Rick Beato’s top 40 albums of all time: my take

May 27, 2026 • 11:15 am

I simply can’t bear to write anything about war or Trump today, though doubtlessly something related will pop up when I write the news for tomorrow’s Hili post. But until then I want to keep it lighthearted. The Great Duck Egress still weighs heavy on me.

It’s sad that I discovered Rick Beato so late in my life, as I generally share his taste in music, though I remain largely stuck in music of the Sixties through the early Seventies, while he’s much more open to newer music. However, his education and ear make him a great educator, and since I’ve watched his videos I’ve become a lot more attentive in listening to music, especially in understanding what  makes my favorite songs my favorite songs. His analyses of “what makes this song great” are my favorites.

In this video Beato lists what he sees at the top 40 “greatest sounding albums of all time,” and by that he means that all the songs on the album are good—but not only good but that sound good.  In other words, I think he’s choosing albums that show musicality throughout—that stimulate both the ear and the emotions.

I confess that I don’t know about a third of the albums he mentions, and I don’t share his opinion about many of the ones I do know.  Below I’ve put the 12 albums that I have heard and which I think deserve consideration for the list.  But many better albums are missing. For example, he gives the Beatles’ “Revolver” an honorable mention, but wouldn’t any of the Beatles albums after “Rubber Soul” be better music than Sufjean Stevens or Seal, good as they are? Apparently Mr Beato wants a variety of artists.

Note that the albums I list are not identical to the songs that Beato plays to exemplify the album, but, as he says, “Any of the songs from these albums are phenomenally great songs.” I am not sure I agree, though I do agree that his exemplar songs are great.

I list below the albums that I both know of and agree are excellent albums, but I would not say they belong on a list of best-sounding albums. Where is Dylan’s “Highway 61 Revisited”?  And Joni Mitchell’s “Blue” and “For the Roses” are, to me, at least as “musical” as “Court and Spark.”  “Aja” is a dubious choice for Steely Dan; I prefer “Can’t Buy a Thrill” or especially “Katy Lied.” But of course if you included the Beatles or others of that quality, the list would be heavily weighted with just a few artists.

My opinions are of course subjective, and everyone will see omissions on Beato’s list, or inclusions that don’t merit mention. That said, here is where I agree with Beato: these albnums are great as wholes—but not the best albums of all time, not by a long shot.

#35:  Bonnie Raitt, “Luck of the Draw”

#32: Tears for Fears, “Song from the Big Chair”.

#29  Sufjean Stevens, “Jacksonville”

#28  Sarah McLaughlin, “Fumbling towards Ecstasy”

#27  Chicago, “Greatest Hits”

#16  The Rolling Stones, “Let it Bleed”

#9   Seal, Seal

Here’s where I started agreeing more with Beato:

#6  The Beach Boys,”Pet Sounds”

#4 Steely Dan, “Aja”

#3   Stevie Wonder “Songs in the Key of Life”

#2  Joni Mitchell, “Court and Spark”

#1   John Coltrane, Jonny Hartman “John Coltane and Johnny Hartman”, which Beato describes as “Probably the most beautifully recorded record ever. “

Honorable Mention (there are several): one is the Beatles “Revolver”

I was delighted to see Coltrane and Hartman nab the top spot, and it’s one of my favorite jazz albums. To me, it is the greatest jazz album of modern times (by that I mean albums released after 1955).  But Coltrane/Hartman is jazz, not rock, pop, or folk like the others, and I’m not sure why Beato put it on the list. If you’re going to include jazz in the list of all-time best albums, well, you’re playing a whole new ballgame.

The entire Coltrane/Hartman album in its original incarnation is on YouTube, and I’ve put it below so you can have the pleasure of listening to it. It’s only 31 minutes long, so you have time to hear it today.  It’s the album I would give people who weren’t familiar with jazz to ease them into the genre, and I gave it to several women I fancied as a nuptial gift: the musical equivalent of a spider proffering to his swain a silk-wrapped fly.

Anyway, here’s Beato’s list. Don’t confuse his exemplar songs with the quality of the album itself; Beato is touting the album but selling it with a snippet of one of its songs.

Here’s the entire Coltrane/Hartman album. Coltrane is at his best, not too out there to put off newbies, but soft and ballad-y. Most of all his renditions blend perfectly with the smoky voice of Johnny Hartman, an underrated singer. (Hartman died at 60 of lung cancer, and I’m sure his voice reflected many cigarettes.)

Jesus ‘n’ Mo ‘n’ Hafiz

May 27, 2026 • 9:00 am

In today’s Jesus and Mo strip, called “peer”, Mo asserts that many Muslims have memorized the Qur’an word for word. The belief that the book is literally true is ubiquitous among Muslims; one poll by Pew showed this:

 Only Muslims in sub-Saharan Africa were asked whether they view the Quran as the word of God or a book written by men; across most of the African nations polled, nine-in-ten or more Muslims say that the Quran is the word of God, including more than seven-in-ten who believe it should be taken literally, word for word.

But how many Muslims have memorized the entire word of God? Mo implies many, but Jesus calls to his attention that there’s confirmation bias.

The strip came with a short note saying, “It’s called Hifaz,” which is the name for the practice of memorizing the whole Qur’an  And indeed, there are sites that will, for a fee, help you memorize the entire book.

Readers’ wildlife photos

May 27, 2026 • 8:15 am

Today we have some intertidal photos taken in California by UC Davis math professor Abby Thompson. Abby’s captions and IDs are indented, and you can enlarge her photos by clicking on them.

May is a great month on the California coast, with extreme high and low tides.   Here are some photos from the most recent, excellent, set:

Pollicipes polymerus (Gooseneck barnacles). I’ve shown these, and some relatives, several times before, but they’re amazing animals. In case you think it’s too many barnacles, Darwin spent eight years looking at barnacles.   “Originally planning a brief month-long study to establish his credentials in invertebrate zoology, he became deeply immersed and cataloged every known living and fossil species.”  (Google AI).  I’m not sure what the green is doing here, presumably just growing on top of the animals.   Some relatives of the nudibranchs stay green from what they eat, and retain bits with the ability to photosynthesize, most famously the adorable leaf sheep:.

Dendronotus venustus (nudibranch):

Paciocinebrina lurida (a snail):

Tonicella lokii (flame-lined chiton):

Genus Tegula (maybe) (another snail). There was a hermit crab living in the shell- I didn’t get a good photo of him.    I’m not sure the genus is correct, but the shell was so pretty I wanted to post it:

Nucella ostrina (Northern striped dogwinkle). About the common name—well, it has stripes.   And it’s a “winkle” (a word you have to love), or “little whelk”.  The dog part, I dunno.   They’re very common, and voracious. Some species of Nucella (not sure about this one) can be used to make a deep purple dye, which used to be hard to come by.  There’s a fun account of making the dye here, although I’m afraid many snails must have been sacrificed in the process:

Paradialychone ecaudata (worm):

Limpet, probably Lottia pelta (shield limpet). The little lacy edge is tentacles: “Pallial tentacles are tiny, sensory structures lining the mantle margin (pallium) of limpets. . . The tips and shafts of these tentacles are covered in dense tufts of non-motile cilia, which act as sensory receptors.” (Google AI):

Seagulls at sunset:

As always, thanks to experts on inaturalist for help with some IDs.   Camera is an Olympus TG-7.

Spot the tree frogs!

May 27, 2026 • 7:30 am

It’s been a long time since we’ve had a “spot the. . . ” challenge, but Robert Lang submitted one. His caption, indented below, tells you that there are three frogs in the photo. Can you spot them all? There will be a reveal at 11:30 a.m.  Robert wrote this:

It’s been a while since you’ve had a “Spot the…” photo, and I think this one qualifies. Here we’re looking for California Tree Frogs (Pseudacris cadaverina). The first one is obvious. The challenge is to spot the other two (total of three). This was taken in the Arroyo Seco in Southern California, on the way up the creek bed to Royal Falls.

Of course you must click the photo to enlarge it for starting your search.  PLEASE DO NOT GIVE THE ANSWER IN THE COMMENTS so that everyone can have a go without pointers.

 

Wednesday: Hili dialogue

May 27, 2026 • 6:45 am

Welcome to a Hump Day (“قۇمچاق كۈنى” inUyghur): Wednesday, May 27, 2026 and National Cellophane Tape Day, celebrating a luxury that’s been around For only 96 years.  Here’s how it’s made:

It’s also National Grape Popsicle Day (the best flavor), and National Senior Health and Fitness Day. 

Readers are welcome to mark notable events, births, or deaths on this day by consulting the May 27 Wikipedia page.

Da Nooz:

*Well, Iran is threatening to retaliate for Monday’s U.S. strike on Iranian missile launchers.

Iran deployed mine-laying boats in the Strait of Hormuz and flew attack drones near American ships, threatening actions that drew U.S. strikes early Tuesday, according to two American officials. Hours later, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps promised a “decisive reciprocal response” to any cease-fire violations.

The two U.S. officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss military matters, said the strikes came after the Americans observed Iranian forces taking several actions, including launching the drones and activity at missile launch sites. The U.S. military attacked Iranian boats and launch sites in what it called “self-defense strikes.”

The ratcheting up of hostilities after a period of relative calm added to the uncertainty surrounding negotiations for a potential peace deal. President Trump and his administration have continued to offer conflicting signals about the state of play, indicating over the weekend that a deal, at least to open the key oil and gas shipping lanes of the strait, was close at hand.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Tuesday said talks to end the war were in progress, and that a deal could take “a few days.” A day earlier, Mr. Trump said there was no hurry to reach an agreement, and the result would be either “great and meaningful” or “no deal” at all. Iran’s lead negotiators returned home on Tuesday from peace talks in Qatar, indicating at least a temporary pause in the discussions.

Mr. Trump has repeatedly threatened a return to hostilities while also pushing for a peace agreement. He has focused on a preliminary deal to reopen the strait, which Iran has effectively blockaded, but Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium and U.S. sanctions on Iran remain largely unresolved issues.

Iran’s supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, said in a written statement on Tuesday that the war with the United States had shown that American military bases in the Middle East are no longer safe.

From the Washington Post:

In a statement Tuesday, Iran’s Foreign Ministry condemned the attacks, which it called a “blatant violation” of the ceasefire, and said it would “leave no act of hostility unanswered.”

But these may be empty threats: so far Iran has not struck back. They know that the U.S. could strike Kharg Island, from which 90% of Iran’s oil is exported.  So far Trump hasn’t done that, as he knows how it would rock the world’s economy, but that would more or less destroy Iran’s own economy. The whole peace process now hinges on what Iran will do to its uranium; I have no doubt that Trump will not force Iran to stop enriching uranium in the future. As for the oppressed people of Iran, well, Trump doesn’t care about them.

*Michael Doran, a Middle East expert who teaches at The Hudson Institute, informs us “This is how the Iran war ends” at the Free Press, and it’s not a great deal for the U.S. But Doran seems to think that Trump’s approach is peachy.

In a conversation with a senior administration official over the weekend, the president’s thinking on the emerging framework became clearer. The president envisions a two-stage process. In the first stage, the two sides would sign a memorandum of understanding (MOU) focused on reopening the Strait of Hormuz under international monitoring. The initial agreement is designed to stabilize energy markets, ease military tensions, and preserve the ceasefire. In exchange, Iran would receive limited, reversible economic relief, in the form of oil sales.

The second stage would then shift to the core strategic issue: the nuclear program. As the official put it to me, “What we want is a commitment on the enriched stockpile” already in the initial MOU. Here, the administration would press Iran to remove what Trump has taken to calling the “nuclear dust”—the remnants of Tehran’s nuclear infrastructure and its stockpiles of enriched uranium. The guiding principle, the official continued, is “No dust, no dollars. . . we are not giving up anything until they give us something.”

This plan will likely devolve into one of two possible outcomes. Let’s call them the optimistic and pessimistic scenarios.

In the optimistic scenario, both stages of the plan come to fruition. An extendable MOU is signed in the coming days, reopening the Strait of Hormuz under international monitoring, easing immediate military tensions and allowing oil to flow normally through the Gulf. Iran receives limited, reversible economic relief. Economic desperation proves decisive. The IRGC concludes that partial accommodation is preferable to prolonged isolation and the risk of renewed American strikes. Serious negotiations follow on the nuclear file. Iran makes meaningful concessions on removing the “nuclear dust.”

. . . The odds of this happening are slim.

. . .In the pessimistic scenario, the first-stage MOU moves forward and the Strait of Hormuz reopens, but the second-stage negotiations over the nuclear remnants quickly bog down. Delay, mistrust, and tactical maneuvering place the negotiations on a road to nowhere, consistent with the pattern of all previous U.S.-Iran nuclear talks.

Trump has already demonstrated, through action rather than rhetoric, that he is not Barack Obama.

Even in this outcome, the United States would still achieve a significant strategic gain. The more relevant historical comparison is the post-1991 containment of Saddam Hussein. A weakened, sanctioned regime remained in prolonged friction with a U.S.-led coalition that retained escalation dominance and overwhelming military superiority. The military campaign would give way to a prolonged contest of pressure, deterrence, and attrition. But Iran now is substantially poorer, more isolated, and further from a nuclear breakout than before the war began. The U.S. and Israel will maintain close monitoring of any remaining nuclear activity and ballistic missile production, ready to react to any alarming developments.

The pessimistic scenario is not the administration’s goal but remains, in my view, the more likely outcome. Republican hawks will have far more influence over this process if they work within the president’s framework rather than reflexively opposing it.

But three things have to be done, whatever the outcome:

First, significant sanctions relief or direct economic benefits for Tehran must come only in exchange for concrete, verifiable concessions, not merely for participating in a diplomatic process.

. . . Second, the administration must detach Hezbollah and Lebanon from the nuclear negotiations.

. . . Third, the military threat must remain visible and credible throughout the negotiations. Tehran entered these talks only after suffering severe military and economic blows.

Yes, the “pessimistic” scenario seems more likely, and you could make a parallel with Gaza, in which there’s a cease-fire but no definitive end to the conflict so long as Hamas remains in power.  Likewise, so long as the present Iranian regime remains in power—and there’s every expectation it will—then a nuclear agreement won’t happen.  TThe new Big Lie from the Trump administration: “We’ve achieved regime change!”

*Over at It’s Noon in Israel, Amit Segal describes how Qatar (erstwhile home of rich Hamas leaders) is bribing Iran to accept a ceasefire. Remember that Qatar and much of its oil industry has been damaged by physical strikes from Iran.

It’s Tuesday, May 26, and imagine you are a small country surrounded by larger, far more aggressive neighbors. You have one distinct advantage: trillions of dollars in oil and gas wealth. What do you do with it? You could buy a massive army, but you lack the population to staff it. You could pay off larger powers directly, but that relies on their financial interests permanently outweighing their strategic ones.

So instead, you buy influence. You make yourself so structurally vital that the geopolitical cost of destroying you becomes prohibitively high. You build the region’s largest news network. You cultivate backchannel contacts no one else has. You make yourself completely indispensable by offering neutral ground to sworn enemies, and you host massive American military bases to physically anchor your security. Congratulations. You are Qatar.

But what happens when that meticulously crafted influence isn’t strong enough to stop a war? Suddenly, you realize that all the money in the world cannot intercept a missile once it’s launched.

That’s the question facing the small Gulf state today.

. . .Thrust into a reality where they are functionally powerless, the Qataris faced two options: pour their remaining resources into permanently eliminating the Iranian threat, or desperately hedge and promote a diplomatic solution in an attempt to restore the status quo ante, returning to an ecosystem where they can resume their role as the ultimate middleman.

Qatar has opted for the latter.

According to my sources, Doha is offering Iran a $12 billion “loan,” ostensibly earmarked for humanitarian purposes, as a sweetener to persuade Tehran to accept the current U.S. ceasefire deal. Let’s be clear: this is neither humanitarian nor a loan. It is a straight bribe. The Iranian regime is teetering over an economic chasm. Even if the U.S. lifts the blockade on Iranian ports, Tehran remains completely insolvent. Without a massive infusion of cash to act as a liquidity bridge, the regime will fall into the abyss. Qatar is stepping in to ensure they survive, providing the cash Iran needs to sign the deal regardless of whether Washington unfreezes Iranian assets.

This is hardly a new strategy for the Gulf microstate. During the war, Qatar offered $6 billion—funds effectively belonging to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps—in a direct bid to convince Tehran to halt its strikes on Qatari infrastructure. Truth be told, a $12 billion bribe is simply good economics; if it restores shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, the return to regular revenue will make that cost a rounding error.

Qatar deserves what it gets—at least the politicians do.  They have harbored Hamas while promising to facilitate negotiations over Gaza. And it’s likely that they funneled me from Qatar to Hamas in Gaza.  Sure, it’s doing what it must, but it has been hypocritical and, in effect, a sponsor of terrorism.

*More clickbait for me: an op-ed in the NYT by Maryland’s senior Senator, Democrat Chris van Hollen. And, like others I’ve featured, he gives us his take on “The hard truths my party needs to face.” Unfortiunately, the hard truths he floats are that Democrats must further demonize Israel and demand—wait for it—a two-state solution.

Democrats need to face a hard truth. While Republicans’ approach to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has failed, so has ours. The Democratic Party has provided reflexive and unconditional support to Israeli governments, even as their actions have increasingly undermined American interests and values.

For decades, we have called for a two-state solution, but we’ve failed to use our leverage to make it real. It’s past time that we use that leverage to end the occupation and achieve two states with full political and legal rights for all. That means withdrawing taxpayer support from Israel and conditioning arms sales.

More of my colleagues are realizing that the status quo is unacceptable. Forty Democrats recently voted to block the transfer of certain military equipment to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, compared to only 15 of us in April of last year.

To be clear, I support Israel’s need for security. But for too long most Democrats have unquestioningly accepted Israel’s argument that American weapons are needed and used solely for its defense. We have not yet fully confronted the fact that Israel has used its strength not only as a shield, but also as a sword to bury the two-state solution and advance the far right’s vision of a “Greater Israel.”

The evidence on the ground is overwhelming: Violent settlers in the West Bank have attacked Palestinians with impunity, and Israeli security forces are increasingly complicit. Israel’s de facto annexation of the West Bank has pushed Palestinians into shrinking enclaves. Mr. Netanyahu’s government has sabotaged the Palestinian Authority, which, unlike Hamas, has accepted Israel’s right to statehood. Anyone who visits the West Bank under Israeli occupation can see an apartheid system at work. Meanwhile, Gaza remains in ruins, the humanitarian situation there remains catastrophic and Hamas remains armed.

. . .Both Republican and Democratic administrations are responsible for where we are today. In his first term, President Trump moved the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem, implicitly condoned settlements and closed the Palestinian mission in Washington and our consulate in East Jerusalem.

President Joe Biden failed to reverse most of these actions, even as Israel elected the most extremist government in its history. Moreover, Mr. Biden de-prioritized the Israeli-Palestinian peace process upon taking office. And while he was right to affirm Israel’s right to defend itself after Hamas’s Oct. 7 attacks, he repeatedly failed to use U.S. leverage as Israel imposed devastating collective punishment on the people of Gaza.

These failures worked against U.S. interests. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has ensnared us in violence and caused instability throughout the Middle East. It has cost taxpayers tens of billions of dollars. It undermines our credibility, as countries see our unconditional backing of the Israeli government as inconsistent with the principles we profess to represent.

. . . Moving forward will not be easy. It will place the United States on a collision course with any Israeli government opposed to a Palestinian state. It will face strong resistance from many here at home, including the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, which has opposed any efforts to condition support for Israel. AIPAC’s influence in Congress remains formidable even as Americans increasingly reject its positions and its use of super PACs to pour money into elections.

This was deeply depressing even if you expect such mishigass from the New York Times.  How can Senator “Two-Sates” van Hollen not know that a) that solution is off the table. Palestine never wanted it, and now Israel won’t have it?  Netanyahu won’t be Prime Minister forever.  And doesn’t he realize, as anybody with neurons would, that a Palestinian state would not be governed by the Palestinian Authority (which has repeatedly rejected a state) but by Hamas, which most Palestinians in both Gaza and the West Bank favor over the Palestinian authority?  Look at Gaza: it was in effect a state given to Palestine by Israel, yet terrorists are still in charge there.

It’s deeply depressing that a Democrat would suggest this as a solution for the party, and I could never vote for someone as obtuse as the author of this op-ed.  I sent this op-ed to one of my Jewish friends, who responded this way: “ I’m completely alienated from the Democratic Party and the NYTimes. I consider this turn of events a personal tragedy as well as a national one.”   I share those feelings. 

*Trump is having a tantrum about the legislative and judicial systems trying to hold up the construction of his new “ballroom” on the former East Wing the White House (article archived here). As you may recall, Trump said the ballroom would be funded by private money, but has since asked for a $1 billion supplement in public money because the ballroom will incorporate “security measures” like drone-resistant construction and a bomb shelter (it is supposed to go six stories underground).

President Donald Trump has made little secret that his planned White House ballroom is a top priority, invoking the project more frequently than most other issues. And in recent weeks he has raged at anyone — including a federal judge, a Senate official and a local historian — whose actions threaten to slow construction

On Monday, the president shared on social media a copy of a legal filing that closely resembled his own words and contended that the weekend’s shooting outside the White House campus proved the need for a ballroom.

“Without the construction of this great Project, the President cannot safely conduct the business of the United States,” acting attorney general Todd Blanche and two other senior Justice Department officials lawyers wrote, urging a federal judge to dissolve his order that could soon halt construction. “This is a terrible, tremendously harmful case to the United States of America, and all it stands for!”

The filing also mocked the National Trust for Historic Preservation, which has sued to halt the project, claiming that the group had been “defunded by Congress due to a total lack of respect for them.” Trump posted all six pages of the filing on his Truth Social platform.

Trump’s ballroom project has embodied executive power and its limitations.

The president was able to rapidly bulldoze the East Wing last year, clearing space for his planned 90,000-square-foot addition. Trump has remade independent federal commissions — firing holdovers and installing loyalists, including his executive assistant — that have swiftly approved his project. He’s raised vast sums of money that he says can be put toward the ballroom’s estimated $400 million cost.

But so far, he has been constrained — barely — by the courts and Congress.

U.S. District Judge Richard Leon has twice sided with the National Trust, ordering a pause on the aboveground components of the ballroom until Congress formally authorizes the project. Leon also criticized the administration’s plan to use private donations to pay for the project, calling it a “Rube Goldberg” contraption that was structured in an attempt to evade congressional oversight. A federal appeals panel stayed Leon’s order and is set to hear arguments in the case June 5.

And Congress has so far not voted to authorize the projects. Last week, Senate Republicans revolted against a proposal to add money to a budget bill to cover security costs related to the ballroom.

Good fvor the Republicans.  Trump is becoming another Mussolini: he even stands like him with his head back and jaw jutting out. This latest movie is defying both of the other branches of government—branches that Trump apparently doesn’t recognize.  But if the ballroom isn’t built, then what? Will they put up the East Wing as it used to be? I don’t think so.

Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, Kulka showed up (Hili hates her):

Me: We’ve got a guest.
Hili: Ignore her.

In Polish:

Ja: Mamy gościa.
Hili: Zignoruj ją.

*******************

From Things with Faces (this was reportedly seen at New York’s LaGuardia Airport:

From Give Me a Sign:

From Cats Doing Cat Stuff:

From Masih, an MMA (mixed martial arts) champion was executed in Iran:

From Luana, an entitled child of an immigrant criticizes his country. That is okay, as we have free speech, but it does smack of ingratitude:

From Bryan, Dawkins explains evolution in a few minutes. (I don’t know the occasion.)

From the Number Ten Cat, who had a nice nap:

One from my feed. I still don’t know why cats knock stuff off counters.

One I reposted from The Auschwitz Memorial:

This Hungarian girl was gassed as soon as she arrived in Auschwitz. She was seven years old.

— Jerry Coyne (@evolutionistrue.bsky.social) 2026-05-27T10:07:52.797Z

Two from Dr. Cobb. First, a rare occurrence:

A livestream of a volcano in the Philippines captured a meteor crashing to Earth today. What are the odds?Mayon Volcano, Location: Albay, Luzon, Philippines

— Michael LaFrance (@mlafrance.bsky.social) 2026-05-25T18:13:19.691Z

And this butterfly is not the last of its species, but the last of its subspecies.

The last known caterpillar that could have become a Sacramento Mountains checkerspot butterfly has died.The term for an animal that is the sole survivor of a species is endling. In a sense, we are all endlings—each the last of our kind. All life is precious, irreplaceable.crimethinc.com/endlings

— CrimethInc. Ex-Workers' Collective (@crimethinc.com) 2026-05-22T06:54:40.397Z

Readers’ wildlife photos

May 26, 2026 • 8:30 am

News is pretty scant as it’s just the same-old same-old, but I have a few stray wildlife photos to exhibit today. I’m all out of photos excerpt for these, so please send in your good wildlife snaps. In all the photos below, readers’ captions are indented and, as always, you can enlarge the photos by clicking on them.

First, from Scott Ritchie, his favorite photograph of Australia’s golden-shouldered parrot (Psephotellus chrysopterygius), an endangered species and the world’s only parrot that lives in termite mounds.

Bob Jochums sent two photos of Barred owls (Strix varia) taken outside Atlanta, Georgia.

A family “portrait” (minus Papa) on the “veranda” of the nest box.

An earlier photo of Mama leaving the nest box to get a little time to herself … or to hunt for food or nuzzle with Papa.

From Claudia Baker:

Red-headed woodpecker (Melanerpes erythrocephalus), picking at the rail fence along the front of my property, in Eastern Ontario,  in July 2023. I have never seen one around here before, so was quite excited to get pictures of it. Can’t tell if it’s male or female, as the sexes are similar. It is the only eastern woodpecker with an entire head that is red. Their range is East of the Rockies from southern Canada to the Gulf states. They apparently will hide foot in crevices of wood and return for it later, so maybe this is what it was doing. In any case, it dug around in this rail fence for awhile, long enough for me to get several pictures.

It will hide insects and seeds in cracks in wood, under bark, in fenceposts, and under roof shingles. Grasshoppers are regularly stored alive, but wedged into crevices so tightly that they cannot escape. It has many nicknames, including half-a-shirt, jellycoat, flag bird and the flying checker-board. I read that the Red-headed woodpecker was the “spark bird” (bird that starts a person’s interest in birds) of legendary ornithologist Alexander Wilson in the 1700s.

I did not know that there are worms in my rail fencing. Or maybe this worm was hidden by this gorgeous bird earlier and it came to claim its lunch.
Red-headed woodpeckers are fierce defenders of their territory. They may remove the eggs of other species from nest and nest boxes, destroy other birds’ nests and even enter duck nest boxes and puncture the duck eggs. (!)  Quite mean for so beautiful a bird!

I have not seen another since this one in 2023. The oldest Red-headed woodpecker on record was banded in 1926 in Michigan and lived to be at least 9 years, 11 months old.

My friend Cate, to her surprise and wonder, found white leucistic squirrels (a genetic variant of the Eastern Gray Squirrel, Sciurus carolinensis) living around her summer house in Michigan. There are several more photos in this thread, including the famous white squirrels of Olney, Illinois. which are albinos.

From Peggy Mason in Canada (see location at bottom):

These harbour seals (Phoca vitulina) were lying around on the rocks of Poise Island in Porpoise Bay in Sechelt, BC, Canada. There were five of them. They ranged from silvery white (the smallest, a baby I think) to black with some white markings.

This is the silvery white baby:

This is the very black one:

Here is the silvery white baby, possibly with its mother. That is what I thought – basically from their proximity and size difference – although I received no confirmatory data one way or the other on this:

Bonus pictures are a beautiful bald eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus), a juvenile judging by its coloring and some pretty pink flowers on Poise Island.:

And Peggy’s location: