Eric Lathrop @eric@mastodon.ericlathrop.com

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.

I found these mushrooms last Tuesday, but I forgot to post them. An employee at the Falls of the Ohio state park saw my binoculars and pointed me to a trail I've never seen before. These mushrooms look like decomposing apple slices. #sporesondence

Here's some rad mushrooms and lichen from my birding walk today. #sporespondence

Springtime flowers and buds. I heard that once more leaves come out the caterpillars will follow. Once there are caterpillars a lot more birds will migrate because they'll have food. #florespondence

Due to the holiday the park was pretty empty today. I loved it.

What happens when my Mastodon server goes offline for a while? I had a power outage due to storms for about a day. Will I never see toots from that time, or will they eventually show up?

Saw this knob on a tree that appears to have a cheerful face on it.

I spent a lot of time outside this weekend. Hiked around various parks with an old friend. Here are some cool mushrooms we saw. #sporespondence

Female Red-bellied Woodpecker, Louisville, Kentucky 2021-05-01

You can actually see the red belly in this photo.

#bird #birding #nature #photo

American Robin, Louisville, Kentucky 2021-05-01

Harbinger of spring

#bird #birding #nature #photo

Downy Woodpecker, Louisville, Kentucky, 2021-05-01

Another photo of the same Downy Woodpecker. That beak is huge! Those tail spots, though...

#bird #birding #nature #photo

Downy Woodpecker, Louisville, Kentucky, 2021-05-01

Its beak is pretty large for a Downy, but the spots on the white tail feathers (more visible on other photos I took) rule out the possibility of it being a Hairy Woodpecker.

#bird #birding #nature #photo