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msanseve.bsky.social
If you’re lucky enough to be in the mountains, you’re lucky enough! Mountains studies researcher; Alpine Club of Canada member; Vice-President, UIAA’s Mountain Protection Commission; UIAA Climate Change Taskforce member; photographer; cyclist.
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Native #wildflowers are popping in the hills of #VancouverIsland. These two beauties were found in the #SookeHills over the weekend. Magenta petals of Satinflower - Olsynium douglasii. We are at the northern end of their range. Rustyhair Saxifrage - Micranthes rufidula. Our early saxifrage. 🌿

submitted 97 days ago • 1 comment

#FridayFieldwork winter fieldwork at Brady Glacier, Alaska: Winds so strong that tent nearly blew away, a multiday blizzard that kept us tent-bound where we ran out of food, and then a wee technical issue with the plane that was luckily fixed with bailing wire and a few ounces of good luck 🧪⚒️❄️

submitted 130 days ago • 1 comment

Red Crossbills - southern #VancouverIsland. The bills can cross left over right or vice versa. It seems to be random. The bills start to form when they are nestlings. It initially looks "normal", but starts to cross a few weeks after hatching. An adaptation for opening pine cones. 🌿 #birds #nature

submitted 132 days ago • 0 comments

"Awake! for Morning in the Bowl of Night Has flung the Stone that puts the Stars to Flight: And Lo! the Hunter of the East has caught The Sultan's Turret in a Noose of Light." The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam Mornings from the #SalishSea at the bottom of my road. #landscapephotography #VanIsle

submitted 133 days ago • 0 comments

@friel.bsky.social If possible I'd love to get added to the Naturalist list you curate. I'm new to bluesky, so don't know if this is the correct way to contact you. Apologies if I've overstepped. I am a keen iNat member www.inaturalist.org/people/103699 and hope to cross-pollinate with bluesky.

submitted 135 days ago • 4 comments

An eruption of Red Crossbills today on my walk in #ThetisLakePark on south #VancouverIsland. Years since I've seen so many. I think they "follow the money" (where "money" is their preferred food - conifer seeds). Maybe we've had good cone growth. The xed-bills help them pry open pine cones. 🌿

submitted 135 days ago • 0 comments

#MtAssiniboine: a fav area for me in the Canadian #RockyMtns. B&W images: 1913 & 16. I repeated them 100+ yrs later in 2017. Some things the same, but glacial retreat and forest infill require adaptation ( #forestfire, #water, #mountaineering safety). #ClimateChange #geography #geology #landscape

submitted 137 days ago • 0 comments

Did you feel shaking at 1:35 PT this afternoon in northwest Washington or southwest British Columbia? That was a M3.5 #earthquake located about 40 km to the east of Seattle. Felt as far away as Victoria (150 km) ⚒️🧪 earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/... Felt shaking? earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/...

submitted 140 days ago • 2 comments

“The bottom line: Climate change didn't provide the spark that caused each of these catastrophic fires in LA County. But it's making such fires worse.” www.axios.com/2025/01/12/l...

submitted 147 days ago • 18 comments

#RobertMacfarlane poses 2 questions we should ask of strong landscapes: "firstly, what do I know when I am in this place that I can know nowhere else? And then, vainly, what does this place know of me that I cannot know of myself?” (The Old Ways: A Journey on Foot) #landscape #photography #SalishSea

submitted 142 days ago • 0 comments

Sunrise on the #SalishSea between #VancouverIsland, BC, Canada, and the #Olympics in #WashingtonState, USA. "You only get one sunrise and one sunset a day, and you only get so many days on the planet. A good photographer does the math and doesn't waste either." #GalenRowell #Landscape #photography

submitted 142 days ago • 0 comments

Jan 15: wildflowers already blooming in the #SookeHills, #VancouverIsland😍! Spring Gold, Tall Oregon Grape & Rusty-haired saxifrage. The saxifrage is an indicator species here, signalling moist, shaded habitats on rocky slopes & cliffs. Its presence tells us about soil quality & moisture. #ecology

submitted 145 days ago • 0 comments

The first of the spring #wildflowers are starting to pop up in the hills here on southern #VancouverIsland. Spring Gold - Lomatium utriculatum. This member of the carrot family is always early. The dark green leaves of Calypso Orchid - Calypso bulbosa are out too. #hiking #nature #botany

submitted 150 days ago • 0 comments

Wishing everyone a wonderful solstice - Fiat Lux - Let There be Light!

submitted 170 days ago • 0 comments

Retired from #UVic's Mountain Legacy Project (mountainlegacy.ca). I do repeat mountain photography to deepen my own understanding of mtn environments. Huge change here. Ice will be gone by 2100. Photos: flic.kr/s/aHBqjBKy35 Location: tinyurl.com/y4rwfmpx #landscape #climatechange #geosky #glacier

submitted 171 days ago • 0 comments

A lovely hike in the Peak District: Derbyshire's Dragon's Back. The limestone reef knolls of Parkhouse & Chrome Hill can be slimy, but the route has great views. Amazing to think when on the Dragon's Back you are really on the sea floor 350m years ago! #landscape #geology #PeakDistrict #geography

submitted 179 days ago • 1 comment

Seriously, so what? Global heat content continues to rise apace; whether slightly more or less than 1% of that heat goes into the atmosphere vs the ocean in any given yr is basically irrelevant. As the IPCC says: every ton of carbon matters, every bit of action matters, and every choice matters.

submitted 179 days ago • 16 comments

😍 Gorgeous satellite imagery from @planetlabs.bsky.social's 2024 year in review. 🧪⚒️

submitted 180 days ago • 1 comment

“Also set out in regulation is a requirement for renewable energy developers to pony up ahead of time all reclamation costs through a mandatory security or bond to the province or to private landowners.” Looking forward to hearing how oil and gas cos will do the same. www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

submitted 182 days ago • 0 comments

#Toronto: Doctors Without Borders will be speaking at the @romtoronto.bsky.social on how climate change is affecting human health around the world. Learn about the communities we support who are struggling to survive and thrive. Book your free tickets: www.rom.on.ca/whats-on/eve...

submitted 182 days ago • 1 comment

"May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view. May your mountains rise into and above the clouds." Edward Abbey(1927-89) Sunset from #AlpineClubofCanada's Hišimy̓awiƛ mtn hut below 5040 Peak #VancouverIsland BC Canada #landscape #mountains #photography

submitted 183 days ago • 0 comments

"There are two kinds of climbers: those who climb because their heart sings when they're in the mountains, and all the rest." Alex Lowe - American mountaineer (1958 - 1999). en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alex_Lowe Sunset from Hišimy̓awiƛ below 5040 Peak #VanIsle BC Canada #landscape #mountains #photography

submitted 184 days ago • 0 comments

Alpine #environment in this part of the Canadian Rocky Mtns. A good view of the debris cone below where the big slab let go from Thunder Mtn (right) in Jan 2022. Looks like this mtn has been geologically "active" for a loooong time! Location: tinyurl.com/ye4tva7c #geography #geology #landscapes

submitted 188 days ago • 0 comments