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uncharismatic minifauna

@orrorin.bsky.social

430 followers 410 following 820 posts

queer cat person. nerding out on plants, insects, sci-fi & whatever else grabs my brain and won't let go. mad for moths, loopy for leafminers, & giddy about galls (pfp - Lorquin's admiral)

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uncharismatic minifauna @orrorin.bsky.social · Nov 24

Chuck really gets it.

(h/t to @entomemeology.bsky.social)

Portrait of Charles Darwin, accompanied by this quote:"I am dying by inches, from not having anyone to talk to about insects.."

Charles Darwin in a letter to his cousin William Darwin Fox, June 12 1828

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uncharismatic minifauna @orrorin.bsky.social · 6h

state or local*, but never work for the fed. all the political bs, and terrible pay.

*perhaps not in FL

uncharismatic minifauna @orrorin.bsky.social · 6h

my mom hated my taste in music as a teenager (of course). tbf, a lot of it was really bad. she liked the Beatles & the doors, I liked edm and metal

prudish, no swearing, no R movies, no dating

but man she absolutely loved "the nookie"

uncharismatic minifauna @orrorin.bsky.social · 6h

was trimming a cactus and ended up smooshing some of the white waxy scale on my hands.

and.. they're red inside!

"wow, interesting. I wonder if anyone has used this as a dye!"

uncharismatic minifauna @orrorin.bsky.social · 6h

way better logo

uncharismatic minifauna @orrorin.bsky.social · 6h

ok so this one is actually air force. it's a very lightly updated emblem from 1943. what sorta bird is this supposed to be?! and why is it throwing a rocket toward his feet?

a cartoon black bird holds a long gun in their claws. they have huge white eyes with small pupils. they have a big yellow curved beak. their wings are raised up over their head, and their wing tips are hands. they're holding a yellow rocket, ready to fling it

uncharismatic minifauna @orrorin.bsky.social · 7h

69th cyberspace squadron is a mega Chad, of course

an ultra buff viking/superhero. seems like it was based on a buff Chad sort of meme, but I'm not going to look that up. armor, winged helmet, cape, visible upper arms, gauntlets. he's holding a huge hammer with a four pointed star. he is flexing real big so you know he's swole maxing

uncharismatic minifauna @orrorin.bsky.social · 7h

23rd electronic warfare squadron. this one could be badass, but Medusa looks kinda scared. also, she only has five snake hair locks?

Medusa in white, on a blue background. she has five snakes emerging from her head. all the snakes have red eyes, and their open mouths show fangs and a long red forked tongue. Medusa has large red pupilless eyes, heavy arched and styled eyebrows, and wwied dimples or scars on her cheeks. it's kind of a drag look, but a drag queen would do it better.

uncharismatic minifauna @orrorin.bsky.social · 7h

1st space ops squadron. how do I alt text this? idk what's going on here.

uncharismatic minifauna @orrorin.bsky.social · 7h

has anyone talked about the goofy ass Space Force emblems?

emblem for the 25th space range squadron. it looks like early 1990s clipart, but this emblem is from 2021

an executioner(?) wears a tight, all black outfit. his black shoes are long and curved up at the toes, like a court jester. he wears a small black zorro style mask. he has a red nose, maybe it's part of the mask?
he wields a red handled, grey axe, with blood dripping off the blade.

Reposted by uncharismatic minifauna

uncharismatic minifauna @orrorin.bsky.social · Aug 5

deep cleaning is sometimes like the Mines of Moria. sorry you woke the balrog

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uncharismatic minifauna @orrorin.bsky.social · 1d

ended up being an informative and wholesome exchange, right here on bluesky dot com

uncharismatic minifauna @orrorin.bsky.social · 1d

some people go to therapy but still shouldn't have kids

uncharismatic minifauna @orrorin.bsky.social · 1d

80% ethanol + rancid fat is.. whew. I'm getting flashbacks of the time I had a long abandoned McPhail trap fall on my head.

bring on a fume hood and maybe a SCBA!

uncharismatic minifauna @orrorin.bsky.social · 1d

I mean, I'd try it

Reposted by uncharismatic minifauna

uncharismatic minifauna @orrorin.bsky.social · 14d

this is a sweat bee (Agapostemon sp?), visiting a bush sunflower (Encelia california).

these bees are considered 'common' here, but I've never seen one before.

I see so many honeybees, sometimes bumblebees. but other native bees? it's rare.

#bees
#pollinatorprotection

a small bee with a green head and thorax visits a yellow, daisy-like flower (Encelia california). the bee has a yellow and black striped abdomen.

top down view of the bee, the green head and thorax are a metallic, shiny green

side view of the same bee, showing its sturdy yellow legs.

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Reposted by uncharismatic minifauna

uncharismatic minifauna @orrorin.bsky.social · 14d

what you plant in your garden matters.

advocating for protected lands matters.

habitat restoration matters.

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Reposted by uncharismatic minifauna

uncharismatic minifauna @orrorin.bsky.social · 14d

Bees matter.
Pollinators matter.
Our food production relies on honeybees.

If you want to have some honey bees in your backyard, that's fine. But other pollinators are in peril.

butterflies, wasps, beetles, flies, etc etc.

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Reposted by uncharismatic minifauna

uncharismatic minifauna @orrorin.bsky.social · 14d

- almond pollination is an opportunity for bees from all over the US to exchange pests and diseases
- quite often there's pesticide exposure (particularly fungicides)
-colony collapse is attributable to MANY factors. in the US, I think the practices around almond pollination are a major driver

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Reposted by uncharismatic minifauna

uncharismatic minifauna @orrorin.bsky.social · 14d

- beekeepers bring in ~$200-$250 per hive for almond pollination services
- beekeepers make more money from pollination than they do from honey
- transportation of bees is hard on the bees. it's hard on the workers too.

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Reposted by uncharismatic minifauna

uncharismatic minifauna @orrorin.bsky.social · 14d

- California grows 80%+ of the world's almonds
- millions of honey bee hives are needed to pollinate these almonds
- there's an annual megaconvergence of honeybees in a few California counties
- not all beekeepers go to almonds, but it's lucrative

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Reposted by uncharismatic minifauna

uncharismatic minifauna @orrorin.bsky.social · 14d

ugh, ok. turns out I should have written this out as a draft, instead of piecemeal. looking at hive photos bummed me out and I couldn't get myself back on track.

a few points I wanted to make:

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Reposted by uncharismatic minifauna

uncharismatic minifauna @orrorin.bsky.social · 15d

here's a small example. they'd be on the lids and piled on the ground around the hives. had to scrape out and sanitize my boots.

a weathered wooden top of a bee box. dozens, or perhaps hundreds of dead bees are visible.

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Reposted by uncharismatic minifauna

uncharismatic minifauna @orrorin.bsky.social · 15d

I remember exactly where I was the first time I smelled dead bees. it had never occurred to me that there'd be a smell.

hundreds of hives in the bee yard, and thousands of dead bees pushed out of the hives. it's a lot of biomass.

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Reposted by uncharismatic minifauna

uncharismatic minifauna @orrorin.bsky.social · 15d

all those hives stacked together, under insect netting? you can't stop during daylight, they'll overheat.

even following that rule, many bees don't survive the trip.

the beekeepers would make their drops during the night, and I'd come along in the morning to inspect.

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Reposted by uncharismatic minifauna

uncharismatic minifauna @orrorin.bsky.social · 15d

beehives on arrival are a sorry sight. beekeepers load and unload overnight - when it's cooler, the bees are less active. safer to handle, and more likely to be in the hive.

while the bees are in transit, there's one rule: if the sun is out, you don't stop the truck.

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