West Coast Birder @westcoastbirder.bsky.social · 28/07/2026Post a perfect album from the 90s that isn't Nirvana, Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, or Alice In Chains. 251
West Coast Birder @westcoastbirder.bsky.social · 28/07/2026A snowy egret at Coal Oil Point, Santa Barbara, California. Canon R7 + RF 100-500L. 🪶 #birds #birdphotography #california 0304
West Coast Birder @westcoastbirder.bsky.social · 23/07/2026A black phoebe with a snack. At the lagoon on the UCSB campus, Santa Barbara, California. R7 + RF 100-500L 🪶 #birds #birdphotography #california 080
West Coast Birder @westcoastbirder.bsky.social · 21/07/2026En garde! Little bro vs. big bro..... whimbrel and curlew at Santa Barbara, CA. Canon R7 + RF 100-500L. 🪶 #birds #birdphotography #california 0130
West Coast Birder @westcoastbirder.bsky.social · 19/07/2026The Heerman's gull is a striking bird. This one posed for me nicely. Devereaux Beach, Santa Barbara, California. Canon R7 + RF 100-500L. 🪶 #birds #birdphotography #california 0150
West Coast Birder @westcoastbirder.bsky.social · 16/07/20261/n I want to put the phone down and read more in the rest of 2026, so I thought I would start a thread to keep track of how I do. I will share the books I read as I finish them. First for 2H2026 - a book I have been meaning to read for a long time. Pico Iyer's "The Lady and the Monk." Excellent! 120
West Coast Birder @westcoastbirder.bsky.social · 16/07/2026A pair of whimbrels in flight over Devereaux Beach, Santa Barbara, California. 🪶 #birds #birdphotography #california 0100
West Coast Birder @westcoastbirder.bsky.social · 06/07/2026variety.com/2026/film/gl... And so it begins…. Soon, you’ll have “actors” with Brad Pitt’s looks and Jack Nicholson’s acting chops all rolled into one. No need to hire humans with their inperfections, idiosyncrasies, and demands.variety.comTilly Norwood to Lead New Movie ‘Misaligned,’ Marking Feature Debut for AI ‘Actor’Tilly Norwood, the controversial AI actor, is to front her first feature film, the comedy-drama Misaligned from AI studio Particle6 301
West Coast Birder @westcoastbirder.bsky.social · 04/07/2026I'm smol and cute! ❤️ Snowy plover (Anarhynchus nivosus) in the golden light at Coal Oil Point, Santa Barbara, California. The California population is seriously threatened by habitat loss and great efforts are being made to rope off their nesting locations which are among tussocks of beach grass. 0303
West Coast Birder @westcoastbirder.bsky.social · 03/07/2026A couple of Heerman's gulls soar over a turquoise-blue sea off Santa Barbara, California. 🪶 #birds #birdphotography #california 090
West Coast Birder @westcoastbirder.bsky.social · 03/07/2026A little yoga on the beach! Long-billed curlew in Santa Barbara, California. 🪶 #birds #birdphotography #california 080
West Coast Birder @westcoastbirder.bsky.social · 02/07/2026That sound great. Now how about actually starting to call traveling like the rules say? www.espn.com/nba/story/_/...espn.comOne free throw rule, embedded ball tech test set for summer leagueThe NBA summer league will test the one free throw rule that has been tested in the G League, as well as embedded sensors in basketballs during July's summer league series. 000
West Coast Birder @westcoastbirder.bsky.social · 01/07/2026The long-billed curlew is a bird that truly lives up to its name. Photographed at Devereaux Beach in Santa Barbara, California. 🪶 #birds #birdphotography 0140
West Coast Birder @westcoastbirder.bsky.social · 29/06/2026The cliff above Campus Point on the SE corner of the UCSB campus is covered with dead birds. Don’t click on the photos if you are squeamish. I’ve seen the odd dead bird before but not 20-30 of them. Not sure if this heat blob related die off. Any expert here who can shed light? 🪶 #birds 030
West Coast Birder @westcoastbirder.bsky.social · 28/06/2026The scaly-breasted munia is a South Asian native but a resident population has established itself in Southern California. They love hanging out among the grasses and eating the seeds. Photographed in Santa Barbara, California with the Canon R5 and the EF 600mm F/4 lens. 🪶 #birds 091
West Coast Birder @westcoastbirder.bsky.social · 27/06/2026I live 10 minutes from the ocean and since I retired, I walk a lot on the beach. Yesterday, the water was an amazing shade of turquoise. The ocean is like a living thing - it changes colors and moods every day. But even when it seems out of sorts, it never fails to put a smile on my face. ❤️ 040
West Coast Birder @westcoastbirder.bsky.social · 27/06/2026I love watching pelicans fly by on the beach. Such majestic birds! Photographed in Santa Barbara, California. Canon R7 + RF100-500L. #birds 1316
West Coast Birder @westcoastbirder.bsky.social · 21/06/2026Northern mockingbird in Goleta, California. Photographed with a Canon R7 and the RF 100-500L. 060
West Coast Birder @westcoastbirder.bsky.social · 21/06/2026I walk for a couple of hours on the beach every day. It was gorgeous today, 70F/21C. The ocean was impossibly blue. Days like this remind me that while strife in the world will ebb and flow, Mother Earth remains gorgeous beyond compare. Go out and enjoy each day like it is your last, my friends!❤️ 051
West Coast Birder @westcoastbirder.bsky.social · 18/06/2026A friend just pointed out to me that Trump signed the Iran deal at Versailles. You can’t make this shit up! 020
West Coast Birder @westcoastbirder.bsky.social · 24/02/2026Wow, what a huge loss. 😢 www.cnn.com/2026/02/21/e...cnn.comSalsa legend Willie Colón dies at age 75, family says | CNNAmerican salsa legend Willie Colon, the pioneering trombonist, vocalist and composer, died on Saturday at age 75, his family said in a statement. 010
West Coast Birder @westcoastbirder.bsky.social · 28/01/2026White tailed eagle in Rausu, Hokkaido Japan. Really pleased with how this came out - I usually don't make prints, but I think I'll print and frame this one. 1102
West Coast Birder @westcoastbirder.bsky.social · 27/01/2026Eurasian tree sparrow in Rausu, Hokkaido Japan. These fluff balls are tough little creatures - they remind me of our own black-capped chickadees that survive winters in the boreal forest in North America. It was 8F (-13C) that morning in Rausu when I took the photo. Click on photo for full size. 0120
West Coast Birder @westcoastbirder.bsky.social · 27/01/2026Just got back from Japan and managed to sneak off to Hokkaido for a couple of days to see Steller's sea eagles. Still processing all my images but here is a quick view of the two eagle species on the ice - white tailed in the foreground and Steller's. Amazing how much bigger the Steller's are! 🦉🦅 1725
West Coast Birder @westcoastbirder.bsky.social · 14/12/2025My son is a senior at Harvard. This week, he finished his finals and left campus with his friends on a short vacation trip. 50 miles to the south, Brown students were sitting for their exams too, except the outcome couldn’t have been more different. As a country, we have totally lost the plot. 😭 030
West Coast Birder @westcoastbirder.bsky.social · 02/12/2025My younger son submitted his first grad school application today. Seems like it was yesterday when he graduated high school. Soon he will be his own man, making his way in the world. Kids grow up fast… 🥲 040
West Coast Birder @westcoastbirder.bsky.social · 21/11/2025WTF…. what is your major malfunction, America? 🤬 www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...washingtonpost.comU.S. Coast Guard will no longer classify swastikas, nooses as hate symbolsThe military service, which falls under the Department of Homeland Security, has drafted a new policy that classifies such items “potentially divisive.” 092
West Coast Birder @westcoastbirder.bsky.social · 17/11/2025Wow, the Bears are 7-3 and in first place in the NFC North! However, they are -6 on points scored/conceded differential and they’ll get exposed pretty soon. As a long-suffering Bears fan, I’ll enjoy it while it lasts, I guess! 000
West Coast Birder @westcoastbirder.bsky.social · 12/11/2025Calling the police on a person having a mental health crisis is a death sentence. When will people learn this? 🙁 www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/...espn.comCowboys official reported Kneeland text to policeOn the night of Marshawn Kneeland's death, the Cowboys' director of security called police to ask for a welfare check after Kneeland sent texts that "seemed to be saying goodbye." 040
West Coast Birder @westcoastbirder.bsky.social · 22/10/2025Looking for good references (books or papers) on negative externalities of both fossil fuel technologies and electrical alternatives for transportation. For example, how do we objectively weigh EV-related mining against the obvious negative externalities of fossil fuels. Pointers welcome! 🙏🏾 120
West Coast Birder @westcoastbirder.bsky.social · 14/10/2025I swear, Blake Treinen is going to take a decade off my life. Roki didn’t help either. 000
West Coast Birder @westcoastbirder.bsky.social · 09/10/2025On Sept 30, I retired from the only company I have worked for, after 35 years of employment. It’s a new experience waking up every morning without a clear schedule of things to do, but I think I’ll get used to it! 😉 4280
West Coast Birder @westcoastbirder.bsky.social · 30/08/2025Just started listening to the audio book of Braiding Sweetgrass. Achingly beautiful. The story of Sky Woman and Turtle Island brought me to tears. The narrator was an excellent choice - her voice is perfectly suited for the book! 5162
West Coast Birder @westcoastbirder.bsky.social · 22/06/2025Some nice dashcam footage in 4K of my drive through Shasta Trinity NF and over the Siskiyous last weekend. I love this section -done it dozens of times. Background music is my Tidal playlist on the car audio. Hope you enjoy it! Remember to view in 4K! youtube.com/playlist?lis...youtube.comI-5 California to Oregon Scenic Drive - YouTubeThis playlist has 4K dashcam clips of the Northern California and Southern Oregon sections of my recent drive from Southern California to Portland Oregon. Da... 050
West Coast Birder @westcoastbirder.bsky.social · 18/06/2025Nightshift by the Commodores is the finest, smoothest song ever written and performed. That’s a hill I’m willing to die on. 😎 youtu.be/FrkEDe6Ljqs?...youtu.beCommodores - Nightshift (Official Music Video)YouTube video by CommodoresVEVO 060
West Coast Birder @westcoastbirder.bsky.social · 11/05/2025Is there anything more disrespectful than walking away from the squat rack without putting away your plates? Put me in a foul mood this fine Sunday morning. Rerack your damn weights, yo! Don’t make others clean up after you! 🤬 030
West Coast Birder @westcoastbirder.bsky.social · 03/05/2025Why does the Dodgers-Braves game have a 715 pm ET start on a freaking Saturday?media.tenor.coma man with a mullet and a mustache is wearing a wig and making a funny face .ALT: a man with a mullet and a mustache is wearing a wig and making a funny face . 020
Reposted by West Coast BirderWest Coast Birder @westcoastbirder.bsky.social · 31/10/2024The final words of “The Velvet Queen,” the amazing documentary on the snow leopard: Revere what is in front of us. Hope for nothing. Delight in what crops up. Have faith in poetry. Be content with the world. Fight for it to remain. Quite possibly the finest documentary I have ever seen. 🐆🌿🌎 073
West Coast Birder @westcoastbirder.bsky.social · 07/04/2025The end of the seminal Watson & Crick DNA paper in Nature : "It has not escaped our notice that the specific pairing we have postulated immediately suggests a possible copying mechanism for the genetic material.” Is there a more profoundly understated sentence anywhere in the scientific literature? 041
West Coast Birder @westcoastbirder.bsky.social · 01/04/2025theonion.com/we-need-more...theonion.com‘We Need More American-Made Semiconductors,’ Says Man Who Barely Understands How A Stapler WorksTACOMA, WA—Arguing that “an enormous push” was needed in the manufacturing of the cutting-edge technology, Dalton Robinson, a man who barely understands how a stapler works, reportedly stated, “We nee... 011
West Coast Birder @westcoastbirder.bsky.social · 01/04/2025My son just informed me that his first-author paper submission was accepted for publication. This will his 2nd first-author peer-reviewed paper to be published. He has at least one other manuscript in prep for submission. Not bad for a junior in college. I hope it helps his grad school applications! 030
West Coast Birder @westcoastbirder.bsky.social · 27/03/2025Pied-billed grebe in the UC Santa Barbara campus lagoon. The area around Campus Point and the lagoon is an extremely productive birding location. Easy to get 50+ species on a 2-hour birding walk around there. #birds 🦉 Canon R7 + RF100-500L. 0231
West Coast Birder @westcoastbirder.bsky.social · 25/03/2025It is spring time and the red winged blackbird males are on full display with their epaulets and their song. Here is a magnificent specimen, photographed in Goleta, California. Click on photo for larger image. Canon R7 + RF100-500L. #birds 🦉 0473
West Coast Birder @westcoastbirder.bsky.social · 24/03/2025Mockingbird males have started their courtship singing. Bachelors will sing through the night. Goodbye to sleep for me! May need to go the store to buy a fan just to drown out the sound! 🥱🦉#birds 060
West Coast Birder @westcoastbirder.bsky.social · 24/03/2025Spring is here. The weather is gorgeous in my little corner of paradise and the California poppies are in riotous bloom! 🌿 #Nativeplants 0568
West Coast Birder @westcoastbirder.bsky.social · 20/03/2025Reading Emperor of all Maladies. Wow, great book. Honestly, I don’t know how oncologists do it and what their burnout rate is. Surrounded by grief with the occasional miracle seven days a week. 050
West Coast Birder @westcoastbirder.bsky.social · 05/03/2025We could have had this man in 2016. 😢 youtube.com/shorts/3F3ay...youtube.comTrump is Right. The System IS Broken.YouTube video by Bernie Sanders 041
West Coast Birder @westcoastbirder.bsky.social · 04/03/2025Brilliant article on the rise and fall of American football (and as a metaphor for America itself) in Granta magazine. @grantamag.bsky.social granta.com/mucker-play/...granta.comMucker Play‘When you said so loudly that you were the best, that you were worth the top dollar, then not just every game but every play became important.’ Nico Walker on the rise and fall of American football, f... 121