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Lauren Harter @lbharter.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

My husband’s doctoral defense is coming up on Friday! Come learn about altitudinal migration in Slate-throated Whitestarts #science 🪶

Flyer announcing David Vander Pluym’s doctoral dissertation defense on Friday, October 2 at 11am Central Time. The title is “The Role of Altitudinal Migration in Tropical Diversification” and the Zoom link is tinyurl.com/DVPdefense password miniatus

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Lauren Harter @lbharter.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

Today's #BirdoftheDay theme is #StrikeAPose. Nothing does it quite like a (Tropical) Royal Flycatcher 🪶

A medium-sized songbird being held just before release from bird banding operations. Its plumage overall is olive and brown, but it sports a dazzling fan of vermilion feathers tipped in black and blue on its crown. It is looking towards the camera in dramatic fashion

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Lauren Harter @lbharter.bsky.social · 08/06/2026

Happy #WorldOceanDay! To celebrate, here's a White-chinned Petrel chilling off New South Wales, Australia #seabirds 🪶

An all-black seabird swims comfortably on bright blue water

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Lauren Harter @lbharter.bsky.social · 24/03/2026

This Bendire’s Thrasher was one of two we equipped with satellite tags at Avi Kwa Ame Ntl Monument in NV. It will transmit data showing us how it moves around its territory and informing management like buffer sizes. During migration, we’ll see where it goes and when! @greatbasinbirds.bsky.social

A fierce-looking brown bird sporting an antenna coming from a tag on its back

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Lauren Harter @lbharter.bsky.social · 08/03/2026

The #wildflowers at Avi Kwa Ame National Monument are putting on a show! Pictured: a blanket of Wallace’s woollydaisy, a Mojave yucca inflorescence, and a tiny Nama bloom

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Lauren Harter @lbharter.bsky.social · 19/06/2025

Because who doesn't like pancakes? Pancake pricklypear, Opuntia chlorotica, from central Arizona #bloomscrolling #cactus

Close-up photo of a brilliant yellow cactus flower

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Lauren Harter @lbharter.bsky.social · 18/06/2025

Post a bug that looks like AI but is actually real. Saddleback caterpillar moth #bugs

Photo of a bizarre caterpillar, short and thick lined with intimidating bristly hairs. It features two bristly pokers jutting up from each end. It is dark brown on the ends and lime green in the middle, with a dark brown saddle spot on its back.

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Lauren Harter @lbharter.bsky.social · 17/06/2025

This giant walkingstick looked like a zoo exhibit, just chilling on a dwarf palmetto outside Baton Rouge Louisiana. According to Wikipedia, the largest #insect in North America!

Photo of a gray-brown stick that, upon further inspection, has legs and eyes

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Lauren Harter @lbharter.bsky.social · 16/06/2025

Violet-toothed polypore, because purple #mushrooms

Photo of a tree trunk bedecked in medium-sized shelf fungi, most colored in concentric rings with orangey inner bits and purple outer rings

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Lauren Harter @lbharter.bsky.social · 14/06/2025

Louisiana turned out today! #NoKings Baton Rouge

View down a city street with the Louisiana State Capitol at the end. Protestors line both sides of the street.

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Lauren Harter @lbharter.bsky.social · 13/06/2025

A regal Mississippi Kite, daring dragonflies to fly above the treeline 🪶

Photo of a small gray bird of prey perched on a dead branch. It is peering back over its shoulder with its dark red eyes

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Lauren Harter @lbharter.bsky.social · 10/06/2025

My Epiphyllum cactus is blooming 😍 what a beauty to wake up to #cactus #flower

Photo of a flower with many long thin white petals extending from a cactus with many long, arching, smooth green stems. The flower has extra-long pale green bracts, and the reproductive parts are long and pale yellow

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Lauren Harter @lbharter.bsky.social · 07/06/2025

Our shipment from the Princeton University Press 50% off sale came! 😍 This turned into a reading party, me with ferns, hubby with velvet ants, and child with fossil birds, all sharing interesting stuff every ~1.4 seconds #books #nature

Photo of 16 books in a box: Terns of North America; Gulls of Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East; Habitats of the World; Into the Great Wide Ocean; Velvet Ants of North America; Ferns, Spikemosses, Clubmosses, and Quillworts of Eastern North America; Birds of the Mesozoic; Insects of North America; Dragonflies of North America; and Birds of China

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Lauren Harter @lbharter.bsky.social · 06/06/2025

Fewflower milkweed Asclepias lanceolata, a real stunner. #NativePlants #Louisiana #milkweed

Photo of a cluster of milkweed flowers in shades of vibrant orange

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Lauren Harter @lbharter.bsky.social · 05/06/2025

I saw a cecropia moth caterpillar for the first time and it was 100% Heimlich from A Bug’s Life #insects #pixar

Photo of a large, mostly green caterpillar, its massive size not adequately conveyed as it demolishes a swamp titi branch with audible chewing

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Lauren Harter @lbharter.bsky.social · 03/06/2025

Spent a lovely morning botanizing at Abita Creek Flatwoods Preserve and especially enjoyed the carnivorous plants. Here are two sundew species! #plants #naturalist

Spoon-leafed sundew Drosera intermedia; a very small plant with dew-covered spatulas for leaves reaching a mighty 2 inches off the ground

Pink sundew Drosera capillaris, a tiny plant barely larger than the fallen oak leaves on the ground. Its several round-tipped leaves are studded with reddish spikes each ending in a drop of dew

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Lauren Harter @lbharter.bsky.social · 27/05/2025

The aftermath of finding every chigger in Louisiana

GIF of Veruca Salt from Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory singing “I’m going to scream” while laying waste to the factory under the judgmental eyes of the Oompa Loompas

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Lauren Harter @lbharter.bsky.social · 27/05/2025

Went for a hike at a local park yesterday, in part searching for dwarf sundew. It wasn’t easy but we found them! Hands and knees botanizing 🌱 #plants #naturalist

Photo of a tiny sundew plant with spatulate leaves covered in dewy spikes

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Lauren Harter @lbharter.bsky.social · 20/05/2025

My supervisor is really keeping a close eye on me today #frog #WorkBuddy

Photo of a green tree frog sleeping pressed up against a window

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Lauren Harter @lbharter.bsky.social · 19/05/2025

I don’t know why it’s called a beggar moth, but it sure is pretty. #moths

A small orange moth clings to a dewy window. Its wings have two bands of silver spots, like stained glass

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Lauren Harter @lbharter.bsky.social · 17/05/2025

Fergie advises you to sleep in today #cats

Photo of a tortoiseshell-marked tabby curled up in max relaxation

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Lauren Harter @lbharter.bsky.social · 15/05/2025

While tagging thrashers at a soon-to-be-developed solar site in Arizona, we came across a good number of northbound migrants using the mesquite washes, like this Orange-crowned Warbler. 🪶 Handled with all appropriate state and federal permits.

Photo of a very small yellow bird being held safely by the legs

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Lauren Harter @lbharter.bsky.social · 14/05/2025

On a rainy day in a drought-addled desert, I got to watch this darkling beetle sip raindrops from a rock. #desert #insects #naturalist

Photo of a large black beetle, dotted with water droplets, face-down on a large red rock

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Lauren Harter @lbharter.bsky.social · 13/05/2025

Black-throated Sparrows are probably the most common bird of the Sonoran and Mojave deserts, and I’ll never get tired of looking at them. 🪶 Handled with all appropriate state and federal permits.

Photo of a small bird being held safely by the legs. It is mostly gray with a brown back, black bill, throat, and face, and bold white lines above and below the eye.

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Lauren Harter @lbharter.bsky.social · 12/05/2025

I am in love with this teeny bee

Photo of a silvery bee perched on a stem. The tip of the photographer’s finger provides scale, revealing that the bee is less than the size of a fingernail

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Lauren Harter @lbharter.bsky.social · 09/05/2025

Joshua tree forest between rain showers Avi Kwa Ame National Monument, Nevada, May 2025 #PublicLands

Photo of a desert scene under a cloudy sky, mountains in the distance. The small shrubs dotting the sandy soil look dead, but Mojave yuccas and Joshua trees gleam in the dim light

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Lauren Harter @lbharter.bsky.social · 08/05/2025

My trip to the #desert took place during an unusual cold snap, and we were even rained out of thrasher surveys on a few occasions. The desert responded to the rain with a green-up and some blooms, although it is heavily stressed from long-term drought. The creosote smell was amazing.

Photo of a blooming creosote bush - peppered with small yellow flowers

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Lauren Harter @lbharter.bsky.social · 07/05/2025

Just wrapped up a whirlwind 2-week work trip to Arizona and Nevada. From a great bioblitz to surprisingly rainy thrasher surveys, it was all thrashers all the time. Highlights were successfully tagging three LeConte’s Thrashers, and all the friends and colleagues I got to see! 🪶#ornithology

A LeConte’s Thrasher being held safely by the legs. It is a pale gray medium-sized songbird, with a long, curved bill. A transmitter with a long antenna is just visible on its back.

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Lauren Harter @lbharter.bsky.social · 30/04/2025

While target netting for Bendire’s Thrashers today, this accommodating and unseasonal Sage Thrasher found the nets instead. #BirdBanding 🪶

Photo of a medium-sized songbird being held safely by the legs. It has bold spots on the underside and a bright yellow eye. In the background are mist nets set around desert shrubs

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Lauren Harter @lbharter.bsky.social · 25/04/2025

Success! We tagged one LeConte’s Thrasher today. It will be so interesting to see where he goes over the next few weeks, months, and hopefully years. 🪶#ornithology @greatbasinbirds.bsky.social All handling and marking is being conducted with all appropriate state and federal permits.

A woman (me) smiling as she holds a pale grah songbird with a long, curved bill.

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Lauren Harter @lbharter.bsky.social · 24/04/2025

So excited to get started with thrasher tagging today! We are partnering with Bureau of Land Management and Arizona Game and Fish to study Bendire’s and LeConte’s thrasher movements following solar development 🪶 #ornithology @greatbasinbirds.bsky.social

A desert landscape dotted with creosote bushes and small mesquites. A person stands next to a 12-meter long mist net, and another person crouches behind the shrubbery

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Lauren Harter @lbharter.bsky.social · 10/04/2025

Copper iris, maybe my favorite local native wildflower #NativePlants

A dew-covered iris bloom, deep reddish in color

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Lauren Harter @lbharter.bsky.social · 27/03/2025

Found this as I was going through old photos. What bird was I trying to photograph here? 🤔🪶

Photo showing mainly a tangle of branches. In the foreground of the lower right hand corner, more or less in focus but only partially within the frame, is a handsome Black Phoebe looking regal. In the center of the photo, entirely out of focus, is a lovely little Rufous-capped Warbler.

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Lauren Harter @lbharter.bsky.social · 27/03/2025

My newest carnivore, a wee butterwort, impressing all her botanical friends with a gorgeous lil bloom #houseplants

A tiny houseplant in a pot holds aloft on a long stem a small white flower. Other houseplants look on in the background.

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Lauren Harter @lbharter.bsky.social · 27/03/2025

Hello friend how’s the shedding going?

Photo of a green anole. It’s bright green, blending in with the thistle it’s perched on. Around its face is a veil of peeling skin. The anole is also hosting a fly on its back; one wonders if it has noticed.

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Lauren Harter @lbharter.bsky.social · 25/03/2025

Second in my series of birds peering into your soul: Greater Roadrunner 🪶

Close-up photograph of a roadrunner's face. It looks fierce as its crest is raised, hefty bill at the ready. Its eye is stunning: dark brown with the pupil surrounded by a pale yellow ring, reminiscent of the sun's corona seen during a total solar eclipse.

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Lauren Harter @lbharter.bsky.social · 24/03/2025

This raven is absolutely peering into your soul 🪶

A large black bird perches on a pole in a landscape dotted with buildings, trees, fields, roadways, et cetera. Mountains loom large in the background. The raven is leaning forward with its head tilted, peering at the photographer.

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Lauren Harter @lbharter.bsky.social · 21/03/2025

Chia is a Seussian but common species of sage (Salvia) in the Mojave Desert. #flowers #macro #naturalist

Close-up of a flower on a single stalk. It has two stacked spiky clusters, with a few flowers sticking out of each cluster. The flowers are pale purple, with much longer petals on the bottom looking like tongues sticking out.

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Lauren Harter @lbharter.bsky.social · 13/03/2025

It’s such a privilege to be able to gawk at Trilliums whenever I want to. Mississippi River wakerobins are pretty common in Baton Rouge in the right places #plants #naturalist

A photo of a small, low-growing plant. It has three leaves, pale green mottled with a darker green. In the center is a small, dark red flower bud

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Lauren Harter @lbharter.bsky.social · 06/03/2025

A quiet moment in New Orleans during Mardi Gras. I love the colors of this city. #NewOrleans #NOLA

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Lauren Harter @lbharter.bsky.social · 27/02/2025

Please allow this goldenrod leaf miner beetle to brighten your day. #bugs #naturalist

A tiny little oval-shaped beetle absolutely dwarfed by the fingertip on which it perches. It has stubby legs and antennae, and it's shiny dark red and bluish with a single neat light brown stripe on either side.

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Lauren Harter @lbharter.bsky.social · 25/02/2025

A mob of local birds alerted me to yard bird #140, an American Woodcock! I've seen/heard this species a few times before, but never on the ground in daylight before! 🪶 This definitely counts for @greatbasinbirds.bsky.social #NatureScavengerHunt ✅ Favorite bird of the day

A well-camouflaged avian puffball pretends to be invisible on the leafy forest floor. It looks deer-like with its eyes on the sides of its head. Its plumage is a soft, rich buffy below, mottled above with gray, buff, and black. It has two dark bars across its head that must serve a purpose but look like an officer's insignia.

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Lauren Harter @lbharter.bsky.social · 22/02/2025

Today’s entry for the #NatureScavengerHunt with @greatbasinbirds.bsky.social ✅ Photo of an interesting plant Mississippi River wakerobin, a Trillium only found in a small area between Jackson MS and Baton Rouge LA. I was so pleased to find them up and some even blooming!

Two small plants on the forest floor. Each has three dappled leaves and a small central bud, looking more like tropical foliage than a native Louisiana plant

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Lauren Harter @lbharter.bsky.social · 20/02/2025

Spectacular rock formations at Chiricahua National Monument #PublicLands #Arizona

Cliffs rise above a canyon thick with pine trees. Rocks jut up from the ridges, divided by vertical fissures

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Lauren Harter @lbharter.bsky.social · 18/02/2025

Song Sparrows of the desert Southwest (subspecies fallax) are distinctive with subtle reddish-brown streaks on pale gray plumage, very different from more boldly marked subspecies of less arid regions 🪶

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Lauren Harter @lbharter.bsky.social · 14/02/2025

The desert is so much more than extractive industries. I photographed this soft prairie clover last February, intricate and beautiful yet easily overlooked in the Mojave desert gravel #NVLovesPublicLands

A tiny plant crawling among the pebbles. Its pinnately compound leaves feature tiny leaflets oval in shape and turned up at the edges, forming little silvery spoons

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Lauren Harter @lbharter.bsky.social · 14/02/2025

Phainopeplas rely on large protected areas and migration corridors, as they are believed to breed twice, once in the mesquite and acacia riparian bands and washes of the deserts, and again in chaparral and oak scrub at higher elevations #NVLovesPublicLands 🪶

A female Phainopepla perches on a bare mesquite branch. Her plumage is mostly smoky gray, with a jaunty crest and dull red eye.

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Lauren Harter @lbharter.bsky.social · 14/02/2025

Spring on Avi Kwa Ame National Monument carries a riot of color, if you look closely enough #NVLovesPublicLands

Impossibly vibrant lime green flowers sprout on a very ouchy-looking cactus

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Lauren Harter @lbharter.bsky.social · 14/02/2025

When we conserve an area like Avi Kwa Ame National Monument, we get so much benefit in return. Ecosystem services, recreation, tourism, are just a start. #NVLovesPublicLands

Early morning in the desert. The sky is cerulean, Joshua trees and a Mojave yucca stand tall. Creosote bushes dot the landscape along with other shrubs and grasses.

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