9.6 million NEW Merlin users in 2025 is a phenomenonal statistic #Ornithology 🪶 #UKBirding ebird.org/news/2025-ye...

Good morning.

Merry Christmas! Your belated present is Tthe answer to last week's mystery object. Did you work this one out?

Girri fledged at 08:46 this morning! Fly, beautiful falcon.🦅 🪶 #wildoz #PeregrineFalcons

Dwarf mistletoe (Arceuthobium americanum) spreads its seeds by "explosive discharge". The seeds, expelled by hydrostatic pressure in the berry, can travel 20 m (65 ft) at top speeds of 100 km/h (60 mph). The goal is to land a seed on another branch to colonize other trees. (📷: LB323YAP Lou S. YT)

Discussing the spiritual side of nature, why Holly, Ivy and Mistletoe are significant, and how meaning is going being lost. Happy Christmas! youtu.be/hkn_r4DZrxY?...

Think mistletoe is just for holiday kisses? Scientists are taking it to new heights with airborne mapping. 🌿 Read the research in Botany ▶️ https://ow.ly/aX8i50XJHlu 📸 cjb-2023-0049_f3 #CSPHolidayScience

Morning all.

Happy Christmas good people.

Highly recommended read! I’m biased since Roxie has always been a hero of mine. But I’ve got to say this book makes you a bigger Roxie fan no matter what you know of her. And whether you’re a #bird lover or not too. She was such an incredible person that overcame so much and accomplished so much.

Moth Advent 24. No question of the moth of 2025, by a county mile. I’ll never forget seeing this land on the sheet at Kenfig NNR. After a lot of swearing and input from BlueSky, ID was confirmed as The Sorcerer, just the 4th British record and a 1st for Wales. I’m still buzzing now! #TeamMoth

@ecosystemunraveller.com In case you “mist” this news…. www.pbs.org/newshour/sci...

It's just in and in time for Christmas: our recently published #OpenAccess paper showing an astounding 14 YEARS of monitoring of #Lathraea, a peculiar #ParasiticPlant that shows earlier reproductive #phenology potentially following host-derived cues! doi.org/10.1002/pei3...

Good morning good people.

"Bond’s work leaves behind an inconvenient lesson for an era of climate urgency: that speed is not a substitute for understanding, and that good intentions, applied without care, can erase ancient worlds as efficiently as neglect." A beautiful tribute to William Bond. Forever missed by many.

It’s doubly satisfying making things in a workshop you made. One of our fave elements is this shave horse, made from salvaged timbers (dumpster diving ftw). A seat, a workbench and, of course, with an Integrated treadle powered clamp—like an infinitely adjustable second set of hands!

No raptors this morning but I did find this handsome specimen 🪶 (ID in alt-text)

Finally got some photos of Australia’s “blue ant”, Diamma bicolor, which is not an ant at all but a shockingly large metallic blue thynnid wasp, wingless and solitary, that hunts mole crickets. Been meaning to shoot this thing for years.

Morning all.

And it happened again: Dušan M. Brinkhuizen & Glen Valentine shared sounds of Seram Mountain Pigeon, Gymnophaps stalkeri: xeno-canto.org/species/Gymn.... Since the species is on "Shaun's list" (xeno-canto.org/article/241) this appears to be the first ever sound recording. #bioacoustics

Giving #AquariumOfUnusualSize a pre-Christmas once over, inside and out. Please enjoy a minute of sunlight playing through murky water. Sound up for festive tunes!

Pacific Gull taking off at Merimbula Beach. #SuperSeabirdSunday

Good news story: Advena campbelli (a relative chonk of a microcystid), endemic to Norfolk Island, hopefully saved from extinction. Features work by @jkfni.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Good morning.

Bitterns

Morning all

You absolutely love to see it. Indies keep my heart beating.

Currently…

In a remote river in Victoria's east, a fisherman says he has encountered an ultra-rare pink platypus, one of only a handful ever sighted in the past 200 years.

Morning all.

We are continuing our virtual hike along my favorite trail at Emerald Arch in the Ecuadorian Amazon. Oh, what's this? A wizened dry leaf?.. (see what I did there) No, it's a dead leaf mantis (Acanthops falcata)!

My @newphyt.bsky.social Tansley Insight is now published in an issue: Trait-based island biogeography as a tool for studying future ecological communities I provide an overview of recent advances in integrating plant traits into island ecology and highlight key themes for future research.

Evidence for plastome loss in the holoparasitic Mystropetalaceae A #Letter by Yu et al. 👇 📖 nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... #LatestIssue #PlantScience

How should the discipline of ecology and the community of ecologists respond to the ecological crisis? Is it time that these were put on something more akin to an emergency footing? www.cell.com/action/showP...

Good morning #FriYay

Experiences, favorite food or toiletries that will be used up for Christmas rather than accumulating unwanted junk. Good idea @georgemonbiot.bsky.social

Re-upping this thread as we count down seven days to Christmas. We know mistletoe is dispersed by birds, but just how far back do these associations go? And what about those weirdo specialist birds that depend entirely on mistletoe fruit for food—recent or ancient? I’m glad you asked; read on…

Good morning.

Excited to launch the new improved Reproducible Code guide from @britishecologicalsociety.org @methodsinecoevol.bsky.social FREE online here! www.britishecologicalsociety.org//wp-content/... Amazing work by some very talented ECRs. We hope it’s useful!

Good morning good people.

Fantastic palaeoart in a traditional Chinese style, used as a figure in a Royal Society publication, describing a false sabre-tooth feline, Taotienimravus songi. I hope this buckles the trend again "stylised" art in publications and press releases. Art by Yuefeng Song 🐈

#ARCSenateOrder Nov25: ARC's grant recommendations in November have been published ➡️ https://www.arc.gov.au/about/our-organisation/reporting/senate-requirements/agency-grants-pratt-motion PDF: Link to ARC's PDF XLS: Link to ARC's Excel file /bot

This just in, from firstborn in Radelaide.

As the dams dry out, feral goldfish are easier to snag. A timely reminder that pet fish should *never* be released. Pics by @terngirl.bsky.social

A report finds 65 of 67 PNG land-conversion permits are controlled by Malaysian-linked firms, covering 1.68 million hectares of rainforest — mostly undisturbed. Critics say permits meant for development have enabled large-scale logging, despite a 2023 moratorium.

As the dams dry out, feral goldfish are easier to snag. A timely reminder that pet fish should *never* be released. Pics by @terngirl.bsky.social

A team led by Prof Susann Wicke from the Institute for Evolution and Biodiversity has shown that certain parasitic plants activate their haustoria independently of the host plant. This strategy increases their ability to successfully infest the host. @univie.ac.at @humboldtuni.bsky.social