iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

mica (the mineral) @micathemineral.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

a piping plover sketch, since I finally got around to editing and sorting several months worth of reference photos. I spotted this little guy in… uh… may 😅 🪶 #birdart

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mica (the mineral) @micathemineral.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

my camera + lens is actually decent at capturing nice crisp feather detail... provided the bird is stationary and less than 10 feet away. 🪶

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mica (the mineral) @micathemineral.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

why does the british ecological society website have an unnecessary AI pop-up intruding upon the research papers that visitors are there to read? can you even imagine a more inappropriate venue for a summary bot than the publisher of a reputable (afaik) academic journal?

Screenshot of British Ecological Society website with a large, intrusive pop-up telling the viewer "Have questions about this content? Try AI Companion."

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mica (the mineral) @micathemineral.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

I love my neighborhood, it provides such good material

watercolor sketch of a tree-lined street of victorian houses

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mica (the mineral) @micathemineral.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Birding hard or hardly birding? The skimmers have the right idea.

Two pairs of bare knees and a beach bag in below a shade canopy on a sunny beach.

Flock of black skimmers loafing on the sand in with dune grass in the background.

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Reposted by mica (the mineral)

Alt US Forest Service @altusfs.altgov.info · 20/08/2026

#RoadlessRule open to comment. www.regulations.gov/commenton/FS... Overwhelming public comment = helpful. Overwhelming, thoughtful comments = even better. Do not discount the personal impact to you. Personal anecdotes = valuable expertise not found elsewhere. envirodatagov.org/how-to-write...

Public comments open
The 30-day comment period for the proposed rule and draft environmental statement ends at midnight Sept. 21, 2026. The following links point to information that could be helpful to you in reviewing the documents and providing substantive comments:
• Learn about the regulatory process and the tips for submitting effective comments
• Read the Federal Register notice (Note: This link is available Aug. 19 in the Reading Room and final on Aug. 20)
• Enter the Regulations.gov portal to read the proposed rule, draft environmental impact statement and other key documents and to submit comments (Note: We will update with a direct link to the proposed rule when it's published on Aug. 20)
• Read rulemaking documents and additional supporting analyses available through our online public folder
• View an interactive online map that features multiple layers for comparison, including the three alternatives to the roadless rescission; roads, cities and landmark labels; National Forest System lands; and the wildland-urban interface, among others. Get more information about how to read the map.
• Engage in ongoing tribal consultation, which remains open for federally recognized tribes and members

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mica (the mineral) @micathemineral.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

It always impresses me how good birds are at bird ID. I just watched a mudflat full of shorebirds erupt into full screaming, swirling panic the second a cooper’s hawk appeared above the distant treeline. Ten minutes later, not a twitch when this handsome fellow cruised directly overhead. 🪶

Digi-binned photo of an osprey sitting in a willow tree.

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mica (the mineral) @micathemineral.bsky.social · 09/08/2026

Dipped on roseate terns this evening but man was the sunset worth it

photo of goldenrod in front of a setting sun reflecting golden light across a harbor

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mica (the mineral) @micathemineral.bsky.social · 26/07/2026

plein air drawing on the top of a mountain is always fun

Photo of a sketchbook being held up in front of a mountain view, with a half-finished sketch of the same mountain.

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mica (the mineral) @micathemineral.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

This sperm whale art just got nixed at work and won't be going to final, so I can share the sketch. Axed for being "too cute," RIP. 🥲 #sciart 🦑

Digital art of mother and baby sperm whale.

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mica (the mineral) @micathemineral.bsky.social · 19/07/2026

A fun little exercise: trying to digitally draw as if I was doing a #linocut. Barnacles and seaweed are such wonderful textures, they make a good subject for (fake) printmaking. 🦑🐡

Black and white drawing of barnacles and seaweed.

Black and white drawing of a rock with seaweed and barnacles.

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mica (the mineral) @micathemineral.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

Oh hey, it's #PortfolioDay. I'm a natural science illustrator and exhibit graphic designer, with a special love for #birdart. Most of my work these days is for various park exhibits, but I'm always open to #sciart projects! 🌿🪶

Colored digital drawing of 'Ōhi'a tree in bloom with birds (ʻiʻiwi, ʻamakihi, and the extinct Mamo)

Colored drawing of male weaver bird building nest.

Photo of an outdoor structure with several interpretive panels attached.

Photo of a person looking at a wall-sized map of the US with the platte river highlighted, and interpretive panels overlaid.

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mica (the mineral) @micathemineral.bsky.social · 02/07/2026

No black-billed cuckoo, alas, but still a nice morning bird walk before it heats up today.

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mica (the mineral) @micathemineral.bsky.social · 25/06/2026

see a crab, post a crab! 🦀 (unfortunately, an invasive asian shore crab)

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mica (the mineral) @micathemineral.bsky.social · 07/06/2026

Life pie today! I went for a hike, not intending to bird, and stumbled upon a tree full of red crossbills (finally!). I didn’t have my camera, so you’ll just have to trust me that they’re in that tree…about 1 pixel tall.

A slice of peach-raspberry pie on a plate

View of bare granite, white pines, and hemlocks with distant hills and fog in the background. An arrow drawn on the photo points at one tree.

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B. Erin Cole @berincole.bsky.social · 04/06/2026

I turned my interpretive-sign art into a sticker, for all of you out there who stop to read every historic marker and sign on trips…. littlebraincomics.etsy.com/listing/4516...

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mica (the mineral) @micathemineral.bsky.social · 26/05/2026

Why are you like this? -allowed to roam the woods unsupervised as a child -read too much Gerald Durrell and James Herriot -raised by an environmental educator -NPR household -once got a pocket knife in my 'easter basket' -hippie parents too supportive, didn't talk me out of art school

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mica (the mineral) @micathemineral.bsky.social · 16/05/2026

new frontiers in #linocut: I am attempting visual textures. I’ve sworn to start NO reduction prints until I nail ink laydown and precision and paper choice in a single-color print. it’s… a learning process 😅 #printmaking #birdart 🪶

Wall with two strings full of linocut prints hanging up to dry. The prints are of a heron among reeds.

close-up of several linocut prints of a heron hanging up to dry

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mica (the mineral) @micathemineral.bsky.social · 04/05/2026

For my lovely wife, who tramped through a marsh with me today looking for a king rail, despite it being 44°F and blowing rain. We did not find the rail, but we sure did find deer ticks. 🥲 🪶

A sketch of a dark rainy marsh with two small figures holding binoculars in the center. The text “Oh, love, I’m so glad that whatever is wrong with me is wrong with you, too” is written over the sketch.

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mica (the mineral) @micathemineral.bsky.social · 04/05/2026

For my lovely wife, who tramped through a marsh with me today looking for a king rail, despite it being 44°F and blowing rain. We did not find the rail, but we sure did find deer ticks. 🥲 🪶

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mica (the mineral) @micathemineral.bsky.social · 26/04/2026

this is why I made a rule for myself that I can’t take more photos until I finish editing the last batch. This has resulted in… not bringing my camera with me very often, rather than more time spent editing, lol.

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mica (the mineral) @micathemineral.bsky.social · 21/04/2026

I got some very pleasant birding done last week. I ran away to the cape and saw a TON of spring migrants, lugged too many optics all the way to race point, watched the gannets diving, spotted a lifer iceland gull, flipped over a trapped horseshoe crab, and helped a painted turtle cross the road.

The author taking a selfie on a cold looking beach, squinting into the sun while barely holding onto a camera, binoculars, and a spotting scope on a tripod.

a very large horseshoe crab at the edge of the surf

the author’s hand holding a somewhat indignant painted turtle

Small pitch pine trees around the edge of a pond with cranberry plants in it

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mica (the mineral) @micathemineral.bsky.social · 20/04/2026

Something that really frustrates me about a certain type of new birder is the terminally engineer-brained "I have encountered something I do not understand. Clearly this is a tech problem external to me, how do I apply a tech solution?" mindset. 🪶

Comments on a post on r/birding:
u/tkohhhhhhhhh . 3d ago
Could you perhaps tell us what are the painful parts you're referring to? There may be existing methods that address your pain points without the need for additional development.

u/wazawoo OP . 3d ago
Specifically, creating checklists after the fact, by going through your photos, is really annoying. If you take too long doing it in the eBird ui and refresh the page, you can lose all your counts. So then, I looked at the process of creating these files as csv first, but that process is very error prone, and you don't know of issues until you try uploading the csv.

Another part of that process is the photo ID process after the fact. That is, you're going through a bunch of pictures and ID-ing each of them so you can fill out your checklist. On mobile, this process (for me) involves checking the photos one by one in Merlin, which does work, but takes a long time. I'm normally looking at the photos on desktop and they're not always on my phone yet, which further complicates things. I'd love a way to bulk ID from pictures on desktop. I'm sure it exists, but I would love to use the same ID method that merlin is using under the hood. Unfortunately it doesn't seem to be available publicly, but I may have missed it.

Another one, maybe personal to me, is the ability to easily list the birds I've seen but don't have media of. I have a goal of having a photo of each species, like completing a compendium. Right now, even in the eBird UI, I can't seem to find this info without manually comparing my life list to the unique species I see in my media the media tab.

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mica (the mineral) @micathemineral.bsky.social · 27/03/2026

it looks like spring in my sketchbook even if it doesn’t feel like spring outside #naturejournaling #naturejournal #botanicalillustration #sciart

colored sketch of tulip shoots and a blooming daffodil

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mica (the mineral) @micathemineral.bsky.social · 27/03/2026

it looks like spring in my sketchbook even if it doesn’t feel like spring outside #naturejournaling #naturejournal #botanicalillustration #sciart

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mica (the mineral) @micathemineral.bsky.social · 03/03/2026

More printmaking up next. After a lot of playing with EZcut I wanted to do something more detailed, but man do these cheapo speedball carving tools not make it easy. 😵‍💫 I’m dreaming of pfeil…… #printmaking #linocut #botanicalartist

Grey linoleum block with a sketch of an oak branch on it, half-carved.

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Sarah McAnulty, Ph.D. @sarahmackattack.bsky.social · 01/03/2026

Realizing I should include the main things you should do to support native bees/other insects 1) Plant native plants 2) Don't use pesticides, and tell your friends and neighbors to stop using pesticides 3) Leave fallen leaves in the winter 4) Leave dead stems over winter for overwintering critters

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mica (the mineral) @micathemineral.bsky.social · 24/02/2026

Editing photos from Arizona today to distract myself from the blizzard 🥲. A Coati and a pair of Inca Doves (showing off those pretty rufous primaries) from sunrise at Madera Canyon. 🪶 #wildlifephotography

Coati among dead leaves and fallen branches.

Two inca doves perched on a branch, the front dove stretching its wing.

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mica (the mineral) @micathemineral.bsky.social · 22/02/2026

Some Arizona birding trip sketchbook pages. I’m trying to get into a daily sketchbook habit- drawing more being less worried about making each one perfect. 🪶 #birdart #sciart #naturejournal

Colored pencil drawings of a ponderosa pine lit by dawn light and a twig of creosote

Colored pencil drawings of a tuber anemone, a lupine species, a saguaro cactus with woodpecker holes, and a cactus wren

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mica (the mineral) @micathemineral.bsky.social · 10/02/2026

arizona is very beautiful and we have seen MANY birds and photographed… a few of them. (but I have taken about a million pics of plants for inat.)

spire of rock rising up out of a snarl of oak-juniper woodland into a blue sky

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mica (the mineral) @micathemineral.bsky.social · 06/02/2026

It’s been in the teens or below for weeks now, and the birds have been mostly puffed up and miserably huddled (when I’ve braved a -15 windchill to try to find them), but tomorrow we are going to AZ for a week of birding. I’m more hype for above freezing temps than I am for lifers.

snowy field with cattails in the foreground and the sun rising behind distant trees

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mica (the mineral) @micathemineral.bsky.social · 31/01/2026

Five classes I took in University: Color Theory Advanced Rendering For Scientific Illustration Anatomy for the Artist Medieval Art & Architecture British Portraiture also a perspective class I no longer remember the name of but that had us doing crazy geometry to perfectly place shadows.

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mica (the mineral) @micathemineral.bsky.social · 18/01/2026

Got some good art time today! Lichen sketch at a #naturejournaling workshop by Mass Audubon, and then first try printing with my new little hand press. I have mixed feelings about easycut material (as opposed to traditional #linocut) but perhaps I need to adjust my expectations. #sciart #birdart

Sketchbook drawing of a chunk of linchen-covered bark next side by side with the specimen.

Home linocut studio set up with drying prints hanging to dry, hand press and tools laid out on a table below.

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mica (the mineral) @micathemineral.bsky.social · 15/01/2026

I’m so glad the pandemic brought more&younger people to birding but I do sometimes detect a twinge of hipster ‘liked it before it was cool’ in myself when people talk about when they started it’s not a GOOD impulse but it’s also hard not to feel when you’ve been birding longer than you can remember

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mica (the mineral) @micathemineral.bsky.social · 09/01/2026

Addendum to my previous post: also don’t do this shit: “Hey, I choose to leave food outdoors for wildlife but I don’t like which animals are eating it. How do I exercise control over the natural world so that I only get the cute animals instead of the species I find personally annoying.” 🪶

Screenshot of a reddit post complaining about getting carolina wrens at their new birdfeeder and asking if it would be unethical to “shoo them away”.

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mica (the mineral) @micathemineral.bsky.social · 06/01/2026

happy #NationalBirdDay! Here are the two types of winter birding in new england: weird duck and little brown guy on a brown plant.

Male common eider on a seaweed-covered rock.

Song sparrow perched among dry cattails.

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mica (the mineral) @micathemineral.bsky.social · 01/01/2026

My ebird 2025 wrapped: -27 lifers -213 total species -143 state species -72 checklists here’s to a birdy 2026! 🥂🐦‍⬛ happy new year!

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The Birdist @thebirdist.bsky.social · 01/01/2026

Cannot wait to go fuckin birdwatching in 2026

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Evan May @gianttourtiere.bsky.social · 20/12/2025

If you claim to be an 'academic' or a 'researcher' or similar and your position is that you should not have to read things and/or write things and you would like the plagiarism machine to do that for you then please step aside and let someone who would like to work in the field have your job.

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mica (the mineral) @micathemineral.bsky.social · 18/12/2025

my hot take is that if you are in a community devoted to ecology (such as birding), you don't demand images or descriptions of natural predation are censored, you don't whine about big mean meanie hawks eating your pwecious widdle spawwows, and you don't villainize parasitic reproductive strategies

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mica (the mineral) @micathemineral.bsky.social · 08/12/2025

I'm sick today so instead of working I am laying on the couch, coughing pathetically, and tormenting myself by thinking about what birds I want to see next but currently am unable to (due to the aforementioned pathetic coughing)

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mica (the mineral) @micathemineral.bsky.social · 08/12/2025

For today's #BirdOfTheDay alternate theme, #SmallBirdsBigPersonality, we have this american tree sparrow giving me a cheeky look. I love photographing sparrows, they're never boring! 🪶 #birdphotography

American tree sparrow posed jauntily on a twig, looking at the camera.

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mica (the mineral) @micathemineral.bsky.social · 07/12/2025

I saw a very very lost scissor-tailed flycatcher today in MA. There's probably little hope for this poor guy to ever make it back where he belongs, so I feel lucky (and a little sad) to have seen him while he's still with us. 🪶

Scissor-tailed flycatcher in a bare wintry grey tree.

Scissor-tailed flycatcher on a bittersweet branch against snow-heavy clouds.

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mica (the mineral) @micathemineral.bsky.social · 29/11/2025

Introduce yourself with 5 animals you’ve seen in the wild: -crested caracara -elephant seal -priolo -pronghorn -spotted salamander

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mica (the mineral) @micathemineral.bsky.social · 20/11/2025

I've gotten so used to ebird in the past 5 years it's funny to look back on my old lists and see how dramatically changed how I bird, for better or worse. It has really influenced me to be more worried about numbers.

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mica (the mineral) @micathemineral.bsky.social · 15/11/2025

A bunch of little snow buntings at Parker River NWR this week. They're just about the cutest. 🪶 #birdphotography

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