A male cardinal just about to take off, shown with wings spread wide and up behind him.

I'm loving my camera's pre-burst mode, though using it does mean I need to change my picture workflow some and do lots of pruning on the card before I throw it through the "backup everything" step.

Action shot of the pursuit.

#birds

So how do you like the EOS R6?

Two red male Northern Cardinals in a tangle of bare branches, once facing vaguely towards the camera, one facing away.

I've been watching these two bright red cardinals chase each other around this pair of trees for well over ten minutes now.

I wonder what's up with that.

#birds

I endorse this approach.

My Instagram account has always been a photo-only account, mostly of birds.

Everyone thinks that Knuth's big legacy is TAoCP, but those books exist mostly to sit impressively on bookshelves and occasionally be quoted from as an exclusionary shibboleth.

But the system he developed so that TAoCP could be published properly completely reinvented that corner of publishing.

This is the niche content I'm here for.

Donald Knuth, for inventing the TeX typesetting system and making mathematical typesetting by computer possible at all. (And Lamport, for making TeX usable)

If you collect math books, it's kind of obvious the before/after line marked by when a publisher adopted TeX.

Some day this 20+-year-old piece will be of historical interest only and not still currently relevant. I do not think today is that day.

www.ams.org/notices/2005...

Still? I thought that the "whole language" thing had been such an obvious failure that it was now, finally, on its way out to be replaced mostly with phonics; which, while not perfect, was at least demonstrably better.

A small, brown House Wren with a barred tail and a thin, slightly curved beak clings to the peg on the outside of a wooden birdhouse. The birdhouse is painted with green leaves and small yellow flowers around its circular entrance. Inside the dark hole of the birdhouse, the yellow-rimmed, gaping mouth of a hungry hatchling is visible, waiting to be fed. Burlington, NJ, USA ƒ/5.6; 1/320 s; 300 mm; ISO 3200

Today's #BirdOfTheDay theme is #AdulsWithChicks: any capture of an Adult with its young.

This Northern House Wren was looking a bit ragged trying to keep up with the demanding open months of its young.

#birds #photography

This weekend is Palm Sunday.

This means that it is the one Sunday of the year for certain songs on the bells: the songs labeled in our chimers' songbook as "Passiontide".

Here's me practicing "Go to Dark Gethsemane" for tomorrow morning.

#bells #chiming

A male Eastern Bluebird with vibrant blue plumage on its head and wings, a rusty-orange chest, and a white belly perches on a weathered white wooden post that (out of frame) had a bluebird nesting box mailed to it. The bird is facing left against a soft, blurred background of muted greens and browns. Pleasant Valley Wildlife Sanctuary, Lenox, MA, USA ƒ/6.3; 1/160 s; 400 mm; ISO 2000

The #BirdOfTheDay theme for today, set by @alan678.bsky.social, is #blue.

So here's an Eastern Bluebird I saw hanging out on top of some bluebird nesting boxes that had been set up for conservation purposes.

#birds #photography #microfourthirds

bsky.app/profile/fizb...

A telephoto view of a juvenile Bald Eagle standing on some ice in the middle of a river with its wings spread wide, facing the camera. The bird is in early morning light, lit from the right. The background is ice and water, as this was late enough in the year that most of the river was melted though there were still large ice chunks. Some distorted reflections of buildings on the opposite show of the river are visible. Eventually there would be four of these eagles riding the ice down the river, but this photo just shows the one. Apparently Bald Eagles have trousers/breeches of feathers. Delaware River, Burlington, NJ, USA ƒ/6.1; 1/200 s; 364 mm; ISO 160

Today's #BirdOfTheDay theme is #WingsOpenNotFlying: any bird with its wings open but not in flight.

I've shared pictures of these juvenile Bald Eagles ridingthe ice in the Delaware before but not this one, using its wings to shift and maintain balance. Look at the trousers!

#birds #photography

A European Starling perched on a black wire in front of a white building. The bird has glossy black plumage covered in prominent white speckled "stars," with iridescent purple and green highlights visible on its neck. It is looking slightly upward and to the left. The background is white siding with some sort of pipe or tube running mostly vertically. Burlington, NJ, USA ƒ/10.0; 1/250 s; 300 mm; ISO 200

The #BirdOfTheDay theme today from @alan678.bsky.social is #speckled: any bird with speckled markings.

Here's a European Starling from last August looking particularly speckled.

#birds #photography

I do worry that ICE at airports is going to put lots of people with guns on the "secure" side of airport screening who don't have a specific place to be.

If someone attacks an ICE agent inside security and takes their guns, will someone notice that the agent is missing?

If you aren't going through security—e.g. if you're there to drop someone off or to meet them at baggage claim—it's been long established that in places where open carry is generally legal, it's legal to open carry at the airport too.

A Ring-billed Gull standing on some ice in the Delaware River. The bird is in early morning shadow, so its colors are a bit muted, but the black tip of its beak and brown spotted head shows that this is its first winter. The bird's beak is wide open. The background is ice and river water. Delaware River, Burlington, NJ, USA ƒ/6.1; 1/250 s; 364 mm; ISO 160

Today's #BirdOfTheDay theme from @robcrank68.bsky.social is #OpenBeak (any bird with its beak open) and the Alt Theme is #Gulls.

So here's both themes in this Ring-billed Gull. IIRC, it wasn't doing this to make noise but just stretched its mouth open a few times.

#birds #photography

So I have to think that the sequence of events was actually something like Disney saying "yeah, this isn't going to work for us", then OpenAI saying "okay, well if you're out this isn't viable", and then the announcement order ends up the other way around for reasons.

I got a separate phone specifically for work mobile apps. My personal phone is personal, and my work phone spends the night in the office.

On the other hand, I've been thinking about March 2020 because my niece turns 6 tomorrow. My brother-in-law was the last father they let accompany the mother into the hospital.

And sure, it was scary, but because of that time I have someone to send animal pictures to and hear animal facts from.

A profile view of a Red-breasted Nuthatch perched on the peeling bark of a birch tree. The bird has a blue-gray back, a distinct black stripe through its eye, a white eyebrow, and a warm cinnamon-colored belly. It is looking to the right with its characteristic pointed bill visible. The background is a soft, out-of-focus winter gray. Burlington County, NJ, USA I don't know whether Red-breasted Nuthatches are present in this area year-round; I had never seen one anywhere until a few weeks ago when I saw one in a different state, several hours' drive to the north. However, three days after we got back home, this one showed up outside my office window. 🤷‍♂️ ƒ/6.3; 1/500 s; 400 mm; ISO 3200

Per @alan678.bsky.social , today’s #BirdOfTheDay theme is #tricolour: birds with three colours or more.

I'm going with this Red-breasted Nuthatch, seen here temporarily right-side up.

#birds #photography

We'll have had our landline number for 25 years this December, but it has been a fake-landline-via-cablemodem for the past eight years or so. (Sadly, that can't be used for fax or modem calls)

At some point I should buy a separate cellphone just for that old number and transfer it there.

Do you have an actual copper-to-the-exchange land line?

Or do you have one of those fake-landline-over-cable things?

A friend said “My cat would be a better director general of the BBC than that guy” and now I really want that. Endless documentaries about small birds. Biased news about dogs being pricks.

A White-breasted Nuthatch sitting upright on a branch, moments after preening. Its feathers are slightly ruffled on its back and chest. The bird is facing left against a soft-focus background of tangled twigs and muted forest colors. Burlington County, NJ, USA ƒ/6.3; 1/640 s; 400 mm; ISO 2500

It was, ultimately, not entirely successful at smoothing everything.

#birds

A White-breasted Nuthatch perched on a textured tree branch, captured in a tight, rounded pose while preening. The bird's head is tucked back, highlighting its crisp white face and breast against its slate-blue and black feathers. The background is a soft, muted blur of forest branches in shades of brown and green. Burlington County, NJ, USA ƒ/6.3; 1/640 s; 400 mm; ISO 2500

A White-breasted Nuthatch perched on a textured tree branch, captured in a tight, rounded pose while preening. The bird's head is turned to the right, getting feathers on its chest. The background is a soft, muted blur of forest branches in shades of brown and green. Burlington County, NJ, USA ƒ/6.3; 1/640 s; 400 mm; ISO 2500

A White-breasted Nuthatch perched on a textured tree branch, captured in a tight, rounded pose while preening. The bird's head is turned to the left, presumably reaching feathers on its chest or under its left wing. The background is a soft, muted blur of forest branches in shades of brown and green. Burlington County, NJ, USA ƒ/6.3; 1/640 s; 400 mm; ISO 2500

A White-breasted Nuthatch perched on a textured tree branch, captured in a tight, rounded pose while preening. The bird's head is upside-down, apparently owning feathers on its underside. The background is a soft, muted blur of forest branches in shades of brown and green. Burlington County, NJ, USA ƒ/6.3; 1/640 s; 400 mm; ISO 3200

For today’s #BirdOfTheDay theme #preeners&scratchers set by @robcrank68.bsky.social, proof that little birds sometimes need to preen too: four perspectives on this White-breasted Nuthatch trying to fix its feathers

#Birds #photography

A side profile of a male Northern Pintail duck standing on the part of a reservoir lake that was still frozen. The duck has a chocolate-brown head with a thin white stripe extending from the back of its neck down to its snowy-white breast. Its body features intricate thin gray+white stripes on the sides (zoom in) and long, elegant black and white feathers draped over its back. Cheshire, MA, USA Northern Pintails are only found in the eastern half of the contiguous United States during winter or when migrating. They spend the breeding season and summer in Canada, though there are parts of the US out west that are in their breeding range and a few mountainous areas where they're found year-round. This one was photographed right in the middle of the "only found here while migrating" range in mid-March. ƒ/6.3; 1/640 s; 400 mm; ISO 125

The #BirdOfTheDay theme is #Migratory, defined as "birds that migrate to or from your country".

Taking a bit of liberty with "country" since mine is BIG; I'm over 550km from the nearest border.

Northern Pintail; more details in alt text.

#birds #photography

Seriously, who does this?