Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Nick Mustoe

@nickmustoe.bsky.social

930 followers 770 following 390 posts

Interested in all things public lands and forestry. Avid reader on the topic of wildfire. Wildlife observer. Liverpool fan. Opinions expressed here are solely my own. 🎯 Dolores, CO

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Nick Mustoe @nickmustoe.bsky.social · 13h

It is raining gold on the San Juans. Probably peak color for the season as rain moves in this weekend.

Golden aspen and Engelmann spruce surround a dirt road.

1 55 280

Reposted by Nick Mustoe

Dr. Michelle I. Turner @chaco-arch.bsky.social · 3d

Some memories of fall in southwest Colorado.

A valley view of yellow aspen and green pine trees

Looking up at the crowns of the aspen trees

A dark and magical path covered with yellow aspen leaves among the white trunks of the trees

3 28

Nick Mustoe @nickmustoe.bsky.social · 3d

Aspen brought the fireworks on the Cumbres Toltec railroad line this weekend.

A partly cloudy sky highlights a rock face covered in conifer and bright yellow aspen.

A steam train changes ahead surrounded by yellow aspen.

The Los Pinos River flows through a canyon with dramatic clouds above.

Sheer rock wall serves as backdrop for orange-tipped aspen.

1 2 24

Reposted by Nick Mustoe

Eladio Bobadilla @eladiobobadilla.com · 5d

22 450 1.8K

Nick Mustoe @nickmustoe.bsky.social · 5d

For whatever reason, it took this tweet for me to realize that people looking for ivory-billed woodpeckers and those looking for bigfoots are searching for the same thing.

Alexander Lees @alexanderlees.bsky.social · 6d

I had missed this well written rebuttal on the purported Ivory-billed Woodpecker rediscoveries; these passages in particular are gold:🪶
academic.oup.com/bioscience/a... #Ornithology

They are reported not by random, casual observers but typically by select enthusiasts deeply committed and emotionally attached to the idea of the ivory-billed woodpecker's survival against all odds. These individuals have often dedicated years to the hopeful pursuit of clues supporting the species' continuing existence. Therefore, as one of the former searchers admitted in hindsight, “many searchers may have been subconsciously biased and, as a result, not sufficiently cautious in their identifications under field conditions” (Sykes 2016).

The purported sightings invariably occur in flooded southern swamp forests deemed by the dedicated enthusiasts as the ideal habitat for the species and less often, if at all, frequented by other observers (Hill 2007, Collins 2019). The vastness and inaccessibility in the descriptions tend to be exaggerated: “Alligators, wild boars, and venomous snakes are abundant, and there is a danger of heat stroke during the summer and hypothermia during the winter” (Collins 2019), being a description of an area of less than 100 km2, a mere 40 kilometers (km) away from New Orleans, the most populous city in Louisiana. The LSU Museum of Natural Science in Baton Rouge, historically one of the most vibrant ornithological centers in the Unites States, is about 145 km away. An area of 100 km2 would by no means be vast enough even for a single ivory-billed woodpecker, let alone a breeding population, to hide in for long. Meanwhile, there are abundant eBird reports of other bird species from the same area (Pearl River swamp), with the widest gap between adjacent observations of pileated woodpeckers, as an example, being less than 5 km (figure 3).

1 1

Nick Mustoe @nickmustoe.bsky.social · 6d

I take entirely too many chipmunk photos.

A chipmunk with a nut in its mouth this time.

1 5

Nick Mustoe @nickmustoe.bsky.social · 6d

It was a colorful weekend in Utah. I'm excited to get outside and see more fall color in Colorado.

Fish Lake Basin full of yellow and green color.

A brilliant orange surrounded by green and yellow aspen.

Bright yellow aspen among conifer neighbors.

Nick Mustoe @nickmustoe.bsky.social · 6d

I love the second one because it is like "you almost made it!" But, you didn't.

Nick Mustoe @nickmustoe.bsky.social · 6d

I live for these photos.

An RV taking up the whole road trying to turn around on a back road in Sedona.

An at least 30 foot long trailer stuck on rocks after trying to get around a MINING ROAD switchback.

3 5

Nick Mustoe @nickmustoe.bsky.social · 10d

I happily spent some time with a red-tailed hawk yesterday.

A red-tailed hawk sits in an aspen tree on an overcast cloudy day in central Utah.

A close up of a red-tailed hawk sitting in an aspen tree on an overcast cloudy day in central Utah.

Nick Mustoe @nickmustoe.bsky.social · 11d

It has been such a moody weekend in the mountains. Love it!

1 1

Reposted by Nick Mustoe

Ben Goldfarb @bengoldfarb.bsky.social · 11d

Here in Colorado, aspen fills a number of important roles in beavers’ lives — notably, it’s a source of food, construction material, and aesthetic enhancement for autumnal pond backdrops.

1 11 58

Nick Mustoe @nickmustoe.bsky.social · 12d

Like any good silviculturist, I'm spending the weekend tracking my old forestry treatments. Happy to see aspen regeneration taking off all over the place.

A forest full of golden aspen sprouts following a thin from below, pile, and burn treatment in 2019.

Douglas-fir and aspen canopy with significant aspen regeneration.

Nick Mustoe @nickmustoe.bsky.social · 15d

Being a Liverpool fan is never boring.

Men in Blazers Media Network @meninblazers.bsky.social · 15d

Ekitike's red card surely means Isak's first PL start is coming this Sunday against unbeaten Crystal Palace👀

GIVE US ALL YOUR PREDICTIONS 🔮

Send Rog a VIDEO or a VOICEMAIL and feature on Friday's Big Weekend Preview: mibcourage.co/bwps

Reposted by Nick Mustoe

Mary Gemignani @marygemignani.bsky.social · 15d

#Twofer #Tuesday
#SandhillsCranes #birds

I also saw 6 Sandhills in the sky at home here today with a large flock of Canada Geese right behind them. Migration is starting and I've been seeing a healthy flow of birds in the skies now.

Two large birds, Sandhills Cranes, gray birds with red crowns and amber eyes are in flight above me as I photograph them while I was visiting a large marsh.

6 28 230

Nick Mustoe @nickmustoe.bsky.social · 17d

I need this in my life.

Comics Covers @comicscovers.bsky.social · 17d

Dell Four Color 932 (Smokey the Bear: His Life Story) (6892)

Nick Mustoe @nickmustoe.bsky.social · 18d

My ebike is the minivan of bikes. It isn't the most fun to ride, but it carries everything I want with minimal fuss. I also ride it through the winter when I absolutely would be driving otherwise. Biking, like driving, can be about functional transportation.

How I went from an e-bike hater to a believer

It’s okay to do something just because it’s fun.

www.theverge.com

Nick Mustoe @nickmustoe.bsky.social · 18d

Between this and Plaud Notes, are we internet-ifying work? Nothing you say will ever be forgotten?

From the article: A mobile version is designed to be activated “with a single tap” so you can make sure the agent doesn’t miss out on “a quick hallway chat or a spontaneous in-person sync."

Microsoft is filling Teams with AI agents

A chatbot for every channel.

www.theverge.com

Reposted by Nick Mustoe

Dr Susannah Lydon @susieoftraken.bsky.social · 22d

JURASSIC NURSE LOG.

A 150 million year old Scottish conifer log shows the same processes of white fungal rot, insect boring, then growth of new seedlings seen in modern forests.

nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

Research by @sandyheth.bsky.social & co-authors.

a woman is sitting in a car with her mouth open and a man is driving behind her .

Alt: Ellie Sattler is astonished in Jurassic Park

media.tenor.com

4 20 90

Nick Mustoe @nickmustoe.bsky.social · 21d

I started digging through the first two issues of ephemeral magazine and folks, it is the best storytelling collective on the Colorado Plateau.

Cover of ephemeral magazine issue one: what are the odds?

Nick Mustoe @nickmustoe.bsky.social · 24d

Already planning to see sandhill cranes next spring. 📸

Janet Hill @saskajanet.bsky.social · 24d

As the wheel turns, we arrive at Sandhill Crane migration season. Few nature experiences match the thrill of seeing the mass migration of these characters #birds

A group of tall, elegant birds with red foreheads are wading in a prairie river.

Nick Mustoe @nickmustoe.bsky.social · 25d

There was a person today fairly convinced, if only for a moment, that I had a miniature pony in the back of my car. Fortunately (unfortunately?), it was only Paintbrush.

A rough collie named Paintbrush. Who may or may not be a miniature pony.

Nick Mustoe @nickmustoe.bsky.social · 25d

Requiring a chat with a support technician when you want to resubscribe is definitely an Adobe way of doing things.

Nick Mustoe @nickmustoe.bsky.social · 25d

That is pretty country.

Nick Mustoe @nickmustoe.bsky.social · 27d

Fact.