Nicole Gerlach
@ngerlach.bsky.social
Behavioral ecologist, evolutionary organismal biologist (birds, other verts, & critters in general), & educator. Aspiring Ms. Frizzle. Avid reader. Seeker of tiny moments of joy and magic. she/her.
Comments, opinions, & photos my own.
Comments, opinions, & photos my own.
Pinned
Nicole Gerlach
@ngerlach.bsky.social
· Aug 20
Hi, I'm Nicole. I'm a biologist and full-time teaching faculty. I'm primarily a behavioral ecologist by training, with my main research interests in mate choice / parental care behavior, especially extra-pair mating behavior in socially monogamous songbirds like the dark-eyed junco!
I love Wait Wait Don't Tell Me, but this week's episode had some casual hagfish erasure (referring to them as "eels"), and they're too awesome to let that pass unremarked.
And you can imagine what happens when 7500 lbs of hagfish are disturbed by being in a car crash... www.youtube.com/watch?v=ctoB...
Truck full of slime eels crashes on Highway 101
YouTube video by KGW News
www.youtube.com
November 11, 2025 at 4:04 PM
I love Wait Wait Don't Tell Me, but this week's episode had some casual hagfish erasure (referring to them as "eels"), and they're too awesome to let that pass unremarked.
*sighs in zoology professor*
November 11, 2025 at 3:04 PM
*sighs in zoology professor*
This is hilarious. Will "when you see a blue dog, think porta-potties, not radioactivity" replace "when you hear hoofbeats, think horses, not zebras"?
Some of the stray dogs living near Chernobyl have recently turned blue. This confused scientists for weeks, until they realized they had simply been rolling around in chemicals from a nearby set of portable toilets. 14/10 for all
November 11, 2025 at 2:25 AM
This is hilarious. Will "when you see a blue dog, think porta-potties, not radioactivity" replace "when you hear hoofbeats, think horses, not zebras"?
Reposted by Nicole Gerlach
Should I ask him for a kayak? 🪶🌿
November 11, 2025 at 2:01 AM
Should I ask him for a kayak? 🪶🌿
Reposted by Nicole Gerlach
“are you worried AI is going to replace you?”
the AI trying to do my job: *thinks there are Eurasian bird species and a notoriously sensitive northern owl on the Ohio State campus*
the AI trying to do my job: *thinks there are Eurasian bird species and a notoriously sensitive northern owl on the Ohio State campus*
November 10, 2025 at 7:49 PM
“are you worried AI is going to replace you?”
the AI trying to do my job: *thinks there are Eurasian bird species and a notoriously sensitive northern owl on the Ohio State campus*
the AI trying to do my job: *thinks there are Eurasian bird species and a notoriously sensitive northern owl on the Ohio State campus*
#LocalVertDiversity 31. Little Blue Heron (Egretta caerulea)
Not the most illustrative picture, I know (adults are slaty blue with maroon-tinted necks and heads, not that you can tell that here). I usually see them much more frequently, but somehow this is the only one I've found this semester. 🪶
Not the most illustrative picture, I know (adults are slaty blue with maroon-tinted necks and heads, not that you can tell that here). I usually see them much more frequently, but somehow this is the only one I've found this semester. 🪶
November 10, 2025 at 5:23 PM
#LocalVertDiversity 31. Little Blue Heron (Egretta caerulea)
Not the most illustrative picture, I know (adults are slaty blue with maroon-tinted necks and heads, not that you can tell that here). I usually see them much more frequently, but somehow this is the only one I've found this semester. 🪶
Not the most illustrative picture, I know (adults are slaty blue with maroon-tinted necks and heads, not that you can tell that here). I usually see them much more frequently, but somehow this is the only one I've found this semester. 🪶
Reposted by Nicole Gerlach
What do you get when you cross a red-tailed hawk with a turkey vulture? 🪶
November 10, 2025 at 4:06 PM
What do you get when you cross a red-tailed hawk with a turkey vulture? 🪶
I wore jeans today for the first time in a long while. The inadequate pockets means my phone managed to fall out and somehow land squarely in my dog's water bowl.
I'm taking this as further validation of my "no hard pants" rule that I established for myself during the pandemic.
I'm taking this as further validation of my "no hard pants" rule that I established for myself during the pandemic.
November 10, 2025 at 3:02 PM
I wore jeans today for the first time in a long while. The inadequate pockets means my phone managed to fall out and somehow land squarely in my dog's water bowl.
I'm taking this as further validation of my "no hard pants" rule that I established for myself during the pandemic.
I'm taking this as further validation of my "no hard pants" rule that I established for myself during the pandemic.
Old pictures of two of my local favorites, the Manatee Treesnail (Antidrymaeus dormani), which is endemic to FL, and the Rosy Wolfsnail (Euglandina rosea), a predator of other snails. 🐌
November 9, 2025 at 3:23 PM
Old pictures of two of my local favorites, the Manatee Treesnail (Antidrymaeus dormani), which is endemic to FL, and the Rosy Wolfsnail (Euglandina rosea), a predator of other snails. 🐌
Reposted by Nicole Gerlach
an important message from my neighborhood nuthatches:
November 8, 2025 at 8:52 PM
an important message from my neighborhood nuthatches:
Damn it. Another of my alma maters has caved to fascism.
I really thought Cornell was going to be the one to resist.
I really thought Cornell was going to be the one to resist.
I say this as someone who had a great experience with Cornell: they must become a pariah for it. I know the faculty didn’t choose this but it has to cost admin in reputation & money. Every uni that falls makes the next admin feel like it is ok & normal.
They are anathema to any good in academia now
They are anathema to any good in academia now
BREAKING: Cornell caved.
Here is the settlement agreement, signed today by the university's president, Michael Kotlikoff: statements.cornell.edu/2025/documen...
Here is the settlement agreement, signed today by the university's president, Michael Kotlikoff: statements.cornell.edu/2025/documen...
November 7, 2025 at 8:21 PM
Damn it. Another of my alma maters has caved to fascism.
I really thought Cornell was going to be the one to resist.
I really thought Cornell was going to be the one to resist.
I’d never heard about this — super cool!
Just a reminder, that possibly the oldest piece of palaeoart dates to the Neolithic. The petroglyphs of horned characters with trumpets, recorded on the same rock as a ornithischian footprints (Zagaje Formation) in Poland, might be an early reconstruction of the Jurassic tracemaker.
November 7, 2025 at 1:10 PM
I’d never heard about this — super cool!
#LocalVertDiversity 30. Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis)
Like the squirrel, this is another species that I see pretty much every day, but didn't realize until a month into the semester that I should take a picture of it so it could count towards my list.
Like the squirrel, this is another species that I see pretty much every day, but didn't realize until a month into the semester that I should take a picture of it so it could count towards my list.
November 6, 2025 at 7:54 PM
#LocalVertDiversity 30. Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis)
Like the squirrel, this is another species that I see pretty much every day, but didn't realize until a month into the semester that I should take a picture of it so it could count towards my list.
Like the squirrel, this is another species that I see pretty much every day, but didn't realize until a month into the semester that I should take a picture of it so it could count towards my list.
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."
Reposted by Nicole Gerlach
CLUMSY MALE DINOSAURS INJURED FEMALES DURING MATING: Our new paper (Filippo Bertozzo et al. 2025), shows that a common tail injury seen in duckbilled dinosaurs was probably caused by heavy male dinosaurs clumsily crushing the spines of females during mating.
/1
/1
November 4, 2025 at 8:36 PM
CLUMSY MALE DINOSAURS INJURED FEMALES DURING MATING: Our new paper (Filippo Bertozzo et al. 2025), shows that a common tail injury seen in duckbilled dinosaurs was probably caused by heavy male dinosaurs clumsily crushing the spines of females during mating.
/1
/1
I like this perspective. It’s not poor work-life balance; it’s staying true to my mammalian roots!
November 4, 2025 at 10:25 PM
I like this perspective. It’s not poor work-life balance; it’s staying true to my mammalian roots!
My dog is very flexible about mealtimes but VERY punctual about letting me know when it’s time to stop whatever I’m doing and start our nighttime routine.
Between the time change and her persistence, I might actually get to bed at a reasonable time tonight.
Between the time change and her persistence, I might actually get to bed at a reasonable time tonight.
November 4, 2025 at 3:09 AM
My dog is very flexible about mealtimes but VERY punctual about letting me know when it’s time to stop whatever I’m doing and start our nighttime routine.
Between the time change and her persistence, I might actually get to bed at a reasonable time tonight.
Between the time change and her persistence, I might actually get to bed at a reasonable time tonight.
Reposted by Nicole Gerlach
One of the largest temmnospondyls ever to exist: the gigantic Koolasuchus was also the last non-lissamphibian temnospondyl to exist. It survived into the Early Cretaceous of Australia when all other stereospondyls were long gone
#temnospondyls #paleoart
#temnospondyls #paleoart
November 3, 2025 at 4:49 PM
One of the largest temmnospondyls ever to exist: the gigantic Koolasuchus was also the last non-lissamphibian temnospondyl to exist. It survived into the Early Cretaceous of Australia when all other stereospondyls were long gone
#temnospondyls #paleoart
#temnospondyls #paleoart
#LocalVertDiversity 29. Marsh Rabbit (Sylvilagus palustris)
Marsh rabbit range overlaps with cottontails, but they’ve got stubbier ears and limbs, and are supposedly good swimmers.
This little buddy was feeling bold that day! Helps that the dog was asleep in another room.
#wildlife #mammal 🐇
Marsh rabbit range overlaps with cottontails, but they’ve got stubbier ears and limbs, and are supposedly good swimmers.
This little buddy was feeling bold that day! Helps that the dog was asleep in another room.
#wildlife #mammal 🐇
November 3, 2025 at 5:08 PM
#LocalVertDiversity 29. Marsh Rabbit (Sylvilagus palustris)
Marsh rabbit range overlaps with cottontails, but they’ve got stubbier ears and limbs, and are supposedly good swimmers.
This little buddy was feeling bold that day! Helps that the dog was asleep in another room.
#wildlife #mammal 🐇
Marsh rabbit range overlaps with cottontails, but they’ve got stubbier ears and limbs, and are supposedly good swimmers.
This little buddy was feeling bold that day! Helps that the dog was asleep in another room.
#wildlife #mammal 🐇
November 2, 2025 at 4:11 PM
Reposted by Nicole Gerlach
goddamn, bird. 🪶
November 1, 2025 at 4:25 PM
goddamn, bird. 🪶
Wishing everyone a very batty Halloween! 🦇🦇🦇
November 1, 2025 at 12:04 AM
Wishing everyone a very batty Halloween! 🦇🦇🦇
Duolingo, un ver de terre n’est pas un insecte! Tous les invertébrés ne sont pas des insectes!
I almost flagged it, but there’s no option for “your biology is terribly incorrect.”
I almost flagged it, but there’s no option for “your biology is terribly incorrect.”
October 31, 2025 at 3:19 AM
Duolingo, un ver de terre n’est pas un insecte! Tous les invertébrés ne sont pas des insectes!
I almost flagged it, but there’s no option for “your biology is terribly incorrect.”
I almost flagged it, but there’s no option for “your biology is terribly incorrect.”
