Reminder that although I'm increasingly ambivalent toward social media, I do have a little monthly email you can sign up for with bird news, book recommendations, etc. buttondown.com/rheisman/arc...

I'm spending less time on social media lately, but I wanted to share that I have a story in the spring issue of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology magazine, about the story behind Red-breasted Nuthatches' quirky habit of painting the entrances of their nest cavities with pine resin. 🪶

I'm spending less time on social media lately, but I wanted to share that I have a story in the spring issue of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology magazine, about the story behind Red-breasted Nuthatches' quirky habit of painting the entrances of their nest cavities with pine resin. 🪶

On the left, Jupiter. On the right, a soap bubble. Patterns are expressions of nature's intrinsic poetry. The cosmos loves to rhyme.

Listening to the audiobook for @rheisman.bsky.social's excellent Flight Paths and was thinking "this better have a chapter about driving through a swamp with @rallidaerule.bsky.social" and BEHOLD!!

A little offended Grammarly didn't make a sloppelganger of me

WHAT IF YOU JUST WENT FUCKING BIRDING INSTEAD www.androidpolice.com/i-use-gemini...

My mom is having knee replacement surgery today, and man, you know you live in a small town when the anesthesiologist for your mom's knee surgery is the same one who did your son's tonsillectomy and oh, he also has a daughter in your son's second grade class.

So... I tried to get caught up on why some people here at mad at Bluesky this week and apparently the people who actually run this place are a bunch of obnoxious pro-AI bros????? I swear, I'm about to just give up on social media entirely...

Have hit 2500 words in my "draft" Word doc but about 400 words of that is just quotes I pasted in as possibilities for the concluding section that I haven't really written yet. Still, progress! Genetics makes my brain hurt but people keep paying me to write about it.

I have *always* tried to be judicious with em dashes, limiting myself to one every couple paragraphs... but I hate, hate, HATE that now there's always a doubtful voice in the back of my head wondering how many em dashes it takes before someone will dismiss my writing as AI-generated.

Yesterday and today I wrote 1300 words of rough draft for what's eventually supposed to be a 2500 word feature, about some very cool but very dense bird genetics research. I feel pretty good about that amount of progress. Maybe I'll reward myself with a treat tonight.

Thoughts & prayers to the EPA :(

I had an UNUSUAL volume of writing published in February, so even though I've shared everything individually here before, if you'll indulge me I'm going to string them together here in a thread. Bird science incoming! 🪶🧵

Hey look it's my latest email newsletter! A little more barebones than usual, because February was, uh, a lot. buttondown.com/rheisman/arc...

Hey look it's my latest email newsletter! A little more barebones than usual, because February was, uh, a lot. buttondown.com/rheisman/arc...

Some birds just have incredibly satisfying Latin names. Spinus pinus. Upupa epops. Xanthocephalus xanthocephalus.

Peace! How hard can it be? #birds #birding #birdwatching #bluebirds #westernbluebird #peace ✌️

I was going to post something about my work goals for the week, like getting my newsletter out on Wednesday and starting a draft of my next story for the Cornell Lab magazine. But man, it's one of those days where I read the headlines and feel like none of what I'm doing really matters at all.

Turns out the cold I was fighting all week while still trying to get a ton of work done was actually COVID. I don't even have the mental capacity to react to today's headlines. Hopefully I will be ready to resurface by Monday. 😷

In my utopian vision of the future, instead of offloading all the pointless, annoying work tasks (like reports that none one will read and needlessly opaque forms) to robots, we restructure work and society so that the pointless tasks don't happen at all.

Dear fellows from the outer worlds… Anyone with access to the following works that could provide a copy/scan/pics? Boles W. 1990 Glowing parrots—need for a study of hidden colours. Birds Int., 3, 76–79. Boles W. 1991 Black light signature for birds. Aust. Nat. Hist., 23, 752. Deeply grateful!

In case you missed it: For Audubon, I wrote about some new research putting together the cascade of ecological events that leads to salmonella outbreaks at urban birdfeeders. 🪶 www.audubon.org/magazine/sur...

Hard to believe Spring is arriving in the desert… 🪶

In case you missed it: For Audubon, I wrote about some new research putting together the cascade of ecological events that leads to salmonella outbreaks at urban birdfeeders. 🪶 www.audubon.org/magazine/sur...

In case you missed it: my state bird story is out! Climate change means that millions of Americans will lose the chance to see their state #birds in their neighborhoods. Serious birders may scoff, but this points to greater issues regarding what's been called "the extinction of experience." 🪶

In case you missed it: my state bird story is out! Climate change means that millions of Americans will lose the chance to see their state #birds in their neighborhoods. Serious birders may scoff, but this points to greater issues regarding what's been called "the extinction of experience." 🪶

Hey. Tell people when they do good job. When you like the stuff they make. When you like the characters they’ve created. The stories they’ve told. Nobody hears it as often as you think bc everyone thinks everyone hears it all the time. Trust. They don’t. Tell. Them.

Sometimes I forget that the area where I used to live very much used to be the Old West (Lewis & Clark and the Oregon Trail both went right through here)... and then I get stuck behind a cattle drive while taking my kid to his piano lesson.

Did you catch today's episode of BirdNote Daily (@birdnote.bsky.social)? I wrote it, and it's about that gull that hitched a ride on a long-haul garbage truck. 🪶 www.birdnote.org/podcasts/bir...

Scientists: for a new story, I have one big question—> What is a “good day” in the lab? I’m looking for epic examples of the best day ever to general criteria for what constitutes a “good day” compared to a nothing-burger day. Ping me if you have examples to share! Re-posts appreciated!

what can i get started for ya

Did you catch today's episode of BirdNote Daily (@birdnote.bsky.social)? I wrote it, and it's about that gull that hitched a ride on a long-haul garbage truck. 🪶 www.birdnote.org/podcasts/bir...

This popped up in my feed as I'm struggling to dig out of a work backlog that piled up during a bunch of kid sick days AND definitely now starting to come down with his crud myself. :sob:

Is the world twice as diverse as we think? A recent study says that for every known vertebrate species, there might one more species hiding in plain sight: elizabethgpreston.substack.com/p/how-to-fin... 🧪

Something positive for your scrolling today: Apparently kakapo are having a great year. apnews.com/article/kaka...

Our Garden for Birds initiative helps you welcome birds into your outdoor space using native plants. Habitat loss is the #1 threat facing birds & we can do something about it. You don't have to have a yard, even just adding a native plant to a pot can help: www.gardenforbirds.org

All my recent busyness is finally yielding published pieces and I have TWO to share today! First: a story on the surprising connections between climate and conifer seed production in mountain forests, bird irruptions, and salmonella outbreaks in cities. 🧪🪶 www.audubon.org/magazine/sur...

We got a bird ID help request in our mentions! Who can settle this question for Jeff?

generative AI out there performing tasks in return for 40 gallons of water and yer first born heir that i can do for a bite of a ham sandwich and a dixie cup of water. what a timeline.

My story for @biographic.bsky.social on the aftermath of HPAI in Northern Gannett colonies was picked up by Smithsonian Magazine! A nice thing to see while resurfacing briefly during another round of kid sick days...

Scientists: if you have pursued/secured philanthropic funding in the wake of federal research funding cuts, I want to talk to you. Reposts appreciated!

When I need cheering up I look at the cards my kid's afterschool program made for a dead bug

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...

Lovely piece by @rheisman.bsky.social. Off Scotland's east coast, Bass Rock rises 107 m from the ocean’s surface and is clearly visible to Edinburgh residents 40 km away, and its the largest northern gannet colony. What is avian flu doing to its winged residents? www.biographic.com/after-the-ou...

Happy birthday to one of my favourite haters, Charles Darwin

After the Outbreak A northern gannet colony devastated by avian influenza is slowly recovering—and so are the researchers who witnessed the virus’s wrath. by @rheisman.bsky.social www.biographic.com/after-the-ou...

A lovely article about our research on Gannets featuring interviews with #seabirders @heyjooode.bsky.social and @sue-lewis.bsky.social #ornithology

Ominous bird valentines.