Thank you to the @thetransmitter.bsky.social for being interested in our book this year! #neuroskyence www.thetransmitter.org/books/the-tr...

"I love my job" I sigh as I fill out a grade change form on Christmas Eve because I relied on other people to do their assigned job.

A Happy Festivus to my dept and institution, especially some within senior administration

Artists, quote with your most detailed art 30k layers, hundreds of hours 🐡🎨

As an early Christmas gift, @journal-evo.bsky.social accepted @kenstoyama.bsky.social and my paper on macroevolutionary patterns of ornament evolution in birds of paradise! 🦚 Check it out here: academic.oup.com/evolut/advan...

Another nesting bird... this time a Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike (Coracina novaehollandiae) #BirdingAustralia #BirdingTasmania #cuckooshrikes

I would like to congratulate my dept for making a job search committee more frustrating, complicated and onerous than almost every other committee I have been on in 17 years. My early New Year’s resolution is no more dept committees. Other university committees fine, but no more dept ones.

Brilliant! After 1.5 hours of stamping around in the Brisbane sauna today, deciding there were no owls, trying to take a short cut back to the car ... that looks like a great nest hollow ... that tree looks nice for roosting ... that looks like scat! ... (looks up) f**k me there's a Powerful Owlet!

This Christmas I am hoping that 3 spirits visit some of my dept colleagues to show them that academic jobs require them to do teaching, admin and research. All 3, all the time.

Very proud of this new paper from the lab! Work by the magnificent Andrea Adden and many brilliant collaborators illuminate how moth and butterfly brains have evolved in light of different ecologies. Freely available here: rdcu.be/eVR3B; @lundvision.bsky.social @biologylu.bsky.social

New Powlet! I think this one is a female as its face mask feathers go beyond the edge of its face. There was a paper that said you could distinguish the female and male juveniles this way, and I've noticed a difference in face mask feathers between chicks, even in the same family. #birds #wildoz

As we get close to the end of the year I thought I'd repost some of my favorites. These aren't in any particular order, but how could I not start with my absolute favorite of the Kingbird riding on the osprey while carrying a fish? #photography #birds

Our new paper is out! @evoneuro.bsky.social @aub-birdy.bsky.social

For people in the #Lethbridge area, according a friend working the ER, we have had 3 deaths from influenza at our regional hospital and multiple patients admitted to the ICU this week. Stay safe out there and make sure to get your flu shot! #yql

Finally got this guy home yesterday. He’s feeling a bit worse for wear and coughing up the remains of his pneumonia but otherwise eating, breathing, and getting around normally. Special thanks to the vet crew at Family Pet! #yql

A female? Powerful Owl in a Brisbane conservation park. #birds #wildoz #brisbane

“Mental foramen” sounds like an insult I should be hurling at a colleague that really pisses me off

I live in a province full of morons. Alberta by far has the stupidest people in Canada. By Far. I live here and it is undeniable. My Wife, My Kids and myself are part of the 16.2%. We are not morons. Dec 10, 2025 — Provincial data shows 16.2 per cent of Albertans have had a flu shot

@ydbelanger.bsky.social, @trashcanman.bsky.social, @evoneuro.bsky.social, @glendaaus.bsky.social, @drjaydrno.bsky.social Important. Please pass on to your network! Thanks!

A line-up of White Ibis on a boardwalk railing. #birdoftheday #groups #birds #nature #wildlife #wildlifephotography

Just decline the peer review invitation. What are you people even doing?

Well this weather does not sound particularly festive #Alberta

A new banner hanging from the high level bridge in Edmonton on this cold December day #yeg #ableg

Our Large Munsterlander (Indy) had to go to the emergency vet today after nearly collapsing in the house. He appears to be stable for now in an oxygen tent and we hope we can bring him home by Thursday.

#BirdOfTheDay #WinterBirds Going with "Classic Winter Bird + Surprise! Winter Bird" (well, not a surprise in my yard, but often surprising to folks) #becurious #birds🪶

Gannets may survive bird flu … but may be left with a “black eye” 👀 Luckily they can compensate and their binocular vision is not impacted, but they can't see as well over their heads #ASABWinter2025

Grading and googling hallucinated citations, as one does nowadays, and now that LLMs have been around for a while, I've discovered new horrors: hallucinated journals are now appearing in Google Scholar with dozens of citations bc so many people are citing these fake things

On the latest Warblers Podcast, we answer YOUR questions! Do Northern Lights impact migration? How do Surf Scoters digest clams whole? And more! Thanks to our guests for sharing their insights! @evoneuro.bsky.social, @nelsyninor.bsky.social, @jodyallair.bsky.social, @dmennill.bsky.social

🔈 CALL FOR PAPERS IBIS Special Issue Collections-Based Ornithological Research in a Changing World Submission deadline: 30 June 2026 onlinelibrary.wiley.... #ornithology 🪶

Public Service Announcement: Not all typos in scientific papers are LLM hallucinations. We are on alert about AI errors in the scientific record, but humans make mistakes as well. Maybe offer a bit of grace when you see one typo in a paper, and don't assume it is silicon- rather than carbon-based?

Interested in birds and their behaviour? Check out @birdscanada.bsky.social The Warblers podcast today to hear a brief snippet of me talking about whether birds have feelings. #birds #neuroethology 🪶 podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/d...

JOB ALERT! Collection Manager job going in Palaeontology at the Australian Museum in Sydney, Australia iworkfor.nsw.gov.au/job/collecti...

This is an excellent exchange illustrating how ignorant the Alberta separatists are. They have no comprehension of what is involved, what is at stake, or the costs associated with secession. #abpoli

A look at the wings of a mulga parrot. Such pretty little parrots. Gluepot Reserve.

The last time running online exams for my class and today has been a spate of complaints that text is missing (it wasn’t) and that I asked questions on material not covered in class (also not true). They seem to think that complaints about non-issues will mean free marks. I’m so done with this…

It’s reached that time of year again where I gently suggest you hang on to your manuscripts and submit them early in 2026. Otherwise they’re likely to just sit on a virtual to do list for the next 3 weeks sending auto-reminders to editors/reviewers. 🎄

There’s a AHS declared respiratory illness outbreak affecting 7 schools in Medicine Hat and all that’s happened is… one (1) cancelled school Christmas concert. It’s just going to keep getting worse, esp with kids not being kept home when sick.

Alberta country music star Corb Lund says the citizens petition initiative he had filed against coal mining in the Rocky Mountains has been retroactively killed by Alberta’s new legislation:

🚨We need your help🚨 #Shearwaters are washing up on beaches, particularly around #Tathra. Some #seabirds are still alive. Please do not touch the #birds. Instead, take photos & submit your observations to our new portal ➡️ adriftlab.org/beached-bird... (also, please share this) #ornithology #OzBirds

For researchers thinking about conferences next year, Canada is hosting plenty across many research disciplines. We will not ask for your social media history for the past 5 years or a DNA sample and do not have ICE agents.

We love to fetishize "top" researchers and give them special big pots of money. But we get far more science by spreading money among all researchers (closer to the NSERC DG model). This old post is magically relevant again... scientistseessquirrel.wordpress.com/2015/05/12/w...

Institutional autonomy is a major facet of academic freedom. Institutions set academic priorities through internal collegial processes. Starving unis into hiring freezes and then telling them they can only have funds to recruit if they check vapid government PR boxes attacks that autonomy.

New paper covering what we think is a pretty nice and comprehensive overview over tools suitable for neuroethology in butterflies and moths. Also, check out the whole special issue if you're an insect neuroethologist. @neuroethology.org @dzg-neurobiology.bsky.social doi.org/10.1007/s003...

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Alex is spot on everyone. Although some CERCs have been positive and productive, it comes at an enormous cost to the rest of the Canadian research landscape. Cutting NSERC and then handing out enormous cheques to recruit bigwigs is not a win. #academicsky #Canada

I've been yelling this for literally 12 years 🤦‍♂️ labandfield.wordpress.com/2013/05/06/t...