Unpaid internships reproduce the class problem in conservation. I don’t blame individuals for taking them (though would encourage them to reflect on who can/can’t afford to do so). I do find organizations offering them problematic - it shows me their politics. But you already know all this :)

OK, how weird is nature? Here is a species of ant for which the queen lays eggs that produce males of two species - her own and a distantly-related congener - and eggs that produce daughters of her species and daughters who are hybrids. 🌿🧪

“The prohibited activities would include joint research, co-authorship on papers, and advising a foreign graduate student or postdoctoral fellow. The language is retroactive, meaning any interactions during the previous 5 years could make a scientist ineligible for future federal funding.”

In the frigid morning gray, ‘Round a pillar, sundogs play! At cold dawn a race is run, Two rainbow dogs chase the sun. #poetry

Some excellent first reflections about the life of James Watson, from one of America's finest historians of biology, who happens to have a book coming out about JW next year.

Last month I featured @calocitta.bsky.social, @robgmacfarlane.bsky.social, and more! #envhist #envhum

Be careful! With the time change, you risk of hitting a deer with your vehicle goes up, at a time of the year when the risk his highest (the rut). 🦊🌿🦤 theconversation.com/another-prob...

Burkina Faso lives up to its name and stands up to the vindictive US government - it refuses to be used as a prison camp for US deportees from around the world, and the US retaliates.

Cool crisp apple air Aspen leaves fall like gold snow The last crickets trill 🌿 #haiku #poetry

The leaves are gold and scarlet, The sky is as grey as lead. It’s time to turn the compost, And put the garden to bed. The air smells of woodsmoke, Old fruit, dead leaves, and bread, It’s time to turn the compost, And put the garden to bed. 🌿🌱#Poetry

HHS Secretary Kennedy "is planning to investigate climate and weather control, and is expected to create a task force that will recommend possible federal action," 🧪

The trouble with Canada geese. 🦉🌎🌿

I am proud to have published an article in this journal. R.I.P. Journal of Fish & Wildlife Management. Deceased not because of a lack of need or demand, but as an intentional political program to eliminate scientific research from the federal government functions. 🧪🌎🦤

An excellent piece on the A2A (Adirondack to Algonquin) biological corridor and the need for wildlife passage structures over some major highways. 🦤🌎

Well, some universities, at least, are refusing to sign away their core principles. Arizona, Brown, Dartmouth, MIT, Penn, USC and Virginia are doing the right thing. #AcademicSky

Hero’s of the day - In a small town of Beckley, WV, Kendra Sullivan staged a one-woman No Kings protest. She was confronted, had the police called on her, but stood her ground. She was physically threatened. Police came more than once and protected her right to protest. This is how we do it.

Many universities are swiftly, even eagerly slipping into the wave of repression against free speech and press. U. of Indiana and Purdue U. are two of those. Bravo on the Purdue Exponent for coming to the support of IU's beleaguered student newspaper. Makes this alumnus proud. #AcademicSky

🔥 When Indiana silenced its student press, Purdue broke the silence. Rivalry became rebellion as students printed the forbidden paper and carried it through the night to Bloomington. This is what freedom looks like when courage refuses permission.

Ungraded homeworks pile high and you drink hot coffee black, When frost is on the windshield and dec’rative holiday crap is back.

Excellent timely piece on how climate change is changing winter on the Laurentian Great Lakes, and the need for winter limnological research across the region. 🧪🌎🌿

Plant Science Research Weekly -- Lessons from 138 bryophyte genomes (Nature Genetics) (Summary by Mary Williams @PlantTeaching.bsky.social) buff.ly/AfoaxtF #PlantaePSRW

Here is the students' @idsnews.bsky.social report out of Indiana University, where the student media director was fired today. www.idsnews.com/article/2025...

Academic freedom is not negotiable. MIT & Dartmouth have affirmed this, as have these student leaders from seven universities. One hopes that this is only a start of a resistance to federal government over-reach on academic curriculum and governance.

Greater noctule bats prey on migrating European robins and other birds!

Do you care about the water you drink and recreate in? Here is a long article about PFAS and local water quality in the North Country of New York . It is excellent local environmental reporting by the Watertown Daily Times. 🌎

The Gullah communities were first neglected, and then had their land stolen by 'quasi-legal' and criminal means all along the coast of South Carolina, Georgia, and northern Florida. It's nice to read about a win, for once.

Important news. Sadly, a change in the requirements will exclude a great number of graduate students who had planned to submit a proposal to the program in their second year of graduate studies.

The first big skeins of geese are coming in from the North to my area of New York now. Here's my article on how they know when to migrate. 🦉🌿

I led a walk to this place today - Rainbow Falls in the Adirondack Park. 🌿

As someone who knows the NSF GRFP well, this is awful. One month out from the application deadline and there is no solicitation yet?

Motherfucking wind farms…

Jenny Jones warned She would wear purple When she grew old Summer now wears it A rich purple cloak New England asters Autumn aster starburst Amid goldenrod glow Seasonal finale Before winter’s long dark 🌿 #poetry

American Movie Theater, Canton NY

On Science Friday today... 🦉🧪🌎🌿 www.sciencefriday.com/segments/con...

On the radio this morning. A great partnership between SUNYs Potsdam & ESF, Clarkson University, and the St. Lawrence County Department of Public Health. 🧪🌎🌿 Always fun to hear my voice on the radio on the drive to work. Make sure to donate to your local public radio station.

This Friday, Sept 19th, I will be on public radio's Science Friday, chatting with Ira Flato about the surprising recovery of once-rare birds. It will be available to stream or podcast after. And remember to throw some green to your local public radio station. Now more than ever they need it. 🦉🧪🌎🌿

The surprising recovery of once-rare birds https://www.europesays.com/uk/410798/ When I started bird-watching as a teenager, a few years after the first Earth Day in 1970, several…#uk #news #uknews

The surprising recovery of once-rare birds theconversation.com/the-surprisi...

The surprising recovery of once-rare birds - What has brought these species back while others are disappearing? theconversation.com/the-surprisi... #conservation #environment #biology #SciChat

I have a article that just dropped, about the return of merlin, pileated woodpecker, sandhill crane, and other birds. I hope you like it. 🦉🧪🌎🌿 theconversation.com/the-surprisi...

Remember and celebrate the roots and shoots of Labor Day. Relaxing Labor Day to those who can observe.

It's fall bird migration, and the technological tools we have to monitor avian movements are improving dramatically, so migration paths of small birds are trackable as well as the large. 🦉🧪🌎🌿 theconversation.com/birds-migrat...

Birds have long stopped singing Frogs are silent in the marsh The fields are browning Brushed in goldenrod Swamp maples blaze scarlet Ashes turning lit-match yellow 🌿#invertfest #poetry

A study published in Nature Climate Change analyses net primary production (NPP) trends from 2003 to 2021, revealing an overall increase in planetary NPP, primarily due to terrestrial enhancements despite a decline in oceanic productivity. go.nature.com/4fP7uBA 🧪

At the Whitney Plantation in Louisiana, where careful detailed records were kept, an enslaved sugarcane worker had a life-expectancy of ten years once they started working in the fields. This required continuous purchase of people from the upper south, where there was positive population growth.

Abandoning the vision of liberal arts education is at the heart of how fascism has come knocking. Scientists speaking of abandoning humanities have not learned the core lessons of our history - and by our history I even mean THE HISTORY OF SCIENCE. Science is never separated from society.

While in Baltimore, take some time to visit the amazing American Museum of Visionary Art. Learn why the American Woodcock is the inspiration for the museum's annual 'Woody Award'. #ESA2025

One of our most beautiful native trees is Franklinia, Franklinia alatamaha. First seen on the Altamaha River in what is now Georgia in 1765 and transplanted to the northeastern US, it is now extinct in the wild. Read the amazing story of this tree at Our Trees.

#ornithology www.nature.com/articles/s41...

🚨Special organized oral session at #ESA2025!! The Coeur d’Alene Tribe created a full session devoted to our new work that focuses on healing the land and salmon restoration…and lots more! So grab a coffee or two and join us Tuesday morning at 8:00am, Hilton Holiday 5.