Jon Sullivan

Kia ora! I'm a #nature nut, addict of #iNaturalist NZ — Mātaki Taiao, and an #ecologist at #LincolnUniversity in #Aotearoa-#NewZealand.

I spend an inordinate amount of my time counting nature to watch what's changing (see https://wildcounts.org/).

#TwitterMigration #NZTwits #ecology #EcologicalMonitoring #NaturalHistory #iNaturalistNZ #iNaturalist #wildcounts #RStats #Biodiversity

Born when there was 326 ppm carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

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npub1m5aelppvhp59ev7hqtvjzq20s2fhy6c6g4fh2mk49zkkcgw0sa4sk2rwdh

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joncounts_at_mastodon.nz@mostr.pub

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Last Notes

2024-11-22 04:18:55

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My schedule has had me biking to work in peak traffic most days this week, and I'm pleased to have survived to the weekend.
More cycleways please (or less cars, or more enforcement of road rules).

2024-09-27 07:45:06

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@npub1q6u…jtel @npub1l0n…f8s9 Really. Sheesh. That’s too bad.

2024-09-27 07:44:11

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@npub1l0n…f8s9 Fun. Have you seen the polka version of “I’m too sexy” with DeSchoWieda from 2019? 😄
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ST0mPRx6VVQ
#JukeboxFridayNight #BiOrPanMusic

2024-09-24 10:11:17

One day each month I bike to work the long way, via the Christchurch Port Hills, and count lots of species along the way. Today was that day this month, and, well, there was weather.
A strong southerly front passed over with brief rain and hail, and then a rainbow. It led to some dramatic scenery.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/mollivan_jon/54017984386/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/mollivan_jon/54017068682/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/mollivan_jon/54018196163/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/mollivan_jon/54018407450/
#nz #Ōtautahi #Christchurch #photography #landscape #nature #weather #storm
https://mastodon.nz/system/media_attachments/files/113/191/957/829/088/816/original/dfa0d23fba380c73.jpg
https://mastodon.nz/system/media_attachments/files/113/191/957/831/423/489/original/b7e13dc51fddd0bf.jpg
https://mastodon.nz/system/media_attachments/files/113/191/957/837/310/291/original/8fb1bc608323f51b.jpg
https://mastodon.nz/system/media_attachments/files/113/191/957/848/624/266/original/27a1698ce16c91be.jpg

2024-09-20 08:43:47

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@npub1xg3…5xry 👍 :partyparrot:

2024-09-16 23:28:12

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@npub13nz…9l73 Amazing!

2024-09-16 22:03:29

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@npub166z…nsd7 Cue the Mission Impossible theme song. 😄

2024-09-15 23:32:00

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@npub1wfn…3cxc The Tasmanian fruit bat relocation people could find themselves getting quite busy in a few decades. 😄

2024-09-14 11:16:29

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@npub1uhp…368e Nice timing! It’s fun when I find things in photos that I didn’t see when I took the photo.

2024-09-09 09:38:20

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@npub1459…ns4q Hah! That’s crazy. 😄

2024-09-08 10:50:06

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@npub12nm…wh2s Well said. I worry that commuter cyclists are becoming the next minority to come into the cross-hairs of the propaganda outrage engine. No good for society will come from this.

2024-09-07 23:04:41

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@npub1fha…3ru0 Yep. Ines is fantastic!

2024-09-07 07:46:00

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It was a peaceful, moonlit evening and it was dark. I was standing in the river, thinking about Stephen and his extraordinary legacy. It's sad he was taken from us so soon.

2024-09-05 19:22:09

“Just days after the government halved transport funding for walking and cycling, new research has revealed prioritising them would improve overall population health, save the health system money and reduce health inequities between Māori and non-Māori.”
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/527148/transport-system-killing-thousands-prematurely-each-year-academic-says
#NZ #Transport #NZPol #RNZ #bikes

2024-09-02 10:23:49

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@npub1nz3…y66n Yes, I expect that's something going on here.

2024-08-26 12:53:15

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There's now an obituary for Stephen Thorpe on iNaturalist NZ at https://inaturalist.nz/projects/fallen-totara-of-inaturalist-nz-mataki-taiao/journal/98101-in-memory-of-stephen-thorpe-stephen_thorpe
#iNaturalist #NZ

2024-08-20 09:18:45

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@npub18qw…txzh Marvellous!

2024-08-19 07:06:58

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@npub1x2h…mgua Ah, yes, you're probably right. Perhaps it's the popular interpretation and simplification of Bloom's Taxonomy that's worked against training good taxonomists and ecologists.

2024-08-18 10:21:07

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@npub1nzh…8qy7 Thanks. The Tūtae Kēhua are always a treat to find. There were less of them this year than usual, and they appeared a bit late.

2024-08-15 10:10:20

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@npub1ep9…tgda Exactly! We spent part of the evening playing old Police hits to our 16-year old daughter, as part of her education. So many good songs. 😄

2024-08-15 07:30:13

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@npub14fx…jp2v 😆
(And I knew to stop and look for the sunspot because folk on Mastodon had mentioned it was there. I learn the best things from Mastodon.)

2024-08-15 06:42:56

There's a little black spot on the sun today...
Seen as the sun rose through the fog this morning on my bike ride to work.
#sunrise #fog #sunspot #nz
https://mastodon.nz/system/media_attachments/files/112/964/671/434/828/318/original/0902bf25063e20ca.jpg

2024-08-11 09:58:07

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@npub1tu0…sva5 Yikes. 😔 That's sad.

2024-08-11 09:55:10

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@npub1tu0…sva5 Oh no! Not the wizard. What did he say?

2024-08-11 05:25:43

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@npub1h5u…8mxk Marvelous! I hope there are people around in another 40,000 years to marvel at some of the art we make.

2024-08-06 05:04:52

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@npub13nz…9l73 mushroom magic!

2024-08-02 10:57:00

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@npub14vl…vldk 👍

2024-08-02 07:18:38

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@npub14vl…vldk (Note the typo: “transport investement”)

2024-08-02 07:05:50

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@npub1trd…ussx Wow! That’s fantastic! Thanks for sharing.

2024-08-02 04:21:29

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@npub1hcu…78ss Ah, that is sad. 😔

2024-08-01 07:49:07

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@npub1m7u…gr0d 😄 Although we’re not north enough from the penguins to avoid having our own penguins.

2024-08-01 07:21:43

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@npub1e0w…tuz0 Exactly.

2024-07-30 20:29:02

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@npub10jp…2j5q That's very useful. These are great books. Thanks very much!

2024-07-30 10:42:43

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@npub1x4m…hvkj Yes, definitely all of the above. 😄

2024-07-28 06:43:12

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@npub1edq…yqk7 Yes, they’re land hoppers (amphipods) of some kind. I’m not good at identifying these to species.
I’m not sure what they’re doing in your garage though. Has it been raining a lot where you are?

2024-07-27 05:31:11

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@npub1y5d…n4gq Ka pai!

2024-07-24 06:46:50

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@npub1twh…5j6z woo hoo! That’s big. 😀

2024-07-23 06:18:19

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@npub1xu5…sgpr That’s good.

2024-07-22 06:48:39

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@npub1xw2…rmpy Hah!

2024-07-22 06:19:49

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@npub14q0…8a06 😄

2024-07-21 10:16:20

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@npub1trd…ussx Interesting. So NZ inequality hasn’t been continuing upwards after the mid-1990s? That would be a pleasant surprise.

2024-07-21 08:34:52

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@npub1xw2…rmpy Thanks. Yes, I was thinking the same thing. Slower would be better. I'll have to try that next time.

2024-07-21 08:10:31

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Here's my other movie of fog in motion through the beam of by bike light. The motion is from the fog droplets in the breeze.
https://flic.kr/p/2q5mhuj
#fog #night #BikeLight #swirling #movie

2024-07-21 05:38:45

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@npub1tu0…sva5 Out of Ctrl! 😮

2024-07-21 04:57:12

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@npub1jq3…58uk It’s chicken, from a certain point of view.

2024-07-20 01:00:37

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@npub166z…nsd7 The downward facing Zoop pose. 😀

2024-07-19 08:03:17

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@npub1gj5…7kjc that’s a good one

2024-07-18 07:16:43

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@npub1gaw…mg7y Fantastic. Thanks for that tip. Good to know!

2024-07-18 07:14:13

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@npub1gsp…adre Neat. (That depends on the kiwi species, of course. The rowi is nationally endangered and in big trouble.)

2024-07-17 10:56:21

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@npub18ky…xjmu That's sad. That's got to be really hard. 🙁

2024-07-17 04:51:08

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@npub1r42…smfm Well said. Yes, that's my interpretation too. It's the "what have future generations ever done for me?" approach to government policy.

2024-07-17 04:14:41

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@npub1sjy…rkzk Thanks very much for those details. That's a whole heap of money and a lot of uncertainty to be passing on to future decades. I hope Treasury is including this in its forcasting.

2024-07-16 19:54:56

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I like how the article portrays the magnitude of the emissions NZ needs to deal with.
“One tonne of carbon dioxide is equal to nine average car trips from Auckland to Wellington in a petrol car, and the country's total emissions are currently around 70 million tonnes annually.”
That’s a lot.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/522333/new-zealand-s-future-climate-targets-in-jeopardy-new-calculations-find

2024-07-16 10:34:29

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@npub1fha…3ru0 These steps are on Mitchell's track on the southern side of Sugarloaf to the east of the Sign of the Kiwi. (The track is exceptionally muddy at the moment.)

2024-07-15 20:23:55

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@npub1men…u8fa Weird. If you specify you want the first column of the data.frame, it works. pmax(data.frame (data)[,1], 0)

2024-07-15 06:46:48

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@npub10zx…jdsr RNZ is still my pick. The Spinoff is also good.

2024-07-14 10:16:26

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@npub1580…3krg That slow scholarship paper is a great read. Thanks for sharing the link. All of their suggestions would be great improvements to university life.

2024-07-14 08:40:38

I happened to be watching an NHK World doco on the Tale of Gengi, a classic story from the 11th century, and the doco featured the Japanese kirikane glass artist Akane Yamamoto. Akane carefully makes intricate layered patterns in threads of gold foil then sets them into glass.
You can check out the works on her website. They're extraordinary!
https://akane-glass.com/english/work02/
#art #GlassArt #Japan

2024-07-14 06:04:54

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@npub1rnl…zmgk Yes, it doesn't take much to make tidy gardens and farms better habitats for beneficial insects.

2024-07-14 05:58:27

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@npub1r9l…hna4 That's a great photo. 😄

2024-07-11 06:41:52

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@npub1tjk…cyks Fantastic architecture. I looked up “A Dog Republic!” painted on the wall by the lookout and it seems to be an art project of its own: https://www.moussemagazine.it/magazine/talk-peace-ludlow38/

2024-07-11 03:46:09

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@npub19qx…3tuh https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/48601-Phytolacca

2024-07-11 03:43:28

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@npub153s…cvd9 Woah!

2024-07-08 10:30:46

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They've fixed it! The road sign no longer directs people into the fence.
#nz #RoadSign #Fixed
https://mastodon.nz/system/media_attachments/files/112/750/403/460/639/547/original/09877db21fb4d0c1.jpeg

2024-07-08 10:10:32

I had to stop on my bike ride home this evening to fix a flat tyre. At least it wasn't on my way into work, and it was a clear starry evening.
I extracted a small shard of glass from the rubber. I had a look back through my records and this is the 15th flat I've had in the past 8 years, most from glass.
This is usually a sign that it's time to replace a tyre and my back tyre is looking a bit worn. It sure would be nice though if there was less glass on the road.
#nz #BikeTooter

2024-07-07 19:30:51

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@npub14wp…zgu6 “ Easy as an easy thing, once you know the trick.” 😄

2024-07-07 00:24:51

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@npub1c3v…p00s Thanks Carolyn! 😀
I did my garden bird survey while hanging out some laundry on our clothesline with my DSLR with a 300 mm telephoto lens around my neck.

2024-07-07 00:19:12

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Oh, and a dunnock. I also saw a dunnock. They're quiet and shy birds but I shouldnt be so rude as to leave it off my bird list.

2024-07-04 19:58:40

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@npub1edq…yqk7 😄 Yes, funny. Yesterday, I was just thinking about yesterday, which was a fantastic sunny winter’s day in Ōtautahi. Let’s see what today brings. It’s off to a good (if cold) start.

2024-07-04 09:33:57

It's that time of the year when the air is almost still, the skies are clear, the sun is low in the sky, and many of the trees in the city are leafless. It's a recipe for epic reflections.
Here's a photo I took today of the surface of the Avon River in Ōtautahi-Christchurch, NZ (with a little light editing in Pixelmator Pro to bring out the details).
https://flic.kr/p/2q2by4b
#reflections #abstract #photography #nz #Ōtautahi #Christchurch

2024-06-24 10:42:23

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@npub1zdp…vqv8 If you're on Apple, there's the open-source Synth One, which is amazing and great fun. https://audiokitpro.com/synth/

2024-06-22 20:59:58

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@npub1ehp…55d0 Ah, yes, that would explain a lot. Thanks for that, I think. 😀

2024-06-22 10:24:13

I had an excellent two word conversation on my run today.
I ran passed someone walking along the street, then abruptly stopped ahead of them to photograph a wild plant in a garden.
"iNaturalist?" they said, as they passed me.
"Yep", I replied, and I ran passed them again.
😄
#iNaturalist #iNaturalistNZ #WildCounts
That's shorter than the elaborate conversations I sometimes have with people, explaining what I'm doing running through their neighbourhood taking lots of photos.

2024-06-21 10:47:57

#JukeboxFridayNight
#WildAndFree
Have we done this one yet? The powerful “Freedom” by Richie Havens, from Woodstock.
I used to play this on my Dad’s LP. I only learned later that Richie improvised the song on the spot based on an old spiritual "Motherless Child."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tf1B9ktRCkg

2024-06-20 08:50:41

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@npub1tsg…zlw7 And happy longest night to you from NZ. 🙂
🌔 🌔 🌔

2024-06-18 20:06:38

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In case you’ve of the mind that pigeons are dim-witted flying pests, check out this ZeFrank video on the surprisingly mental smarts of a regular pigeon. For example, they can be trained to separate real English words from random combinations of letters.
[Warning: ZeFrank is not David Attenborough.]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LfYV39SKIiM

2024-06-18 06:35:43

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@npub1z6j…3hlg 🚲 “the happiest means of transport”

2024-06-18 06:29:59

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@npub10wr…ccx9 Neat study.

2024-06-16 07:33:22

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@npub1tu0…sva5 Good spotting. 🙂 It was a sneaky moon, popping out from behind the clouds when least expected.

2024-06-16 07:00:08

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(These are photos from two cameras (Nikon Coolpix W300 and Sony RX0ii) and it's quite striking how differently the two cameras handle white balance.)

2024-06-16 06:58:35

Here's some appreciation for the fine wispy high clouds that can streak over Ōtautahi-Christchurch city, NZ, during the late autumn and winter.
I took these on my run yesterday afternoon.
https://flic.kr/p/2pXCLS8
https://flic.kr/p/2pXwQXP
#clouds #weather #nz #photography
https://mastodon.nz/system/media_attachments/files/112/624/987/026/207/618/original/8ee5cdafafdd45fa.jpg
https://mastodon.nz/system/media_attachments/files/112/624/987/030/185/543/original/589fd36f1e7ac0e9.jpg

2024-06-15 10:56:27

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@npub1243…qmek Fantastic! Thanks for that link.

2024-06-15 10:30:01

I just stumbled across Polish pianist Hania Rani and her live performance on KEXP and, *jaw drop*.
Wow!
Worth a watch, and listen, if you like a modern piano electronic sound. Insane talent.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3EuiU1qdpE
#music #piano #HaniaRani

2024-06-14 21:48:06

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@npub1u36…jsj0 Wow. Great idea. That’s next level!

2024-06-14 21:24:49

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@npub132h…f594 Absolutely.

2024-06-14 08:10:02

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@npub1c2p…r2wz 😀 Our chief weapon is surprise...surprise and cheers.

2024-06-10 19:47:48

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@npub19su…m4l3 Interesting. I didn’t know that marmelada meant “made of quince”. I looked it up and marmelo is quince in Portuguese.

2024-06-10 10:24:00

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@npub18mr…gtrq Yes, rotting dead wood is the key to having lots of useful and interesting invertebrates living in a garden. Old wood gives them things to eat and places to hide.

2024-06-10 10:22:27

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@npub1u3z…wa9d Thanks! 🙂

2024-06-10 05:43:37

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@npub10jd…44rt 😀

2024-06-08 05:53:45

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@npub1c6c…kngc Wow! Yes, that. 🦔

2024-06-07 00:03:03

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@npub1uhp…368e Yup.

2024-06-06 04:32:51

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@npub10wr…ccx9 Marvellous, although I reckon you could easily shake a blade of grass at many more than four globular springtails. 😁

2024-06-02 21:45:08

#LincolnUniversityNZ had its third annual pride parade on Wednesday, its biggest yet, and local police showed up in support with their rainbow police car. I like that the local police have a rainbow police car.
Along with other staff, I joined in the march to support the students and then left them to their fun activities.
#pride #nz
https://mastodon.nz/system/media_attachments/files/112/549/178/099/004/451/original/39031ebe9573bc37.jpg

2024-05-29 06:16:48

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@npub1rhw…6j73 True, sort of. Some species around here are flowering early and others are not. Some have been later than normal. It interests me which are which.

2024-05-27 09:40:37

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@npub1m7u…gr0d Thanks. Yes, it's been an odd summer up here in Christchurch too. Hopefully next summer will be a bit wetter for Canterbury farms with La Nina back again.

2024-05-27 09:13:33

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@npub1m7u…gr0d Yes, could be. It's been an unusually dry and hot summer.

2024-05-26 19:39:19

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@npub1fha…3ru0 Great photo. Yes, I think I’m just seeing the spillover kingfishers from the much bigger populations of birds living around the mudflats of Te Waihora and Whakaraupō.

2024-05-26 06:11:41

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@npub10yr…4rgj Hah! I just read your post and about 2 seconds later the emergency alert test buzzed on my phone. Spooky!

2024-05-24 07:23:00

This afternoon there was an *imposter* amongst the korimako (NZ bellbirds) singing in the Protea Garden of Victoria Park. See if you can spot it!
😃
#birds #BirdSong #NZ
https://mastodon.nz/system/media_attachments/files/112/494/836/673/118/253/original/48b42a66e4d60435.mp3