My first watercolor! I’ve been feeling my soul yearn to be creative again lately, so I finally sat down and painted. I’ve never used watercolor before (I’ve never really painted before, either), so I got a guide book to help me learn. I hope this is the beginning of a new journey for me!

The Feeling You Haven't Had in a Long Time Steve Driscoll 2021

MAJOR NEWS! We just launched an awesome new tool! The illustrated Birds of the World Phylogeny Explorer lets users trace any bird’s lineage, compare species relationships, and explore major evolutionary milestones with a click of a button. SHARE and EXPLORE! birdsoftheworld.org/bow/news/phy...

Everything feels heavy. Like we’re buried in snow.

It appears that this legend owns a little bookstore — and you can order books from him instead of Bezos. Link in next post.

Fuck

There are many serious governments in the world. The US is not one of them. (There are no penguins in Greenland.)

Hi everyone -- there is a general strike in Minnesota tomorrow to protest what the Trump administration and DHS are doing to our community. In solidarity with the action, I am going to donate my revenue from tmrw's newsletter to People over Papers, the Midway-Hamline Diaper Bank, & Every Meal. (1/2)

Look, I know roughly half of us voted for this ignoramus, but the other half of us are literally melting into a puddle of embarrassment on a daily basis.

📢 We're looking for a PhD student to focus on habitat use of wintering Curlew in and around coastal SPAs. Apply now ➡️ bit.ly/CurlewPhD The student will be based at @ljmuofficial.bsky.social and BTO, starting in October 2026 for four years. 📆 Deadline to apply: Wednesday 18 February #Ornithology

Saw this cutie up in Montréal today 🥰

Not a single day in 2025 was cooler than the 1991-2020 average, on a global scale. @copernicusecmwf.bsky.social

Oh to be a little Tardigrade walking across a microscope slide. 🫧🐻🧪

I spoke with Martin Peterson, the philosophy professor at Texas A&M University who had to remove Plato readings from a course syllabus to comply with school policies against teaching "race and gender ideology." He says he's replaced that material with media coverage of this censorship.

I miss California

Trump should be posting this, but instead he is trashing the officers who died protecting American Democracy against Trump's mob.

This is the kind of thing that the Founders explicitly designed our constitution to prevent; a president who has seized wealth for his own benefit without any intervention from Congress, which in our system is supposed to be the holder of the power of the purse.

everything has to be as maximally stupid and annoying as possible every minute of every day

What a catastrophe.

I am looking for a postdoc position + will be attending #SICB2026! My areas of interest/experience: sexual selection, reproduction, host-parasite interactions, animal behavior, (plus bio ed and disability advocacy in bio). I would be happy to chat with anyone attending who is looking for postdocs!

Birding with my baby 🥹🫶

For people that feel helpless, this period is so tough but there's ways to help for anyone. Go out there support Venezuelan ppl and artists living in it as they prepare for unpredictable times Here is a starter pack of artists with commissions or donations open as well: go.bsky.app/8daQmpX

I don’t even know what to say anymore

Also picked up this rare Western Kingbird hanging out in Maryland right on the Bay.

Happy New Year! Saw a Chesapeake Bay Harlequin Duck to start off 2026!

Since having my first kid in 2020 then kid two in 2022, my birding life has been pretty dismal. But every year I get to do more birding as they get older. 2025 eBird stats: 7 lifers 250 year birds 194 state birds 103 office birds 143 neighboring state birds (where my mom lives and we visit often)

! Just 118 new subscribers — free or paid — to go for Law Dork to end 2025 with 80,000 subscribers. Support my independent legal journalism today: Go into 2026 with a subscription to Law Dork! www.lawdork.com

Kid 1 wanted to go birding with us today and she had a great time! Even got her lifer Barnacle Goose! 🥹🥰

🌊 🐟🦭🐋🐧 I have a PhD position available (4 years, start Mid-2026) at NRM Stockholm to work on the macrogenomics of sea warming. Apply here: recruit.visma.com/spa/public/a... #PhD #MarineGenomics #ClimateChange #EvolutionaryBiology #PopGen #Bioinformatics #conservationgenomics

NCAR is quite literally our global mothership. Everyone who works in climate and weather has passed through its doors and benefited from its incredible resources. Dismantling NCAR is like taking a sledgehammer to the keystone holding up our scientific understanding of the planet. Unbelievable.

I curse all parents who are overachievers this time of year by doing elf on the shelf because their kids tell the other kids who have parents who do NOT want to do elf on the shelf 😤

Real rich getting an email reminding us about ethics around the holidays “as a small gift” (I kid you not the email said that) from this administration.

I’m sick. Trying to work from home and failing. Gonna call it quits and take a nap soon. Charlie has been trying to tell me this all day, it seems.

Correct. So STFU.

Combating the Sunday Scaries

Heartbreaking. The University of Nebraska will terminate its entire Earth science department. One of the country's most successful and respected geology & climate programs: gone. When ideologues & politicians are threatened by the very act of studying climate change, I wonder: who of us is next?

All Constitutional Law courses are hereby renamed WTF LOL 101

Relatable Corvid

Update: lots of snow has fallen, and the resident beaver has emerged to inspect

Happy Thanksgiving! ❄️🦃

It's Friday, and apparently bluesky is ready for this fun revelation: Dinosaurs lived on the other side the Galaxy.

Hi Bluesky! We are the Genomic Variation Laboratory based at UC Davis. Our current projects include: 🧬 CRISPR-based SHERLOCK assays for eDNA detection 🧬 Metabarcoding to detect animal and plant diversity in predator diets and ecosystems 🧬 Population genetics of fishes and more!

I miss California 🌁🌄😢

It's been awhile, but I found myself recommending to someone today our groundbreaking code, lead by the inimitable Andy Kern, that magically converts pdfs to... pdfs. This solves the conversion issue so many journals pose to the intrepid scientist. github.com/andrewkern/p...

Look how Great this Cormorant is.

A movie that takes place where you’re from

Incredibly heartbroken to have to announce that my husband and I did not, in fact, see the Yellow-headed Caracara in Wilmington, Delaware today 😫

The Trump Administration is looking to decimate the Endangered Species Act. Proposed changes would: - LIMIT new species from being listed - REMOVE protections for federally-threatened species like Piping Plovers - REDUCE critical habitat protections

Too much light pollution in central Maryland, but still cool to see the faint pinks and greens of the aurora

To be clear, I’m not happy about any of this. I think the dems completely betrayed their base. They conspired with republicans to make this “deal” to reopen the government. The promise of a vote on healthcare means nothing. We got literally nothing from this shutdown and the dems lost everything.