Arto Maatta
@artom.bsky.social
📤 1224
📥 935
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Birding, moths, and general interest in nature. A retired Cell Biologist.
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Arto Maatta
Quanta Magazine
1 day ago
A newly discovered archaeal cell has a tiny genome and can’t metabolize biomolecules. It’s upending biologists’ definition of a living thing. “These types of organisms have been found before, but not as extreme as this,” said microbiologist Thijs Ettema.
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A Cell So Minimal That It Challenges Definitions of Life | Quanta Magazine
The newly described microbe represents a world of parasitic, intercellular biodiversity only beginning to be revealed by genome sequencing.
https://www.quantamagazine.org/a-cell-so-minimal-that-it-challenges-definitions-of-life-20251124/
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Ed Keeble
1 day ago
Here's a backlit GND from the Stour earlier in the week. Beak open between dives.
#BirdArt
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BeaknikPoetry 🐦
2 days ago
A Northern Hawk-owl contemplating what's for supper tonight...
#Birds
#owls
#NaturePhotography
#BirdsSeenIn2025
🪶🦉🇫🇮
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Arto Maatta
Wetland Bird Survey (WeBS) | Goose & Swan Monitoring (GSMP)
6 days ago
1/ 📢Looking for counters for the International Swan Census (ISC) on the weekend of 17th-18th January 2026 in Northumberland. Please visit the vacant site map to request a site near you:
app.bto.org/gsmp/public/...
#Ornithology
#UKBirding
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Arto Maatta
Robert Francis
11 days ago
I want someone to make a Merlin app but it's just Mark Catesby's descriptions of birds from 1732. "This Bird, by its ungrateful brawling Noise, seems at Variance and displeased with all others" is a great field mark
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Arto Maatta
Emma
12 days ago
Last week on the North York Moors (Northeast England) - before the weather turned! The freezing cold will probably finish off most of the fungi; hopefully the birds will move out of the worst of it🤞 🪶🐡
#art
#nature
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After the initial excitement, Lina started to think that the first snow of the winter in Durham is quite cold and wet.
#labrador
#dogs
13 days ago
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Arto Maatta
Daniel Langston
13 days ago
Distinctive 1w Russian Common Gull (heinei) candidate at Frieston Res this aft, seemed to tick all the boxes.
#LincsBirding
@lincsbirding.bsky.social
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Arto Maatta
BirdGuides
13 days ago
A Tufted Puffin was photographed in a Puffin colony in the North Atlantic this summer, marking the latest in a growing series of records of the species in Atlantic waters:
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Tufted Puffin sighting highlights potential for further British records
A Tufted Puffin has been photographed at Grand Colombier, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, marking the first record in that French territory and contributing to a growing series of Atlantic-occurring birds. The increase in records from the Pacific-origin species raises the prospect of future British sightings, driven in part by climate-related shifts in seabird distributions.
https://bit.ly/3JVJ51D
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Arto Maatta
Alex Wild
14 days ago
This is such a cool study. A parasitic ant queen tricks worker ants into murdering their own queen, so the parasite can take over the colony.
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This parasitic ant tricks workers into committing matricide
Newly mated parasitic queen ants invade colonies and spray their victims with a chemical irritant that provokes the workers to kill their mother.
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/parasitic-ant-matricide-queen
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The late Bluethroat at South Gare today afternoon. It was feeding actively, but the weather over the next few days doesn’t look good for it.
#NEbirding
@teesbirds.bsky.social
@nybirdnews.bsky.social
🪶
14 days ago
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Bluethroat still at Cabin Rocks and Black Redstart at the boat yard, South Gare (2-3pm).
#NEbirding
14 days ago
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Durham hosts the Lumiere festival for the last time this weekend, but
#TeamMoth
can, of course, set up an exciting light installation on any night! 1 Mottled Umber so far, so the worst outcome possible is avoided.
16 days ago
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Firecrest at Putting Green, Hartlepool Headland.
#NEbirding
@teesbirds.bsky.social
16 days ago
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Arto Maatta
Matthew Cobb
16 days ago
When you are really really small, flying becomes more like swimming, or guided floating.
add a skeleton here at some point
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Glass is half full -vibes with the very nice (both the taste and the label) bird-themed bitter tonight😋.
#birds
#beer
17 days ago
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Arto Maatta
Jo Stephen
17 days ago
Jackdaws by the north Winterborne chalk stream.
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Arto Maatta
Dr Hannah M. Rowland
19 days ago
🐞🧬🦅 join us for a PhD position researching how birds evolve resistance to prey toxins. If you’re excited about wild chemical arms races, we’d love to hear from you.
@shabmohammadi.bsky.social
@livuni-ives.bsky.social
@livuni-ismib.bsky.social
@mpi-ce.bsky.social
www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
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Arto Maatta
Allan Mee
19 days ago
The impacts of avian influenza are profound and far reaching. Hopefully 🇮🇸 Gyrfalcons will recover in time but this is near catastrophic
#RaptorResearch
🌎 🪶 Avian flu taking a severe toll on Iceland’s falcon population
icelandmonitor.mbl.is/news/news/20...
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Avian flu taking a severe toll on Iceland’s falcon population
The Icelandic gyrfalcon population has been hit hard by the ongoing wave of avian influenza in recent years. Once numbering around 2,000 birds, the population has now collapsed to roughly 500 individu...
https://icelandmonitor.mbl.is/news/news/2025/11/11/avian_flu_taking_a_severe_toll_on_iceland_s_falcon_/
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Durham University
20 days ago
New research from our Biosciences Department and
@btobirds.bsky.social
shows that hotter European summers are reducing migratory birds’ ability to fuel up for their long journeys. Read more:
durham.ac.uk/news-events/...
#DUresearch
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Hotter European summers put migratory birds at risk - Durham University
https://durham.ac.uk/news-events/latest-news/2025/11/hotter-european-summers-put-migratory-birds-at-risk/
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The tail works like a propeller when there’s a treat on offer for a quick response to a recall.
#labrador
#dogs
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19 days ago
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Some quick record photos of the Pallid Swift at Whitburn this morning as it was circling over the houses in the village. A great find by
@pratorum2112.bsky.social
!
#NEbirding
#RareBirdsUK
@teesbirds.bsky.social
🪶
19 days ago
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Dr. Heather Hinam 🍁 🇨🇦
20 days ago
I really need to get to bed, but I just poked my head out the back door again. This is the view from my deck. All of this is looking south. When the geomagnetic storms are like this, the oval overshoots me and stretches into the US, which is why so many are seeing it tonight.
#aurora
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Arto Maatta
Ed Keeble
20 days ago
Top detour thanks to Great Bustard Group on way back from some non-birdy doings down south- these two big boyz on Salisbury Plain standing tall in sluicing rain I guess so water doesn't puddle on their mighty backs
#BirdArt
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Arto Maatta
Ray Scally
20 days ago
RED-BACKED SHRIKE - An adult from the spring, watercolour on Arches paper for the cover of a publication.
#birds
#ukbirding
#birdart
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Arto Maatta
Jonathan Drury
21 days ago
Looking for a PhD opportunity? I'm hoping to recruit someone to my group at Durham University to work on a project combining fieldwork and labwork to study speciation in rubyspot damselflies:
iapetus.ac.uk/studentships...
Get in touch if you want to chat!
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I found today a couple of Aspen leaves with apparent Ectoedemia argyropeza mines at Rainton Meadows NR. I’ve not seen them before and there are not too many records in VC66, so any opinions are welcome!
#TeamMoth
21 days ago
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Arto Maatta
Minna Ålander 🌻
22 days ago
One of the reasons why Finland is the happiest country in the world is that the public broadcaster Yle sends a live feed of the first 8 weeks of a pack of puppies every fall. It’s already the fifth edition of ”Finland’s most therapeutic live feed”. This is what I call value for my tax money
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Pentulive 24/7 | Pentulive
Pentuliven pikkuiset kehittyvät vauhdikkaasti ja jokainen pentu on saanut nimensä! Kahdeksan viikkoa kestävässä suorassa lähetyksessä seurataan englanninspringerspanieli Murua ja tämän pentuetta.
https://areena.yle.fi/1-76362374
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Arto Maatta
BeaknikPoetry 🐦
23 days ago
A long way from home. Ever so elusive Hume's Leaf Warbler, in Finnish literally Kashmir oven bird. A sort of influx of them in double digits this autumn.
#BirdsSeenIn2025
🇫🇮🪶🐦
#NaturePhotography
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Olive-backed Pipit today afternoon at South Gare. Quite elusive bird, that occasionally moved up from the high grass and showed well in bushes. Thanks to the finder!
#NEbirding
#RareBirdsUK
@teesbirds.bsky.social
@nybirdnews.bsky.social
23 days ago
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Arto Maatta
Prof. Michael Fuhrer
24 days ago
For my N. Hemisphere friends: This weekend would be an absolutely brilliant time to get your flu and covid shots. You will get a massive protective antibody surge right as holiday socializing is ramping up flu and covid activity. 15 minutes at the pharmacy could save you a week of misery.
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Arto Maatta
Helen Day
24 days ago
I bought these old RSPB magazines for their CF Tunnicliffe cover pictures. They look so good together (with that delicious typeface!)
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Arto Maatta
Phil Jones
24 days ago
Sketch book Grackle, Calshot, Hants - a bird with plenty of character
#Boat-tailedGrackle
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Arto Maatta
RareBirdAlert
24 days ago
Winter Feeding Boosted Finland's White-tailed Eagles - But Only Slightly New research confirms that decades of supplementary feeding helped more young eagles survive to adulthood, aiding the species' remarkable recovery.
www.rarebirdalert.co.uk/v2/Content/W...
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Winter Feeding Boosted Finland's White-tailed Eagles - But Only Slightly
New research confirms that decades of supplementary feeding helped more young eagles survive to adulthood, aiding the species’ remarkable recovery
https://www.rarebirdalert.co.uk/v2/Content/Winter_Feeding_Boosted_Finlands_White_tailed_Eagles_But_Only_Slightly.aspx
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Arto Maatta
Ruth’s Portraits (Ruth Weaver)
25 days ago
Here’s the finished Siberian Thrush drawing. Bringing it to life on paper was a great way to relieve the memories of a really special bird! Coloured pencil on paper. Reference photo Jake K.
#birding
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Last night 10 of 8 sp moths. Australian Orange-tip (Tachystola acroxantha) was a new garden ✅, they have started to spread in the county in the recent years. Juniper Carpet was nfy and Willow Beauty a very late record. Durham VC66.
#TeamMoth
@teesbirds.bsky.social
25 days ago
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Plenty of rain last night so only 5 moths bothered to check our trap. Brick was a year ✅ so it was worth having a go. Feathered Thorn, MdJ, Lesser YU and LBAM were the supporting cast. Durham VC66.
#TeamMoth
@teesbirds.bsky.social
26 days ago
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Arto Maatta
Alexander Lees
26 days ago
Singularly impressive bird-finding and rarity-documentation - a visibly-migrating Black-faced Bunting photographed this morning in the Netherlands 🪶
www.dutchbirding.nl/gallery/deta...
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Arto Maatta
27 days ago
Lost or Leading the Way? Rare Birds May Signal Shifting Migration Routes
www.newswise.com/articles/los...
#songbirds
#migration
#vagrants
#ornithology
#populationecology
#speciesdistribution
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Lost or Leading the Way? Rare Birds May Signal Shifting Migration Routes | Newswise
Most birders are excited to see and chase vagrants. They represent an unusual occurrence and offer a chance to observe a species outside of its usual range.
https://www.newswise.com/articles/lost-or-leading-the-way-rare-birds-may-signal-shifting-migration-routes
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Arto Maatta
The Rare Breeding Birds Panel
27 days ago
The latest report from the RBBP, Rare Breeding Birds in the UK in 2023, is out now in British Birds. It reports on the 104 species and races of rare breeding birds recording breeding, or showing signs of breeding, in 2023. Read the summary at
rbbp.org.uk/2023-report-...
#ornithology
#ukbirds
🧵[1/15]
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Arto Maatta
Wayne Dawson
28 days ago
Pirri-Pirri Bur, Pampas grass, Wireweed: all plants from the S Hemisphere that are establishing in the UK. Can we explain current and predict future invasions by S Hemisphere plants? Apply for this NERC ACCE+ PhD project to find out:
tinyurl.com/374ty2b7
Please Repost!
@acce-dla.bsky.social
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Arto Maatta
Alexander Lees
29 days ago
A click look elsewhere on social media reveals a lot of AI slop bird 'photos', which are becoming more and more convincing, a worry for biological recording in general and not just
#Ornithology
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Arto Maatta
Hugh Harrop
29 days ago
Desperately seeking three French hens and a partridge in a pear tree to join these two Oriental Turtle Doves. Yes, it was back to the drawing board overnight and a retrospective ID on one of the 'turtle' doves we'd already retrospectively identified yesterday. A thread...
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Arto Maatta
Heather Bruce
about 1 month ago
Cool rotifer feeding with it's cilia beating 🐙🧪
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I saw again this afternoon the partially leucistic Jackdaw that has been hanging around Neville’s Cross, Durham, for a few years now.
#NEbirding
@teesbirds.bsky.social
@durhambirdclub.bsky.social
🪶
about 1 month ago
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Arto Maatta
Robert Vaughan
about 1 month ago
After a recent early morning airport drop off, I continued down to Wexford for the first time in years. I was delighted to find a juvenile American Golden Plover at Tacumshin, before a harrier spectacle. The male Northern Harrier joined a few Hen and Marsh Harriers as the sun set.
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Arto Maatta
BirdGuides
about 1 month ago
A mixed pair consisting of a Great Northern Diver and a Black-throated Diver successfully bred in the Scottish Highlands in 2024 and again in 2025, it has been revealed:
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Mixed-species diver pair successfully breeds in Scotland
A mixed pair consisting of a Great Northern Diver and a Black-throated Diver successfully bred in the Scottish Highlands in 2024 and again in 2025, it has been revealed. The birds were initially discovered at an undisclosed location in the northern Highlands in mid-July 2024, when both adults were s...
https://bit.ly/4oE5GOX
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Arto Maatta
Claire Branston
about 1 month ago
Do you have 10 minutes to help an
@edinburghnapier.bsky.social
MSc student complete her final research project? Please consider letting us know your opinions towards herring gulls, by completing this short questionnaire
tinyurl.com/tfntmfbk
Thank you!
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