It's almost disrespectful to nature. She deserves better.

I work in the infosec space and we have tier-1 mobile carriers as clients, no FUD here. As much as I hate the huge carriers for their shitty business practices, I do want their users to be secure! I tried to package the information for the layman in my first comment, but I should've at least included a source, you're right.

Pine Grosbeak. Top is female or immature male, bottom is adult male.

Bingo, we're getting an irruption of Pine Grosbeaks this year. Not as many as 2 winters ago, but still a treat to see any at all.

People got SIM swapped as a result of this breach. Google itself was not breached, but TMO was, and Google rides TMO's network. Yes, no personal information was taken, but a phone number and SIM pairing is enough to swap a high profile target (and TMO's previous breaches have resulted in PII getting exfil'd). Verizon is also generally known as the hardest carrier to SIM swap (though not infallible). This probably doesn't matter for the average person, but if you have a job that grants you access to valuable information, or are another juicy target (journalist, lawyer, activist), you don't want to get swapped. Verizon got breached last year too, but they also have swapping protections built into their account security options.

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/google-fi-data-breach-let-hackers-carry-out-sim-swap-attacks/

Curious for your take on the breach though, since you didn't actually share any information. Let me know if I got anything wrong.

I'm not sure how the coverage is, but I wouldn't recommend Google Fi because it's on TMO's network and TMO just got breached, resulting in Fi customer data being exfiltrated by the hackers. Conversely, Verizon has much better security practices (though they are expensive and I wish I could leave them too).

If there's any species that can survive Vermont winters, it's the eastern gray squirrel.

Wow, how did I miss that story. Extra hilarious considering waterfowl are the only kind of bird with increasing populations, while every other group (shorbs, songbirds, waders, grassland, etc) are declining.

Hong's Dumplings, Pearl Street in Burlington.

Yeah, some of the hunters I know are also the most active and knowledgeable conservationists/naturalists. But I've also watched hunters shoot migrating shorebirds during goose season, been threatened by them while bird watching, and heard plenty of similar stories from others. Someone killed a Razorbill last winter, a species that we don't even normally get in VT and was a rare treat for the birding community :(

My ex's father was a hunter, and that was the best venison I've ever had. I'd never fault a hunter for filling their fridge, as long as they aren't filling it with eagle :P

Good point. I'm trying to be better about not lumping those kinds of people in with the rest of hunters, thanks for the alternate language to use.

As a conservationist, I just have to remind myself that the reason I don't see any good stories about hunters is that good hunters don't generate stories. I personally know some ethical hunters, but it feels like every year I hear more and more bad stories (or have negative encounters myself).

I hope the ethical folks in that hunter's poacher's circle ensure that justice is served.

I was visiting friends in MA a couple weeks ago and a grandma was my budtender at the dispensary I stopped at! She was incredibly helpful, we need more weed grandmas.

Ah, so NE LA instead of NOLA.

Same, I've lived in this state my entire life and spent a bunch of time peeping this year. There are reasons I continue to live here lol

Ah yes, the natural beauty of a...golf course

I have found Loons to be much less skittish than many birds (especially compared to ducks), but you're right, "friendly" is abnormal and it's especially strange considering the bird's position at the edge of the water. I hope OP considers going back to check on this bird and calls a rehabber if it's still on shore.

Weird to see one on shore like that, hopefully it's okay.

I don't even have a drone yet I'm just trying to figure out how people take good photos with them lol.

Which organization should I look to for Camel's Hump drone regulations? Is that a state parks thing, or FAA thing? I see it as "controlled airspace" on the app, but there's an option to request authorization.

This is really nice! I'm curious, for drone shots like this, do you hike to the peak and fly it from there, or send it up from the trail somewhere? I'm getting a drone soon and am enamored by photos like this.