Tessera

Rae Spencer

@raespencer.bsky.social

Writer. Reader. Quote hoarder. Easily distracted by cats and shiny objects. Often anxious, sometimes depressed, always awkward. she/her raespencer.com

124 Posts98 Follower 219 Folgt

Library of Congress @librarycongress.bsky.social · last mo.

The Library is devastated to learn of the passing of Dolly Parton, a music legend and titan of children's literacy. Her Imagination Library program has earned multiple Library Literacy Awards and, in 2018, she visited us to donate its 100 millionth book to our collection and host a story time. 🦋❤️

Dolly Parton reads to children in the Library’s Great Hall in 2018. Photo by Shawn Miller.

Rae Spencer @raespencer.bsky.social · 2mo ago

More archive-clearing blog work. 🪶 #HouseWrens #suburbanbirds #suburbanwildlife raespencer.com/2026/07/29/t...

The Silence of the Wrens

I’m a fan of wrens, in general, and House Wrens, in particular. Busy, grumpy, and brash, these little birds make a big presence in the yard. The yard’s House Wrens are attentive and pro…

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Rae Spencer @raespencer.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Current read, excerpt. The author is describing his horror of insects: "Their angular limbs, their jerky movements, their dry, metallic noises, all suggest either machines that have come to life or life degenerating into mechanism." (p. 8) And then comes the following:

Rae Spencer @raespencer.bsky.social · 3mo ago

These photos didn't make the Mississippi Kite blog post, for various reasons, but I didn't want to seal them up in the archive without sharing. 🪶 This first photo sort-of (kind-of maybe?) fits the #bestsideeye theme of the day? #MississippiKite

Photo of a Mississippi Kite soaring overhead against a background of blue-gray sky. The kite's head is turned, and its right eye appears to be looking toward the camera's lens. This mid-sized falcon-type bird has dark eyes, a short and sharp raptor's beak, and white feathers over its face and body, with darker wing and tail feathers. In this photo, the long wings are fully extended, showing that a few of the primary feathers are irregular in length, compared to the rest. At least two tail feathers appear to be missing, as well. I take these feather irregularities as signs of recent molting.

Rae Spencer @raespencer.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Still archiving. Mississippi Kites over the yard, last summer, eating cicadas and dodging crows. 🪶 (Please tell me that I got the ID right? These are #MississippiKites?) raespencer.com/2026/07/09/m...

Mississippi Kites Dining on Cicadas (while flying over Virginia Suburbs)

Last summer, during cicada season, I saw my first ever Mississippi Kite(s). A Mississippi Kite entering the yard’s airspace. (July 30, 2025) (At least, I believe these birds were Mississippi …

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Rae Spencer @raespencer.bsky.social · 3mo ago

A few more photos of the #TuftedTitmouse nest box. (For various reasons, these didn't make the blog post...) 🪶

An adult Tufted Titmouse bird leaps from the entry hole of its nest box. The small gray bird is captured mid-leap, wings still folded to its sides, feet still clasping the lip of the entry hole, and gaze focused forward.

Rae Spencer @raespencer.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Blog news: interrupting the Mallard series for Project Desktop Decongestion. (My laptop's memory is full...) The first installment is #TuftedTitmouse nests. Stop by for a look and a listen...photos/videos/audio of nestlings! 🪶 raespencer.com/2026/07/05/i...

If you build it [the Tufted Titmouse] will come

Alternate title: Interrupting the Mallard series for desktop-clearing updates from the yard. The yard has always enjoyed regular Tufted Titmouse traffic, but none have stopped to nest. Until now. P…

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Rae Spencer @raespencer.bsky.social · 4mo ago

Reposting this new chapter of my Mallard journey. Remembering the 🪶 this time! #birds #wildlife #history raespencer.com/2026/05/18/f...

Focusing on Mallards Part VIII: Game markets in the late 19th century—fast transportation and cold storage

It may be that when the law was enacted, that no such thing was contemplated as that game, killed in the autumn of one year, could be preserved, as in this case, so as to be sold a year afterwards …

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Rae Spencer @raespencer.bsky.social · 5mo ago

More Mallards, more court cases, more history. The newest chapter of my Mallard journey. raespencer.com/2026/05/18/f...

Photograph of a Mallard hen with her brood of downy ducklings, spring 2025. The hen is standing in shallow water in our small backyard dragonfly pond. Her ducklings are clumped together near her in the water, some looking toward her and others showing interest in the water and the stones bordering the pond.

Rae Spencer @raespencer.bsky.social · 5mo ago

Tiny creatures wriggling in the dragonfly pond! Initial excitement (maybe it's tadpoles!) shifts to woe (nope, it's mosquito larvae). Woe shifts to curiosity (why isn't the mosquito dunk doing its job?). Side quest unlocked! 🧪 #entomology #mosquito #backyard #pond #science

Macro photograph of two mosquito larvae. The larvae are 1/4–1/2" long. Their bodies are segmented with obvious heads and eyes, a prominent thorax, and multiple abdominal segments tapering to an apparent tail. They have delicate spine-like "hairs" along their bodies. Here, both larvae are curled into "j" shapes as they wriggle-swim through the water.

Rae Spencer @raespencer.bsky.social · 5mo ago

So, on the surface, the following encounter appears to be a mother squirrel moving her kitten to a new nest in a new tree... (01/16) 🦊

Photo of a pair of squirrels, one adult and one kitten, perched on the trunk of a tree. The tree's trunk forks into three smaller trunks, just beneath the squirrels, and a stack of sticks and twigs is wedged in the fork. The kitten had been hiding in the sticks, using them as a makeshift nest, but had crept out to greet the adult squirrel. (The sticks were not a complete, functional nest.)

Rae Spencer @raespencer.bsky.social · 8mo ago

New chapter in my ongoing dive into historical Mallard literatures: early statutory provisions for rewarding game informants (1739), funding game police through fines and confiscations (mid-1800s), and, in 1879, Illinois shuts down close-season quail markets. 🪶 raespencer.com/2026/02/05/f...

Focusing on Mallards Part VII: Game informants, game police, and the end of the game market

“Be it further enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That the several Towns in the Province shall have Power, and they are hereby directed…to chose and appoint two meet Persons whose Care…

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Rae Spencer @raespencer.bsky.social · 8mo ago

That feeling when you wait all day for a spot of sunshine to thaw your sap wells... 🪶 #BackyardBirds #BirdoftheDay

Photo of a sapsucker bird perched on the trunk of a backyard live oak tree during a spell of freezing weather in coastal Virginia. This mid-sized woodpecker has tawny feathers over its chest and abdomen, black-and-white speckled wing and tail feathers, and a spotty patch of red feathers on its forehead. Here, the bird's head is cocked so that it can inspect the bark with one eye, checking out one of its sap wells. A staggered row of sap wells is visible around the tree's trunk—these are small holes drilled by the bird (or by one of its fellow sapsuckers) during previous days or even previous winters. Some of the sap wells are weeping fresh sap.

Rae Spencer @raespencer.bsky.social · 8mo ago

Very cold in coastal Virginia. Like, spherical bird cold. Maximum coefficient of fluff, everywhere. Instead of bluebirds, the yard has bluebOrbs. 🪶 #Birds #Blue

Photograph of a small bluebird perched on a winter-bare limb. The bird's feathers are very puffed, as insulation from the cold, so that her body appears very round. I believe this is a female Eastern Bluebird. Her head is gray-feathered with a prominent white ring around her eye. Her throat and chest feathers are reddish-orange, and her abdominal feathers are white. Her primary wing feathers show a faint blue gleam in a shadow's low light.

Rae Spencer @raespencer.bsky.social · 9mo ago

Same bird, same setting, varying coefficients of fluff... 🪶 First, a low coefficient of fluff...

Photograph of a small brown-and-white bird perched, in silhouette, on a vertical stretch of tree trunk. The bird has a long-ish beak with a slight downward curve, suggestive of the nuthatch family of birds. In this photo, the bird's feathers are almost entirely flat to its body, showing a slender silhouette.

Rae Spencer @raespencer.bsky.social · 9mo ago

Blog housekeeping: made a page for the Mallard posts. I've been on a journey through the Mallard literatures, and the Mallard posts have become my "show your work" online notebook. Six parts, so far, with Part VII in production. 🪶 raespencer.com/the-mallard-...

The Mallard Posts

Content Warning: This page and the linked posts contain references to hunting, agricultural, and research practices of killing birds. This page contains a photo of a Mallard hunter with his kills. …

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Rae Spencer @raespencer.bsky.social · 9mo ago

Wait...is it really #NationalBirdDay? 🪶

Photograph of a small woodpecker peeking out from behind the trunk of a tree. Perched upright on a small-ish branch, the bird is mostly hidden. The woodpecker's visible feathers are black and white, over its face and head, and pale mottled gray down its chest. It has a stout beak and long toes with sharply curved claws.

Rae Spencer @raespencer.bsky.social · 9mo ago

I think cormorants look like they're made of heron parts cobbled together in duck proportions, with the leftover tip of a raptor's beak added as an afterthought. Plus, their tail feathers seem to be part of their landing gear? (Or, at least, their braking systems...) #BirdoftheDay #CaughtinMotion

Photograph of a cormorant landing on a small suburban pond in coastal Virginia. The pond has murky brown water that is ruffled by wind, and the background banking is covered by winter-bare trees and shrubs. Here, the landing cormorant has caught the water's surface with its tail feathers. The bird's large webbed feet are extended in anticipation of landing impact, and its wings are at full extension. The mid-sized waterbird has mottled gray and brown coloration throughout its plumage, and its hooked bill is bright yellow with orange highlights.

Rae Spencer @raespencer.bsky.social · 9mo ago

Today's #BirdoftheDay theme, #GoodLight, reminded me to pull this #egret photo out of the archive.

Photograph of a white egret gliding overhead in sunset light. The egret is gold-tinged by the reflected sunset. The bird's long legs are stretched behind it, its wings are near full extension, and its long neck is tucked into an s-curve. The background sky is cloudless and blue.

Rae Spencer @raespencer.bsky.social · 9mo ago

Stranger Things, Season 5. Thematic spoiler to follow, but no plot spoilers (I hope...?) #StrangerThings #Review

Rae Spencer @raespencer.bsky.social · 9mo ago

Theme of the day is #BirdButts, so here's a Bufflehead butt. 🪶

Photograph of a Bufflehead duck diving in a suburban pond in coastal Virginia. Here, the Bufflehead is almost completely submerged, with only its tail feathers showing. The duck's strong dive has thrown up a visible splash. The pond's water is murky brown and slightly wind-rippled. The duck was diving near the pond's edge, so the tangled winter-worn shrubs and weeds clinging to the bank are visible in the background.

Rae Spencer @raespencer.bsky.social · 9mo ago

Just a perfect little Hooded Merganser dropping in for a perfect water-landing on a sincere little pond in the suburbs. 🪶

Photograph of a smallish duck (a Hooded Merganser) flying very low over the surface of a small pond in the suburbs of coastal Virginia. The pond's water is murky and rippled by wind. The small duck is dark brown over most of its feathers with white patches beneath its wings and across its chest, and the feathers on its head are reddish-brown. The duck's wings are extended in flight, and its tail feathers are spread wide. The water beneath and behind the duck is cross-rippled by eddies of air stirred by the duck's low flight, distorting the duck's reflection on the pond's surface.

Rae Spencer @raespencer.bsky.social · 9mo ago

My duck ID skills, in the field, end at Mallard/Not-Mallard. With internet guidance, I'm more competent. But this little flotilla has me stumped. I want to say Mallard, Ringneck, and Greater Scaup, though my confidence level is low...? Photo taken today at a suburban pond in coastal Virginia. 🪶

Photograph of six ducks swimming in a small suburban pond in coastal Virginia. The pond's water is murky greenish-brown, and the lack of water clarity is exacerbated by low light conditions (very overcast day). In the background, decaying branches rise from the pond's shallow edge, and the pond's bank is covered with winter-dull shrubs and weeds. The two largest ducks are typical Mallards—a male (green head and gray body) and female (mottled brown). Two smaller ducks, center frame, I'm calling Ringneck ducks in non-breeding brown/gray plumage(?)—both with white rings around their beaks and white eye-rings (though one has more prominent white markings than its companion). Two other small-ish ducks, left of frame, have markings that I interpret as scaup—brown bodies and darker heads, one with a reddish head and the other with very dark head feathers that look as if they might be slightly iridescent in bright sunshine. Both of the ducks that I take to be scaup have what might be very faint rings around their beaks, and the one with the reddish head has prominent white markings on its face. Both of these (scaup?) ducks have rounded heads and slightly high backs, which I take to indicate Greater Scaup (as opposed to the rather pointed heads and flat backs of Lesser Scaup?). All of that having been said, I am not confident in my IDs for the smaller ducks.

Rae Spencer @raespencer.bsky.social · 10mo ago

Our little backyard dragonfly pond tends to accumulate frogs each fall. Last winter's main attraction was a massive bullfrog who loitered until May. The fact that the pond's minnow population plummeted, while the bullfrog was here, is not a coincidence. 🐸

Photograph of a large bullfrog half-submerged at the shallow edge of a small backyard pond. The frog is surrounded by water lily leaves and mats of algae floating on the pond's surface. The pond's border is made up of large river stones, and a single damselfly is silhouetted against a reddish stone. Harder to see, in this photo, is that the bullfrog was in the process of eating a smaller frog that had been hanging out in the pond for a few weeks—three little frog toes are protruding from the bullfrog's mouth.

Rae Spencer @raespencer.bsky.social · 10mo ago

Writing about another writer's writing is, for me, an anxious process. My OCD circuitry is infinite loops with finite exit functions, and I get stuck in edit cycles with every project. But reviews are a whole different level of responsibility. (1/7) #books #bookreviews #writing #poetry

Rae Spencer @raespencer.bsky.social · 10mo ago

I have a confused relationship with these holidays. Stress, anxiety, nostalgia, overload, silly gifts, glitter, guilt, and that earworm jazz riff from the Charlie Brown Christmas soundtrack. I want to hide but also be present. Not wholly present, just present enough to breathe. #addHerper

Surface-level photograph of a mostly submerged bullfrog in our small dragonfly pond. The frog is resting with only its eyes and nose above water. It is surrounded by young water lily leaves, which are shades of purple and brown, along with mature green and yellow leaves, as well as floating mats of green algae. The frog's prominent eyes are opened wide. Its oval irises are brown and shiny, speckled with gold and edged with pale yellow. The frog's skin is smooth and dry, over its nose, and has a dark coloration with green highlights.

Rae Spencer @raespencer.bsky.social · 10mo ago

My childhood sky, in Tennessee, was filled with barn swallows. They nested in our sheds and barn, as well as under the bridge that spanned our little creek. Any birds hunting insects, mid-air and near sunset, were barn swallows by default. (Note: The birds in this photo are not barn swallows!) 🪶

Photograph of two small birds in flight. The birds have pale feathers on their chests and abdomen, with darker feathers across their backs and wings. In this photo, one bird is captured mid-dive while the second bird is veering into a steep climb. The background sky is a deep cloudless blue, making sharp contrast against the gold-tinged sunlight reflecting off the birds.

Rae Spencer @raespencer.bsky.social · 11mo ago

I was a ruthless plagiarist, in elementary, and spent years ransacking our children's encyclopedias. My favorite entry was the Roseate Spoonbill. I traced that bird so often it fell out and had to be taped back into place. All of this is to say that I love this image, despite its grainy flaws. 🪶

Grainy and poorly focused image of a juvenile Roseate Spoonbill. The long-legged bird has very pale pink feathers, a long neck, and a long bill that broadens into a rounded, flat "spatulate" shape at the tip, perfect for scooping through mud and silt underneath the shallow waters it favors for wading. Here, the bird is wading through a fall landscape of yellows, browns, and greens.

Rae Spencer @raespencer.bsky.social · 11mo ago

A long time ago, in a refuge not so far away, I happened upon an otter enjoying a dust bath on a gravel path... #BackBayWildlifeRefuge #otter #addMam

Photograph of an otter resting on a gravel path. The otter is looking at the camera, alert and ready to flee if I prove threatening. The otter has a long muzzle; short ears; a long, limber back; dense, sleek hair; short legs; and a long tail. The gravel path is bordered by mown grass and a tall verge of reeds. The reeds are casting long shadows across the path.

Rae Spencer @raespencer.bsky.social · 11mo ago

Archive housekeeping means rediscovering images that were saved for a specific purpose, then realizing I forgot the specific purpose. I remember every mistake I ever made, but I can't remember what I meant to say about this end-of-day silhouette of birds roosting in a pine tree... #addBirder

A flock of birds settles into a tall pine at Bay Back Wildlife Refuge in Virginia Beach, VA. Most of the birds, too numerous to count, have settled in rows along the tree's sparse branches, though some are still circling. The tree is part of a coastal tree line, and it has a tiered canopy made of long bare branches that splay into dense clusters of needles at the tips. The image was taken near sunset, so the trees and birds are contrasting silhouettes against a pale sky tinged with orange.