Zed Morgan Benfred
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zedmorgan.bsky.social
Zed Morgan Benfred
@zedmorgan.bsky.social
500 followers 550 following 49 posts
Seabird biologist (environmental endocrinology, behavioral ecology); trail enthusiast; inhaler of fiction.
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zedmorgan.bsky.social
Happy to advance another Middleton Island kittiwake project (rapid behavior changes associated with endogenous and exogenous corticosterone increases). This field site provides surreal access to these #seabirds - it's a dream for studying the physiology/behavior interface in free-living animals.
"The Middleton Island Tower". A muti-story, 12-faceted gray tower has a white door at the base and siding on the the bottom 2/3rds but a set of horizontal wooden beams on the outside of the top 3rd. On the beams are white spots that, upon magnification, are revealed to be small white gulls (kittiwakes)on nests. The tower is capped with struts and grating that extend over the edges of the main structure on all all sides, and also have kittiwake nests visible on them (though you're looking at the from below). The background, the sun is halfway below the horizon and casting an orange glow. The view of a kittiwake nest from inside the tower. In the foreground, a shallow bowl-like nest made of brown dried vegetation contains two small white fuzzy chicks. One of them is facing the camera and has very black eyes and beak, the other is somewhat tucked behind the first so you cannot see its face. A large adult white gull with large black eyes and a yellow beak is standing on the back edge of the nest, facing you, with its wings partially extended up behind it. The wings are mostly white but the tips of the 5 longest primary feathers are black. In the background, green vegetation spread below, with the shiny surface of a small pond visible in the distance, and a larger shining (because of the sun reflecting on it) body of water (the Gulf of Alaska) beyond the shoreline. 3 white gulls are visible in the background, flying through the scene.
July 18, 2025 at 10:19 PM
Reposted by Zed Morgan Benfred
elizabethhobson.bsky.social
I am recruiting 1-2 postbacs for my parakeet sociality & cognition project! This position is for people finished with undergrad but who have not yet started grad school. Must be totally fascinated by parakeet social drama (there's a lot of it!)🪶🧪 Job ad here: ornithologyexchange.org/jobs/board/s...
Image showing the Hobson Lab logo (monk parakeets flying into a social network diagram with R code in the background), pictures of natural-colored green and gray monk parakeets, and head shots of our individually-marked birds showing their color combos and "names" (Blue-Orange-Blue has those colors on the head, cheek, and neck, and is "BOB"). Text says "Postbac position: parakeet sociality & cognition"
February 27, 2025 at 12:26 PM
Reposted by Zed Morgan Benfred
joespring.bsky.social
If you’re a federal scientist who has been fired, and are willing to talk about your work and its importance, please email me at springj2@si.edu. Joe Spring, online science editor, Smithsonian magazine. (If you aren’t, can you repost this so more fired scientists can see it?)
February 27, 2025 at 3:08 PM
Reposted by Zed Morgan Benfred
danielbolnick.bsky.social
I usually reserve this account for my personal views; but today I want to represent my position as President of @asn-amnat.bsky.social to post a message that will shortly go out to the membership of the American Society of Naturalists from the ASN Executive Council
February 6, 2025 at 4:28 PM
Reposted by Zed Morgan Benfred
drdre4000.bsky.social
Just got word that our Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Inclusive Excellence 3 (IE3) Grant was being canceled. All 100+ institutions. So even private funding is susceptible to this administration’s unraveling of DEI initiatives
February 5, 2025 at 9:46 PM
Reposted by Zed Morgan Benfred
heikorodel.bsky.social
Fully funded PhD position on Paternities and spatial kinship structure in a population of South African bush Karoo rats. Field work in South Africa. Analysis of existing long-term data at LEEC / Univ. Sorbonne Paris Nord. Please RT!
www-leec.univ-paris13.fr/documents/LE...
February 3, 2025 at 2:48 PM
zedmorgan.bsky.social
I love that this was all students. Long-live natural history!
January 18, 2025 at 12:34 PM
Reposted by Zed Morgan Benfred
aosiecka.bsky.social
#bioacoustics #scicomm #seabirds

My wonderful students/friends and myself are happy to share our sweet little zine summarising my PhD on the little auk's vocal communication :)

You can download the read & print versions here, and are more than welcome to share. Enjoy!
osf.io/h7msz/
A page from the zine, asking "So how can little auks communicate important messages in this crowd?" and showing two vocalising auks, or rather block prints.
January 10, 2025 at 11:55 AM
Reposted by Zed Morgan Benfred
ologies.bsky.social

The mood in LA is anxious/devastated/exhausted/ braced for more.

It's NOT all rich people. Most are artists who scraped together a down payment. And the fire has leveled Altadena, a historically Black tight-knit community.

List of GoFundMes that could use love:
docs.google.com/spreadsheets...
Displaced Black Families GoFund Me Directory
docs.google.com
January 13, 2025 at 11:39 PM
Reposted by Zed Morgan Benfred
theseabirdgroup.bsky.social
Hey #seabirders! Who's migrated to this platform and which #seabirds do you work on? Let us know! Pictures encouraged 😊
sjurdur.bsky.social Dr Sjúrður Hammer @sjurdur.bsky.social · Dec 3
Hey #seabirds peeps, please feel free to share what you are up to these days? Doesnt have to be fancy - but which seabirds do you work on and why? 🧪🌍
December 5, 2024 at 1:59 PM
Reposted by Zed Morgan Benfred
blackinneuro.bsky.social
You won’t want to miss this amazing workshop for first-time reviewers on How to Write Inclusive and Equitable Reviews, with @reviewerzero.bsky.social on December 4th!

Register here: blackinneuro47.wildapricot.org/event-5883989

#AcademicSky #PhDSky #Blackademics 🧪
A flyer for ‘Training for First-Time Reviewers’ Hosted by Reviewer Zero. The bottom left says “So you want to participate in peer review: how to write inclusive and equitable reviews. Learn how to write your first review by learning the general principles and structure of writing an effective review” The date is December 4th, 11 AM PT, 1 PM CT, 2 PM Et. You can RSVP at https://tinyurl.com/YC5U6XWK The Black In Neuro logo is on the bottom right. The top right has a photo of a laptop keyboard with a small notepad and pen.
November 21, 2024 at 4:04 PM
Reposted by Zed Morgan Benfred
society4conbio.bsky.social
Looking for your next opportunity in conservation?
The SCB Career Center offers tailored job alerts to keep you ahead in science, policy, education, & more. Sign up now and never miss a role! 🌍➡️
careers.conbio.org
#Conservation #Jobs #CareerCenter #biodiversity #ecology
December 3, 2024 at 4:52 PM
zedmorgan.bsky.social
Interesting #seabirds movement ecology pre-print - no evidence for reduced energy expenditure (actually, it was higher) or increased fitness for black-legged kittiwakes at the center of the winter range in the North Atlantic.

www.authorea.com/users/609656...
Low energy expenditure at the edge of a seabird's winter range suggests energy underpins the Abundant Centre Hypothesis
Understanding how geographic range limits are shaped is a central and challenging question in ecology that has become particularly critical in the context of global environmental changes. While such l...
www.authorea.com
December 3, 2024 at 1:17 PM
Reposted by Zed Morgan Benfred
birdlifemarine.bsky.social
🎉 Data is now loaded on the Seabird Tracking Database!
www.seabirdtracking.org
Home - Seabird Tracking Database
Seabird Tracking Database from BirdLife International is the premier platform for seabird researchers to share satellite tracking data with research and conservation communities​ worldwide.
www.seabirdtracking.org
December 2, 2024 at 3:09 PM
Reposted by Zed Morgan Benfred
floriankeil.bsky.social
I've been asked for the layperson's summary of this paper, so here it goes:

Because distinct groups of #seabirds across large regions like the North Atlantic grow and shrink together, conservationists in different countries also need to work together.
floriankeil.bsky.social Florian Keil @floriankeil.bsky.social · Nov 23
In "Consequences of cross-season demographic correlations for population viability," the authors establish positive correlations between population growth rates for three distinct groups of Atlantic puffins.
t.co/vFyPXFI3yD
November 30, 2024 at 9:14 PM
Reposted by Zed Morgan Benfred
johanlind.bsky.social
Wisdom's still alive, she's back at her breeding grounds! This season she'll turn at least 74 years old. 🎉🎊💃
screenshot of wisdom news
November 28, 2024 at 5:49 AM
Reposted by Zed Morgan Benfred
garzonfrancesco.bsky.social
What do you do when an orca eats your research project? Why, you continue tracking of course! #trackingNotSlacking 🌊
New paper describes how orcas catch bluefin tuna, and shows the longest high-resolution tracking of an orca ever!
@exetermarine.bsky.social 🦑🐠🧪

www.nature.com/articles/s41...
High-resolution biologging of an Atlantic bluefin tuna captured and eaten by a supposed orca - Scientific Reports
Scientific Reports - High-resolution biologging of an Atlantic bluefin tuna captured and eaten by a supposed orca
www.nature.com
November 27, 2024 at 9:58 AM
Reposted by Zed Morgan Benfred
ruha9.bsky.social
Your homework. inthesetimes.com/article/toni...
November 20, 2024 at 2:57 AM
Reposted by Zed Morgan Benfred
breezy.has.fish
BLACK WOMEN IN #STEM

i made a starter pack for black women in the field of science, technology, engineering and mathematics and would really love to keep adding to it so please hmu if you fit the criteria or know someone who does! 🧪

go.bsky.app/9jYkUK1
November 18, 2024 at 6:35 PM
zedmorgan.bsky.social
Helpful context about the levels at which vaccine access/policy is regulated in the U.S. from Katelyn Jetelina (#yourlocalepidemiologist) open.substack.com/pub/yourloca...
The future of vaccine policy in the United States
Common misconceptions and what I'm paying attention to in the future
open.substack.com
November 15, 2024 at 6:37 PM
zedmorgan.bsky.social
This infographic sums things up nicely, but if you'd like more details the original paper is open access, too: www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
November 15, 2024 at 1:43 PM
Reposted by Zed Morgan Benfred
thelabandfield.bsky.social
A feathered past, and present: calling out bad birding behaviour - in which we detail some of the appalling messages we received after suggesting a new common name for Ardenna carneipes (with receipts) adriftlab.org/news/a-feath... #seabirds #ornithology #BirdNamesForBirds
A feathered past, and present: calling out bad birding behaviour | Adrift Lab
Adrift Lab responds to gaslighting and bullying associated with our recent paper proposing a new name (Sable Shearwater) for Ardenna carneipes.
adriftlab.org
October 1, 2024 at 11:43 PM
Reposted by Zed Morgan Benfred
blackmammalogists.bsky.social
Do you want up to $1500 for research or science communication or training on mammals?

check out our American Society of Mammalogists' Black & Indigenous Scholars Award!

Due October 15th!! mammalsociety.org/form/black-i...

Share with your folks!

#BlackSky 🧪🦊
Black and indigenous scholars award in mammalogy; awards up to 1500 supporting research and activities relating to mammals. open to black/african american, african, and indigenous individuals. applications are due october 15th.
September 25, 2024 at 7:31 PM
Reposted by Zed Morgan Benfred
lindseyswierk.bsky.social
Our lab is thrilled to share new research published today in
Biology Letters on the function of water anole 'bubble breathing' ! 💧🦎💧 #lizard #HERper
royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...
September 18, 2024 at 12:50 PM