Migratory birds make incredible journeys every year, but habitat loss, pollution and climate change are pushing many into decline. This #WorldMigratoryBirdDay, meet the cities becoming safe havens: https://ow.ly/VwCu50ZW9sS
Nathan Senner
@drgodwit.bsky.social
Mass Audubon Bertrand Chair for Ornithology in Dept. Environmental Conservation at UMass Amherst. Fan of all things godwits. Oh, and other birds, and ecology, and evolution, and just cool science generally.
Check out one of the cougars wearing the smoke logger at a kill site!
Zack Steel 🪶🦇🌲🔥@zacksteel.bsky.social · 3d agoWildlife collars are great for tracking movements 🦌. We’re now adding smoke sensors to those collars! New paper led by Adam Parlin w/ @mditmer.bsky.social & others describes the tech & huge potential to learn about 🔥 smoke impacts on wildlife 🧪 🌎🌐 besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
WE WON. Lead in gunshot will finally be banned across the EU! Just now, the European Parliament approved in plenary the Commission's proposal to restrict lead in gunshot. This decision ends years of debate on one of Europe's most persistent forms of lead pollution.
This week, international experts are gathering in Vasto, Italy, to advance the Atlas of Animal Migration, a global initiative under CMS that aims to bring together knowledge on where migratory animals travel, the places they depend on and the routes that connect them: www.cms.int/meeting/cms-...
So proud of Edina Nemesházi for this fantastic work about the consequences of sex reversal for the reproductive success of wild frogs, which is now out in Science Advances! 🥂💥🥳Congrats to all of the authors 👏 @klivvvienna.bsky.social www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Happy to share that the last chapter of my dissertation is finally out in Evolution! 🦎⛰️ I'll share a longer thread soon about what we did and found. Huge thanks to all my coauthors: @jblosos.bsky.social, @juvelas.bsky.social, Steven Poe and Adam Algar doi.org/10.1093/evol...
Repeated evolution of high-elevation occupation in tropical lizards
Abstract. Since Darwin and Humboldt, researchers have sought to understand how species adapt to elevation. Although tropical reptiles are typically most di
doi.org
Our paper on how orangutan mothers plan and alter their space use at personal costs so their offspring may play with similarly aged offspring (independent of kinship and fruit productivity) has transitioned from preprint to peer reviewed publication doi.org/10.1073/pnas...
Maternal ranging strategies facilitate offspring social play at energetic cost in the most solitary ape | PNAS
In most vertebrates, social play among peers is considered essential for behavioral development. Yet in solitary species bearing single offspring, ...
doi.org
New publication: Family life is critical for migration and survival in a long-lived social #bird, by @hanslinssen.bsky.social @bartnolet.bsky.social and others. #Bewicksswan #sociallearning #waterfowl #biodiversity doi.org/10.1007/s002...
🦊🦆Experimental and field evidence indicate that islet-nesting tundra birds experience reduced nest predation and benefit indirectly from high snow goose densities 📷 Louis-Pierre Ouellet vist.ly/5kmrv
CNN reminded me to remind all of you that rakes exist and that a healthy yard invertebrate ecosystem uses downed leaves to overwinter.
A thoughtful, excellent write up by @richardconniff.bsky.social on the very sad situation @sternbergpaleo.bsky.social museum #paleontology #palaeontology #naturalhistory richardconniff.substack.com/p/another-na...
Another Nature Museum Faces Death
Kansas is killing a centerpiece of state and world history. Follow the money.
richardconniff.substack.com
good morning. I strongly suspect that we don't really know (or agree) what geographic ranges are, and therefore, our estimates of how species' ranges are shifting in the Anthropocene are uninterpretable. I wrote something about this: doi.org/10.1111/2041... and I'll share the main findings...
Measuring the edges of species' geographic ranges
The fundamental unit of spatial ecology is a species range: the geographical area that it occupies. Species ranges are delineated by range edges (also known as boundaries or limits). Why range edg...
doi.org
I'm hiring a postdoc to help build tools for inferring complex speciation histories with genomic data. strong computational skills are a must, but this is a training opportunity. 60K$+ salary, 2 years, details flexible. please reach out! (and repost) ad here: jobs.montana.edu/postings/53150
Postdoctoral Researcher
The Department of Ecology at Montana State University is seeking a Postdoctoral Research Scholar as part of NSF-funded research on speciation under alternating cycles of gene flow and isolation (fundi...
jobs.montana.edu
Ethan Linck@elinck.bsky.social · 2mo agograteful to have received the lab's first NSF grant to study cyclical processes of speciation with new theory and tools (applied to Melanesian birds). ad to come, but I'll be looking for a postdoc with computational biology chops—please reach out! (and repost) www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/...
New paper from the lab by @jwelklin.bsky.social besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Drought to deluge: Differential impacts of snow on mountain chickadee reproduction across the Sierra Nevada mountains
Welklin et al. present a research framework that uses long-term data to validate participatory science observations as measurements of reproductive success. Applying this framework to a long-term stu....
besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
Our new paper on bird vocal amplitude is out in @sse-evolution.bsky.social ! Across 123 species, we found two new contenders for world’s loudest bird: bare-throated bellbird and seriema Along with the white bellbird, both can reach jackhammer-level amplitudes! doi.org/10.1093/evolut/qpag153
Incorrect information provided by a Google AI overview caused a Kodiak woman to hunt snipe illegally, according to a citation filed this week at the Kodiak district court. (Via Alaska Beacon)
Misleading Google AI instructions cause Kodiak woman to be cited for illegal snipe hunt
“I expect we’ll see more of this type of thing in the future,” said a spokesman for the Alaska Department of Public Safety,
akpub.io
A Northern Waterthrush tagged in Cape May, NJ left after sunset on Sep 11. Two weeks later it was over Colombia! Jamaica -> Colombia included ~800 km of open Caribbean. 3,082 km so far! @birdscanada.bsky.social @originalstu.bsky.social #MotusWTS #BirdMigration #ornithology @nature.org
If you're submitting a reference letter for a PRFB, I was surprised to not see any option for deleting and reuploading, which contradicts the info provided in the email requesting it. In fact, as soon as you select the file it is uploaded and you can't change it. Was fine for me, but beware.
The WHO adopted the pandemic agreement over a year ago, but it's still not in effect because countries can't agree on the most contentious part — how to share pathogen data, and the fruits of those data like vaccines. My deep dive into the negotiations: www.npr.org/2026/09/25/g...
There's a global pandemic treaty that's signed -- and in 'limbo.' What's the holdup?
The treaty aims to help the countries of the world prepare for — and defeat — any future pandemic. Why hasn't it gone into effect?
npr.org
1/While everyone is focused on Whimbrel 😊, I am excited to share the latest from Maina Handmaker. She found that Whimbrel that commute longer distances from a nocturnal roost spend 1.5 more hours each daily in dangerous habitat and depart on migration 3-6 days later. academic.oup.com/condor/artic...
1/While everyone is focused on Whimbrel 😊, I am excited to share the latest from Maina Handmaker. She found that Whimbrel that commute longer distances from a nocturnal roost spend 1.5 more hours each daily in dangerous habitat and depart on migration 3-6 days later. academic.oup.com/condor/artic...
Important Whimbrel paper summarised as WaderTales blog #160. wadertales.wordpress.com/2026/09/22/w... #ornithology
British Ornithologists’ Union (BOU)@bou.org.uk · 3w agoEARLY VIEW in IBIS A global perspective on the annual cycles of whimbrels | onlinelibrary.wiley.... Camilo Carneiro et al | #ornithology 🪶
This is one of many replies to a post about Wiley's new 'let AI summarise this paper for you!' thing, but I think it's a really, *really* important point. Realising that you're allowed to disagree with papers is a key part of your scientific education.
Mary Leighton@maryleighton.bsky.social · 3w agoAnother thing I am currently trying to teach students: AI might accurately summarize the article, but it won't tell you if the article is any *good*. Are the arguments actually supported by the evidence presented? Is the author writing in bad faith? Do *you* agree with it? Read the damn paper.
Of the 223 lead authors in the IPCC working group III (mitigation of climate change), an investigation found 20 with strong conflict of interest concerns. "Authors’ conflict of interest declarations are not made public, & the conflict of interest committee provides no detail about its deliberation."
Damian Carrington@dpcarrington.bsky.social · 3w agoHow Saudi oil scientists ended up working on the world’s most important climate reports - Guardian investigation reveals fossil fuel links of IPCC authors, with experts declaring the body’s conflict of interest policy ‘not fit for purpose’ #climatecrisis www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Relatively few people have seen a Hudsonian godwit, but UMass Prof. Nathan Senner is researching how the migratory shorebirds respond to environmental change. https://bit.ly/4xyfDl8
The Incredible Journey of a Migratory Shorebird
Godwits make the longest non-stop migration in the bird world. That might be the least of the shorebirds’ marvels. Can they survive a changing planet?
bit.ly
Thrilled that the @newyorker.com highlights the cool science, but big conservation issues facing extreme migratory shorebirds in this week's issue! www.newyorker.com/magazine/202... Teaser: Might shorebirds use 'torpor' while migrating? Teaser #2: Where did the title 'guts don't fly' come from?
The Incredible Journey of a Migratory Shorebird
Godwits make the longest non-stop migration in the bird world. That might be the least of the shorebirds’ marvels. Can they survive a changing planet?
newyorker.com
A really great piece by Rivka Galchen — shorebirds really are so amazing, but in need of our help! Such an honor to be able to Rivka see godwits up close in Alaska this summer.
The New Yorker@newyorker.com · 4w agoGodwits make the longest non-stop migration in the bird world. That might be the least of the shorebirds’ marvels. Can they survive a changing planet? www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
A really great piece by Rivka Galchen — shorebirds really are so amazing, but in need of our help! Such an honor to be able to Rivka see godwits up close in Alaska this summer.
The New Yorker@newyorker.com · 4w agoGodwits make the longest non-stop migration in the bird world. That might be the least of the shorebirds’ marvels. Can they survive a changing planet? www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
