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zacksteel.bsky.social
Zack Steel 🪶🦇🌲🔥
@zacksteel.bsky.social
3.7K followers 540 following 130 posts
Research Ecologist | Colorado | wildlife & forest conservation, disturbance, landscape ecology | my views
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zacksteel.bsky.social
Some important news this week that fell below the headlines or other news

www.nytimes.com/2025/11/22/c...
In One Week, Trump Moves to Reshape U.S. Environmental Policy
www.nytimes.com
November 22, 2025 at 1:46 PM
Reposted by Zack Steel 🪶🦇🌲🔥
evornithology.bsky.social
🤯 Wild shit here. They put biologgers on greater noctule bats and found them pursuing, capturing, and eating birds in-flight. The recording of a European Robin getting blasted and snacked on is nuts.

Sci Am story: www.scientificamerican.com/article/this...

Paper: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Bat vs. Robin—Scientists Capture Real-Life Audio of Midair Hunt
Scientists suspected that Europe’s largest bats snack on migrating songbirds when they can, but a stunning newly published observation proves it
www.scientificamerican.com
November 18, 2025 at 7:15 PM
Reposted by Zack Steel 🪶🦇🌲🔥
sleepyfly.bsky.social
Join us at CU Denver Biology! We have an open search for an assistant professor in cell and molecular biology to support our research and teaching mission. cu.taleo.net/careersectio...
November 17, 2025 at 9:36 PM
Reposted by Zack Steel 🪶🦇🌲🔥
kelper60.bsky.social
A Magellanic penguin making sure the seals were asleep before walking past them..
November 17, 2025 at 8:50 PM
Reposted by Zack Steel 🪶🦇🌲🔥
kendallcalhoun.bsky.social
Our new study just came out taking a look at how drought influences human-wildlife conflict reports in California! Check it out here: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
November 12, 2025 at 11:03 PM
Reposted by Zack Steel 🪶🦇🌲🔥
scifri.bsky.social
Researchers looked back at more than 1,000 cancer patients, including some who received a COVID mRNA vaccine around the time of treatment. Their findings excited them.
Study Finds COVID mRNA Vaccines Boost Cancer Treatment
New research found that mRNA vaccines for COVID-19 could enhance cancer treatments and help patients live longer.
buff.ly
November 15, 2025 at 2:03 AM
Reposted by Zack Steel 🪶🦇🌲🔥
doktrnick.bsky.social
The latest @ologies.bsky.social is Owls! It's brilliant (as are all Ologies). It's with the awesome Rocky Guitiérrez, who was PhD supervisor of @jonathanslaght.com (Owls of the Eastern Ice book!) who we got to meet & show owls to when he came to Brisbane a few years ago.
pca.st/episode/573b...
Strigiformology (OWLS) Part 1 with R.J. Gutiérrez
pca.st
November 13, 2025 at 3:38 AM
Reposted by Zack Steel 🪶🦇🌲🔥
florianhartig.bsky.social
We are hiring: 4 PhD Positions in Ecology / Data Science and one Ecological Data Scientist. For more information, see www.uni-regensburg.de/universitaet...
We are hiring: 4 PhD Positions in Ecology / Data Science and one Ecological Data Scientist
We are looking for 4 PhD Positions and one Scientific Programmer / Ecological Data Scientist to join the AG Hartig (Theoretical Ecology)
www.uni-regensburg.de
November 13, 2025 at 4:14 PM
Reposted by Zack Steel 🪶🦇🌲🔥
rosemarymosco.com
With the aurora popping up again last night, I thought I'd repost this adventure from last year. I drew this when the great @nepeteaa.bsky.social wondered what night-migrating songbirds might make of it all. Part 1/2
A seven-page comic. On page 1, the sun begins to set over an autumnal scene in a forest. The sun continues to set, reflected in the eye of a bird. The sun finishes setting, reflected in the bird's eye and zoomed out a bit. The bird has various hues of stormy blue feathers. The sun has fully set and the stars are out, and the bird, a female Black-throated Blue Warbler, says "It's time." On page 2, the bird says "Ready for another night of migration?" to a male Black-throated Blue warbler, who replies "I ate all the good bugs in this forest, so, sure." She says "Okay. Let's do this." They take off from a branch, saying "Up up up." They hit their cruising altitude and fly through the starry darkening sky. On page 3, they are flying along and the male says "I think this trip is going pretty good so far-" And the female interrupts "Wait." There's a green reflection in her eye. She says "There's something behind us." They turn and see the eerie glimmer of aurora. The male says "Oh" On page 4, the male says "What is... Is that wildfire smoke?" And the female says "I don't think so." They book look alarmed. He says "Should we fly faster? Try to get away?" and she says "No, now it's in our flight path, too!" The aurora has spread and dances through the sky. Some of it becomes pink. He says "It's everywhere!" and she says "I... I don't understand."
November 12, 2025 at 6:12 PM
Reposted by Zack Steel 🪶🦇🌲🔥
kerryeaglemee.bsky.social
The impacts of avian influenza are profound and far reaching. Hopefully 🇮🇸 Gyrfalcons will recover in time but this is near catastrophic #RaptorResearch 🌎 🪶

Avian flu taking a severe toll on Iceland’s falcon population
icelandmonitor.mbl.is/news/news/20...
Avian flu taking a severe toll on Iceland’s falcon population
The Icelandic gyrfalcon population has been hit hard by the ongoing wave of avian influenza in recent years. Once numbering around 2,000 birds, the population has now collapsed to roughly 500 individu...
icelandmonitor.mbl.is
November 12, 2025 at 12:38 PM
zacksteel.bsky.social
Fort Collins, CO! A first for me!

Also, why is it red and not green?
November 12, 2025 at 3:33 AM
Reposted by Zack Steel 🪶🦇🌲🔥
c0nc0rdance.bsky.social
Both of these animals are 'pandas':
the red panda (Ailurus fulgens) and
giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca).

But they're not closely related, with a common ancestor ~40 MYA.

So which one is the TRUE panda?
A red panda, with raccoon-like face with white cheeks & eyebrows but red fur elsewhere, browsing on bamboo, and a Giant Panda, all in black and white, appearing to wave to the camera.
February 12, 2025 at 1:05 PM
Reposted by Zack Steel 🪶🦇🌲🔥
albertabats.bsky.social
🦇ICYMI: a great video on our work developing a "probiotic" to help bats survive white-nose syndrome infections. This beautifully shot video also gives a good primer on what the probiotic is all about. This was 2yrs ago -good news...our studies show the probiotic is working!
youtu.be/VOtuiB6aiLE?...
WCS Bat Probiotics YouTube
YouTube video by WCSCanada Western Bat Program
youtu.be
November 5, 2025 at 5:13 PM
Reposted by Zack Steel 🪶🦇🌲🔥
jrossibarra.bsky.social
¿Hiciste tu doctorado en México? ¿Quieres hacer un postdoc en California? ¿Te interesa la genética evolutiva? ¡Checa esta beca y mándame un mensaje! alianzamx.universityofcalifornia.edu/research-and...
Postdoctoral Research Fellowships - University of California Alianza MX
Submitting an Application Current Fellows 2025 Cohort Additional Information Humberger Toggle Menu Interested in applying for a Postdoctoral Research Fellowship? Eligibility The program seeks applican...
alianzamx.universityofcalifornia.edu
November 7, 2025 at 10:47 PM
Reposted by Zack Steel 🪶🦇🌲🔥
gerlame.bsky.social
Applications are currently being accepted for UBC's ✨️ Biodiversity Postdoctoral Fellowship ✨️ (two positions!!), due Jan. 15

Please share far and wide 🚀

(See thread)
Postdoctoral Fellowship Opportunities
Biodiversity Postdoctoral Fellowship, 2-year (2026-2028) - 2 positions OPENAt UBC, we believe that attracting and sustaining a diverse workforce is key to the successful pursuit of excellence in resea...
biodiversity.ubc.ca
November 3, 2025 at 5:25 PM
Reposted by Zack Steel 🪶🦇🌲🔥
c0nc0rdance.bsky.social
Bats are the primary pollinators for agave plants.

Commercial agave, used to create tequila & mezcal, is increasingly being propagated via clonal "pups", because the flowering stalk is cut to increase the rate at which the "heart" (piña) grows.

This decreases genetic diversity....
November 2, 2025 at 2:52 PM
Reposted by Zack Steel 🪶🦇🌲🔥
bhallapple.bsky.social
Yesterday I posted the slowed motion of a Pileated woodpecker in flight. this reminded me I also had done a Barred Owl in flight, #birds
October 30, 2025 at 12:23 PM
Reposted by Zack Steel 🪶🦇🌲🔥
lifenonlinear.bsky.social
Hi all! I am seeking an ecology or applied math PhD student interested in quantitative ecology, specifically ecological theory, food web modeling, or population dynamics. If you are interested, have a look at our lab website below and reach out to me.
resiliencelab.github.io/join/
Join Us
resiliencelab.github.io
October 30, 2025 at 3:26 PM
Reposted by Zack Steel 🪶🦇🌲🔥
meadekrosby.bsky.social
Peeking in at juveniles in the sunflower sea star (Pycnopodia helianthoides) breeding program at Friday Harbor Labs was just overwhelmingly hopeful. These little guys can grow to 3ft across.

>90% of sunflower stars along N. America's west coast were killed by sea star wasting disease in 2013-14.
Palm-sized juvenile sunflower sea stars clustered together in a tank of seawater. Quarter-sized juvenile sunflower sea stars clustered together in tanks of sea water.
October 23, 2025 at 7:30 PM
Reposted by Zack Steel 🪶🦇🌲🔥
rosemarymosco.com
Halloween costume ideas for birders.
A comic called halloween costume ideas for birders. In panel 1, labeled easy, there's a person labeled northern cardinal wearing a party hat, a beak, and red clothes, and a person labeled roseate spoonbill wearing pink clothes and a wooden spoon on their nose. In panel 2, labeled harder, there's a person labeled merlin sound ID wearing a big green circle with a microphone modeled after the button on the merlin sound ID app, and a person labeled hybrid green x blue jay wearing a complex costume with a mask and robe and hat modeled after a recently discovered hybrid bird. In panel 3, labeled challenging, there's a person labeled baltimore oriole nest wearing an enormous accurate woven oriole nest suspended from their arms and shoulders, and a person labeled african jacana carrying chicks with a hideous costume of long-toed bird feet hanging from their armpits. In panel 4, labeled hot, there's a person labeled high quality spotting scope who is shirtless and is wearing a spotting scope mask on their head, and a person labeled sexy owl pellet wearing an owl pellet top and bottom with a mouse skull on their head.
October 23, 2025 at 12:26 PM
Reposted by Zack Steel 🪶🦇🌲🔥
c0nc0rdance.bsky.social
A reminder to all scientists & data viz people 🧪:

It's Spooky Science Time.

Adjust your models to use the paranormal distribution 👻from now until November 1st.
Stolen from the Internet, a cartoon: A "normal distribution" showing the standard bell-shaped curve with x-axis ticks. Then below it a ghost-in-a-sheet hovers above a ticked x-axis below which is labeled "paranormal distribution" The joke is that this kind of ghost is vaguely bell-shaped.
October 23, 2025 at 1:35 PM
zacksteel.bsky.social
Bummer

www.npr.org/2025/10/22/n...
Iceland reports the presence of mosquitoes for the first time, as climate warms
The discovery of three Culiseta annulata mosquitoes was confirmed this week by the Natural Science Institute of Iceland, which said the mosquitoes likely arrived by freight.
www.npr.org
October 23, 2025 at 12:00 AM
Reposted by Zack Steel 🪶🦇🌲🔥
josiegz.bsky.social
The North Atlantic right whale, one of the rarest whales on the planet, now numbers an estimated 384 animals, up 8 whales from the previous year, according to the North Atlantic Right Whale Consortium.

Right whales were once hunted to the brink of extinction.

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
Scientists say North Atlantic right whale population slowly increasing
Once hunted to the brink of extinction, the most venerable of the leviathans now numbers 384, up eight from past year
www.theguardian.com
October 22, 2025 at 8:15 AM
Reposted by Zack Steel 🪶🦇🌲🔥
alaska.bsky.social
Folks have been focused on the developing disaster in southwest Alaska, but America's farthest-west community is suffering, too: Adak has been without power for two weeks because of problems with the local generator.

www.kucb.org/regional/202...
Adak residents ‘getting by’ after two weeks without power
A replacement generator is currently being sent on a barge, but it’s not scheduled to arrive until Nov. 3 – weather dependent.
www.kucb.org
October 17, 2025 at 11:30 PM