Dustin Reichard
@juncowren.bsky.social
Behavior, Evolution, Endocrinology, and Birds. Associate Professor at OWU, a PUI/SLAC. Research with undergraduates!
Pinned
Dustin Reichard
@juncowren.bsky.social
· Mar 19
Can Animals Pass Down Culture?
YouTube video by Ohio Wesleyan University
www.youtube.com
At OWU, students nominate professors to give 3-minute, "i^3 lectures" that mimic TED talks. I was honored to present a few weeks ago, and discussed animal culture and evolution. Have 3 minutes? Check it out!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=33qK...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=33qK...
Looks like an amazing tool, especially for those of us teaching Ornithology, Evolution, etc. Also, just fun to cruise around and learn about new birds and taxonomic relationships.
MAJOR NEWS! We just launched an awesome new tool! The illustrated Birds of the World Phylogeny Explorer lets users trace any bird’s lineage, compare species relationships, and explore major evolutionary milestones with a click of a button. SHARE and EXPLORE! birdsoftheworld.org/bow/news/phy...
January 27, 2026 at 12:43 PM
Looks like an amazing tool, especially for those of us teaching Ornithology, Evolution, etc. Also, just fun to cruise around and learn about new birds and taxonomic relationships.
I first learned about the misleading scale of the Mercator projection in college geography and was astounded. So much of what I thought I knew about the world had to be reevaluated. I think about that moment often.
I am calling for a complete and total boycott of the Mercator projection in all news stories about Greenland until every member of the American public has seen this
January 13, 2026 at 9:37 PM
I first learned about the misleading scale of the Mercator projection in college geography and was astounded. So much of what I thought I knew about the world had to be reevaluated. I think about that moment often.
Reposted by Dustin Reichard
The Birdsong Lab is recruiting graduate students! Links in the comments. Please repost!
January 13, 2026 at 4:41 PM
The Birdsong Lab is recruiting graduate students! Links in the comments. Please repost!
I finally broke down and asked for a @birdfybynetvue.bsky.social feeder for Christmas. So glad that I did! It’s been fun watching the usual suspects, but yesterday I would’ve totally missed this relative rarity without it. Enjoy the red-breasted nuthatch!
January 8, 2026 at 6:55 PM
I finally broke down and asked for a @birdfybynetvue.bsky.social feeder for Christmas. So glad that I did! It’s been fun watching the usual suspects, but yesterday I would’ve totally missed this relative rarity without it. Enjoy the red-breasted nuthatch!
I would not be the scientist I am today without Ellen's mentorship. She is proof that you can be kind, supportive, and compassionate while still achieving success at the highest level. She always reminded me to try the carrot, not just the stick. The world needs more people like Ellen.
Today the members of the Evolution, Ecology, and Behavior graduate program at Indiana University celebrated the upcoming retirement of Dr. Ellen Ketterson. Ellen was a bastion of civility and scientific excellence. The program would not be what it is without her presence over these past decades.
December 15, 2025 at 2:39 PM
I would not be the scientist I am today without Ellen's mentorship. She is proof that you can be kind, supportive, and compassionate while still achieving success at the highest level. She always reminded me to try the carrot, not just the stick. The world needs more people like Ellen.
Reposted by Dustin Reichard
New #paleoart on #FossilFriday: #Tiktaalik sees the world. Discussions of early #tetrapods often focus on limbs and lungs, but major changes also took place in their eyes. Seeing further and clearer than any animal before, they were the first to clearly see sunsets, stars, and the moon. #sciart
December 12, 2025 at 2:32 PM
New #paleoart on #FossilFriday: #Tiktaalik sees the world. Discussions of early #tetrapods often focus on limbs and lungs, but major changes also took place in their eyes. Seeing further and clearer than any animal before, they were the first to clearly see sunsets, stars, and the moon. #sciart
Reposted by Dustin Reichard
"Morning Light on a Carolina Wren" 5" x 7" Oil on panel
I just think they're neat
I just think they're neat
December 9, 2025 at 3:36 PM
"Morning Light on a Carolina Wren" 5" x 7" Oil on panel
I just think they're neat
I just think they're neat
Reposted by Dustin Reichard
A study on 1.7 million people in Hong Kong shows superior hybrid immunity to Covid in people who got vaccinated before infection vs. people who got infected first. "Our findings are a direct rebuttal to arguments for natural immunity," the authors write. doi.org/10.1016/j.va...
Redirecting
doi.org
December 6, 2025 at 5:02 PM
A study on 1.7 million people in Hong Kong shows superior hybrid immunity to Covid in people who got vaccinated before infection vs. people who got infected first. "Our findings are a direct rebuttal to arguments for natural immunity," the authors write. doi.org/10.1016/j.va...
Reposted by Dustin Reichard
New post by me on #MITPressReader @mitpress.bsky.social
On the 100th anniversary of the #ScopesMonkeyTrial
the ways we depict #evolution can still give an erroneous progressive view (that evolution leads to humans or ‘increased complexity’).
thereader.mitpress.mit.edu/is-our-pictu...
On the 100th anniversary of the #ScopesMonkeyTrial
the ways we depict #evolution can still give an erroneous progressive view (that evolution leads to humans or ‘increased complexity’).
thereader.mitpress.mit.edu/is-our-pictu...
December 1, 2025 at 5:56 PM
New post by me on #MITPressReader @mitpress.bsky.social
On the 100th anniversary of the #ScopesMonkeyTrial
the ways we depict #evolution can still give an erroneous progressive view (that evolution leads to humans or ‘increased complexity’).
thereader.mitpress.mit.edu/is-our-pictu...
On the 100th anniversary of the #ScopesMonkeyTrial
the ways we depict #evolution can still give an erroneous progressive view (that evolution leads to humans or ‘increased complexity’).
thereader.mitpress.mit.edu/is-our-pictu...
Reposted by Dustin Reichard
Postdoc position in individual-level incentives, social
learning, and payoff-biased imitation shape group-level accuracy in complex prediction and decision-making tasks in Konstanz
files.newsletter2go.com/l3slzozn/s_i...
learning, and payoff-biased imitation shape group-level accuracy in complex prediction and decision-making tasks in Konstanz
files.newsletter2go.com/l3slzozn/s_i...
files.newsletter2go.com
November 17, 2025 at 9:27 AM
Postdoc position in individual-level incentives, social
learning, and payoff-biased imitation shape group-level accuracy in complex prediction and decision-making tasks in Konstanz
files.newsletter2go.com/l3slzozn/s_i...
learning, and payoff-biased imitation shape group-level accuracy in complex prediction and decision-making tasks in Konstanz
files.newsletter2go.com/l3slzozn/s_i...
Everyone should check out the recently updated CDC webpage on Vaccines and Autism. It's now loaded with blatant anti-vax misinformation. Infuriating, but also totally unsurprising considering who it in charge.
www.cdc.gov/vaccine-safe...
www.cdc.gov/vaccine-safe...
Autism and Vaccines
Answers to common questions about vaccine safety and autism.
www.cdc.gov
November 20, 2025 at 4:11 PM
Everyone should check out the recently updated CDC webpage on Vaccines and Autism. It's now loaded with blatant anti-vax misinformation. Infuriating, but also totally unsurprising considering who it in charge.
www.cdc.gov/vaccine-safe...
www.cdc.gov/vaccine-safe...
Reposted by Dustin Reichard
Seeking Advice: My department needs to order new chest waders. We're looking for cost-effective, reliable, and long lasting ones (hah!). Even advice for those to avoid would be helpful! We currently use Cabela's waders, but online reviews suggest they have gone downhill...thanks!
November 17, 2025 at 2:49 PM
Seeking Advice: My department needs to order new chest waders. We're looking for cost-effective, reliable, and long lasting ones (hah!). Even advice for those to avoid would be helpful! We currently use Cabela's waders, but online reviews suggest they have gone downhill...thanks!
Seeking Advice: My department needs to order new chest waders. We're looking for cost-effective, reliable, and long lasting ones (hah!). Even advice for those to avoid would be helpful! We currently use Cabela's waders, but online reviews suggest they have gone downhill...thanks!
November 17, 2025 at 2:49 PM
Seeking Advice: My department needs to order new chest waders. We're looking for cost-effective, reliable, and long lasting ones (hah!). Even advice for those to avoid would be helpful! We currently use Cabela's waders, but online reviews suggest they have gone downhill...thanks!
Reposted by Dustin Reichard
Things I wish I'd known as a junior academic #37
November 6, 2025 at 3:12 PM
Things I wish I'd known as a junior academic #37
Reposted by Dustin Reichard
Anyone know if any good apps for estimating surface area? (Or maybe manual/imageJ are the best alternatives?)
We're measuring surface area of bird wings tomorrow with grid paper but I'm hoping to improve the class in the future!
We're measuring surface area of bird wings tomorrow with grid paper but I'm hoping to improve the class in the future!
November 5, 2025 at 6:33 PM
Anyone know if any good apps for estimating surface area? (Or maybe manual/imageJ are the best alternatives?)
We're measuring surface area of bird wings tomorrow with grid paper but I'm hoping to improve the class in the future!
We're measuring surface area of bird wings tomorrow with grid paper but I'm hoping to improve the class in the future!
Reposted by Dustin Reichard
Making students do The Wave to explain how action potentials travel along a neuron is one of my favorite parts of teaching Intro Bio II.
One of the best teaching evals I've received was "I will never forget that I am a voltage-gated sodium channel."
One of the best teaching evals I've received was "I will never forget that I am a voltage-gated sodium channel."
Here's the slide I made when we were online during COVID, but it's so much more fun to make students do it in person. Once full-speed, then once in slow-mo so you can talk about what's happening at each step.
I think it's one of the best teaching brainwaves (ha!) that I've ever had.
I think it's one of the best teaching brainwaves (ha!) that I've ever had.
November 5, 2025 at 4:09 PM
Making students do The Wave to explain how action potentials travel along a neuron is one of my favorite parts of teaching Intro Bio II.
One of the best teaching evals I've received was "I will never forget that I am a voltage-gated sodium channel."
One of the best teaching evals I've received was "I will never forget that I am a voltage-gated sodium channel."
Wow! Definitely worth a look for those of us teaching and doing research on stress.
What makes us feel "fight or flight" may be less adrenaline and more of something else—a hormone that seeps out of our bones.
Learn more on #Halloween: https://scim.ag/4hDR7sw
Learn more on #Halloween: https://scim.ag/4hDR7sw
October 31, 2025 at 4:22 PM
Wow! Definitely worth a look for those of us teaching and doing research on stress.
Reposted by Dustin Reichard
I am looking for a postdoc to work in our long-term system of food-caching mountain chickadees in the Sierra Nevada mountains. The expected start is April 2026. Please see details here: chickadeecognition.com/positions
If interested and qualified, please contact me directly (email on the website).
If interested and qualified, please contact me directly (email on the website).
POSITIONS
default description
chickadeecognition.com
October 28, 2025 at 5:49 PM
I am looking for a postdoc to work in our long-term system of food-caching mountain chickadees in the Sierra Nevada mountains. The expected start is April 2026. Please see details here: chickadeecognition.com/positions
If interested and qualified, please contact me directly (email on the website).
If interested and qualified, please contact me directly (email on the website).
Reposted by Dustin Reichard
No kings only kingfishers, kinglets, and kingbirds!
Rally in Bend, Oregon, drew thousands ….
#nokingsday #birders
Rally in Bend, Oregon, drew thousands ….
#nokingsday #birders
October 19, 2025 at 2:57 AM
No kings only kingfishers, kinglets, and kingbirds!
Rally in Bend, Oregon, drew thousands ….
#nokingsday #birders
Rally in Bend, Oregon, drew thousands ….
#nokingsday #birders
Glad to finally see some good news out of IU, courtesy of our rivals at Purdue stepping up big time.
Purdue to the rescue of IU student newspaper, whose institution was attempting censorship. Details in alt!
October 19, 2025 at 11:28 AM
Glad to finally see some good news out of IU, courtesy of our rivals at Purdue stepping up big time.
Reposted by Dustin Reichard
I can’t think of a better reason to finally join Bluesky - my first first-authored paper is out! It being published in @science.org is surreal. This was a community effort in every sense, led by an incredible team with @rosvall-lab.bsky.social @mathcancer.bsky.social @juncowren.bsky.social
As the Moon eclipsed the Sun on 8 April 2024, birds took note.
Leveraging nature’s own experiment, scientists and the public joined forces to show how different species responded to sudden midafternoon darkness followed by a new “dawn.” Learn more this week in Science: https://scim.ag/48WbhLL
Leveraging nature’s own experiment, scientists and the public joined forces to show how different species responded to sudden midafternoon darkness followed by a new “dawn.” Learn more this week in Science: https://scim.ag/48WbhLL
October 10, 2025 at 8:10 PM
I can’t think of a better reason to finally join Bluesky - my first first-authored paper is out! It being published in @science.org is surreal. This was a community effort in every sense, led by an incredible team with @rosvall-lab.bsky.social @mathcancer.bsky.social @juncowren.bsky.social
🧵with the behind the scenes story of our eclipse paper!
I do want to take a minute to share the backstory of our paper on the total solar eclipse that triggered dawn behavior in birds. This was SUCH a fun paper to work on, a major light in a lot of different tunnels over the past 18 months. doi.org/10.1126/scie... < ☀️ Let the light puns begin ☀️ > (1/x)
two men are fighting with lightsabers in front of a doorway
ALT: two men are fighting with lightsabers in front of a doorway
media.tenor.com
October 9, 2025 at 8:28 PM
🧵with the behind the scenes story of our eclipse paper!
Reposted by Dustin Reichard
So proud of this multidisciplinary project, showing in particular the power of community science when enabled by user-friendly design, bolstering deep expertise.
In the 2024 solar eclipse, 11k observations from 1700 laypeople via a jointly developed, user-friendly smartphone app.🔭🧪
In the 2024 solar eclipse, 11k observations from 1700 laypeople via a jointly developed, user-friendly smartphone app.🔭🧪
October 9, 2025 at 6:45 PM
So proud of this multidisciplinary project, showing in particular the power of community science when enabled by user-friendly design, bolstering deep expertise.
In the 2024 solar eclipse, 11k observations from 1700 laypeople via a jointly developed, user-friendly smartphone app.🔭🧪
In the 2024 solar eclipse, 11k observations from 1700 laypeople via a jointly developed, user-friendly smartphone app.🔭🧪
Reposted by Dustin Reichard
Pumped to share our work on bird behavior and the 2024 Eclipse, in today's @science.org. 100k bird vocalizations + 10k continent-wide observations from the public = really fun collab led by Liz Aguilar, with @juncowren.bsky.social @mathcancer.bsky.social @imillercrews.bsky.social #NSF
October 9, 2025 at 6:54 PM
Pumped to share our work on bird behavior and the 2024 Eclipse, in today's @science.org. 100k bird vocalizations + 10k continent-wide observations from the public = really fun collab led by Liz Aguilar, with @juncowren.bsky.social @mathcancer.bsky.social @imillercrews.bsky.social #NSF