Ksepka Lab
@ksepkalab.bsky.social
Paleontologist specializing in birds (especially penguins) and dabbling in choristoderes + sauropods. Curator at the Bruce Museum. All opinions are my own.
Ants: Tiny Creatures, Big Lives is officially open at the Bruce Museum! Enter the tunnel and you will meet "Buckley", our five foot long scaled-up Dinoponera ant.
Buckley is named after her creator, the great Dan Buckley.
The smaller ant is my daughter, dressed as an alate queen for the opener.
Buckley is named after her creator, the great Dan Buckley.
The smaller ant is my daughter, dressed as an alate queen for the opener.
November 14, 2025 at 3:21 PM
Ants: Tiny Creatures, Big Lives is officially open at the Bruce Museum! Enter the tunnel and you will meet "Buckley", our five foot long scaled-up Dinoponera ant.
Buckley is named after her creator, the great Dan Buckley.
The smaller ant is my daughter, dressed as an alate queen for the opener.
Buckley is named after her creator, the great Dan Buckley.
The smaller ant is my daughter, dressed as an alate queen for the opener.
Wonderful tribute to Mark Norell by Peter Makovicky, Jim Clark, and Steve Brusatte:
Mark Norell (1957–2025): Current Biology www.cell.com/current-biol...
Mark Norell (1957–2025): Current Biology www.cell.com/current-biol...
Mark Norell (1957–2025)
Pete Makovicky, Jim Clark and Steve Brusatte remember dinosaur paleontologist par
excellence and all-around cool dude Mark Norell.
www.cell.com
November 10, 2025 at 2:36 PM
Wonderful tribute to Mark Norell by Peter Makovicky, Jim Clark, and Steve Brusatte:
Mark Norell (1957–2025): Current Biology www.cell.com/current-biol...
Mark Norell (1957–2025): Current Biology www.cell.com/current-biol...
Get ready to enter the tunnel and explore the realm of natures tiny dynamos. Ants: Tiny Creatures, Big Lives opens November 13th at the Bruce Museum!
November 7, 2025 at 9:54 PM
Get ready to enter the tunnel and explore the realm of natures tiny dynamos. Ants: Tiny Creatures, Big Lives opens November 13th at the Bruce Museum!
This weekend is the last chance to see Charlie the Polar Bear and all his Arctic pals in On Thin Ice: Alaska's Warming Wilderness at the Bruce Museum Saturday and Sunday we host our 43rd Annual Outdoor Arts Festival, so make it a double play Bruce weekend!
@brucemuseum.bsky.social
@brucemuseum.bsky.social
October 10, 2025 at 2:01 PM
This weekend is the last chance to see Charlie the Polar Bear and all his Arctic pals in On Thin Ice: Alaska's Warming Wilderness at the Bruce Museum Saturday and Sunday we host our 43rd Annual Outdoor Arts Festival, so make it a double play Bruce weekend!
@brucemuseum.bsky.social
@brucemuseum.bsky.social
Proud to share a new piece in Scientific American co-authored with the brilliant @lnwilson.bsky.social , edited by @katewong.bsky.social, and featuring this spectacular depiction of the endless daylight of the Cretaceous summer in Alaska by Chase Stone!
www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-...
www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-...
Bird Migration Is One of Nature’s Greatest Spectacles. Paleontologists Just Found Clues to Its Origin
Tiny fossils hint at when birds began making their mind-blowing journey to the Arctic to breed
www.scientificamerican.com
October 8, 2025 at 4:04 PM
Proud to share a new piece in Scientific American co-authored with the brilliant @lnwilson.bsky.social , edited by @katewong.bsky.social, and featuring this spectacular depiction of the endless daylight of the Cretaceous summer in Alaska by Chase Stone!
www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-...
www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-...
October is here and nothing sets the Halloween mood like some spessartine on black quartz! On view in the Robert R. Wiener Mineral Gallery at the Bruce Museum.
Happy #MineralMonday!
Happy #MineralMonday!
October 7, 2025 at 8:06 PM
October is here and nothing sets the Halloween mood like some spessartine on black quartz! On view in the Robert R. Wiener Mineral Gallery at the Bruce Museum.
Happy #MineralMonday!
Happy #MineralMonday!
Often tempted to change the locality of this spectacular selenite specimen to Fortress of Solitude. On view in the Robert R. Wiener Mineral Gallery at the Bruce Museum.
Happy belated #MineralMonday
Happy belated #MineralMonday
September 30, 2025 at 1:51 PM
Often tempted to change the locality of this spectacular selenite specimen to Fortress of Solitude. On view in the Robert R. Wiener Mineral Gallery at the Bruce Museum.
Happy belated #MineralMonday
Happy belated #MineralMonday
On #FossilFriday I am proud to share a new discovery - a skull of a large extinct relative of king and emperor penguins.
@atennyson.bsky.social, Daniel Thomas, Felix Marx,
and I report this magnificent skull in Journal of Paleontology:
https://
bit.ly/4ne3HQV
@atennyson.bsky.social, Daniel Thomas, Felix Marx,
and I report this magnificent skull in Journal of Paleontology:
https://
bit.ly/4ne3HQV
September 26, 2025 at 7:27 PM
On #FossilFriday I am proud to share a new discovery - a skull of a large extinct relative of king and emperor penguins.
@atennyson.bsky.social, Daniel Thomas, Felix Marx,
and I report this magnificent skull in Journal of Paleontology:
https://
bit.ly/4ne3HQV
@atennyson.bsky.social, Daniel Thomas, Felix Marx,
and I report this magnificent skull in Journal of Paleontology:
https://
bit.ly/4ne3HQV
The Bruce Museum hosted the Federal Duck Stamp Contest last year and it was honestly one of the most enjoyable 48 hours of my tenure at the museum. Here’s my thoughts on why this program is so crucial and the energy of being in the room for the judging.
How the Duck Stamp Became One of the Most Successful Conservation Tools in U.S. History
Inside the fiercely competitive Federal Duck Stamp Contest, part of the wildly successful conservation program that has preserved millions of acres of waterfowl habitat
www.scientificamerican.com
September 19, 2025 at 2:55 PM
The Bruce Museum hosted the Federal Duck Stamp Contest last year and it was honestly one of the most enjoyable 48 hours of my tenure at the museum. Here’s my thoughts on why this program is so crucial and the energy of being in the room for the judging.
Thrilled to be at the Patuxent Research Refuge for the judging of the 2025 Federal Duck Stamp contest. This program conserves millions of acres of wetland habitat and brings out the best in wildlife art!
September 19, 2025 at 2:51 PM
Thrilled to be at the Patuxent Research Refuge for the judging of the 2025 Federal Duck Stamp contest. This program conserves millions of acres of wetland habitat and brings out the best in wildlife art!
Preparations for Ants: Tiny Creatures, Big Lives are kicking into high gear! You know we gotta have honeypot ants, and Sean Murtha is crafting some juicy ones. Meanwhile Dan Buckley is creating a super-sized 5 foot long Dinoponera. Opening in October at the Bruce Museum!
August 20, 2025 at 2:58 PM
Preparations for Ants: Tiny Creatures, Big Lives are kicking into high gear! You know we gotta have honeypot ants, and Sean Murtha is crafting some juicy ones. Meanwhile Dan Buckley is creating a super-sized 5 foot long Dinoponera. Opening in October at the Bruce Museum!
Ants: Tiny Creatures, Big Lives is going to be epic! Here is a Dolichoderus ant tending hemipteran ants, combining 3D prints and the magic of Sean Murtha. Meet this ant and over 70 of her friends this November at the Bruce Museum!
July 8, 2025 at 9:46 PM
Ants: Tiny Creatures, Big Lives is going to be epic! Here is a Dolichoderus ant tending hemipteran ants, combining 3D prints and the magic of Sean Murtha. Meet this ant and over 70 of her friends this November at the Bruce Museum!
Are you very different from your sibling? Gypsum comes in forms, all with same chemical structure. In the Bruce Museum’s Robert R. Wiener Mineral Gallery you can see ram’s horn gypsum side by side with a selenite crystal. Same mineral formed under different conditions!
Happy #MineralMonday!
Happy #MineralMonday!
July 7, 2025 at 2:35 PM
Are you very different from your sibling? Gypsum comes in forms, all with same chemical structure. In the Bruce Museum’s Robert R. Wiener Mineral Gallery you can see ram’s horn gypsum side by side with a selenite crystal. Same mineral formed under different conditions!
Happy #MineralMonday!
Happy #MineralMonday!
Who is this beautiful little bird? Consoravis turdirostris is a new species from the famous Fossil Lake deposits of Wyoming. The name Consoravis means "companion bird", forming a phonetic group with the closely related Morsoravis ("Mors bird") and Sororavis ("sister bird").
July 4, 2025 at 5:18 PM
Who is this beautiful little bird? Consoravis turdirostris is a new species from the famous Fossil Lake deposits of Wyoming. The name Consoravis means "companion bird", forming a phonetic group with the closely related Morsoravis ("Mors bird") and Sororavis ("sister bird").
So happy to finally order my 2025-2026 Federal Duck Stamp (two actually) today!
Duck Stamp image credit: US Fish and Wildlife Service
@usfws
Duck Stamp image credit: US Fish and Wildlife Service
@usfws
July 1, 2025 at 6:47 PM
So happy to finally order my 2025-2026 Federal Duck Stamp (two actually) today!
Duck Stamp image credit: US Fish and Wildlife Service
@usfws
Duck Stamp image credit: US Fish and Wildlife Service
@usfws
Green pyromorphite is perhaps more widely known but my favorite example of this mineral is this sparkling yellow beauty from the Bunker Hill Mine in Idaho. On view at the Robert R. Wiener Mineral Gallery at the Bruce Museum. Happy #MineralMonday
June 9, 2025 at 7:47 PM
Green pyromorphite is perhaps more widely known but my favorite example of this mineral is this sparkling yellow beauty from the Bunker Hill Mine in Idaho. On view at the Robert R. Wiener Mineral Gallery at the Bruce Museum. Happy #MineralMonday
Ready for tiny birds from above the Arctic Circle? Our new paper on the Cretaceous origins of Arctic nesting drops today in Science. This project was led by @lnwilson.bsky.social and features amazing fossils recovered by Pat Druckenmiller’s field program in the Prince Creek Formation of Alaska.
May 29, 2025 at 7:04 PM
Ready for tiny birds from above the Arctic Circle? Our new paper on the Cretaceous origins of Arctic nesting drops today in Science. This project was led by @lnwilson.bsky.social and features amazing fossils recovered by Pat Druckenmiller’s field program in the Prince Creek Formation of Alaska.
Its CRETACEOUS ARCTIC BABY BIRD time!
Millions of birds nest in the Arctic each year. But did you know they’ve been doing this since the Cretaceous? Can’t believe I finally get to share that our paper on the birds of the Prince Creek Formation is out in @science.org (and on the cover)! 🧵
Art: Gabriel Ugueto @serpenillus.bsky.social
Art: Gabriel Ugueto @serpenillus.bsky.social
May 29, 2025 at 6:26 PM
Its CRETACEOUS ARCTIC BABY BIRD time!
The 2023 SAPE volume is now published thanks to the legendary efforts of Kiko Serrano:
www.sciencedirect.com/special-issu...
Feeling low key like I made it, this is my first appearance in an old school numbered conference photo.
www.sciencedirect.com/special-issu...
Feeling low key like I made it, this is my first appearance in an old school numbered conference photo.
May 21, 2025 at 2:03 PM
The 2023 SAPE volume is now published thanks to the legendary efforts of Kiko Serrano:
www.sciencedirect.com/special-issu...
Feeling low key like I made it, this is my first appearance in an old school numbered conference photo.
www.sciencedirect.com/special-issu...
Feeling low key like I made it, this is my first appearance in an old school numbered conference photo.
Hanging with my buddy in the Bruce Museum natural history galleries!
May 20, 2025 at 11:02 PM
Hanging with my buddy in the Bruce Museum natural history galleries!
Tiny kingdom in a geode. Quartz from Sidi Rahal, Morocco. On view in the Robert R Wiener Mineral Gallery at the Bruce Museum. Happy #MineralMonday
May 19, 2025 at 2:05 PM
Tiny kingdom in a geode. Quartz from Sidi Rahal, Morocco. On view in the Robert R Wiener Mineral Gallery at the Bruce Museum. Happy #MineralMonday
One of the most wonderful things about museum careers is that my kids throw themselves into learning about whatever the current and upcoming exhibitions will be about. As we prepare for Ants: Tiny Creatures, Big Lives Phoebe and I have been monitoring this nest on the sidewalk every day.
May 18, 2025 at 3:27 PM
One of the most wonderful things about museum careers is that my kids throw themselves into learning about whatever the current and upcoming exhibitions will be about. As we prepare for Ants: Tiny Creatures, Big Lives Phoebe and I have been monitoring this nest on the sidewalk every day.
Blast from the past - putting together our Postosuchus cast for Last Days of Pangea back in 2016. #FossilFriday
May 16, 2025 at 9:08 PM
Blast from the past - putting together our Postosuchus cast for Last Days of Pangea back in 2016. #FossilFriday
Love the way the Yale Peabody Museum put this coelacanth in a little cave. There’s going to be a generation of kids with the memory of scrambling under there. Great design!
May 16, 2025 at 2:19 PM
Love the way the Yale Peabody Museum put this coelacanth in a little cave. There’s going to be a generation of kids with the memory of scrambling under there. Great design!
Counting grebe vertebrae in the Yale Peabody Museum collections and stumbled upon a Marsh specimen!
May 15, 2025 at 7:20 PM
Counting grebe vertebrae in the Yale Peabody Museum collections and stumbled upon a Marsh specimen!