC and gave us a ride […] [Original post on mastodon.social]

A very far away photo of a Great Cormorant on an old pier. It has dark head & neck, but a white belly, a field mark visible even from a distance. Pohick Bay Regional Park, Lorton, VA

The Great Cormorant spreads its wings. It has a hefty head & bill. Pohick Bay Regional Park, Lorton, VA

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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 12h

The Omar story today and the Talarcio story yesterday are the same story of rat-fucking your opponents before an election. Except now the government does it, out in the open.

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Reposted by Karen

Nicholas Grossman @nicholasgrossman.bsky.social · 11/10/2026

Uh oh, did someone’s website and personal account experience a big drop in activity after Ukraine hit a Russian data center?

Elon Musk: “Zelensky has gone too far”

https://x.com/elonmusk/status/2109033017184338141

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Karen @kpdooty.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 11/10/2026

It rained all day. Couldn't have chosen a better day to wake up feeling sick enough to go to Urgent Care (lol that + 💸 was all it took to feel better). Birder Ed, however, did don his rain gear and found the Nelson's Sparrow, twice. For a rare sparrow, I really would not have minded the rain! […]

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Original post on mastodon.social

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Karen @kpdooty.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 10/10/2026

Another day of #birding and another day of dipping. We were at a club bird walk out west when we got alerts that a Nelson's Sparrow was found at the Usual Patch. Across the pond, at the Hike and Bike, the Connecticut Warbler was continuing. The Plant Guy, JP, and I drove across the county to […]

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Original post on mastodon.social

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Karen @kpdooty.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 09/10/2026

I've been thinking about the Ceausescus a lot in the last two years. I used to know a guy who was a young Romanian soldier at that time. He said sometimes you don't know you are living in a historical moment until you look back. Also please cheeseburger do your thing.

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Karen @kpdooty.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 08/10/2026

LOL somehow I've managed to dip on the Connecticut Warbler twice today #birding

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Jacob T. Levy @jacobtlevy.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

I'm not naive enough to actually believe this will happen, but Democrats could be preparing, right now, lists of impeachment charges against (at a bare minimum) Hegseth, Kennedy, Mullin, Patel, Blanche, & Trump, as well as Bondi, Bovino, & Noem (still worth doing!) that rely purely on public facts,

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Karen @kpdooty.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 04/10/2026

We did a "Big Day" yesterday. Izzy, Jay, Oz, the Plant Guy, and me went from one end of the county to the other, starting at the Usual Patch at sunrise and finishing in Ticksville at dusk. It rained until well after lunch. No Merlin, and every ID confirmed by at least two people. We had about 10 […]

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Original post on mastodon.social

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Karen @kpdooty.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 01/10/2026

Alas, it's game over! Warbler season basically ends when Palm Warbler shows up, and there were three on the compost pile, wagging their little tails, when I surprised them #birding

The back side of a Palm Warbler (likely Western). Frying Pan Farm Park, Herndon, VA

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Karen @kpdooty.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 29/09/2026

Today I previewed the bird walk I'll be leading next week. The hot spot is more miss than hit, except Tall Brother had an exceptional warbler day there yesterday. I don't think I made it to the spot where he found a Blue-winged Warbler (now rare, require […] [Original post on mastodon.social]

A fall Blackpoll Warbler. The orange feet set it apart from the fall Bay-breasted Warbler, which looks very similar but has black feet. Laurel Hill Equestrian Center, Lorton, VA

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Karen @kpdooty.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 27/09/2026

Nothing likes the American Golden Plover to bring people to the little bridge. We were at the tail end of the nor'easter. It was gray and misty with gusty winds. At low tide, a Tall Brother, the Plant Guy, and Oz showed up with their scopes, followed by ZZ […] [Original post on mastodon.social]

We had a lot of gulls, mostly Ring-billed, and a few Laughing Gulls that were scrunched up in the cold wind. Hunting Creek Bridge, near Alexandria, VA

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Karen @kpdooty.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 23/09/2026

Gravy the Cat is running out of prednistab*, so I took him in to see his primary vet. Gravy has put on some weight, has gingivitis and maybe high blood pressure, but his heart rate was normal. The vet gave him his rabies and feline distemperment shots, along with 100 days worth of pred […]

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Original post on mastodon.social

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Karen @kpdooty.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 23/09/2026

OMW Downtown. Red-necked Phalarope is currently where Red Phalarope was last year. #birding

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sarah jeong @sarahjeong.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

lol my flight got diverted because of a medical emergency and they landed us in reykjavik in the middle of the night and deplaned us and sent us through passport control and then the crew vanished and then british airways sent us links to book an overnight hotel room but for a hotel at heathrow

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Karen @kpdooty.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 21/09/2026

I saw that Ace had 17 Cape May warblers, among others, during a fallout yesterday at the little retention pond, so I went there to see if there was any leftover. There were other warblers, but most of the warblers were Cape May, the one warbler I did not see […] [Original post on mastodon.social]

Cape May warbler. Arrowbrook Park, Herndon, VA

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Karen @kpdooty.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 20/09/2026

It was a lot of work to resist opening the email from "Shef": really curious about the spammer who couldn't spell chef and couldn't bother to look it up

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Karen @kpdooty.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 19/09/2026

Today I ran into a couple of biologists looking for the Yellow-bellied Flycatcher everyone saw yesterday. They really noticed every movement and every sound, and they knew all the plants! One of them saw the flycatcher, an empid so unbelievably yellow with wing bars that stood out. It flew away […]

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Original post on mastodon.social

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Anne Applebaum @anneapplebaum.wsocial.eu · 19/09/2026

The Kennedy Center was financially stable until Trump took over: "In the fiscal year ending in 2024, when the center was led by President Deborah Rutter and a bipartisan board of trustees, it brought in about $40 million more than it spent" www.theatlantic.com/culture/2026...

theatlantic.com

What the Kennedy Center’s Tax Return Reveals

A previously unseen filing captures the state of the institution seven months after Donald Trump’s takeover.

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Karen @kpdooty.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 18/09/2026

On my last job before retirement, we were asked to explore using LLMs to extract information from reports intel analysts have carefully prepared. I noted that the LLM summaries, even when factually correct (it made up quite a bit of stuff), often missed the judgment conveyed via nuanced words […]

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Original post on mastodon.social

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Karen @kpdooty.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 16/09/2026

Is someone going to storm the Kennedy Center to save it from the bulldozers?

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Chris Kluwe, adjudicated poaster @chriswarcraft.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

As a professional punter, I’m in absolute awe at the masterclass put on by this Congress. Just punt after punt after punt, it’s like rewatching the 0-16 Lions.

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Karen @kpdooty.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 14/09/2026

Something stinks here...these guys can slow down all by themselves, they don't have to call for anything, they could just *do*, you know...so what's *really* going on??? www.npr.org/2026/09/14/nx-s1-596807…

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Karen @kpdooty.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 13/09/2026

What's to prevent me from purchasing 10 packages of 10 credits to get 100 credits for $9.90? Not shown in the photo, but the first discount is when one purchases 1000 credits for $79.99.

Purchasing credits in the Henle app. The pricing structure does not reward the purchase of more credits

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Karen @kpdooty.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 12/09/2026

Yesterday PG (named for his eBird Region, an adjoining county in the adjoining state) told us to check the mudflats at the little bridge because he had Stilt Sandpipers and Red-necked Phalarope down the river. It was pouring rain & at high tide! After looking […] [Original post on mastodon.social]

Digiscoped photo of a group of Stilt Sandpipers foraging at low tide. We actually had better look than we did at a closer distance last month because the lighting was good yesterday. Hunting Creek Bridge, near Alexandria, VA. 11 September 2026

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Karen @kpdooty.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 11/09/2026

I remember where I was on this day 25 years ago. I had just started a new job at X-Division. I didn't hear the news on my way in because Bob Edwards was soft spoken. As soon as I badged in the doors Art pulled me into the conference room, which was full so early in the morning, with everyone […]

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Original post on mastodon.social

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Karen @kpdooty.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 10/09/2026

I got off the ice early today to go look for Mourning Warbler with Boatmobile that the Older Tall Brother found yesterday. We never found it, but we had a Least Flycatcher right off the bat. Boatmobile had to go back to work, but I stayed a little longer and […] [Original post on mastodon.social]

Least Flycatcher. Riverbend Park, Great Falls, VA

Side view, Least Flycatcher. This shows a primary projection that's less than 2/3 of the longest tertial in the folded wing. Riverbend Park, Great Falls, VA

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Karen @kpdooty.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 09/09/2026

Haha I wrote my thesis on slightly compressible flows, so I'm definitely not commenting on recent progress (such as it is) on incompressible Navier-Stokes equations other than, "come on, there's no such thing as incompressible flows in real life"

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Karen @kpdooty.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 09/09/2026

I hiked down to the bottom of the trail at the fort. I ran into the person who reported the Western Willet a week ago. The willet was not there. He decided to go up to the shelter up the creek. Almost as soon as he left I saw a pair of wings flash. It was the […] [Original post on mastodon.social]

A blurry, faraway photo of a Western Willet stretching out its wings. It's a rather drab bird except for the distinct black-and-white wing pattern. Accotink Wildlife Refuge, Fort Belvoir, VA

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Karen @kpdooty.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 07/09/2026

A sad day! I ran into the Guru, ZZ Top, and El Presidente de Bird Club while looking for warblers. The Guru used playback of screech-owl so we saw plenty of warblers 🙄. At one point the three of them had a 2-second look of a Yellow-bellied Flycatcher while my eyes were elsewhere. Alas, the one […]

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Original post on mastodon.social

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darth™️ @darthbluesky.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

one thing i have changed in just the last couple of years is starting to store things locally rather than in the cloud which is probably backwards tbh but the ideal of having everything accessible everywhere no longer seems magical

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Karen @kpdooty.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 02/09/2026

Area Lake was eerily quiet and still. It was a lot of work for the two warblers I found in almost 4 hours. I blame this young and clueless Red-tailed Hawk. #birding

A juvenile Red-tailed Hawk. Lake Fairfax Park, Reston, VA

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Karen @kpdooty.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 01/09/2026

This morning I was on the little bridge. The Wunderkind spied a Forster's Tern. The tern was soon joined by not one, not two, but three of its friends. They would fly, then crash into the river to catch stuff. I alerted Boatmobile, who was out there but […] [Original post on mastodon.social]

Where is Waldo, Forster's Tern edition. Look for a small bird with light gray wings, a white head, and a black smudge where the eye would be. Hunting Creek Bridge, near Alexandria, VA (hint: upper right corner)

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Karen @kpdooty.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 01/09/2026

I found out that one of the adult skaters, who was let go from USAID on Day One, is now a "House Manager" (that was what Skating Buddy Harry called it). She would do chores for people who are to busy to do their own laundry, etc. It pays 50% better than Costco Sample Lady, and she's fully booked.

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Karen @kpdooty.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 31/08/2026

Really struggling this morning! I've been off the ice for three weeks. In the meanwhile, the rink moved Wednesday's start time to 5:10 am. I am having to revamp my skating schedule and get up 15 minutes earlier, at 4 am. I think Gravy the Cat was really surprised that I was up before he started […]

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Original post on mastodon.social

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Karen @kpdooty.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 30/08/2026

Yesterday someone found five Stilt Sandpipers at my usual patch. I was there this morning at 0630. I looked in the same direction and soon found these medium sandpipers that foraged in a sewing machine needle fashion. There were one big one and four smaller […] [Original post on mastodon.social]

A very far away blurry view of a Stilt Sandpiper feeding in shallow water. They are easily confused with Lesser Yellowlegs; fortunately there were many yellowlegs present nearby for compare & contrast. Huntley Meadows Park, near Hybla Valley, VA

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Karen @kpdooty.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 29/08/2026

Skating Buddy Harry told me last night that Canada Goose is now called Donald Duck

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Karen @kpdooty.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 27/08/2026

Someone had identified two "small, long-winged, black-billed" terns as Least Tern. I'd really like to know why they thought the terns were the super-duper unusual Least Tern, instead of the merely uncommon Common Tern, or even just our usual small summer tern that's been mostly absent, Forster's […]

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Original post on mastodon.social

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Karen @kpdooty.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 27/08/2026

Someone has been finding crazy birds at the little retention pond at the intersection of two busy street! I found out an ace birder has just moved nearby. "I heard the owls from my window," he told me of the Barred Owl and the Eastern Screech Owl. "White Ibis roosting on the north end of the […]

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Original post on mastodon.social

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Karen @kpdooty.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 26/08/2026

It's approximately the one-year anniversary of the visit by a juvenile Wood Stork. It stayed there for many weeks, until the supply of crayfish was depleted. I visited the hotspot today just in case. There were two families of Red-headed Woodpeckers, a bunch […] [Original post on mastodon.social]

A Green Heron preening itself on a high wire. Cub Run Stream Valley Park, near Centreville, VA

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Karen @kpdooty.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 26/08/2026

Good #birding at the usual patch yesterday. It took me longer to get out because I was showing everyone how to find the blue tree frog after it was shown to me. I only have blurry photos because it was pretty close to the trail and nearly impossible to find […] [Original post on mastodon.social]

A blue tree frog. They are usually green like the blade of grass they like to hide in. Huntley Meadows Park, near Hybla Valley, VA

Blue mutant tree frog hugging a green stem. Huntley Meadows Park, Hybla Valley, VA

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Karen @kpdooty.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 24/08/2026

This morning I ran into Birder BS at the meadow. He told me he saw three Tennessee Warbler. Yeah, we were standing at Tennessee Central, but that's the warbler I always confuse with Red-eyed Vireo, and I had just saw one 10 seconds ago and saw that Tennessee still had a big R next to it -- it […]

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Original post on mastodon.social

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Karen @kpdooty.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 23/08/2026

I could not resist the shorebirds. I found myself at the little bridge again. From the bridge we saw a sandpiper that could be a Baird's, hanging out with a Pectoral Sandpiper. Kayak Todd was taking a ton of photos. Later he stopped at the bridge to confirm […] [Original post on mastodon.social]

A B-2 bomber with 8 F-35 in formation, over the Wilson Bridge, flying towards Washington, DC. No doubt part of the so-called celebration of our 250th year

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Karen @kpdooty.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 23/08/2026

A lot of feelings to process, so here we go... I was at Wegmans when Boatmobile refound the Short-billed Dowitcher. It had flown in yesterday when a Tall Brother, Jeff the Mod, the Plant Guy, and Oz where trying to refind the Baird's last seen two days prior. PG was in a kayak checking all […]

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Original post on mastodon.social

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Bill @sempf.infosec.exchange.ap.brid.gy · 21/08/2026

Asked my daughter if she knew what a demon core was and she sent me this.

A demon core on a morning star with the meme text HEY SHITASS

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Karen @kpdooty.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 18/08/2026

Looks like the doctor's office has annexed a few rooms of the spa next door

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Karen @kpdooty.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 18/08/2026

Look it's the archcriminal from Wallace and Gromit!

Feathers McGraw, a penguin impersonating a chicken, from Wallace & Gromit

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Karen @kpdooty.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 18/08/2026

Low tide was at the right time this morning so I was up at the little bridge. It was all very slow until an eagle rearranged all thr birds and, shortly afterwards, the Wunderkind, a Tall Brother, and ZZ Top showed up. The Wunderkind spotted a shorebird with long wings. We had it narrowed down to […]

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Original post on mastodon.social

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Karen @kpdooty.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 17/08/2026

Did a "warbler warmup" this morning. Although there are warblers to be found, they were not where I looked. When on land, Boatmobile is a formidable warbler finder. This morning he found a Blue-winged Warbler (still rare and requires eBird comments in our region). Fall Warblers are coming! #birding

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Tom Nichols @radiofreetom.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

"Scaling back the exercise is, of course, an insane decision, which does nothing but hurt an ally, and tempt an adversary to think—correctly—that American leadership is feckless." www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...

theatlantic.com

Trump Will Make South Korea Pay For His Iran Humiliation

His rage is driving him to make irrational policy choices.

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