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David C. Simon

@davidcsimon.bsky.social

2.4K followers 270 following 1.3K posts

Australian artist, writer, wildlife photographer, dungeon master, and bird-nerd. Autistic and depressed, but video games help. All photos are my own unless otherwise credited. All subjects are wild and living unless otherwise noted. No AI please.

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David C. Simon @davidcsimon.bsky.social · 6h

I found a family of Welcome Swallows - two adults and two juveniles - just down to road from my home.
#birds

Photograph of a juvenile Welcome Swallow perched on a powerline. Its colouration is dull compared to an adult, with a ruddy throat and shoulders, mottled white breast, and dark head.

Photograph of four Welcome Swallows, two perched on a power line, two in flight (one of which is coming in to land). The perched birds are adults and the ones in flight are juveniles.

Photograph of two Welcome Swallows on a powerline. The left individual is juvenile, the right is mature with richer shades of orange, blue, black and white.

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David C. Simon @davidcsimon.bsky.social · 1d

Our garden exploded with Bogong Moths last night.
#insects #invertebrates

Macro photograph of a Bogong Moth peeking around the edge of a green leaf against a black background. The moth's dark eyes are reflecting the camera's flash as a large red faceted circle, and its antennae are distinctly frilly.

Wider angle of a different Bogong Moth, top-down view showing the entire animal perched on a fern front. Its distinctive wing patterns are clearly visible - a brownish bark-like texture with two dark streaks running through light splotches.

Macro photograph of yet another Bogong, close-up on its face and upper torso. The many fine hairs on its body are easily discernible, and it's clear that they are speckled in brown orange and white, despite looking uniformly brown from a distance.

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David C. Simon @davidcsimon.bsky.social · 1d

PS: This week's earworm is "I Am Gonna Claw Out Your Eyes And Drown You To Death"

David C. Simon @davidcsimon.bsky.social · 1d

I reached the ending credits on HADES II last night and the entire experience was an utter delight.
I admit, however, that I had to active God mode because I'm not as good at video games as I used to be.

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David C. Simon @davidcsimon.bsky.social · 2d

I am spending way too much time in 2025 looking for alternatives to software/services that used to be excellent but have been undermined by idiot executives.

David C. Simon @davidcsimon.bsky.social · 2d

Are there any Spotify alternatives that let you discover new music while also playing local files and syncing across devices?

Some of my favourite tracks can't be streamed anywhere :/

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David C. Simon @davidcsimon.bsky.social · 2d

Eastern Spinebill enjoying our callistemon.
#birds

Photograph of a small honeyeater perched on a thin callistemon (bottlebrush tree) branch ending in a bright red flower resembling a bottlebrush. The bird is orange, black, and white, with a long curved black beak. Its red eyes are as bright as the flower.

As before, but a tighter crop, and the bird now has its beak buried in the flower as it drinks nectar. With the light at this angle the crown of its seemingly black head shines with iridescence.

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Reposted by David C. Simon

David C. Simon @davidcsimon.bsky.social · 3d

The Gang-gang gang returned!
#birds

Photograph of a young male Gang-gang Cockatoo lit by the sun, portrait from the breast up. It is a grey cockatoo with splashes of yellow, white, and orange. Its head and crest still have only some of its mature red feathers, showing that it's a young male.

Same species, different individual. Full-body photo of the cockatoo on a powerline, legs gripping it awkwardly as it tries to balance. This one has even less red on its head, and looks a little scruffier overall. Its head is turned to the same as it looks at the viewer.

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David C. Simon @davidcsimon.bsky.social · 3d

The Gang-gang gang returned!
#birds

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David C. Simon @davidcsimon.bsky.social · 3d

I haven't been able to find the nest, but some Striated Thornbills kept tabs on me while I search the garden, so it may well be theirs.
#birds

Photograph of a Striated Thornbill - a very small passerine bird - perched on thin bare branches. The bird is shades of brown and olive with distinctive white striations on its face and breast.

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David C. Simon @davidcsimon.bsky.social · 5d

TINY EGG!!!
I found this fragment in my garden while looking for spiders last night. I'm fairly confident it's a Thornbill, but I couldn't say what species for sure (We have Brown, Yellow, and Striated Thornbills here).
#birds

Photograph of a fragment of a small egg, representing one end of the full shell. It is light brown/beige with sparse small red freckles. The egg is resting in the palm of the photographer's hand, and is narrower than his index finger.

Close up on the shell fragment, clearly showing that the red freckles are part of the egg's colouration, not specks of dirt.

The same shell fragment on lined paper next to a metal ruler showing it to be approximately 1.4cm long.

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Reposted by David C. Simon

David C. Simon @davidcsimon.bsky.social · 7d

A Laughing Kookaburra dropped by briefly.
#birds

Photograph of a Laughing Kookaburra, a large Kingfisher in white and brown with light blue patches on its wings and bright orange bands on its tail, perched on a power line. It is facing to the left of the viewer, leaning forward with its tail raised at 90 degrees to its body as it tries to balance on the wire. Its head is slightly turned to look at the viewer as if surprised to see them.

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David C. Simon @davidcsimon.bsky.social · 7d

A Laughing Kookaburra dropped by briefly.
#birds

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David C. Simon @davidcsimon.bsky.social · 7d

Ahh, but how many people-actors are happy to work for obscene quantities of electricity?

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Reposted by David C. Simon

Joseph Fink @planetoffinks.bsky.social · 7d

correct. Every part of the story is a lie to pump up some shitty little start up

Cat Manning @catacalypto.bsky.social · 7d

I’m not talking about the “AI “actress”” thing because it is so clearly an astroturfed non-story which only benefits from people taking it seriously, even as outrage / distaste. It does not exist. It *will* not exist, at least as executed by these people. I refuse to fall for it.

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Reposted by David C. Simon

David C. Simon @davidcsimon.bsky.social · 8d

Crimson Rosella in the late afternoon sun.
#birds

Photograph of a small bright red parrot with blue and black wings and tail feathers, and blue cheeks. It is perched on a twisty eucalypt branch with out of focus leaves and sky in the background. The bird is facing the sun, which is creating a hilight in the bird's eye.

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David C. Simon @davidcsimon.bsky.social · 8d

Crimson Rosella in the late afternoon sun.
#birds

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Reposted by David C. Simon

David C. Simon @davidcsimon.bsky.social · 9d

Some Gang-gang Cockatoos visited yesterday!
It's a small flock of mostly immature males who grouped together after they were weened last Summer.
They're the local Gang-gang gang.
#birds

Photograph of a Gang-gang Cockatoo on a bare branch looking at the viewer. It's a small cockatoo (Galah-sized), mostly dark grey but with lots of yellow, orange, and green streaks and spots on its breast and belly. Its head still only has the first traces of its mature red plumage, mostly on the crest.

Same species, different individual, close-up focusing on the face from the shoulders up. This one has a little more red on the head and crest, as well a patches of red starting to appear around its eyes and under its cheek.

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David C. Simon @davidcsimon.bsky.social · 9d

Some Gang-gang Cockatoos visited yesterday!
It's a small flock of mostly immature males who grouped together after they were weened last Summer.
They're the local Gang-gang gang.
#birds

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David C. Simon @davidcsimon.bsky.social · 9d

It turns out this is probably Australomisidia kangarooblaszaki, and *not* Lozenge-shaped Crab Spider. The species was only described in 2008!

No, I don't know why it's called "Kangaroo Blaszaki".

David C. Simon @davidcsimon.bsky.social · Apr 18

Lozenge-shaped Crab Spider!
(silly name for a beautiful creature)
#spiders

Photograph of a small spider on a green leaf. It is light tan/brown with cream and dark brown spots. I guess its abdomen is kind of lozenge-shaped, but lozenges come in many shapes, and yes I do mean the tablets not the actual rhomboid shape because that's just a diamond and the abdomen is definitely not a diamond. Can we come up with a better name for this sweet little spider please?

Same subject, front view. It is looking directly at the camera with its four forward-facing eyes. From this angle its obvious that its pedipalps are quite large, suggesting that it's a male.

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Reposted by David C. Simon

David C. Simon @davidcsimon.bsky.social · 10d

Some Australian King Parrots from around my garden this week.
#birds

Photograph of an Australian King parrot in a tree surrounded by leaves, telephoto with the bird mostly filling the frame. The bird is green with bright red "pants", a blue back, and a bluish tint to some of its long tail feathers. It is reach up and nibbling on a leaf.

Same subject, different individual with a more yellow/orange beak. Frame from the belly up lit by the late afternoon sun against a bokeh background.

Same species but a male, with the bright red pants extending all the up to and covering the head. it is sitting in a Flame Tree surrounded by broad green leaves.

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David C. Simon @davidcsimon.bsky.social · 10d

This is not a debate. Don't use AI. I'll block you if I see you doing it again.

David C. Simon @davidcsimon.bsky.social · 10d

Games are art.
But not all art is good, and no art has universal appeal.
Many of the great masters of painting are best known for their derivative fan art.
You don't have to like it for it to be art.

David C. Simon @davidcsimon.bsky.social · 10d

Please don't use - and especially don't rely on - Google AI (or any other AI based search engines/summaries). They're unreliable, built on theft, bad for the environment, and will straight up invent plausible-sounding answers if they can't find any relevant work to plagiarise.

David C. Simon @davidcsimon.bsky.social · 10d

Some Australian King Parrots from around my garden this week.
#birds

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