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Tara Chestnut, PhD

@tcastanea.bsky.social
1.4K followers 1.3K following 961 posts

Wildlife Ecology | Natural History | Disease | Invasive Species | Contaminants | Aquatic Science | Reintroductions | Science Communication | March Mammal Madness narrator | she/her

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Tara Chestnut, PhD @tcastanea.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
When I played flag football, I was there for fun and socializing. I didn’t know positions or how to catch/throw a football. I told my captain I’d prefer to not touch the ball. She told me where to go and what to do. We won. After the game I asked the name of my position. Sacker, you’re our sacker!!
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Tara Chestnut, PhD @tcastanea.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
I wonder if you boiled just the zest, then added the juice after boiling if it would turn out less bitter? It’s SO disappointing when recipes fail
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Tara Chestnut, PhD @tcastanea.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Possibly the pith of the lemon? I once ruined a 5 pound batch of Puerco Pibil because I used fresh squeezed citrus juice and they were super pithy. Made it so bitter it was inedible. It was one of my go to freezer meals and I’m still so sad about how it turned out. I haven’t made it since 😢😭
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Tara Chestnut, PhD @tcastanea.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Tiger salamanders are muppets. Nobody can convince me otherwise 🤩
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Tara Chestnut, PhD @tcastanea.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
I come from a long line of plumbers and electricians. I’m so grateful they shared their knowledge with me growing up! I remember playing with a tool called a tick finder. When it beeped, we would all scream and run away. It did not find ticks living in the walls, it found live wires 😂
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Tara Chestnut, PhD @tcastanea.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
THIS IS WHAT A DEAD BEAR LOOKS LIKE ☠️🐻 I had to remove a bear from the same location when I was the park wildlife program mgr. It’s become so comfortable around humans the ONLY management option is lethal removal. It will no longer respond to hazing or relocation 😡😭 www.facebook.com/share/r/18uy...
facebook.com
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Tara Chestnut, PhD @tcastanea.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Google and Apple Maps if you act on this so help me…
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Tara Chestnut, PhD @tcastanea.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
Throw a couple bay leaves in there for a transcendent experience!
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Tara Chestnut, PhD @tcastanea.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
New paper alert and it’s a gut punch… Northern spotted owl populations in large portions of the range are at or near functional extinction thresholds. This study suggests the potential for population collapse if proactive strategies are not adopted in the near term. 🦉🪶 💔 doi.org/10.1002/eap....
doi.org
Listening for extinction: Range‐wide occupancy highlights critical risks and priorities for northern spotted owls
The northern spotted owl (Strix occidentalis caurina) continues to decline across its range, threatened by habitat disturbances and invasive barred owls (Strix varia). We conducted a range-wide spott...
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Tara Chestnut, PhD @tcastanea.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
That’s roughly the height of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge from the water surface to the tippy top of the bridge! en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tacoma_...
static.klipy.com
Tacoma Narrows Bridge Shaking
Alt: Side view of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge, a mint green suspension bridge, whose original span collapsed due to high winds not properly considered by engineers. The Mishana is wiggling up and down. I’ve been to the top of the bridge and it is terrifying
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Reposted by Tara Chestnut, PhD
K. W. Knight @kwknight.bsky.social · 02/08/2026
This is remarkable. Gift link. www.nytimes.com/2026/07/28/h...
nytimes.com
Most ‘Ovarian Cancer’ Isn’t. And That Fact Can Save Lives. (Gift Article)
The vast majority of cases begin in the fallopian tubes — and removing them can reduce the risk by nearly 80 percent.
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Tara Chestnut, PhD @tcastanea.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
The North Coast and Cascades Inventory and Monitoring program monitors mountain lakes and should have annual reports. There are a few lakes that are ultra oligotrophic and have regular 🦎 die offs due to lack of prey www.nps.gov/im/nccn/moun...
nps.gov
Mountain Lakes Monitoring (U.S. National Park Service)
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Tara Chestnut, PhD @tcastanea.bsky.social · 26/07/2026
This was made for @mammalssuck.bsky.social
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Tara Chestnut, PhD @tcastanea.bsky.social · 19/07/2026
Nomnomnom!
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Tara Chestnut, PhD @tcastanea.bsky.social · 18/07/2026
That’s why I stick to the 4-5 species I absolutely know generally can’t be mistaken… chanterelles, morels, hedgehogs, chicken of the woods, bears tooth!
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Tara Chestnut, PhD @tcastanea.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
The only upside to recovering from Cyclospora exposure is the diarrhea stories people have shared with me. I haven’t snort laughed like that in a very long time! I (obviously) can’t say for sure what the vector was but I’m side-eying strawberries pretty hard rn
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Tara Chestnut, PhD @tcastanea.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
Go Team Elmer! bsky.app/profile/tcas...
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Tara Chestnut, PhD @tcastanea.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
Elmer ‘Rainbow’ Kazoo
static.klipy.com
Kazookid Jammin
Alt: Kazookid - a white adolescent boy with a blonde bowl haircut and royal blue t-shirt is jamming with a red kazoo. The background is inexplicably spilt between a white wall with black to grid lines on the top half and a bale of hay on the bottom half
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Tara Chestnut, PhD @tcastanea.bsky.social · 13/07/2026
The struggle is REAL!! 🪶
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Reposted by Tara Chestnut, PhD
ProPublica @propublica.org · 12/07/2026
Read our full investigation:
propub.li
He Profits Off Raw Milk That’s Making People Sick. The Government Isn’t Stopping Him.
With Raw Farm, the largest raw-milk dairy in the country, Mark McAfee has capitalized on a once-fringe product that’s been thrust into the mainstream in recent years and backed by Health Secretary…
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Tara Chestnut, PhD @tcastanea.bsky.social · 04/07/2026
That’s my hometown! My fam said they were registering 104F where they live. Thank goodness one has a basement they could all retreat to!
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Tara Chestnut, PhD @tcastanea.bsky.social · 29/06/2026
#2026MMM CAN WE ADD THIS SONG TO THE OFFICIAL MMM PLAYLIST?!?!
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Tara Chestnut, PhD @tcastanea.bsky.social · 22/06/2026
I’ve been watching my backyard stellers jays caching peanuts in our rock wall for weeks. The adults are now bringing their juvies to teach them where the cached food is! It’s so adorably loud!
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Tara Chestnut, PhD @tcastanea.bsky.social · 16/06/2026
Shoebills are ungovernable!
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Tara Chestnut, PhD @tcastanea.bsky.social · 16/06/2026
Putting in a vote for shoebills. Shoebills would be rad!
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Tara Chestnut, PhD @tcastanea.bsky.social · 11/06/2026
Seriously. 👂❤️ I had a friend in Ornithology class who aspired to mimic every birdsong in the region so he could be the grumpy old guy on the birding trip who said things like, Oh come on! I can’t believe you’re not hearing this - mimics perfect song - back in my day… <insert 1000 anecdotes>
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Tara Chestnut, PhD @tcastanea.bsky.social · 11/06/2026
#2026MMM #ThatsSoMetal #TeamBoneworm
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Tara Chestnut, PhD @tcastanea.bsky.social · 11/06/2026
I’ll be so sad the day I’ll no longer be able to hear that high-pitched buzz… it will be because my hearing is gone #KeepCommonBirdsCommon
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Tara Chestnut, PhD @tcastanea.bsky.social · 05/06/2026
#2026MMM #ThatsSoMetal
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Tara Chestnut, PhD @tcastanea.bsky.social · 31/05/2026
#MMM2026AfterDark
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Tara Chestnut, PhD @tcastanea.bsky.social · 28/05/2026
Congrats on your new position! 🥳😳😩
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Tara Chestnut, PhD @tcastanea.bsky.social · 26/05/2026
Such cool work! @whyy.org don’t forget to include the wildlife experts who collected the venom! Dan Beck from Central Washington University is one of these folks!
static.klipy.com
Close-up of a Gila Monster
Alt: Close-up of a Gila Monster, a bearded lizard, looking to the left. It has bumpy skin that is black with orange on the top of its head.
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Tara Chestnut, PhD @tcastanea.bsky.social · 17/05/2026
One of my go to movies when I’m sick. So good!!!
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Tara Chestnut, PhD @tcastanea.bsky.social · 15/05/2026
Cooties!!!
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Tara Chestnut, PhD @tcastanea.bsky.social · 15/05/2026
Y’all!! This cam is giving me life right now!! I’ve seen them nursing, playing & mostly sleeping. The squeaks when mama returns are heart melting 🥰 www.youtube.com/live/hy765ud...
youtube.com
Cowlitz Beaver Kit Cam Live
YouTube video by Cowlitz Indian Tribe
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Tara Chestnut, PhD @tcastanea.bsky.social · 13/05/2026
The MOVE fire is a core childhood memory for me, the first time I recall feeling horror. We could see the blaze from our rooftop. My mom, a homecare nurse, had patients in this neighborhood. Great articles 👇
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Reposted by Tara Chestnut, PhD
Your Local Epidemiologist @ylepidemiologist.bsky.social · 12/05/2026
1/ Hantavirus update as of May 12, 11am PDT: Currently, ~40 people are being monitored and quarantined in the United States for hantavirus exposure. This includes the 18 Americans who landed safely in Nebraska yesterday by private transport after disembarking from the cruise ship.
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Tara Chestnut, PhD @tcastanea.bsky.social · 10/05/2026
bsky.app/profile/tcas...
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Tara Chestnut, PhD @tcastanea.bsky.social · 10/05/2026
I love your enthusiastically happy derpy smile! I make the same face in pics of this magnitude ❤️
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Tara Chestnut, PhD @tcastanea.bsky.social · 10/05/2026
I have fam in Bombay Beach, when swarms start there’s always a thought bubble that goes in this order: Train? Military Training? Oh, right, Swarms.
media.tenor.com
a woman is holding her finger to her chin and thinking ..
Alt: Jennifer Aniston has her hand on her chin, looking off to the right appearing to be deep in thought. There is white text around her that says Hmmmm? Hmmmm. Hmmmmm!
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Reposted by Tara Chestnut, PhD
Aja Woodrow @gulogogo.bsky.social · 09/05/2026
A path forward? I hope so. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
sciencedirect.com
Fostering landscape resilience and species conservation in frequent fire landscapes
Restoration of dry forest landscapes of the Pacific Northwest often involves the removal of some closed-canopy forest that has expanded due to fire ex…
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Tara Chestnut, PhD @tcastanea.bsky.social · 08/05/2026
You know what to do! youtu.be/jPCJIB1f7jk?...
youtu.be
Lip Sync Battle - Tom Holland
YouTube video by Comedy Central Latinoamérica
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Tara Chestnut, PhD @tcastanea.bsky.social · 05/05/2026
In a beautiful lecture about English, common and standard names for species, my undergrad ornithology prof would refer to 🦅 them as bald eagles, white-headed vultures & Haliaeetus leucocephalus. His point was it doesn’t matter what we call them as long as we know what we’re talking about!
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Tara Chestnut, PhD @tcastanea.bsky.social · 03/05/2026
My house and refrigerator have never been and will never again be as clean as when I was writing!
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Tara Chestnut, PhD @tcastanea.bsky.social · 30/04/2026
I try to be the person in the audience who makes eye contact with the speaker while smiling and nodding. Look for the me’s and lock in!
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Tara Chestnut, PhD @tcastanea.bsky.social · 27/04/2026
The worst one for me was when someone posted pics and location of a wolverine that was reasonable accessible from a trailhead. Folks flocked to the location, unaware that it was on a creek with a rapidly melting snow bridge where in the past, experienced mountaineers had fallen through and died 😢😔
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Tara Chestnut, PhD @tcastanea.bsky.social · 27/04/2026
As a former NPS employee, can confirm!
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Tara Chestnut, PhD @tcastanea.bsky.social · 21/04/2026
Thanks for conjuring my long repressed memory of Jack London’s “To Build a Fire” - 11th grade me never forgot that story from 7th grade Literature class when I moved west for wilderness adventures! It hits me in the gut so hard, preventable tragic outcomes due to poor preparedness
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Tara Chestnut, PhD @tcastanea.bsky.social · 21/04/2026
Best toad ever! #Bufo4Lyfe!!!
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Tara Chestnut, PhD @tcastanea.bsky.social · 21/04/2026
Hahahaha! I describe them the same way! Russet potatoes with wings! I love that their paddle-y legs are built so efficiently for life at-sea that they’re set too far back to be a graceful walker. Incredible range to have such grace at-sea and comedic genius at the nest!
media.tenor.com
a man wearing glasses and a black shirt holds his hands up in the air
Alt: A white male judge with short dark hair from a live performance contestant tv show is wearing a black short-sleeved tshirt and black framed glasses with red lenses. He is clapping his hands above his head and bowing in awe at the marbled murrelet he just saw.
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