Coats Island 2026 highlights!

Extended my stay at Coats until the end of July to help my students! Things are going well, and we witnessed a mist rainbow in the murre colony yesterday!

Belugas at Coats Island! Photo credit: Jolie Nguyen.

Another day of field work studying murres on Coats Island!

Coats Island, one of the most beautiful places on Earth!

Last weekend of family fun before leaving for Coats Island!

Canada is politicizing how pesticides are regulated. The changes the feds are making to our pesticides law permit the use of a pesticide found to have unacceptable environmental risks. Push back against this rollback — and all the others in recent months: https://ow.ly/pfIq50ZeqLL

First and last authors more likely to be men in leading science journals www.nature.com/articles/d41...

First and last authors more likely to be men in leading science journals

Women’s participation in science has risen sharply, but a Nature Index analysis finds that gender gaps in first and last authorship — markers of key scientific achievements — have barely shifted over ...

nature.com

In recent years, I’ve framed AI as cheating in my classes, and made arguments against using it centered on justice, health, and skill attrition. After our campus signed an agreement with OpenAI last month, starting this fall I’ll also pledge that I will never use it for their assignments or grading.

Jeff Sharlet@jeffsharlet.bsky.social · 2mo ago

At the end of the term I asked my college creative wriing students to submit anonymous thoughts on AI. No real surprises: Mood ranges from resignation to despair, capitulation from embittered erosion of standards to total, feelings of betrayal from deep to furious. 1/

Thank you very much Jay Robb @mcmasteruniversity.bsky.social for featuring me in this wonderful story! I feel absolutely privileged to do research on wildlife and work in Canada’s beautiful Arctic! science.mcmaster.ca/canada-resea...

Canada Research Chair studying climate change and ecological health at the top of the world - Faculty of Science - McMaster University

It’s not only the lengths that assistant professor Emily Choy will go to for her students – it’s also the heights.  At 9 a.m. on a sweltering Tuesday in late May, Choy and PhD student Flynn O’Dacre we...

science.mcmaster.ca

Searching for Williamson’s sapsucker in beautiful BC with Environment Canada and @mcmasteruniversity.bsky.social!

Chasing endangered woodpeckers in remote BC with Environment Canada, @cangeo.bsky.social and @mcmasteruniversity.bsky.social!

Made it to Penticton for field work on Williamson’s Sapsucker with @mcmasteruniversity.bsky.social and Environment and Climate Change Canada.

What a great day to do some challenging rock climbing training at Rattlesnake Point in preparation for seabird research on the cliffs of Coats Island with @mcmasteruniversity.bsky.social Thank you Zen climbing!

I did nest checks today and found our first tree swallow nestlings of the season @mcmasteruniversity.bsky.social!

Having fun at Club Origami!

Commuting by bicycle in Belgium pays off as employees earn compensation for every km they ride. 1 in 6 employees commute by bike and get a bicycle allowance of €0.28/km. People cycling to work in 2024 earned an average of around €460 net per year (some as high as €810), up 20% over the past year.

Belgian commutes pay off: Employees earn up to €810 for cycling to work

One in five people in Flanders commuted by bike and received compensation last year, but this figure is significantly lower in Brussels and Wallonia.

brusselstimes.com

To oppose the wholesale dismantling of environmental regulations in Canada, please go to this page www.canada.ca/en/one-canad.... ignore the very leading 'proposed' questions and submit your comments. CC your MP. If you need inspiration here is what I just sent.

I'm very honoured to share the news I was recently awarded a NSERC Tier 2 Canada Research Chair position in Climate Change and Ecosystem Health @mcmasteruniversity.bsky.social! news.mcmaster.ca/ten-mcmaster...

Ten McMaster researchers named Canada Research Chairs

Eight McMaster researchers from three faculties are newly named CRCs and two from Engineering have had their Chairs renewed.

news.mcmaster.ca

Best Mother’s Day bouquet ever from my creative little guy!💐

It's time for more samples, 1st mistnetting of the spring season! Using comparative analysis, we study of associations between #microbiota and #temperature are evolutionary conserved in #birds. With tens of collaborators, thank you so much!! Today at @uniturku.bsky.social with Esa Lehikoinen et al

Falcon Update 🚀 McKeever and Judson welcomed four chicks late last week! In just a few short weeks they will take flight and Falconwatch needs your help to keep them safe while learning to fly. Email volunteer1@falcons.hamiltonnature.org to volunteer.

Interested in a postdoc #evolutionary ecology? #ecopysiology? #molecular ecology?#ecotox? #birds? My group studies many aspects of responses to #environmental change. Happy to host MSCA applicants, we have 3 successful ones🙂 marie-sklodowska-curie-actions.ec.europa.eu/whats-new/ne...

MSCA opens €399 million call for Postdoctoral Fellowships

Postdoctoral Fellowships offer researchers holding a PhD the opportunity to acquire new skills through advanced training and international, interdisciplinary, and inter-sectoral mobility.

marie-sklodowska-curie-actions.ec.europa.eu

What’s happening in May? 🌼 ▪️ Invasive Removals (Tues / Thurs) ▪️ May 2, 9, 23: Garlic Mustard Pulls ▪️ May 9: Garbage Clean-Up ▪️ May 11: Monthly Meeting ▪️ May 14: Bruleville Info Session ▪️ May 23: Birding @ Princess Point ▪️ May 26: Bruleville Volunteer Training ▪️ May 27: DVCA Forest Pests & Diseases

Last bear handled in 2026 polar bear field research project in Hudson Bay. A 28 year old adult female 1st caught in 2009 & only seen once since near Churchill & then moved by helicopter away from town. She was in great shape & now being followed by a satellite eartag radio.

I am incredibly honoured to be a recipient of MEOPAR's Early Career Researcher Award and be part of MEOPAR's first cohort of early-career ocean researchers! @meopar-oacop.bsky.social @mcmasteruniversity.bsky.social www.linkedin.com/posts/meopar...

MEOPAR is proud to announce the first cohort of the Early Career Researcher Award! From improving sea ice safety in the Arctic to developing sustainable fishing technology, the nine recipients are… ...

MEOPAR is proud to announce the first cohort of the Early Career Researcher Award! From improving sea ice safety in the Arctic to developing sustainable fishing technology, the nine recipients are t...

linkedin.com

Works of art from my lab’s paint/karaoke night!

4 years ago on a hike with this little guy! Happiest birthday ever!!!

Not a day for polar bear research. Waiting for weather on the shores of Hudson Bay. The nice thing about polar bear research is that we can only work on sunny days without drifting snow (or we can't follow their tracks).

One of my undergrads hand painted this beautiful thank you card for me, featuring her study species, European starlings and tree swallows. What a wonderful surprise! @mcmasteruniversity.bsky.social