Dr Dave
@ecosystemunraveller.com
Professor of Ecology, educator, maker | birds, mistletoe, acoustics, conservation | updates on research, family & other beasts. Living on unceded Wiradjuri country
More at https://ecosystemunraveller.com
More at https://ecosystemunraveller.com
Pinned
Dr Dave
@ecosystemunraveller.com
· Jan 24
Oh, and welcome new followers, welcome aboard. Ecologist here, parasitic plants and birds, biogeography and acoustics, connectivity conservation and evolutionary ecology. Also Amazonia and aquaria, wood working and smoked meats. Welcome
Aboard.
Aboard.
Heading to the hills to endanger some trout. Catch ya next year.
December 27, 2025 at 2:26 AM
Heading to the hills to endanger some trout. Catch ya next year.
Reposted by Dr Dave
9.6 million NEW Merlin users in 2025 is a phenomenonal statistic #Ornithology 🪶 #UKBirding
ebird.org/news/2025-ye...
ebird.org/news/2025-ye...
2025 Year in Review: eBird, Merlin, Macaulay Library, and Birds of the World - eBird
2025 marked another extraordinary year for eBird, Merlin Bird ID, the Macaulay Library, and Birds of the World. Together, the birding community reached incredible milestones in worldwide participation...
ebird.org
December 26, 2025 at 8:09 PM
9.6 million NEW Merlin users in 2025 is a phenomenonal statistic #Ornithology 🪶 #UKBirding
ebird.org/news/2025-ye...
ebird.org/news/2025-ye...
Reposted by Dr Dave
Reposted by Dr Dave
Merry Christmas! Your belated present is Tthe answer to last week's mystery object. Did you work this one out?
Friday mystery object #528 answer
I hope you had an enjoyable Christmas! Last week I gave you this chonky skull as a mystery object to have a go at identifying: It wasn't anything particularly challenging or unusual, but it's a very cool skull that we recently put on display in the Dead Zoo Lab in Dublin, and it's nice to have a chance to share it here.
paoloviscardi.com
December 26, 2025 at 8:01 AM
Merry Christmas! Your belated present is Tthe answer to last week's mystery object. Did you work this one out?
Reposted by Dr Dave
Good morning from #OrangeNSW where Girri has the watchers' measure!
Girri is 43 days old today. If you listen closely, at one point you'll hear Diamond (who's on the roof with Gimbir) calling to Girri. #PeregrineFalcons
www.youtube.com/watch?v=yv2R...
Girri is 43 days old today. If you listen closely, at one point you'll hear Diamond (who's on the roof with Gimbir) calling to Girri. #PeregrineFalcons
www.youtube.com/watch?v=yv2R...
December 17, 2025 at 10:18 PM
Reposted by Dr Dave
Dwarf mistletoe (Arceuthobium americanum) spreads its seeds by "explosive discharge".
The seeds, expelled by hydrostatic pressure in the berry, can travel 20 m (65 ft) at top speeds of 100 km/h (60 mph). The goal is to land a seed on another branch to colonize other trees.
(📷: LB323YAP Lou S. YT)
The seeds, expelled by hydrostatic pressure in the berry, can travel 20 m (65 ft) at top speeds of 100 km/h (60 mph). The goal is to land a seed on another branch to colonize other trees.
(📷: LB323YAP Lou S. YT)
December 25, 2025 at 9:31 PM
Dwarf mistletoe (Arceuthobium americanum) spreads its seeds by "explosive discharge".
The seeds, expelled by hydrostatic pressure in the berry, can travel 20 m (65 ft) at top speeds of 100 km/h (60 mph). The goal is to land a seed on another branch to colonize other trees.
(📷: LB323YAP Lou S. YT)
The seeds, expelled by hydrostatic pressure in the berry, can travel 20 m (65 ft) at top speeds of 100 km/h (60 mph). The goal is to land a seed on another branch to colonize other trees.
(📷: LB323YAP Lou S. YT)
Reposted by Dr Dave
Discussing the spiritual side of nature, why Holly, Ivy and Mistletoe are significant, and how meaning is going being lost. Happy Christmas! youtu.be/hkn_r4DZrxY?...
The spiritual side of nature
YouTube video by Bill Sutherland's Conservation Concepts
youtu.be
December 25, 2025 at 7:43 AM
Discussing the spiritual side of nature, why Holly, Ivy and Mistletoe are significant, and how meaning is going being lost. Happy Christmas! youtu.be/hkn_r4DZrxY?...
Reposted by Dr Dave
Reposted by Dr Dave
Think mistletoe is just for holiday kisses? Scientists are taking it to new heights with airborne mapping. 🌿
Read the research in Botany ▶️ https://ow.ly/aX8i50XJHlu
📸 cjb-2023-0049_f3 #CSPHolidayScience
Read the research in Botany ▶️ https://ow.ly/aX8i50XJHlu
📸 cjb-2023-0049_f3 #CSPHolidayScience
December 25, 2025 at 4:01 PM
Think mistletoe is just for holiday kisses? Scientists are taking it to new heights with airborne mapping. 🌿
Read the research in Botany ▶️ https://ow.ly/aX8i50XJHlu
📸 cjb-2023-0049_f3 #CSPHolidayScience
Read the research in Botany ▶️ https://ow.ly/aX8i50XJHlu
📸 cjb-2023-0049_f3 #CSPHolidayScience
Happy Christmas good people.
December 24, 2025 at 7:32 PM
Happy Christmas good people.
Reposted by Dr Dave
Highly recommended read!
I’m biased since Roxie has always been a hero of mine. But I’ve got to say this book makes you a bigger Roxie fan no matter what you know of her. And whether you’re a #bird lover or not too. She was such an incredible person that overcame so much and accomplished so much.
I’m biased since Roxie has always been a hero of mine. But I’ve got to say this book makes you a bigger Roxie fan no matter what you know of her. And whether you’re a #bird lover or not too. She was such an incredible person that overcame so much and accomplished so much.
December 23, 2025 at 8:53 PM
Highly recommended read!
I’m biased since Roxie has always been a hero of mine. But I’ve got to say this book makes you a bigger Roxie fan no matter what you know of her. And whether you’re a #bird lover or not too. She was such an incredible person that overcame so much and accomplished so much.
I’m biased since Roxie has always been a hero of mine. But I’ve got to say this book makes you a bigger Roxie fan no matter what you know of her. And whether you’re a #bird lover or not too. She was such an incredible person that overcame so much and accomplished so much.
Reposted by Dr Dave
Moth Advent 24. No question of the moth of 2025, by a county mile. I’ll never forget seeing this land on the sheet at Kenfig NNR. After a lot of swearing and input from BlueSky, ID was confirmed as The Sorcerer, just the 4th British record and a 1st for Wales. I’m still buzzing now! #TeamMoth
December 24, 2025 at 9:25 AM
Moth Advent 24. No question of the moth of 2025, by a county mile. I’ll never forget seeing this land on the sheet at Kenfig NNR. After a lot of swearing and input from BlueSky, ID was confirmed as The Sorcerer, just the 4th British record and a 1st for Wales. I’m still buzzing now! #TeamMoth
Reposted by Dr Dave
Reposted by Dr Dave
It's just in and in time for Christmas: our recently published #OpenAccess paper showing an astounding 14 YEARS of monitoring of #Lathraea, a peculiar #ParasiticPlant that shows earlier reproductive #phenology potentially following host-derived cues!
doi.org/10.1002/pei3...
doi.org/10.1002/pei3...
Spring Forward: Reproductive Phenology of the Holoparasite Lathraea squamaria (Orobanchaceae)
Lathraea squamaria is a peculiar holoparasitic plant. Here, we show that over a 14-year period, key stages in the reproductive phenology of this parasite have started significantly earlier. Most rema...
doi.org
December 23, 2025 at 6:30 PM
It's just in and in time for Christmas: our recently published #OpenAccess paper showing an astounding 14 YEARS of monitoring of #Lathraea, a peculiar #ParasiticPlant that shows earlier reproductive #phenology potentially following host-derived cues!
doi.org/10.1002/pei3...
doi.org/10.1002/pei3...
Good morning good people.
December 23, 2025 at 8:04 PM
Good morning good people.
Reposted by Dr Dave
"Bond’s work leaves behind an inconvenient lesson for an era of climate urgency: that speed is not a substitute for understanding, and that good intentions, applied without care, can erase ancient worlds as efficiently as neglect." A beautiful tribute to William Bond. Forever missed by many.
William Bond, defender of grasslands
In recent years, one of the loudest ideas in environmental policy has been that trees are the planet’s universal remedy. Plant enough of them, in enough places, and carbon will be soaked up, water wil...
www.butlernature.com
December 23, 2025 at 7:31 AM
"Bond’s work leaves behind an inconvenient lesson for an era of climate urgency: that speed is not a substitute for understanding, and that good intentions, applied without care, can erase ancient worlds as efficiently as neglect." A beautiful tribute to William Bond. Forever missed by many.
It’s doubly satisfying making things in a workshop you made. One of our fave elements is this shave horse, made from salvaged timbers (dumpster diving ftw). A seat, a workbench and, of course, with an
Integrated treadle powered clamp—like an infinitely adjustable second set of hands!
Integrated treadle powered clamp—like an infinitely adjustable second set of hands!
December 23, 2025 at 2:52 AM
It’s doubly satisfying making things in a workshop you made. One of our fave elements is this shave horse, made from salvaged timbers (dumpster diving ftw). A seat, a workbench and, of course, with an
Integrated treadle powered clamp—like an infinitely adjustable second set of hands!
Integrated treadle powered clamp—like an infinitely adjustable second set of hands!
Reposted by Dr Dave
No raptors this morning but I did find this handsome specimen 🪶
(ID in alt-text)
(ID in alt-text)
December 21, 2025 at 6:55 PM
No raptors this morning but I did find this handsome specimen 🪶
(ID in alt-text)
(ID in alt-text)
Reposted by Dr Dave
Finally got some photos of Australia’s “blue ant”, Diamma bicolor, which is not an ant at all but a shockingly large metallic blue thynnid wasp, wingless and solitary, that hunts mole crickets. Been meaning to shoot this thing for years.
December 22, 2025 at 7:36 PM
Finally got some photos of Australia’s “blue ant”, Diamma bicolor, which is not an ant at all but a shockingly large metallic blue thynnid wasp, wingless and solitary, that hunts mole crickets. Been meaning to shoot this thing for years.
Reposted by Dr Dave
And it happened again: Dušan M. Brinkhuizen & Glen Valentine shared sounds of Seram Mountain Pigeon, Gymnophaps stalkeri: xeno-canto.org/species/Gymn.... Since the species is on "Shaun's list" (xeno-canto.org/article/241) this appears to be the first ever sound recording. #bioacoustics
December 22, 2025 at 6:33 AM
And it happened again: Dušan M. Brinkhuizen & Glen Valentine shared sounds of Seram Mountain Pigeon, Gymnophaps stalkeri: xeno-canto.org/species/Gymn.... Since the species is on "Shaun's list" (xeno-canto.org/article/241) this appears to be the first ever sound recording. #bioacoustics
Giving #AquariumOfUnusualSize a pre-Christmas once over, inside and out. Please enjoy a minute of sunlight playing through murky water. Sound up for festive tunes!
December 22, 2025 at 5:09 AM
Giving #AquariumOfUnusualSize a pre-Christmas once over, inside and out. Please enjoy a minute of sunlight playing through murky water. Sound up for festive tunes!
Reposted by Dr Dave
Pacific Gull taking off at Merimbula Beach. #SuperSeabirdSunday
December 21, 2025 at 10:21 AM
Pacific Gull taking off at Merimbula Beach. #SuperSeabirdSunday