Simon Corston-Oliver
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simonhco.bsky.social
Simon Corston-Oliver
@simonhco.bsky.social
500 followers 520 following 300 posts
Linguist / computational linguist. Keen hiker and nature photographer in Metro Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. I mostly photograph amphibians, fungus and birds, or whatever comes across my path.
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Simon Corston-Oliver @simonhco.bsky.social · Sep 14
I led a nature walk today at Burnaby Lake, British Columbia. We heard Pacific treefrogs but didn't see any.

Then after the walk I saw this tiny guy (~2cm) perched on top of a black-eyed Susan in the rain.

#herps 🐸 🌿 #frog #treefrog
A lime green Pacific treefrog perches on the black center of a black-eyed center. The petal of the flower are a vivid yellow and glossy with rain.
simonhco.bsky.social
An agouti, a kind of large rodent. Playa del Carmen, QR, Mexico. Called 𝑠𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑞𝑢𝑒 in Spanish in Quintana Roo.

#mammals 🌿
An agouti viewed in side profile on the forest floor.
January 28, 2026 at 2:25 PM
simonhco.bsky.social
An anole in Playa del Carmen, QR, Mexico.

#herps 🦎 🌿
An anole sunbathing on a limestone rock. Possibly a copper anole. Confirming ID on iNaturalist.
January 28, 2026 at 2:17 PM
simonhco.bsky.social
A yellow-headed Amazon (Amazona oratrix), which I learned from iNaturalist is classified as endangered. AFAIK it's just the quiet and the food that keeps the birds there.

At the Xaman Ha open-air aviary, Playa del Carmen, QR, Mexico.

#birds 🦜 🌿
A yellow-headed Amazon parrot sitting on a perch. One wing feather is slightly displaced, showing vivid red, dark blue and black colors.
January 28, 2026 at 12:41 AM
simonhco.bsky.social
A wood stork walks past two agoutis (a kind of rodent) at the Xaman Ha Aviary at Playa del Carmen, QR, Mexico. All but one small area was completely open so I suppose the birds and agoutis could come and go.

#birds #mammals 🌿
A wood stork walks on a path past two agoutis. The mother agouti is nursing a youngster.
January 28, 2026 at 12:27 AM
simonhco.bsky.social
Look ma, no hands (or feet)!

Opposable digits on the hands and feet AND a tail that is strong enough to support the body weight. I was surprised at how much time the monkeys spent upside down.

Punta Laguna reserve, Yucatan, Mexico.
#mammals #monkey 🌿 🐒
A young howler monkey hangs by its tail while watching the photographer.
January 27, 2026 at 11:26 PM
simonhco.bsky.social
I was observing a troupe of howler monkeys but they were observing me right back. Punta Laguna reserve, Yucatan, Mexico.

#mammals #monkey 🌿 🐒
The face of a howler monkey that is peering through some leaves at the photographer.
January 27, 2026 at 9:40 PM
simonhco.bsky.social
An adult howler monkey resting. Punta Laguna reserve, Yucatan, Mexico.

#mammals #monkey 🌿 🐒
An adult howler monkey is hanging with its upper body and arms across a wide branch. The monkey is looking straight at the viewer.
January 27, 2026 at 1:35 AM
simonhco.bsky.social
A young howler monkey. Punta Laguna reserve, Yucatan, Mexico.

#mammals #monkey 🌿 🐒
A young howler monkey moving through the canopy on all fours.
January 27, 2026 at 1:32 AM
simonhco.bsky.social
A baby spider monkey at Punta Laguna reserve, Yuacatan, Mexico. My guide, Francisco, reckoned it was ~2 months old. It was foraging independently but sometimes hitching a ride on an adult.

#mammals #monkey 🐒 🌿
A baby spider monkey. It has very little fur and long slender limbs and digits. It is reaching up, about to move through the canopy.
January 25, 2026 at 12:54 AM
simonhco.bsky.social
Another spider monkey in Yucatan, Mexico. Hanging by its tail, scratching an itch and looking intently in the distance.

#mammals 🌿 🐒 #monkey
A spider monkey hanging by the tip of its tail. It is scratching its hind quarter and staring at something far away. Canon R5+RF100-500, 1/500, f7.1, ISO 10000
January 23, 2026 at 1:23 AM
simonhco.bsky.social
I was observing this spider monkey in the trees at Punta Laguna reserve, Yucatán, Mexico with a guide when it decided to come down to the ground right in front of us to gather some fruit. Metadata says 2.83-3.3m away.

#mammals 🌿 🐒 #monkey
A spider monkey looking right at the viewer, much of its body obscured by a tree. In its right hand (bottom right of the image) it is holding a yellow fruit that it had come down for. Canon R5 + RF100@100mm, 1/250, f9, ISO 16000
January 23, 2026 at 12:43 AM
simonhco.bsky.social
A jogger on the Burnaby Lake trail yesterday morning. We've been having frosty, foggy mornings but sunny at the same time.

#telephotolandscape
January 20, 2026 at 4:53 PM
simonhco.bsky.social
Chestnut-backed chickadee at Burnaby Lake, BC yesterday.

Canon R5+RF100-500, 1/320, f7.1, ISO 32000 (!)

#birds #birdphotography 🌿
A side profile of a chestnut-backed chickadee on a tree stump where someone has left some birdseed.
January 20, 2026 at 4:46 PM
simonhco.bsky.social
An American pygmy kingfisher in the swamp at the Sian Ka'an Biosphere Reserve, Quintana Roo, Mexico.

#birds #birdphotography 🌿
An American pygmy kingfisher sitting on a branch. Its head is turned, with one eye towards the viewer. The kingfisher has orange and white plumage on its body and a black head.
January 17, 2026 at 12:16 AM
simonhco.bsky.social
A group of mushrooms growing in the hollow of a rotting stump.

Sasamat Lake to Diez Vistas trail, British Columbia today.

#fungifriends #fungus 🌿 🍄
A clump of rather shaggy mushrooms, surrounded by dark decomposing wood.
January 16, 2026 at 1:59 AM
simonhco.bsky.social
Why did the tarantula cross the road at night?

Surely it was so we'd spot it and take a photo.

Near Puerto Morelos, QR, Mexico.

#spider 🕷️ 🌿
A tarantula on a sealed road, viewed from above.
January 15, 2026 at 1:39 AM
simonhco.bsky.social
I asked José Gill, my guide in the jungle near Puerto Morelos, QR, Mexico, "what are those green lights I see when we shine our flashlights?"

They were wolf spiders, looking back in the darkness.

#spider 🌿 🕷️
A wolf spider. Its tan coloration is a perfect match for the dead leaves on the floor of the jungle.
January 15, 2026 at 1:29 AM
simonhco.bsky.social
A ma'kech (or maquechs) beetle (Zopherus chilensis) about to go into its burrow.

Traditionally people glue jewels and a little leash to the beetles and wear them as living broaches as love charms.

Near Puerto Morelos, QR, Mexico.

More in 🧵

#beetle #insect 🌿
A glossy back ma'kech beetle heads to its burrow on the floor of the jungle.
January 15, 2026 at 1:16 AM
simonhco.bsky.social
Leafcutter ants working through the night on the jungle floor. Near Puerto Morelos, QR, Mexico.

#insect #ant 🌿
A trail of leafcutter ants. The leftmost ant is carrying a small leaf in its mandibles. The ant next to it is carrying a piece of leaf that is several times its size.
January 15, 2026 at 12:48 AM
simonhco.bsky.social
An bug in the jungle at night. Perhaps Savius jurgiosus, from my iNaturalist searching. Quintana Roo, Mexico.

#insect 🌿 #macrophotography
A green bug on a green leaf. The bug's color almost exactly matches the leaf.
January 14, 2026 at 2:09 AM
simonhco.bsky.social
Another shot from the night hunting in the jungle west of Puerto Morelos, QR, Mexico.

A Yucatán banded gecko (Coleonyx elegans), although admittedly not looking very banded.

#herps #gecko 🌿 🦎
A Yucatán banded gecko on a branch on the floor of the jungle at night.
January 14, 2026 at 1:51 AM
simonhco.bsky.social
Hunting for amphibians and reptiles in the jungle at night west of Puerto Morelos, QR, Mexico with José "Gill" of Gills Bioexperiences last week. We came across this Central American Gulf Coast toad (Incilius valliceps) within minutes.

#herps #toad
Central American Gulf Coast Toad (incilius valliceps) in side profile on the jungle floor.
January 13, 2026 at 2:21 AM
simonhco.bsky.social
Escape room at the New West sky train. Fun blend of writing systems.

#linguistics
A sign that has the Chinese character 出 (chū, out) followed by Latin script XIT. The Chinese character looks like Latin script EE rotated left 90 degrees.
January 1, 2026 at 8:33 PM
simonhco.bsky.social
More coping with a Vancouver winter by looking at old Hawai'i photos that I never got around to editing.

27 Dec 2019. Driving across Maui at dusk when I spotted this golf course(?) surrounded by mountains, all bathed in the last rays.

#travelphotography #landscape #landscapephotography
Shafts of sunlight bathe the mountains around a golf course. The golf course is illuminated. Stalks of a tall grass or possibly a crop frame the bottom of the image.
December 31, 2025 at 12:04 AM
simonhco.bsky.social
Fungus growing on a sawed log. Not sure of ID -- perhaps Turkey Tail (Trametes versicolor)?

Yesterday at Malcolm Knapp Research Forest, Maple Ridge, BC.

#fungifriends #fungus 🌿
A stack of more than a dozen fungi that look like steps. The fungi look like pancakes with rust-brown stripes.
December 30, 2025 at 10:58 PM