Arto Maatta
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artom.bsky.social
Arto Maatta
@artom.bsky.social
1.2K followers 930 following 1.1K posts
Birding, moths, and general interest in nature. A retired Cell Biologist.
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Reposted by Arto Maatta
webs-gsmp.bsky.social
1/ 📢Looking for counters for the International Swan Census (ISC) on the weekend of 17th-18th January 2026 in Northumberland.

Please visit the vacant site map to request a site near you: app.bto.org/gsmp/public/...

#Ornithology #UKBirding
November 26, 2025 at 9:37 AM
Reposted by Arto Maatta
birdhistory.bsky.social
I want someone to make a Merlin app but it's just Mark Catesby's descriptions of birds from 1732.

"This Bird, by its ungrateful brawling Noise, seems at Variance and displeased with all others" is a great field mark
November 20, 2025 at 5:49 PM
Reposted by Arto Maatta
emmasartworks.bsky.social
Last week on the North York Moors (Northeast England) - before the weather turned! The freezing cold will probably finish off most of the fungi; hopefully the birds will move out of the worst of it🤞
🪶🐡
#art #nature
Sketchbook page of birds, fungi and other wildlife from a walk along Sutton Bank, North Yorkshire, UK
November 20, 2025 at 7:38 AM
artom.bsky.social
After the initial excitement, Lina started to think that the first snow of the winter in Durham is quite cold and wet. #labrador #dogs
A yellow labrador retriever next to a bush on snowy lawn in a garden
November 19, 2025 at 8:58 AM
Reposted by Arto Maatta
dlangstonbirder.bsky.social
Distinctive 1w Russian Common Gull (heinei) candidate at Frieston Res this aft, seemed to tick all the boxes.
#LincsBirding
@lincsbirding.bsky.social
November 18, 2025 at 4:47 PM
Reposted by Arto Maatta
birdguides.bsky.social
A Tufted Puffin was photographed in a Puffin colony in the North Atlantic this summer, marking the latest in a growing series of records of the species in Atlantic waters:
Tufted Puffin sighting highlights potential for further British records
A Tufted Puffin has been photographed at Grand Colombier, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, marking the first record in that French territory and contributing to a growing series of Atlantic-occurring birds. The increase in records from the Pacific-origin species raises the prospect of future British sightings, driven in part by climate-related shifts in seabird distributions.
bit.ly
November 18, 2025 at 7:02 PM
Reposted by Arto Maatta
alexwild.bsky.social
This is such a cool study. A parasitic ant queen tricks worker ants into murdering their own queen, so the parasite can take over the colony.
This parasitic ant tricks workers into committing matricide
Newly mated parasitic queen ants invade colonies and spray their victims with a chemical irritant that provokes the workers to kill their mother.
www.sciencenews.org
November 17, 2025 at 5:43 PM
artom.bsky.social
The late Bluethroat at South Gare today afternoon. It was feeding actively, but the weather over the next few days doesn’t look good for it. #NEbirding @teesbirds.bsky.social @nybirdnews.bsky.social 🪶
Bluethroat on grass Bluethroat next to a rock on grass Bluethroat standing on a small rock on grassland.
November 17, 2025 at 6:24 PM
artom.bsky.social
Bluethroat still at Cabin Rocks and Black Redstart at the boat yard, South Gare (2-3pm). #NEbirding
November 17, 2025 at 3:02 PM
artom.bsky.social
Durham hosts the Lumiere festival for the last time this weekend, but #TeamMoth can, of course, set up an exciting light installation on any night! 1 Mottled Umber so far, so the worst outcome possible is avoided.
A light installation of red glowing sticks at the Lumiere festival in Durham Moth trap with the actinic light on.
November 15, 2025 at 7:26 PM
artom.bsky.social
Firecrest at Putting Green, Hartlepool Headland. #NEbirding @teesbirds.bsky.social
November 15, 2025 at 2:52 PM
Reposted by Arto Maatta
matthewcobb.bsky.social
When you are really really small, flying becomes more like swimming, or guided floating.
arnoldtortoise.bsky.social Derek Binns @arnoldtortoise.bsky.social · 12d
The remarkable forewing and hindwing of a 0.3mm long Alaptus minimus wasp of the Mymaridae.

#entomology #Mymaridae #wasps
slide image of the forewing (above) and hindwing (below) of a tiny wasp
November 15, 2025 at 10:11 AM
artom.bsky.social
Glass is half full -vibes with the very nice (both the taste and the label) bird-themed bitter tonight😋. #birds #beer
A beer bottle on a dining table.
November 14, 2025 at 8:43 PM
Reposted by Arto Maatta
jostephen.bsky.social
Jackdaws by the north Winterborne chalk stream.
November 14, 2025 at 7:27 PM
Reposted by Arto Maatta
hannahmrowland.bsky.social
🐞🧬🦅 join us for a PhD position researching how birds evolve resistance to prey toxins. If you’re excited about wild chemical arms races, we’d love to hear from you. @shabmohammadi.bsky.social @livuni-ives.bsky.social @livuni-ismib.bsky.social @mpi-ce.bsky.social

www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
Scissor-tailed Flycatcher Eating Viceroy Butterfly https://stevecreek.com/scissor-tailed-flycatcher-eating-butterfly/
November 12, 2025 at 4:28 PM
Reposted by Arto Maatta
kerryeaglemee.bsky.social
The impacts of avian influenza are profound and far reaching. Hopefully 🇮🇸 Gyrfalcons will recover in time but this is near catastrophic #RaptorResearch 🌎 🪶

Avian flu taking a severe toll on Iceland’s falcon population
icelandmonitor.mbl.is/news/news/20...
Avian flu taking a severe toll on Iceland’s falcon population
The Icelandic gyrfalcon population has been hit hard by the ongoing wave of avian influenza in recent years. Once numbering around 2,000 birds, the population has now collapsed to roughly 500 individu...
icelandmonitor.mbl.is
November 12, 2025 at 12:38 PM
Reposted by Arto Maatta
durham.ac.uk
New research from our Biosciences Department and @btobirds.bsky.social shows that hotter European summers are reducing migratory birds’ ability to fuel up for their long journeys.

Read more: durham.ac.uk/news-events/...
#DUresearch
Hotter European summers put migratory birds at risk - Durham University
durham.ac.uk
November 11, 2025 at 12:32 PM
artom.bsky.social
The tail works like a propeller when there’s a treat on offer for a quick response to a recall. #labrador #dogs
November 12, 2025 at 4:12 PM
artom.bsky.social
Some quick record photos of the Pallid Swift at Whitburn this morning as it was circling over the houses in the village. A great find by @pratorum2112.bsky.social !
#NEbirding #RareBirdsUK @teesbirds.bsky.social 🪶
Pallid Swift against sky Pallid Swift Pallid Swift Pallid Swift
November 12, 2025 at 12:52 PM
Reposted by Arto Maatta
secondnaturemb.bsky.social
I really need to get to bed, but I just poked my head out the back door again. This is the view from my deck. All of this is looking south. When the geomagnetic storms are like this, the oval overshoots me and stretches into the US, which is why so many are seeing it tonight. #aurora
A bright red glow reaches up into the darkness, illuminating the silhouettes of tall slightly scraggly, spruce trees Swirls of green and red light sweep down from the sky, lighting up the forest and contrasting against the Stark silhouettes of trees Dramatic swirls of green and red light swirl down from the middle of the sky, starkly contrasting against the bear of Poplar, tall Spruce trees. Still more dramatic curtains of light sweep down from above in sheets of green and red. The tall bear poplars and spruce spires our starkly silhouetted.
November 12, 2025 at 5:16 AM
Reposted by Arto Maatta
edkeeble.bsky.social
Top detour thanks to Great Bustard Group on way back from some non-birdy doings down south- these two big boyz on Salisbury Plain standing tall in sluicing rain I guess so water doesn't puddle on their mighty backs #BirdArt
November 11, 2025 at 10:14 PM
Reposted by Arto Maatta
rayscally.bsky.social
RED-BACKED SHRIKE - An adult from the spring, watercolour on Arches paper for the cover of a publication. #birds #ukbirding #birdart
November 11, 2025 at 6:35 PM
Reposted by Arto Maatta
jonathanpdrury.bsky.social
Looking for a PhD opportunity? I'm hoping to recruit someone to my group at Durham University to work on a project combining fieldwork and labwork to study speciation in rubyspot damselflies: iapetus.ac.uk/studentships...

Get in touch if you want to chat!
The Durham cathedral A male smoky rubyspot damselfly
November 10, 2025 at 6:32 PM
artom.bsky.social
I found today a couple of Aspen leaves with apparent Ectoedemia argyropeza mines at Rainton Meadows NR. I’ve not seen them before and there are not too many records in VC66, so any opinions are welcome! #TeamMoth
A potential Ectoedemia argyropeza leaf mine in an Aspen leaf. The blotch mine is on a green island between the midrib and the first lateral vein. Grass is in two lines along the edges of the mine. Another potential E.argyropeza mine in a different leaf from the same Aspen. Swollen petiole at the base of the leave with an apparent oviposition site. Lower magnification of one of the leaves with the mine.
November 10, 2025 at 4:54 PM
Reposted by Arto Maatta
alanderminna.bsky.social
One of the reasons why Finland is the happiest country in the world is that the public broadcaster Yle sends a live feed of the first 8 weeks of a pack of puppies every fall. It’s already the fifth edition of ”Finland’s most therapeutic live feed”.

This is what I call value for my tax money
Pentulive 24/7 | Pentulive
Pentuliven pikkuiset kehittyvät vauhdikkaasti ja jokainen pentu on saanut nimensä! Kahdeksan viikkoa kestävässä suorassa lähetyksessä seurataan englannin­springer­spanieli Murua ja tämän pentuetta.
areena.yle.fi
November 9, 2025 at 1:09 PM