Max M.
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ambystomax.bsky.social
Max M.
@ambystomax.bsky.social
410 followers 140 following 360 posts
PNW Ecologist | community ecology 🦉🦌🐸 | bioacoustics 🦇🐦 | forest systems 🌲🗻🌱 | refusing to submit to despair | B.Sc. from UF WEC | views my own | 🏳️‍🌈 he/him
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Reposted by Max M.
planetdr.bsky.social
It’s really demoralizing how many colleagues are using AI.

Your job is literally to use your brain- your extremely unique, highly trained brain 😭
December 11, 2025 at 6:15 PM
ambystomax.bsky.social
Photos from the snowy winter wonderland here in North Carolina
Frosty trees line a country highway against a white sky Branches and bushes droop with clumps of snow A snow-blanketed rocky outcrop and windswept trees against a mountain vista Sweeping mountain views, in the foreground snow clumps remain in the tree branches
December 11, 2025 at 1:26 AM
Reposted by Max M.
mountsthelens1980.bsky.social
#MSH45 | Watercolors
One of the most powerful “before and afters” of Mount St. Helens isn’t a photo at all, it’s this watercolor.

Legendary PNW mountaineer Dee Molenaar painted the graceful pre-1980 cone and Spirit Lake basin alongside the torn-open crater and devastated landscape that followed.
Watercolor painting with two aerial views of Mount St. Helens. At upper right, the pre-1980 snowcapped cone rises above green, forested ridges and a blue Spirit Lake. Filling most of the image, the post-eruption scene shows a low, blasted crater, brown landslide hummocks, and a dark, debris-filled lake. Dee Molenaar / U.S. Geological Survey (USGS)
December 9, 2025 at 8:46 PM
Reposted by Max M.
zacklabe.com
This is absolutely awful. This was one of the best resources for climate indicators data, and my go-to share for help answering public questions.

Luckily I captured some of them on my new U.S. climate page a few months ago: zacklabe.com/united-state...
weatherwest.bsky.social Daniel Swain @weatherwest.bsky.social · 5d
Additionally, it appears that all of EPA's previously extensive "indicators of climate change" pages have been scrubbed entirely. The pages no longer exist; there are numerous dead links on the current/live EPA site, and no indication they have been moved to a new URL.
Snapshot of EPA's "indicators of climate change" page, which no longer exists.
December 8, 2025 at 7:59 PM
Reposted by Max M.
audrelawdamercy.bsky.social
if courts have no authority to block Trump from firing anyone, that means Trump can fire anybody for literally any reason, including y'know, race, sex, religion, etc.

and I'm just like...are we not gonna talk about Trump basically saying he has the constitutional power to resegregate government?
December 8, 2025 at 4:41 PM
ambystomax.bsky.social
Haven't been east of the Rockies in two years. Enjoying some WNC nature and family for a few days!
Leafless winter forest with rays of sun reaching the ground. Wide rocky stream through a forest of abundant rhododendron Waterfall and rocky pool framed by rhododendron Winter mountain view with wind thrown pines and a blue sky
December 7, 2025 at 9:37 PM
Reposted by Max M.
mtmagog.bsky.social
Just depressing. #parkchat

www.kqed.org/news/1206592...
Trump Orders DEI Out of National Park Bookstores | KQED
A new memo gives the National Park Service two weeks to review bookstores for “equity-related” content for removal.
www.kqed.org
December 5, 2025 at 11:56 PM
Reposted by Max M.
ecologyofgavin.bsky.social
I’m recruiting a PhD and MSC student for fall 2026 working on the movement ecology and conservation of Mexican spotted owls in SW forests and rocky canyonlands. Exciting partnership with Los Alamos National Laboratory. Great vibrant lab group, high impact research! 🦉

gavinmjones.com/opportunities/
Opportunities
***PhD and MSc openings – Movement ecology and conservation*** I will periodically support graduate students, postdocs, and other staff through the Biology Department at the University of New…
gavinmjones.com
December 5, 2025 at 7:30 PM
Reposted by Max M.
beachrelaxin.bsky.social
On the lookout for intruders who might want to steal the last of his pokeberries.

Eastern Bluebird

#BlueSkyMonday #ArtAdventCalendar #birds #birding #nature #photography #NativePlants
A sunlit, bright blue bird with a rusty red chest and white belly perches on top of a brown, dying stalk of vegetation with his belly towards the camera and his head turned to the right against a blurred background of browns and greens. Below him and to the left of the stalk, a small group of dark purple berries droop on a pink stalk that he has pushed down with his foot. The sunlight glints off his black eye and makes his feathers shimmer a bit.
December 1, 2025 at 10:05 PM
Reposted by Max M.
somuchpingle.bsky.social
Rabbit rabbit! December 1st came early, thanks insomnia! Here's a White-spotted Salamander (Plethodon cylindraecus) from central North Carolina this fall. #herps #salamanders #NaturePhotography 🌿
Angled-down image of a salamander posed on greenish-yellow moss, facing right with its tail curled in a near circle back to the right. The salamander's ground color is black, and covered with white spots of variable size on all visible surfaces. Most of the larger spots are on the flanks. The end of the tail has few spots and gradually turns to a brownish-black.
December 1, 2025 at 12:08 PM
ambystomax.bsky.social
Spent yesterday morning at my local wildlife refuge
Large grassy field with several large oaks further out. A rainbow arcs across the blue sky and disappears behind the largest oak. A clump of lime green licorice fern grows on the mossy trunk of a tree in a forest. Remnant yellow leaves further back hanging on to shrubs mark the ending of fall. Young green forest with rays of sun permeating the fog. Short limbs on the lower half of each tree host clumps of green moss and lichen. Oak with mossy branches reaching towards me, standing in a wide grassy field.
November 28, 2025 at 3:22 PM
Reposted by Max M.
astrokatie.com
I don’t know if anyone else notices or cares, but when I see a presentation in which the speaker uses obviously generated-AI images to illustrate their slides, it makes me immediately less confident in whatever other content they’re presenting.
November 28, 2025 at 3:07 PM
ambystomax.bsky.social
Really good thread. Recent articles have felt very dismissive of what fed workers experienced this year (and are still experiencing) and this is a helpful reflection exercise of "oh yeah, this was really fucked up wasn't it?"
skiles.blue John Skiles Skinner @skiles.blue · 17d
Being among the first interrogated and ultimately fired by DOGE, I certainly felt we were facing the business end of a right-wing conspiracy theory 🧵
danteatkins.bsky.social Dante Atkins @danteatkins.bsky.social · 18d
DOGE was not a money-saving effort. It was an effort to chase down and prove right-wing conspiracy theories. They went after USAID to prove conspiracy theories about foreign aid. Then they went after SSA to, again, pursue conspiracy theories about Dems paying "illegals" to vote. 1/2
November 26, 2025 at 2:09 PM
Reposted by Max M.
dfeldman.org
National parks have SO MANY people from other countries (since they get real vacations!)

And they spend a lot of money on hotels, food, souvenirs, etc.

This is unbelievably dumb, it will destroy entire tourist towns
In a statement on Tuesday, the Interior Department, which manages federal land, said that, as of Jan. 1, it would more than triple the price of an annual park pass for nonresidents, from $80 to $250. Foreign tourists without an annual pass will also be charged $100 on top of the standard entrance fee to visit each of the 11 most popular national parks, including Yosemite, Yellowstone, Rocky Mountain and the Grand Canyon.
November 26, 2025 at 3:13 AM
Reposted by Max M.
helldude.bsky.social
asking the doge guy to send me 5 bullet points on what he accomplished this week
November 23, 2025 at 5:10 AM
ambystomax.bsky.social
Morning walk in the drizzly foggy mossy forest.
Two-track road winding through a multi-layered forest in the Oregon Coast Range. A fog layer obscures the background. Foggy forest scene with sword ferns, moss- and lichen-coated tree trunks, and splayed branches of hemlock and cedar. Clear stream flowing over and between moss-coated rocks. There is some woody debris in the stream and they're are bunches of ferns on the banks. More open yet still very green conifer forest with sword ferns.
November 16, 2025 at 10:02 PM
Reposted by Max M.
dendromecon27.bsky.social
Federal science
1. is better when its work force is diverse and
2. is worth saving.
taliabhatt.itch.io Talia "Estro Junkies" Bhatt ♀︎♀︎ @taliabhatt.itch.io · 29d
"my least woke opinion is---"

That's enough. We've had enough people indulging in the "thrill of a little conservatism", as a treat. Of considering reactionary thought to be a salacious and taboo in a world descending into reactionary mania.

Give me your MOST woke opinions. We're bringing it back.
November 14, 2025 at 5:28 PM
Reposted by Max M.
saskajanet.bsky.social
Tiny Golden-crowned Kinglet showing us all the field signs (for one nanosecond) #birds 🌿
November 13, 2025 at 1:17 PM
ambystomax.bsky.social
Dude it's almost 9pm and it definitely sounds like someone is leafblowing outside. We might truly be cooked as a society.
November 13, 2025 at 4:54 AM
ambystomax.bsky.social
Welp, no chance of seeing the aurora in my overcast corner of the PNW, so here's some photos of the one I got to see in May of 2024 instead
Pink and green aurora with the silhouette of trees in the foreground Pink and green aurora with the silhouette of trees
November 12, 2025 at 6:57 AM
Reposted by Max M.
altusfs.altgov.info
Significant cave nomination form.

cc: @democrats.senate.gov
SIGNIFICANT CAVE NOMINATION WORKSHEET To Bu Filled Out By the Parson or Organization Submitting this Nomination Name Address_ Street City Telephone #（. Email Person to contact for addion information. Name. Telephone ( Nomination Informmion Cave Name Locetion: State maar Ee 0& Mendian: Town: Lat. Position Error/ # of Satefites Coordinate System_ OR Verbal description: Long Range: State & Zip Dato WREN Section: • Topographic Map Enciosed: Yes C Administering Federal Agency: Local field office where cave is locsted: No • *Cave Map Encised: Yes No O Womation marked with on (*) is contidered confidential under (section 5, Federol Cave Resources Protection Act. 988) and is not subject to publis disclosure under the Freedom of information Act (Section 552 of Title 6 U.S. Code) A cave must meet one or more of the following criteria to be eligible for designation as a significant cave. If you select "yes" for one or more of these criteria, please explain why in the remarks section. It deared, you may auden adamanst materies that win suppor your conclusions YESNO Biota: The cave provides seasonal or year-long habitat for organisms or or are found on State or Federal sensitive, threatened, or endangered species lists.
November 10, 2025 at 2:44 AM
ambystomax.bsky.social
An assortment of waterfalls
A narrow but tall waterfall cascades over the lip of a rock shelf, landing in a large round pool below. A trail is visible behind the falls, hugging the rock shelf. A wide and lower falls, framed by ferns, mossy trees, and fallen leaves. View from the side of a falls before following a trail behind it. Rocky cliffs follow the bends of the river and are topped with a dense forest of tall trees. A wide falls over a rock shelf with a trail behind it. Ferns and mossy trees are visible in the surroundings.
November 10, 2025 at 12:20 AM
Reposted by Max M.
conniemenefee.bsky.social
Eastern Red Bat (Lasiurus borealis)!

At first I thought I found a big, fuzzy gall. But it was a wonderful little snoozing bat! (May 2021)
Small reddish-brown bat sleeping in a flowering shrub Small reddish-brown bat sleeping in a flowering shrub
November 27, 2024 at 3:56 PM
ambystomax.bsky.social
In case you didn't think these a-holes could stoop any lower.
wyden.senate.gov Senator Ron Wyden @wyden.senate.gov · Nov 8
Senate update: Republicans are now trying to sneak a backdoor national abortion ban into their government funding bill. Republicans will stop at nothing to control women's health care decisions.
November 8, 2025 at 9:47 PM
Reposted by Max M.
theonion.com
Flying Squirrel Loves It Every Time
Flying Squirrel Loves It Every Time
November 5, 2025 at 11:00 PM