Eric Lathrop @eric@mastodon.ericlathrop.com

I've decided to try different allergy meds so I can adopt the stray cat that came into my yard a few days ago. He's the cuddliest little fluff ball. I took him to the vet and they gave him a FLV vaccine and said he's FIV+. Gave him a flea and tick treatment, and been brushing gobs of shedding hair out. Getting him neutered in a couple weeks. Named him Red and got him a rainbow collar with a name tag. He's turned my life upside down, but it's worth it.

(Cat EC)
#cat #caturday #mastocats

Saw this smol praying mantis on my porch earlier today.

Several hours and a can of tuna later, and he's purring and taking a nap on my lap. He decided to spend the night with me inside, so I plan on taking him to the vet in the morning to see if he's chipped. I don't want to steal a neighbors pet, but I would like the cat to live a health safe life indoors, where he's not eating birds.

Today I noticed the squirrels suddenly take off and start doing their alarm calls. I looked outside and there was this orange #cat in the bushes at the edge of the yard. I went outside to talk to it to tell it to not eat my bird friends, and the kitty was super friendly. He's used to people and his fur is in good shape and he talks a lot. He's probably someone's pet, but doesn't have any ID. He hasn't been neutered, either.

White Wagtail, Ecopôle du val d'Allier, Pérignat-sur-Allier, France 🇫🇷 2022-05-02

They really do wag their tails!

#bird #birding #nature #photo @birds @nature

Lizard, Ecopôle du val d'Allier, Pérignat-sur-Allier, France 🇫🇷 2022-05-02

There were a bunch of these ~4-inch long lizards in the leaf litter in the woods. We never saw any squirrels or mammals, just lizards.

#nature #photo @nature

Black-headed Gull, Ecopôle du val d'Allier, Pérignat-sur-Allier, France 🇫🇷 2022-05-02

Finally going through my bird photos from my Europe trip! If my ID's are off, let me know as it's probably the first time I've seen many of these European birds.

#bird #birding #nature #photo @birds @nature

Hey, it's #FollowFriday! Here's some people I've recently started following that post cool original art and photography:

Artists:

@posiputt
@loladupre
@TheWeeOwl
@ben
@hootalex

Nature Photographers:

@norG
@Well-Fotos
@dase
@Picturavis
@messidor
@ShallowReef
@Doug1949
@johnpavan

There were these Horse Chestnut trees blooming everywhere in Paris last month. Most had white flowers, but some had red flowers.
@plants

I was told that this tree was the oldest in Paris. It's in a small church garden across the river from the Notre Dame cathedral. When it started falling over, they installed these supports that are dressed up as tree trunks to keep it going. @plants

"Trans Lives Matter ❤️"

Some graffiti I saw in La Spezia, Italy, last month.

The raccoon came back at ~5:20pm today. Shouldn't it still be asleep?

This raccoon has been stealing my suet cakes. They have been visiting at 6pm. Often as I'm having dinner it walks right in front of me. Opening my door used to scare it off, but now it just pauses for a moment. I have to actually approach it to get it to leave.

Get in the TOOT BUS nerds, we're going tootin'!

Oh hell yeah, I just got search working on my personal mastodon server!

Tonight after eating dinner on my back porch, I noticed there was an unusual abundance of Downy Woodpecker noises. I eventually counted 5 of them spiraling around branches, chasing, feeding each other, calling, visiting the feeders, and circling over me to get a look. I saw red spots, but wasn't able to tell if any were juveniles. My heart is so full of joy right now!

@birds

This shady corner in my front yard decided to grow a bunch of mushrooms. #sporespondence

I'll post some cool photos of mosses, flower, birds, etc. from vacation later on after I'm sure everything is working correctly again.

...and after a month offline my server is back up! I went on vacation and someone turned my server off, and I didn't have a way to get it running again without physically being in front of it.

For the next 4 weeks I'll be in France and Italy for the first time. I brought my big camera lens and I hope to photograph and post European birds. This is a once-in-a-lifetime kind of trip for me. I'm so excited that I'm healthy enough to go.