Chris Sharpe
@sharpebirder.bsky.social
Conservation biologist: threatened birds, Redlists, bird vocalisations, RAPs & surveys, shorebirds. Working in 🇻🇪 & Latin America since 1988. Made in The North 🇬🇧.
Pinned
Chris Sharpe
@sharpebirder.bsky.social
· Jun 26
Our work on re-evaluating the status of Venezuela's shorebirds/waders is finally out in Cotinga. We hope to have addressed confusion perpetuated in the literature and present a new official checklist comprising 46 confirmed species. #ornithology
Reposted by Chris Sharpe
¡Atención, comunidad latinoamericana! El Consejo Norteamericano de Anillamiento (NABC) abre la convocatoria a aplicar a pequeñas becas para apoyar el desarrollo y certificación de anilladores de aves de América Latina y el Caribe.
Aplica aqui: www.animalecology.org/grants
Aplica aqui: www.animalecology.org/grants
February 13, 2026 at 3:03 PM
¡Atención, comunidad latinoamericana! El Consejo Norteamericano de Anillamiento (NABC) abre la convocatoria a aplicar a pequeñas becas para apoyar el desarrollo y certificación de anilladores de aves de América Latina y el Caribe.
Aplica aqui: www.animalecology.org/grants
Aplica aqui: www.animalecology.org/grants
Reposted by Chris Sharpe
🚨Paper alert🚨
Very happy to see our paper published in @science.org #ScienceAdv.
Very greatful to have worked with such a great team @duncanobrien.bsky.social #tomJohnson @robinfreeman.bsky.social #ValentinaMarconi #LouiseMcRae @expecocons.bsky.social
👇Check the main findings below!
Very happy to see our paper published in @science.org #ScienceAdv.
Very greatful to have worked with such a great team @duncanobrien.bsky.social #tomJohnson @robinfreeman.bsky.social #ValentinaMarconi #LouiseMcRae @expecocons.bsky.social
👇Check the main findings below!
Halting predicted vertebrate declines requires tackling multiple drivers of biodiversity loss
Global vertebrate populations decline faster in the presence of multiple threats compared to single threats.
www.science.org
February 12, 2026 at 8:17 AM
🚨Paper alert🚨
Very happy to see our paper published in @science.org #ScienceAdv.
Very greatful to have worked with such a great team @duncanobrien.bsky.social #tomJohnson @robinfreeman.bsky.social #ValentinaMarconi #LouiseMcRae @expecocons.bsky.social
👇Check the main findings below!
Very happy to see our paper published in @science.org #ScienceAdv.
Very greatful to have worked with such a great team @duncanobrien.bsky.social #tomJohnson @robinfreeman.bsky.social #ValentinaMarconi #LouiseMcRae @expecocons.bsky.social
👇Check the main findings below!
I've worked and lived in Latin America for most of my life, a region for which many Brits & UK media blithely employ the term 'corruption' while accepting the endemic scourge of cronyism as somehow normal—at best 'the old boys' network', at worst 'sleaze'. Let's call 'The Honours System' what it is.
Toby Young, Matthew Elliott, Daniel Moylan, Claire Fox, Daniel Hannan, Michael Gove, Therese Coffey (a Brexit convert), Paul Goodman, John Moynihan, Ruth Lea, Stewart Jackson, Michael Hintze, Charles Moore, David Frost, Theo Agnew; & now John Redwood.
Rewarded for the Brexit calamity with peerages.
Rewarded for the Brexit calamity with peerages.
Ex Tory MP John Redwood has been made a peer, as Lord Redwood on 31 January, and was formally introduced in the Lords on Tuesday
February 11, 2026 at 5:15 PM
I've worked and lived in Latin America for most of my life, a region for which many Brits & UK media blithely employ the term 'corruption' while accepting the endemic scourge of cronyism as somehow normal—at best 'the old boys' network', at worst 'sleaze'. Let's call 'The Honours System' what it is.
Reposted by Chris Sharpe
Essential reading for the Neotropical birder.
Neotropical Swifts - Hispanola endemics - Saving Marsh Antwren - Seeing Caura Antbird and more...
Want to get your hands on a copy? Join NBC through the website www.neotropicalbidingandconservation.org
#birding #neotropics
Neotropical Swifts - Hispanola endemics - Saving Marsh Antwren - Seeing Caura Antbird and more...
Want to get your hands on a copy? Join NBC through the website www.neotropicalbidingandconservation.org
#birding #neotropics
February 10, 2026 at 2:47 PM
Essential reading for the Neotropical birder.
Neotropical Swifts - Hispanola endemics - Saving Marsh Antwren - Seeing Caura Antbird and more...
Want to get your hands on a copy? Join NBC through the website www.neotropicalbidingandconservation.org
#birding #neotropics
Neotropical Swifts - Hispanola endemics - Saving Marsh Antwren - Seeing Caura Antbird and more...
Want to get your hands on a copy? Join NBC through the website www.neotropicalbidingandconservation.org
#birding #neotropics
Paging UK charities that have taken the political decision to defund Venezuela: "It is now the responsibility of the international community to support the Venezuelan people, too often silenced and marginalised during this crisis, in making that hope a reality." www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
Venezuela: health beyond the political turmoil
Since the illegal US military intervention and kidnapping of Nicolás Maduro and his
wife, Cilia Flores, news of Venezuela has been dominated by oil, narco-terrorism,
and Nobel prizes. Venezuelans have...
www.thelancet.com
February 7, 2026 at 8:46 AM
Paging UK charities that have taken the political decision to defund Venezuela: "It is now the responsibility of the international community to support the Venezuelan people, too often silenced and marginalised during this crisis, in making that hope a reality." www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
60 years ago Paul Schwartz showed site fidelity in Northern Waterthrush wintering at Rancho Grande in N Venezuela. Motus joins more of the dots. #ornithology www.peptbo.ca/blog/interna...
International Connections: The Northern Waterthrush — PEPtBO
Learn about an individual bird’s movements, and how tracking studies provide valuable information that is otherwise unattainable through observation alone.
www.peptbo.ca
February 5, 2026 at 7:24 AM
60 years ago Paul Schwartz showed site fidelity in Northern Waterthrush wintering at Rancho Grande in N Venezuela. Motus joins more of the dots. #ornithology www.peptbo.ca/blog/interna...
Reposted by Chris Sharpe
Help protect the Rio Grande Valley’s iconic birding sites!
The proposed FY26 DHS Appropriations Bill removes long-standing protections for famous birding hotspots like Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge, Bentsen–Rio Grande Valley State Park...
The proposed FY26 DHS Appropriations Bill removes long-standing protections for famous birding hotspots like Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge, Bentsen–Rio Grande Valley State Park...
February 4, 2026 at 10:08 PM
Help protect the Rio Grande Valley’s iconic birding sites!
The proposed FY26 DHS Appropriations Bill removes long-standing protections for famous birding hotspots like Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge, Bentsen–Rio Grande Valley State Park...
The proposed FY26 DHS Appropriations Bill removes long-standing protections for famous birding hotspots like Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge, Bentsen–Rio Grande Valley State Park...
Top tip: If you've been in a country for a week, don't pretend to tell those who have spent decades in Venezuela that their own life experience is misremembered. As a "historian" this counterfactual, riddled with glaring errors, should be acutely embarrassing. www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/202...
Trump, Pirate of the Caribbean - Craig Murray
I have now been here a week and I think that I have absorbed enough to attempt a little analysis, as opposed to the simple impressions I gave shortly after arrival. Those impressions remain valid howe...
www.craigmurray.org.uk
February 4, 2026 at 11:33 AM
Top tip: If you've been in a country for a week, don't pretend to tell those who have spent decades in Venezuela that their own life experience is misremembered. As a "historian" this counterfactual, riddled with glaring errors, should be acutely embarrassing. www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/202...
A highly problematic precedent for biodiversity data management that an international organisation based in Copenhagen uses a non-standard (not recognised by IHO) partisan populist political neologistic toponym created by executive order for a region known for centuries as Gulf of Mexico.
February 4, 2026 at 9:10 AM
A highly problematic precedent for biodiversity data management that an international organisation based in Copenhagen uses a non-standard (not recognised by IHO) partisan populist political neologistic toponym created by executive order for a region known for centuries as Gulf of Mexico.
Reposted by Chris Sharpe
Find out what we did in 2025. All the projects we supported in one handy download from our website. Apply - Donate - Join to conserve the birds of the Neotropics. #birding #neotropics #conservation #ornithology
February 3, 2026 at 4:18 PM
Find out what we did in 2025. All the projects we supported in one handy download from our website. Apply - Donate - Join to conserve the birds of the Neotropics. #birding #neotropics #conservation #ornithology
Years ago I translated a book by one of El Helicoide's architects, Dirk Bornhorst. It is ironic that an architectural creation of the spiritually-minded author of 'Architecture, Science and Tao' became a jail where hundreds of political prisoners have been tortured. www.reuters.com/world/americ...
Venezuela plans amnesty law for prisoners, vows to convert major prison center
Venezuela's interim president Delcy Rodriguez on Friday announced a proposed "amnesty law" for hundreds of prisoners in the country, and said the infamous Helicoide detention center in the capital Car...
www.reuters.com
January 31, 2026 at 9:03 AM
Years ago I translated a book by one of El Helicoide's architects, Dirk Bornhorst. It is ironic that an architectural creation of the spiritually-minded author of 'Architecture, Science and Tao' became a jail where hundreds of political prisoners have been tortured. www.reuters.com/world/americ...
Having advocated for decades for more support and recognition of the fundamental role of local and indigenous communities in conservation, this analysis using the Environmental Justice Atlas (EJAtlas) dataset is most welcome. Environmental organisations take note. www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Social movements are transformative agents for biodiversity conservation | PNAS
Civil society has long been a catalyst for social change by reshaping structures,
influencing values, and challenging power dynamics; however, its ...
www.pnas.org
January 30, 2026 at 10:13 AM
Having advocated for decades for more support and recognition of the fundamental role of local and indigenous communities in conservation, this analysis using the Environmental Justice Atlas (EJAtlas) dataset is most welcome. Environmental organisations take note. www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
A year on, few people have been so consistently wrong about Trump as the UK's ex Environment Minister.
January 30, 2026 at 7:51 AM
A year on, few people have been so consistently wrong about Trump as the UK's ex Environment Minister.
Reposted by Chris Sharpe
The Yanomami, an Indigenous group from the Amazon, is confronting surges in #malaria amid increasing illegal gold mining in their territory. Read 'Investigating the Yanomami malaria outbreak: gold mining and malaria': doi.org/10.1098/rsbl... #BiologyLetters
January 27, 2026 at 7:01 PM
The Yanomami, an Indigenous group from the Amazon, is confronting surges in #malaria amid increasing illegal gold mining in their territory. Read 'Investigating the Yanomami malaria outbreak: gold mining and malaria': doi.org/10.1098/rsbl... #BiologyLetters
One day this will all seem very silly, if not impossible to comprehend. www.npr.org/2026/01/28/n...
Author Kurt Vonnegut's estate files lawsuit to challenge Utah book ban law
The author Kurt Vonnegut's estate has sued to challenge a Utah law that allows school districts to ban books from their libraries. Supporters of the law say it keeps pornography out of schools.
www.npr.org
January 29, 2026 at 12:03 PM
One day this will all seem very silly, if not impossible to comprehend. www.npr.org/2026/01/28/n...
Reposted by Chris Sharpe
Incredible self own for the US. The damage being done to the US scientific enterprise is generational. We will look back on this as a tipping point where the US chose all on its own to stop leading the world in science.
www.science.org/content/arti...
www.science.org/content/arti...
U.S. government has lost more than 10,000 STEM Ph.D.s since Trump took office
A Science analysis reveals how many were fired, retired, or quit across 14 agencies
www.science.org
January 28, 2026 at 11:46 AM
Incredible self own for the US. The damage being done to the US scientific enterprise is generational. We will look back on this as a tipping point where the US chose all on its own to stop leading the world in science.
www.science.org/content/arti...
www.science.org/content/arti...
Just a few days to go until our next deadline. Apply at the link below. #ornithology
NBC @neobirdconserve.bsky.social Conservation Fund supports projects to conserve threatened Neotropical birds by small grants of USD 1000–3000. Next deadline = 1 Feb. More information & application forms (English/Español/Português): neotropicalbirdingandconservation.org/conservation/ #ornithology
Conservation - Neotropical Birding and Conservation
neotropicalbirdingandconservation.org
January 28, 2026 at 9:44 AM
Just a few days to go until our next deadline. Apply at the link below. #ornithology
Another cool avian tool from @cornellbirds.bsky.social!
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 9:07 PM
Another cool avian tool from @cornellbirds.bsky.social!
Shortest resumé of Trump's 90 minute Davos diatribe comes from Chris Patten (Conservative peer, former Party Chairman, ex-Gov Hong Kong): “You’re listening to those rambling mendacities of the demented leader of the free world… sooner or later, he has to be stopped.” www.nytimes.com/2026/01/21/o...
Opinion | The American Threat: Three Words I Never Imagined Typing
www.nytimes.com
January 22, 2026 at 10:08 AM
Shortest resumé of Trump's 90 minute Davos diatribe comes from Chris Patten (Conservative peer, former Party Chairman, ex-Gov Hong Kong): “You’re listening to those rambling mendacities of the demented leader of the free world… sooner or later, he has to be stopped.” www.nytimes.com/2026/01/21/o...
The lack of interest in the environment amongst leaders of the US regime suggests that the dictatorship will not necessarily be concerned about the environmental impacts of new extractivism in its recently acquired protectorate of Venezuela. news.mongabay.com/2026/01/how-...
How US intervention could deepen Venezuela’s environmental crisis
When U.S. forces entered Venezuela earlier this month and removed President Nicolás Maduro, officials framed the intervention as a strategic economic opportunity. President Donald Trump repeatedly poi...
news.mongabay.com
January 22, 2026 at 7:40 AM
The lack of interest in the environment amongst leaders of the US regime suggests that the dictatorship will not necessarily be concerned about the environmental impacts of new extractivism in its recently acquired protectorate of Venezuela. news.mongabay.com/2026/01/how-...
United States has approved partial reform of the Hydrocarbons Law of its new protectorate Venezuela. bitacoraeconomica.com/eeuu-dio-el-...
EEUU dio el visto bueno a la reforma parcial de la Ley de Hidrocarburos
No será una reforma total de la Ley de Hidrocarburos sino parcial, y los artículos que serán modificados fueron aprobados por el gobierno de Trump
bitacoraeconomica.com
January 22, 2026 at 6:52 AM
United States has approved partial reform of the Hydrocarbons Law of its new protectorate Venezuela. bitacoraeconomica.com/eeuu-dio-el-...
Joint operations between criminal organizations and the state in the illicit extraction of natural resources in the Venezuelan Guayana. Illegal mining is likely to receive a significant boost under the new US dictatorship. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Expanding the concept of hybrid governance in the context of illicit extractivism: the case of the Venezuelan Amazon
In the 21st century, powerful criminal groups have increased their participation in extractivism, significantly impacting the Amazon region. This dram…
www.sciencedirect.com
January 21, 2026 at 3:06 PM
Joint operations between criminal organizations and the state in the illicit extraction of natural resources in the Venezuelan Guayana. Illegal mining is likely to receive a significant boost under the new US dictatorship. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Most of the gold and other minerals are mined in regions of high biodiversity and endemism in the Venezuelan Guayana. The regime's rapacious policies promote mining in protected areas and indigenous territories, fuel massive government corruption and fund regime mafias and irregular armed groups.
January 21, 2026 at 8:51 AM
Most of the gold and other minerals are mined in regions of high biodiversity and endemism in the Venezuelan Guayana. The regime's rapacious policies promote mining in protected areas and indigenous territories, fuel massive government corruption and fund regime mafias and irregular armed groups.
US regime's Lebensraum clearly includes Venezuela, not just as the current protectorate but as a territory, a megadiversity country and former leader in environmental management under an environmentally illiterate dictatorship.
January 20, 2026 at 8:01 AM
US regime's Lebensraum clearly includes Venezuela, not just as the current protectorate but as a territory, a megadiversity country and former leader in environmental management under an environmentally illiterate dictatorship.
Reposted by Chris Sharpe
From Jonathan Jarvis, former Director of the US National Park Service, about the importance of IUCN and why it's a very bad thing that the US is withdrawing after decades of valuable and contructive involvement.
@iucnwcpa.bsky.social @adamiucnwcpa.bsky.social 🌎🌐
@iucnwcpa.bsky.social @adamiucnwcpa.bsky.social 🌎🌐
Withdrawing from International Union for the Conservation of Nature does not serve our interests
Conservation of nature is the pinnacle of soft diplomacy
open.substack.com
January 19, 2026 at 7:02 PM
From Jonathan Jarvis, former Director of the US National Park Service, about the importance of IUCN and why it's a very bad thing that the US is withdrawing after decades of valuable and contructive involvement.
@iucnwcpa.bsky.social @adamiucnwcpa.bsky.social 🌎🌐
@iucnwcpa.bsky.social @adamiucnwcpa.bsky.social 🌎🌐