The Trump administration issued its final decision today to strip federal #ESA protection from all populations of imperiled lesser prairie chicken. In September, we filed an appeal challenging a #Texas court’s decision that cleared the way to strip the birds’ federal protections.🧵 bit.ly/46sNjG3

We sure could use a swan scoreboard in my town

New by me! I spoke to Northern Gannet researchers in the UK about what it was like to see HPAI rip through seabird colonies there and how things have gone since. 🪶🌎🧪 www.biographic.com/after-the-ou...

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

Wow! First definite sighting of the Rusty Lark since 1931 in Chad!

Taiaroa Head is the only mainland royal albatross colony on 🌏. First 🥚 found in 1920 but years of breeding failed; eggs stolen, destroyed, eaten. In 1937, Lance Richdale camped beside a nest for months. That chick, "Sprog," fledged in 1938. This season: 44+ eggs, and 1,000 birds since Sprog!

Holy hawkamole www.audubon.org/magazine/red...

Great Audubon lede @amcglashen.bsky.social 👀

🎉 FRIDAY IS HERE AND SO IS … OUR NEW PAPER! 🎉 I’m thrilled to share a brand‑new paper by — K. Korejs, R. Hazell, B. Koane, P. Toko and G. Sosanika. If you’re into island biogeography, functional ecology, or just love birds doing important ecological jobs, this one’s for you. tinyurl.com/Korejs2026

Neat.

Huge Numbers of Migrating #Birds Rely on These 5 Central American Forests—but They’re Disappearing Fast | By Rachel Ramirez for Audubon magazine “If we lose those forests, we will lose these birds that we love to watch come back every spring,” says Anna Lello-Smith. www.audubon.org/magazine/hug...

Is that a large lake at 1000m in the Nakanai mountains of PNG? No, its Obscured by cloud

🚨 2nd master’s project! Interested in bird migration & genomics? 🧬🐦 Use whole-genome data to trace the recent colonization of Ouessant Island by Blue Tits and explore how irruptive migratory events can shape colonization dynamics. Please share! #ornithology www.vogelwarte.ch/de/wir/mitar...

Malaysian corps hold 65 of 67 'FCA' forest clearance permits in Papua New Guinea, whose massive deforestation is a massively underreported story. 90% of PNG's timber is exported to China. news.mongabay.com/2025/12/mala... by Sonam Lama @mongabay.com

Pink eye, but the good kind

Huge News from the Western Amazon: it's the year 2025 and we are still describing entirely new, strikingly-distinctive large-bodied bird species! Behold Tinamus resonans sp. nov. the Slaty-masked Tinamou mapress.com/zt/article/v... #Ornithology @tetzoo.bsky.social 🪶

a wonderful, fully funded PhD opportunity Deadline approaching (ok not that quickly but you may forget over Christmas!) 7th January www.uea.ac.uk/course/phd-d...

A ground-breaking study has revealed that migratory songbirds follow an unexpectedly rigid and genetically driven flight pattern, challenging long‑held views of migration as a flexible, externally dictated process:

Sometimes field guide illustrations just don't cut it! Amazing photo of the Upe, one of the world's rarer pigeon species. 📸 Samuel Etienne

I saw a goshawk

Just so strange and beautiful. A must see pigeon!

The Blue-eyed Ground Dove has been confirmed as the only living member of the ancient genus Oxypelia. New genetic evidence reveals its deep evolutionary roots and the urgency of conserving its Cerrado refuge. theornithologist.org/a-lost-dove-... #TheOrnithologist #Ornithology

New paper shows mortality of migratory shorebirds along China’s coast from hunting, fishery bycatch and, at aquaculture sites, bird deterrence measures accounts for 1-10% of total flyway populations for 11 species & is unsustainable for several of these. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Hawaiʻi has 18 plant species with only a single wild individual left. Dozens more around the world hang by the same thread. We count what’s visible but most extinctions happen before we even know the species exist, plants especially. #SixthMassExtinction www.hawaiipublicradio.org/local-news/2...

It's awesome that new bird migration bottlenecks are still being found and described by scientists, like this one in Greece.

The IUCN species survival commission has specialist groups for bats, microbes, cranes, and dozens of other species assemblages - This week, I'm excited to be joining the group for pigeons and doves as a member.

The Trump administration has taken actions that would eliminate existing protections from about 88 million acres of public lands. Including the removal of wildlife habitat protections, the total impact of the rollbacks stretches across more than 175 million acres of U.S. land.

Thanks to @natecoevo.nature.com for publishing this short essay on our Costa Rica hummingbird/heliconia work!

#ornithology abcbirds.org/news/johnsto...

Unlike most of Hawaii, Kaua'i doesn't have mongooses... This recent close call is a scary reminder of how important vigilance + predator control is on islands.

Enjoyed this @mongabay.com story about research modelling drivers of the Indonesian songbird trade. Hearing additional voices about the link between such research and solutions to stopping the trade would have been appreciated. news.mongabay.com/2025/09/indo...

Great reporting on the state of wolbachia mosquito releases happening in Hawai'i to save birds edition.cnn.com/science/hawa...

I covered a study for @mongabay.com looking into why deforestation has slowed in Indonesia and the Brazilian Amazon. The researchers found that strong political will played a big role and is often driven by public pressure and international diplomacy. buff.ly/IZPSnBN

In remote forests of west Africa, wildlife traffickers are filling orders for hundreds of hornbill skulls. The bulbous-billed birds are protected in Asia, but conservationists now worry the market has shifted to African birds. My latest for @nautil.us nautil.us/the-hornbill...

so... which Pacific seabirds need the most attention? Ask the experts! Excited to share a new paper in @society4conbio.bsky.social We interviewed 70+ seabird scientists, cultural practitioners and managers across the Pacific. conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

USGS’ biological research arm could vanish next week www.hcn.org/articles/usg... via @highcountrynews.org

The large leaved plant on the left of my Blue Bird of Paradise painting is thought to be a new species to science, possibly even a new family....no botanists who study New Guinea flora can identify it or put it to a family....that's crazy!!

The Center for Biological Diversity today petitioned the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to protect Bendire’s thrasher under the Endangered Species Act. Native to the SW U.S. and NW Mexico, they've lost ~90% of their U.S. population over the past 50 years. biologicaldiversity.org/w/news/press...

New story out - For Audubon Magazine, I covered a booming invasive bird population in California, with some great input from @ajshultz622.bsky.social and the fine folks at eBird. www.audubon.org/magazine/non...

New story out - For Audubon Magazine, I covered a booming invasive bird population in California, with some great input from @ajshultz622.bsky.social and the fine folks at eBird. www.audubon.org/magazine/non...

I feel like a real birder when ...... I get random phalarope pics from an unknown number.

Besides the gorgeous journal cover, the article it links to uses 724 classic Chinese poems to estimate the range contraction of the Yangtze finless porpoise over 1400 years. These animals are threatened by human activity, have intelligence comparable to a gorilla & are critically endangered.

Cool news. Next up, a tax dedicated to Hawaiian biodiversity conservation?

wrote about fake dire wolves and the real endangered species act for @highcountrynews.org: www.hcn.org/articles/de-...

The starlings in my yard make the cutest sounds I've ever heard... tiny, happy squeals. inquisitive yips.

Really great news for Guam's birds + great photos/words from my buddy Martin Kastner! www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/b...

For the birds—and the people who endeavor to save them, including @julianhoffman.bsky.social, my story for the @nytimes.com www.nytimes.com/2025/04/23/t...

A first-of-its-kind study uses social media photos and posts to assess the level of illegal hunting in Lebanon, where studies show an estimated 2.5 million birds are killed each year. Conservationists blame weak law enforcement and small penalties for poachers’ blatant disregard for regulations.