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Danielle Brigida

@starfocus.bsky.social
788 followers 634 following 79 posts

Here I stand in perpetual wonder. 🌱 Wildlife conservation and communications for WWF. Sharing my photos and personal views. Happy to be here!

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Danielle Brigida @starfocus.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
Who needs some great horned owl meeps?
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SK Winnicki, PhD 🏳️‍⚧️ @skwinnicki.bsky.social · 29/06/2026
This headline is also basically the correct answer to every question on my Ecological Climatology final
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Eoghan Daltun 🌍 @irishrainforest.bsky.social · 28/06/2026
The older I get, the more certain I am that the real meaning of existence is love for life. That is, love for the natural world, all of humanity, and advancing coexistence based on true justice, rights, and respect. 🌍
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Danielle Brigida @starfocus.bsky.social · 30/05/2026
Fresh new royalty (monarch butterfly) hitting the Virginia plants soon. I Love gardening for wildlife ❤️ @nationalwildlife.bsky.social
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Danielle Brigida @starfocus.bsky.social · 23/05/2026
Made this for @nvbirdalliance.bsky.social but realizing I should have said, “congratulations, you’re dating a belted kingfisher” 😂
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SK Winnicki, PhD 🏳️‍⚧️ @skwinnicki.bsky.social · 31/03/2026
Want to play a game? Each of the ten photos in this thread contain an American Woodcock, a shorebird species adapted to living in the forest floor. In each photo, the bird is mostly in focus, not blurry. Their camouflage is legendary. Can you spot her in each one? Let's start easy 1/10
Dead center in the middle of the photo is an American Woodcock, a football shaped bird with a long beak, a round dark side-facing eye, and beige, brown, and gray feathers reminiscent of leaf litter. Her beak is about one third of the way from the left edge of the photo and her tail is about one third of the way from the right edge of the photo.
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WeRateDogs @weratedogs.com · 09/03/2026
This is Stevie. He's on squirrel watch. His stuffed friend is also a squirrel, but he's one of the good ones. 14/10 (IG: longdogstevie)
a tan long-haired dachshund with incredibly floofy ears sits with his front paws on a window sill and his nose pressed up against the window. he's accompanied by his stuffed squirrel friend. their reflections stares back at them. Stevie the dachshund does not see the irony in watching for squirrels with his squirrel friend. he's too busy being locked in on the happenings outside his window.
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Andrew D Thaler @drandrewthaler.bsky.social · 24/02/2026
This is actually what peak masculinity looks like.
William Beebe, a scrawny, goofy looking dude with an umbrella who is harder than you could ever imagine.
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Robert Boessenecker, Dr. of Whaleontology ™️ @coastalpaleo.bsky.social · 28/12/2025
#tidepooling A cute "sea buny" like nudibranch - yellow spotted Cadlina, Cadlina flavomaculata - spotted last month in #tidepools near La Jolla. 🦀🦑
A small white sea slug with a pair of brown rhinophores and pale yellow spots in two rows. The sea slug is oval and slightly domed in the middle.A small white sea slug with a pair of brown rhinophores and pale yellow spots in two rows. The sea slug is oval and slightly domed in the middle.
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David Shiffman, Ph.D. 🦈 @whysharksmatter.bsky.social · 19/12/2025
The shark doctor is in! For the next two hours or so, ask me anything. Have questions about shark? About marine biology? About ocean conservation? About me? About...anything? Ask me anything! Please share, and tag friends who might have questions. #SciComm 🧪🦑🌎
Me and a colleague helping to secure a lemon shark for a research workup in Florida. The water pump in its mouth allows it to breathe while out of the water
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Danielle Brigida @starfocus.bsky.social · 03/12/2025
Spotted hyena cubs take a while to exhibit their spots. But how cute are they!?! Photo is from a recent work trip to Botswana
Mom and baby hyena
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EarthSky @earthskyscience.bsky.social · 23/11/2025
The queen returns! 👑 At an approximate age of 75, Wisdom the #albatross returned this week to Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge for nesting season. She is the world's oldest-known bird. Read about Wisdom at: buff.ly/MFkj4H9 📸 USFWS/ Jon Plissner.
Wisdom, standing among grass, is a white bird with black eyes and wings, and pale bill and legs.
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gonatureforward.bsky.social @gonatureforward.bsky.social · 06/09/2025
Happening TODAY! Nature Forward and our partners are rallying to stop Dominion Energy from clear-cutting trees along the W&OD trail. If you live in Northern Virginia, sign the petition to #StoptheChop! waba.org/action-page/...
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no brain, only alison @alisonborealis.bsky.social · 17/06/2025
What is common knowledge in your field, but shocks outsiders? In general, it takes about 1000 years to form 1cm of new soil.
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Ainsley S @americanbeetles.bsky.social · 22/05/2025
Quick scorpion cookies for the invertebrate zoology crew, bc it’s Scorpion Week
Gingerbread cookies shaped more or less like scorpions, made with a modified lobster shaped cookie cutter, YES I know the tail should be segmented
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Lauren @tinylongwing.bsky.social · 19/04/2025
I'm delighted to be able to share my latest artwork for the @songbirding.com podcast and audiobook series! Singing female American Redstart, because female birds definitely do sing and we're finally starting to pay attention. 🎨🪶 #SciArt #BirdArt 🧪
Illustration of a singing female American Redstart on a bright sunny spring day. Her head is tipped back, beak open, while she is perched on a mottled brown branch. She is overall grayish on the body but has a patch of bright yellow at the side of the breast, and a black and yellow tail. Behind her are pale pastel well-lit dogwood flowers and soft green leaves.
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Katharine Hayhoe @katharinehayhoe.com · 12/05/2025
The U.S. is facing an unprecedented dismantling of science, research, and higher education. As scientists are fired + research is frozen, so too are all the resources and outcomes that would have benefited society. In their own words, the stories of scientists whose work has been abruptly ended:
silencedsciencestories.com
Silenced Science Stories
Explore the people and groundbreaking science research affected by federal firings, budget cuts, and grant terminations. Featuring scientists via art.
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Jer Thorp @jerthorp.bsky.social · 06/05/2025
If you want to get up early and look for some birds tomorrow before work, I'm leading a walk at Brooklyn Bridge Park. We'll start at the main entrance at the bottom of Old Fulton, at 7:15am. goo.gl/maps/aGFzdjL... The ol' Birdcast forecast is looking pretty good. 🪶
Map showing a heatmap of forecast migration traffic for the night of May 6th in the continental USA. 366 million birds predicted.
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Kingfisher & Wombat @tkingfisher.com · 18/03/2025
Who wants some good news? The overwintering monarch population, which had plummeted last winter, has doubled this winter! www.worldwildlife.org/stories/east...
worldwildlife.org
Eastern Monarch Butterfly Population Nearly Doubles
The population wintering in central Mexico's forests occupied 4.42 acres, up from 2.22 acres during the previous winter.
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The New York Times @nytimes.com · 18/03/2025
Breaking News: The EPA plans to eliminate its scientific research arm, firing as many as 1,155 chemists, biologists, toxicologists and other scientists.
nytimes.com
Trump Administration Aims to Eliminate E.P.A.’s Scientific Research Arm
More than 1,000 chemists, biologists and other scientists could be laid off under a plan to dismantle the Office of Research and Development.
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Ze Frank @zefrank.bsky.social · 11/03/2025
True Facts: Fireflies Need Your Help! youtu.be/czt_io0h-CA
youtu.be
True Facts: Fireflies Need Your Help!
YouTube video by Ze Frank
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Danae Wolfe | Chasing Bugs @chasingbugs.com · 16/03/2025
Honored to have my firefly footage and photographs included in this True Facts episode highlighting the critical importance of firefly conservation. Thanks @zefrank.bsky.social for including me (and thanks to @alexwild.bsky.social for recommending my work!). This is a must-watch! ✨
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Clare Fieseler, PhD @fieseler.bsky.social · 14/03/2025
Are you a scientist studying whales, birds, bats or other wildlife? Journalists like me need to hear from you now more than ever. Here’s some advice for how to do that from some of the most media savvy conservation scientists out there (aka your colleagues!) 👇
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Brandon Keim @brandonkeim.bsky.social · 13/11/2024
Hi! An introduction 🍻 I'm a science journalist who writes mostly about nature and animals. My latest book is Meet the Neighbors: Animal Minds and Life in a More-Than-Human World. It's about the science of animal intelligence, the idea of animal personhood, and our relations to nature. 🌎💚🦝
A photograph of a book called Meet the Neighbors: Animal Minds and Life in a More-Than-Human World. It's propped upright on short grass, with a fat-cheeked chipmunk perched on top.
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Rebecca Heisman @rheisman.bsky.social · 10/03/2025
I wrote a thing for Mental Floss! If you need something fun to get your post-time change Monday started, here are ten fun facts about chickadees. 🪶 www.mentalfloss.com/chickadee-fa...
mentalfloss.com
10 Charming Facts About Chickadees
These active backyard birds are more than just cute—they’re hardy survivors that have conquered our continent.
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Liz Ahern 🌈🇲🇽🏳️‍⚧️☮️ @austinmermaid.bsky.social · 08/03/2025
"Dude, that is so cool!" A group of hikers were left in awe when they spotted a Giant Pacific octopus in a tide pool near Bellingham, Washington! They’re intelligent and adaptive creatures. It’s crucial we ensure their conservation and protect their habitats for future generations. #Octopus 🐙
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Danielle Brigida @starfocus.bsky.social · 10/03/2025
Magnificent northern shoveler from today looking nice and weird 🦆 #weirdducktime 🪶
A duck with bright yellow eyes and a long wide bill stares directly at the camera
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Laura Helmuth @laurahelmuth.bsky.social · 08/03/2025
This is the most anti-science administration in U.S. history, and suppressing science is central to its mission. Here's some advice on how to support scientists (as well as deal with bad office dogs & a long sick leave) from our GOOD JOB column in @slate.bsky.social slate.com/advice/2025/...
slate.com
My Office Is Apparently a Dog Sanctuary. I Can’t Take It Anymore.
Who can work like this?
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geosesarma.bsky.social @geosesarma.bsky.social · 06/03/2025
Queen of the vernal pool out for a stroll on this rainy night, Ambystoma maculatum, Spotted Salamander
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Bird Alliance of Oregon @birdallianceoregon.bsky.social · 06/03/2025
Around this time of year, Turkey Vultures start making their way back to our area. One of their coolest superpowers? Their stomach acid is so strong it can digest carcasses infected with anthrax, tuberculosis, and rabies without harm. They are nature's clean-up crew, keeping ecosystems healthy.
Turkey Vulture sunning itself, photo by Wendy Miller
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Jen Cross @jencross.bsky.social · 28/02/2025
Lady Red-bellied Woodpecker on a wintry day. It's interesting being able to see those pointy tail feathers. The feathers, along with a strong lower back, help prop up the woodpecker while it is clinging and moving vertically on the side of a tree.
A woodpecker perched on a bare branch. She has a white chest and belly, red near the beak and on the nape of the neck, bald and white wing feathers, and pointy black and white tail feathers.
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Danielle Brigida @starfocus.bsky.social · 24/02/2025
This weekend’s #bluebirds belong on bluesky 🪶
Male bluebird with striking blue feathers and reddish breast feathers  Female bluebird with red and blue feathers
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Evan Walker @ecologicalev.bsky.social · 20/02/2025
Over 99% of the over 113 million tons of textiles the world produces today ends up burned or landfilled. 🌎 www.anthropocenemagazine.org/2025/02/larg...
anthropocenemagazine.org
Large-scale recycling of modern textiles is now in sight
Fast fashion creates mountains of polyester-cotton textile waste—a new recycling method that separates and recycles the two materials could be what the industry needs.
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Neil Lewis, Jr. @neillewisjr.bsky.social · 18/02/2025
Since federal health information is getting harder to come by, I thought I'd share this new resource. Cornell's College of Veterinary Medicine launched an online Avian Flu Resource Center--a one-stop clearinghouse for trustworthy information on bird flu. www.vet.cornell.edu/highly-patho...
vet.cornell.edu
Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (Bird Flu) Resource Center
What is "bird flu" and why is it in the news so much lately?Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI), also known as "bird flu," is circulating now in the United States and much of the world. This stra...
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Rebecca Gelernter @nearbirdstudios.bsky.social · 18/02/2025
Finally, a simple way to describe how much milk you like in your coffee! Mine is a waxwing 🪶🐡 Photo sources below!
Graphic titled "Coffee Birds of North America", with seven birds and corresponding coffee colors going dark to light, right to left: Common Black Hawk (very dark brown), White-faced Ibis, Long-billed Thrasher, Marsh Wren, Cedar Waxwing, White-winged Dove, and Barn Owl. Sources for photos are below. The background is a lightly-textured pale aqua.
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gonatureforward.bsky.social @gonatureforward.bsky.social · 13/02/2025
Join the flock of people around the world who annually participate in the Great Backyard Bird Count from Feb. 14-17. The four-day event welcomes volunteers to watch birds and record what they see, immensely enriching the Cornell Lab’s trove of data. Details at www.birdcount.org
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Danielle Brigida @starfocus.bsky.social · 13/02/2025
The USFWS bald eagle 🦅cam is live: www.outdoorchannel.com/live/eagleca... 🪶
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Butterfly Diversity & Evolution Lab @rogervilalab.bsky.social · 10/02/2025
It’s not the head, it’s the butt! Meet a completely unknown organism: a blow fly (Calliphoridae) that evolved social integration in termite nests using a false termite head in the posterior part of the body. @CurrentBiology www.cell.com/current-biol...
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Danielle Brigida @starfocus.bsky.social · 11/02/2025
When you think the camera's off on your Zoom call but it's so not. It's #WeirdDuckTime, and here's one (well actually two) of my favorite weirdos, the hooded merganser.
hooded mergansers (male and female) and the male has a big fish in his mouth and his bright yellow eye makes him look shocked
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Erle Ellis @erleellis.bsky.social · 10/02/2025
Onward! 🌎 National Nature Assessment is too important to die. www.nytimes.com/2025/02/10/c...
nytimes.com
Trump Killed a Major Report on Nature. They’re Trying to Publish It Anyway. (Gift Article)
The first full draft of the assessment, on the state of America’s land, water and wildlife, was weeks from completion. The project leader called the study “too important to die.”
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Mark Cuban @mcuban.bsky.social · 09/02/2025
This is the most relevant article to NIH and research cuts I’ve seen. Imagine if this was today , how many people would be saying “Why are we studying Gila Monsters and their impact on diabetes ? That’s wasted money !” globalnews.ca/news/9793403...
globalnews.ca
How a Canadian scientist and a venomous lizard helped pave the way for Ozempic - National | Globalnews.ca
In 1984, Dr. Daniel Drucker, an endocrinologist from the University of Toronto, discovered a hormone that helped pave the way for popular diabetes drugs such as Ozempic.
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Cri 🕊🐝🐜📝🎭⚽😷 @crawlieswithcri.bsky.social · 08/02/2025
FINALLY!! Mr. Varied Thrush down IN the yard going through the leaf litter! Took almost 4 years! Had them in the trees in yard a couple times - but never down in the leaves! #LeaveTheLeaves (taken through Dirty Kitchen Window Filter ™️- did NOT want to spook him) #birds #becurious
photo of a male varied thrush on mossy ground with some gravel and big leaf maple seed pods. he is facing 1/4 to the right with his head turned to the right in profile.
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Danielle Brigida @starfocus.bsky.social · 08/02/2025
Sharing some icy beauty from a few days ago. Love the frosty native plants ❤️ and how even though they may look dreary this stage brings spring promise 🌱
Maple tree with icicles Brown, dried winter view of Coneflowers covered in ice Milkweed covered in ice
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Jacks. Yup! That Damn SOB. 🪶🦬 🐺 🦅 🌎 ⚖️ @palehorse.bsky.social · 29/01/2025
#Ecosystem Stretches from Canada to Mexico, this ecosystem, one of the most endangered in the world, with widespread ⬇️ in native wildlife, including the near ⬇️ of wolves & grizzly bears, more than 95% ⬇️ in bison & prairie dog populations & a 50% ⬇️ in grassland bird species. phys.org/news/2025-01...
phys.org
Conserving prairie dogs could restore North America's grasslands
Colorado State University researchers have identified priority areas for the conservation of the black-tailed prairie dog in the United States, extending from Montana to Texas and New Mexico to Arizon...
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Danielle Brigida @starfocus.bsky.social · 29/01/2025
Literal ice queen 👑🐝 This photo of an Endangered western bumble bee queen in her burrow is fascinating! They require freezing temps to survive their winter rest period. #WildlifeSurvival Photo by Clay Bolt
A bumble bee lays on her side in an icy burrow
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Danielle Brigida @starfocus.bsky.social · 27/01/2025
How to tell a canvasback from a redhead Throwback to the time I took a picture that continues to serve as my guide for telling these #birds apart. 🪶🦆 (Front) Redhead duck - classic duck look (Back) Canvasback - long face that slopes and are larger
The front duck is a redhead duck with grayish feathers and a red head. The back duck is a canvasback with more white feathers and face that slopes
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David Shiffman, Ph.D. 🦈 @whysharksmatter.bsky.social · 24/01/2025
Did you know that manatees regulate their buoyancy by flatulence? When they want to sink, they fart? As a Master SCUBA diver, I can assure you that this also works with humans! You just have to fart a lot. Like...a LOT.
Photo of a manatee from Arkive
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David Shiffman, Ph.D. 🦈 @whysharksmatter.bsky.social · 19/01/2025
Just making sure that everyone is aware of this crab that NOAA scientists found
Photo of a small crab from NOAA’s social media. It’s covered in spikes
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Danielle Brigida @starfocus.bsky.social · 15/01/2025
New in @nature.com! Wildlife's contributions to people: www.nature.com/articles/s44... Wildlife makes important contributions to water supply, disaster risk reduction, climate regulation, cultural services, socio-economic benefits, and food — all of which benefit people’s livelihoods, & well-being
nature.com
Wildlife’s contributions to people - Nature Reviews Biodiversity
Wildlife are central to nature’s contributions to people (NCP) but are often overlooked in NCP policy and management. This Perspective presents evidence for the integral role of wildlife in supporting...
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Evan Walker @ecologicalev.bsky.social · 15/01/2025
234 species were identified this year in the Greater Mekong region, which includes Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam. 🌎 www.cbsnews.com/news/new-spe...
cbsnews.com
Vampire hedgehog, Pygmy pipehorse, "blob-headed" fish among new species identified in 2024
Hundreds of new species across the globe were identified by scientists in 2024.
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