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Jer Thorp

@jerthorp.bsky.social

5.5K followers 830 following 2.9K posts

Artist, writer, educator, birder & nudibranch enthusiast. Author of Living in Data (MCDxFSG).

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Jer Thorp @jerthorp.bsky.social · Aug 28

My course about birding & creative code is also secretly (shhhh) a course about critical data thinking.

Which is one of the most important skills you could possibly cultivate in this age of AI and misinformation.

Autumn cohorts start September 23rd... join me?

jerthorp.me/learning

🪶📊🎨

Why birds & data?
To see the whole picture.
Data is a system, not a thing.
To truly understand data, you need to know how it gets made, how it is changed by the processes of computation, and how the choices we make in representing it affect the stories that can be told.
Birding offers a way to get intimate with this entire system. To watch as our observations become data. To see how they are recast and reshaped by algorithms and models. To explore the many practical and poetic ways we might tell our data's story.
Through birding, data is revealed not as static record, but as a living process of which we (and our feathered neighbors) are very much a part.

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Alex Wild @alexwild.bsky.social · 12h

A textbook image I did a few years ago showing a trap-jaw ant (Odontomachus rixosus) with her mandibles held open and trigger hairs forward, and then in the closed position.

The snapping shut of the trap is one of the fastest measured animal movements.

A split-screen image showing (top) a face view of an elongated ant standing on a reflective surfave, facing us with toothy brown jaws held 180 degrees open, and (bottom), the same ant with jaws closed, the bluntly toothed tips held together.

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Ainsley S @americanbeetles.bsky.social · 12h

Wow that’s like a plants level of chromosomal absurdity

Bryan White, MS Bio, MPH 🧬 @crvscience.com · 3d

Homie got 229 pairs of chromosomes

www.sciencedaily.com/releases/202...

This tiny butterfly has the most chromosomes of any animal on Earth

Scientists have confirmed that the Atlas blue butterfly carries the most chromosomes of any animal, with 229 pairs. Unlike duplication, its chromosomes split apart, reshaping its genome in surprising ...

www.sciencedaily.com

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Janet Hill @saskajanet.bsky.social · 12d

UPDATE: I saw it happen! At the Birds Canada research station at the tip of Long Point I watched an expert ever-so-gently and carefully put one of these tiny tags on a monarch. Let me walk you through the steps (1/4)

Janet Hill @saskajanet.bsky.social · 17d

So cool to visit the Motus workshop at Birds Canada headquarters. The Motus community is studying the movement of birds, bats and insects. This tiny radio telemetry device will fit on a Monarch butterfly 😲 #invertebrates #birds 🌿 www.birdscanada.org/bird-science...

Brown wood-sided building with a wi Dow and a door. Sign above the door says, “Motus Workshop and Research Laboratory”.

Tiny antenna with a rectangular box on the end. The whole thing is on an open hand and is about 5cm long.

Orange and black butterfly on purple flowers.

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Jer Thorp @jerthorp.bsky.social · 17h

It's a good season

Reposted by Jer Thorp

Emil L’Amour @vireosy.bsky.social · 20h

spiny dogfish

(Swim On 5, 2019) #art #sciart 🎨🦑🦈

Illustration of a spiny dogfish and smaller fish swimming among stylized kelp strands, white lines of current threading around it and its surroundings.

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Bo Thompson @gaudipern.bsky.social · 18h

I read an article today that made me feel better about the world. RA Salvatore, a man who defined an era of D&D through his books, spends what may be one of his last books loudly reckoning with social awareness, privilege, and conservative revisionism. Good shit.
www.polygon.com/ra-salvatore...

R.A. Salvatore says an online fight about Colin Kaepernick became part of his new D&D novel

The legendary author talks about his inspirations for Icewind Dale and the fantasy he's reading now

www.polygon.com

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Jer Thorp @jerthorp.bsky.social · 20h

YESSSSSSSSSS!

I will buy the holy everlasting shit out of this book, and harass everyone I know into buying it, too.

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dan sinker @dansinker.com · 23h

Yooooooooooooooooo.

Gonna do a book.

Journalist, podcast creator, and Punk Planet founder Dan Sinker's I HATE THOSE MASKED BASTARDS!: Terror, Truth, and the Editor Who Took on the Klan, a narrative account of crusading journalist George Dale, who faced off against a powerful, ascendant Klan movement in 1920s Indiana, and who serves as a model of journalistic integrity and defiance in the face of fascism, to Eric Kerl and Katy O'Donnell at Haymarket, at auction, by David Patterson at Stuart Krichevsky Agency (NA).

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Sarah Gilman @sarahmgilman.bsky.social · 1d

Holy wow, y'all! I just finished and installed my very first mural! You can find these mountain bluebirds, against a backdrop of the Okanogan Highlands, on the main drag in Tonasket, WA, on the side of the Ziply fiber building!

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michael lascarides @mlascarides.bsky.social · 1d

A lovely thing about the state of Wellington birding is that there's a large predator-free reserve (visitzealandia.com) established a couple of decades ago right in the centre of town. So a bunch of species have recently reappeared on the parliament grounds, especially the kākā (big parrots).

Zealandia Te Māra a Tāne | Wildlife Sanctuary in Wellington

Discover how conservation and tourism work hand in hand at Zealandia. Wander forest trails, spot rare wildlife, and support conservation.

visitzealandia.com

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Jer Thorp @jerthorp.bsky.social · 1d

If you have any other suggestions, please let me know, but so far the featured spots in Jer's Guide To Birding In World Capitols go to:

Brazil
Australia
Japan
India
The U.S.A.

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Jer Thorp @jerthorp.bsky.social · 1d

The Parliament of South Africa is in Cape Town.

Cape Town is a very good place for birds.

But the list here is a little disappointing with 64 species. Do better, South African bureaucrats.

C+

ebird.org/hotspot/L135...

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Jer Thorp @jerthorp.bsky.social · 1d

🇧🇷 Let's get back into the big leagues.

The Palácio do Planalto in Brasilia is an architectural marvel AND has a nearby hotspot with 238 species.

Let's face it, if you have a horned sungem at your capitol you're probably going to win the contest.

A+++++++++++++

ebird.org/hotspot/L460...

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Jer Thorp @jerthorp.bsky.social · 1d

🇵🇪 We're struggling a bit here in South America.

The Palacio de Gobierno in Lima, Peru has some lawns and some flower beds but only 36 species of bird.

BUT one of them is a booby. And another is a hooded siskin, which I'd be right chuffed to see.

B-

ebird.org/hotspot/L525...

Jer Thorp @jerthorp.bsky.social · 1d

🇨🇱 The Palacio de La Moneda in Santiago is the seat of Chile's executive branch.

There are eBird hotspots on either side of it, totaling 18 species.

The list is pretty much as "meh" as a list can be with a caracara on it.

C-

Jer Thorp @jerthorp.bsky.social · 1d

🇨🇴 Colombia has the most species of bird in any country in the world but...

If you go there maybe don't bird at the Capitolio Nacional in Bogotá.

8 species.

Grade: D

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Jer Thorp @jerthorp.bsky.social · 1d

🇮🇳 The Parliament of India is in New Delhi.

If you're thinking "I bet there are a lot of great birds there" you're 100% fucking right.

The India Gate hotspot has 158 species.

A+++++

ebird.org/hotspot/L448...

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Prof. EAGZ @emmmilygz.bsky.social · 2d

Belmopan, Belize, near the Assembly building: 249 species incl the Green-breasted Mango, Red-lored Amazon, Crested Caracara, four vultures, and a toucan.

Just saying.

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Alex Brown 🇵🇸 (they/them) @bookjockeyalex.bsky.social · 2d

Reminder from your resident high school lubrarian: if you plan to do a Banned Books Week display and programming, prioritize living marginalized authors. Use this time to help those who need it the most.

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Steam Elephant @steamelephant.bsky.social · 2d

The Houses of Parliament in London have breeding peregrine falcons nesting in the building!

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Jer Thorp @jerthorp.bsky.social · 2d

🇳🇿 The New Zealand Parliament (Pāremata Aotearoa) is in Wellington.

There's not a lot of green space around.

The closest hotspot has just 37 species. But every bird here is rad?

C+

ebird.org/hotspot/L601...

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Jer Thorp @jerthorp.bsky.social · 2d

🇦🇺 The Parliament of Australia is in Canberra and even just putting it in this list seems pretty unfair to all of the other countries.

88 species, and two of them have the word "superb" in their names.

A++

ebird.org/hotspot/L232...

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Jer Thorp @jerthorp.bsky.social · 2d

This one has 82 species:

ebird.org/hotspot/L205...

Daurian redstart, Japanese pygmy woodpecker, smew, mandarin duck.

I would 100% bird here.

A+.

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Jer Thorp @jerthorp.bsky.social · 2d

This list is more boring than I thought it might be. Let's cast our net a bit further.

🇯🇵 The Imperial Palace in Tokyo is close enough to the National Diet Building that it counts and has a nice grounds with lots of trees.

Which you can't go into.

But there are a bunch of hotspots around the moat.

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Jer Thorp @jerthorp.bsky.social · 2d

🇳🇱 The Binnenhof is where the Dutch Parliament is located.

The eBird hotspot there has 65 species.

It's a pretty alright list, with some waterbirds and common European garden birds.

Solid B.

ebird.org/hotspot/L887...

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