🧬🐧🧪🌎❄️🦉 New research from our #PenguinScience team and collaborators! An international team of scientists identified 35 viral genomes found in Antarctic penguins–offering a rare window into how wildlife and viruses evolve together in one of the planet’s most extreme environments. shorturl.at/rTGy9

In 59 years of #birdbanding at #PalomarinFieldStation, only 26 #BeltedKingfishers have ever been caught. Therefore, it was a huge surprise to our banders when they caught this #HotBirdInHand at Palomarin on 7/13 + a second one only 3 days later at the nearby Pine Gulch! 🤯📅🌎🦉🧪🌐

Scientists have been trying to understand the vocalizations of birds—and discovering that the animals have intellectual abilities far greater than most people had imagined.

In Tucson. I drove through almost 2 hours of steady rain to get here, and to see the drought, and the blasted creosote and wrecked palo verde amidst vast stretches of standing water from this incredibly unlikely storm was breathtaking. I was so lucky to see this today.

A day in the field, training point count protocol followed by recon of Piru Creek sites, the northern peak of Least Bell’s Vireo expansion. There were < than 10 vireo pairs on the Santa Clara River in the 1980s, now there are several hundred. A pale swallowtail on prickly phlox in Piru Canyon.

“We have clear evidence that conservation works in halting declines,” said Michael J. Parr, President of American Bird Conservancy. “The science is solid on how to reverse the damage done, but to succeed, these issues need to be taken seriously.”

Learn more at abcbirds.org/news/2025-st.... 🐦

Psyched that this is complete and released, with important information on aridland birds in the southwestern U.S. and northwestern Mexico.

It's National Invasive Species Awareness Week!

Did you know that domestic cats are among the world's most harmful invasive species? You can help keep your cat and other animals safe by keeping your #CatsIndoors.
#NISAW

I want to be clear: the private sector, as it presently exists, *cannot* quickly spin up to fill any void left by substantial dismantling of #NOAA. Full stop. If that were to happen, people would die in extreme weather events who would not have otherwise, & economy would suffer.

The deep pool of black light that is a Coastal California Gnatcatcher’s eye. These are listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.

We found this buddy while exploring Least Bell’s Vireo habitats and damage from an invasive beetle in the Tijuana River Valley last week.

A lovely California Towhee from Amy Tan. I’ve spent several years working on an endemic Mojave Desert population of them in the Argus Range. I love unique takes on species we think of as ‘common’!

Thank you @abcbirds.bsky.social for sharing this with me ❤️

Thanks to @ucberkeleyofficial.bsky.social for highlighting our research on habitat changes caused by wildfires in the #MojaveNationalPreserve! This study compiles vital data to support bird conservation & guide fire management strategies. 🐦🌵🔥
🔗 https://buff.ly/4hwFMt0

Poetry Foundation not fucking around with today's poem of the day
www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/89897/...

Fascinating

They Built Their Fireproof Dream Home. Even if It Lasted, Would They? www.nytimes.com/2025/01/19/u...

Damn, all of this AI crap they keep forcing on us. With your writing, your music, your art, you are communicating yourself. Why would anyone abdicate that to a machine, other than tacitly admitting that you don’t trust yourself?

Weighing in at 2-3g, the Volcano Hummingbird is one of the smallest birds in the world.

Pros: Its short bill can only feed from flowers too small for many other species.
Cons: It takes about 2,700 flowers to meet daily metabolic needs.

Learn more at BOW!
buff.ly/4ffYtPQ

Thank you California #WildlifeConservationBoard The WCB has awarded funding to @abcbirds.bsky.social and several partners, including #AmargosaConservancy, UC Davis, and #CaliforniaBotanicGarden for set of restoration actions within the Amargosa Basin. Read more at abcbirds.org/amargosa-res...