🚨 Hiring a postdoc (2 years)! We’re looking for someone with skills in data science, remote sensing, or computer science: 🛰️ Build next-gen nighttime light products 🦅 Link light spectra to migration & collision risk Apply or reach out! aeroecolab.com/opportunities

Frosty Tip Grackle: macaulaylibrary.org/asset/652399...

What do you all think: are the two Urocolius spp, Red-faced and Blue-naped Mousebirds, actually sister species? All molecular phylogenetic results to date seem to suggest otherwise. Help make Urocolius whole again, tell me if we're missing phylogenetic information birdsoftheworld.org/bow/phylogen...

The need to preserve animal culture in conservation efforts. 🪶 Gift link.

Heading into conference abstract / presentation season, I 100% recommend Kathryn Langin's (@kangin.bsky.social) "Tell me a story! A plea for more compelling conference presentations". It's short, sweet, and not just for ornithologists. I can get behind every word! 🔒 academic.oup.com/condor/artic...

A 50-year sequence of Peru’s Ucayali River shows how a river constantly shifts its bed, reshapes landscapes and redraws maps. Rivers move, ecosystems respond and planning must learn to work with that movement rather than pretend landscapes stay fixed. Source: buff.ly/jNmzCQG

"Tiny recording backpacks reveal bats’ surprising hunting strategy" - nice description and videos by Leonie Baier https://theconversation.com/tiny-recording-backpacks-reveal-bats-surprising-hunting-strategy-271996 #bioacoustics

So. I was staring at Google Maps when I noticed something weird. Extensive, very structured agriculture in the northern Peruvian desert. So I zoomed in.

🦜🏔️ How did vibrant Amazonian parrot feathers end up in a desert tomb on the Pacific coast of Peru 1,000 years ago? Our new paper on @natcomms.nature.com reveals they didn't just trade feathers, pre-Inca societies transported live macaws and parrots across the Andes!👇 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Good news! We've added enough Pacific Hornero recordings that it should be in Merlin sound ID soonish. Keep recording though! Saw two hornero statues, and it's on murals all around Loja (next to HOSP no less!). The disconnect b/w its ubiquity and notable absence in the model was driving me crazy.

Are you interested in complex social-ecological systems, pedagogy, sustainability education, and working with bright students and engaged faculty? I'm hiring a postdoc for a cool new initiative! More Info & Apply here: academicjobsonline.org/ajo/jobs/31747

Ok. We the world are up to 125. Tomorrow I start activating collaborators here in Ecuador.

The first version of FigTree was released nearly 20 years ago and it is still widely used (including by me). But there are currently 85 issues on the GitHub repo (github.com/rambaut/figt...) and some of them I don’t really like the look of.

In 2006 I spent a week w Harold Greeney trying to find the first nest of the Jocotoco Antpitta. We spent 12 hrs a day swimming through soaking wet bamboo. After all that, I managed to see one's shadow for about 1/16 of a second. Flash forward to today...

And here is some of the amazing news coverage of our paper. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/26/c... by @catrineinhorn.bsky.social

On a mini-mission to get enough recordings of Pacific Hornero into the @cornellbirds.bsky.social's Macaulay Library that we can add it to the Merlin sound ID model. Getting after it with phones, a parabola and, most importantly, encouraging others to do the same! macaulaylibrary.org/asset/651775...

the most important question of presidents day is what did they think about birds and luckily for you chumps i've got answers birdhistory.substack.com/p/our-birdy-...

Getting ready for a really cool community-led monitoring project in shade-grown coffee and cacao farms in Ecuador and Mexico. Quick stop in #ICTC2026 first! #BirdsPlusIndex @abcbirds.bsky.social @wildlifeacoustics.com

Have you ever seen Blue Jays flighting with Crows and be like, I need to record this on eBird? Your comment could help with tracking species interactions! In this piece, we show how LLMs can be used to collect interaction data on large scales from comments on participatory science platforms. 1/3

Dinosaurs And Non-Dinosaurs xkcd.com/3204/

why do males defend territories in some species while pairs or family groups defend territories in others? then-undergrad Shreyas Arashanapalli did a fantastic project to find out, analyzing 3177 playback experiments on 264 species the best predictor? latitude academic.oup.com/evolut/advan...

Taxonomy and phylogeny are two sides of the same coin, but that doesn't mean they are always in agreement. I wrote a blog post on why the new Phylogeny Explorer in @birdsoftheworld.bsky.social is such a big deal in that regard, and what's in store next for us. eliotmiller.weebly.com/blog/birds-o...

If you thought regular bird listing was for nerds, wait til you get a load of phylolisting. @snacktavish.bsky.social

I've seen most of the taxonomic orders of birds out there, but I'm still missing three: kiwis, cuckoo-roller, and cariamas. Any of you all ticked all of them yet? #birds #birding

One of my favorite things in life is admiring the emergent structures of different tree species in winter

Me and Jesus, Julio, and Bobby. What a way to start your day…yo it’s like 1, 2, 3…

Sad twist of fate that I spend many dozens of hours a year processing venison so that my family can eat clean, local meat and somehow I end up basically subsisting on leftover chicken nuggets I find on the couch.

Short blog on an exciting collaboration using the #BirdsPlusIndex to document recovering biodiversity in NYC harbor. In partnership w Billion Oyster Project, Newtown Creek Alliance, & NYC Bird Alliance @newtowncreek.bsky.social @nycbirdalliance.org @abcbirds.bsky.social abcbirds.org/news/birdspl...

Definitely still in the horseshoes and hand grenades realm, but enough to catch my attention. @snacktavish.bsky.social Me: "Create a Newick string that exactly matches the topology of this phylogeny, with matching tip labels. Do not worry about branch lengths or support values." ChatGPT:

Introgression between species can shape #evolution. Study of the colorful American #warblers (Parulidae) by @kevinfpbennett.bsky.social @davetoews.bsky.social &co reveals intergeneric & interspecific introgression of genes related to carotenoid #plumage color @plosbiology.org 🧪 plos.io/48MyfU2

NSF - Forced reorg - POs down ~ 40% (DRP, most rotators not renewed, retirements) - Forced move (and we have to pack and clean) to a building with no furniture, little to no conference space for panels, inadequate 🛜, …) I personally love the boxes they gave us for packing. “Details matter” 🙃

Check out our review/perspective piece on phylogenetic diversification analysis, intended for the 75th anniversary of @systbiol.bsky.social. I had the privilege of working with great coauthors, @fhenaodiaz.bsky.social, @tvasconcelos.bsky.social and @roszenil.bsky.social! doi.org/10.1093/sysb...

We've partnered on a groundbreaking global bird study revealing how human-driven habitat changes put biodiversity, and vital bird roles, at risk. 🐦 Dr. Alexander Lees stresses the urgent need to protect the diversity of avian roles 👉 https://bit.ly/4ixI4tl

I mean, the title says it all: Genetic confirmation of an “uncommon mourningthroat” (Geothlypis philadelphia  ×  G. trichas): A rare but persistent hybrid warbler. Fun stuff with @kevinfpbennett.bsky.social and Kurt Gielow, OA in @wilsonornithsoc.bsky.social! 🦉 🧪 www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

How are Pacific NW mountain birds responding to climate change? I got up at 4:00 am for a month to find out. but first the backstory, or "how I spent seven years telling everyone this project wasn't possible" new paper here: esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

Going through some old pix. This remains the highlight of my engineering career. Successfully foiled Adirondack black flies and mosquitoes for a few hours.

Competition shapes the urban distribution of chickadee species nsojournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

In all honesty, I wasn’t liking where this was headed at the start, but he turned it around pretty quickly there “The system is, by definition, us. We make these rules up and then choose to treat them like immutable laws of nature. They’re not.”

Out now on the cover of @journal-evo.bsky.social! Led by Sarah Khalil, we took a genomic approach to investigate the hybrid zone between different-colored Red-backed Fairywren subspecies. We found some interesting candidate genes under selection. Check it out! academic.oup.com/evolut/advan...

A long and busy week ended on a high yesterday. So proud of Dr @jyang19.bsky.social for sailing through her PhD viva, the final step of a long journey in my lab from a Silwood masters degree to a doctorate. 💪 Big thanks to Profs Cris Banks-Leite and Gavin Thomas for examining.

Made a new friend on my walk yesterday. #americanchestnut www.inaturalist.org/observations...

Using automated acoustic monitoring, citizen science, and centuries of ornithological research and understanding to quantify ecological integrity at scale. The BirdsPlus Index, a novel method for assessing site-level conservation values. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

This is one of those, "well of course" sorts of papers that is actually *super* important and needed to be done. Well done @louisbackstrom.bsky.social @ali--johnston.bsky.social, excited to have a proper read! onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Super proud of Dr. Dan Nesbit @dannesbit.bsky.social, who passed his viva today (with no corrections!). Thanks to @josephtobias.bsky.social and Sally Street for examining! 🥳

Although they seem to be going to sleep, temperate trees are very busy right now. Fine roots are growing, and inside the buds, next years leaves, stems, and flowers are being formed. That means that autumn weather determines some or all of next year's growth. Read about it at Our Trees.

My lab is hiring a 2-yr hummingbird evolution and genomics postdoc and a 1-yr salaried research and lab tech. Both with full U. Wyoming benefits. Please spread the word! Info below. Best consideration date Nov 1, start dates early Spring 2026.

Remember how viewing big phylogenies in your browser used to be hard? Got something to share with you all in a few weeks. My bird nerd tanks are so full right now, can't wait to share some with you all. @birdsoftheworld.bsky.social

Well, it's official. After our paper last year (onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....), the Slender-billed Curlew is officially declared Extinct today. Scientists dream of describing new species, not writing their obituary and epitaph, knowing that they are gone forever #ornithology

Another massive movement of migratory birds underway tonight — nearly 1 Billion Birds! With the full moon, you might be able to see some silhouettes zipping by. You can make your own flow maps here (just hit record): aeroecolab.com/uslights