Mason Fidino, PhD
@masonfidino.bsky.social
Quantitative ecologist | Camera traps | Hierarchical models | Urban ecology | Line drawings | 🐦 & 🦝 | Views mine | He/him | masonfidino.com
Took a little walk just outside @lpzoo.org and came across a family of Cooper’s hawks. There were four flying from tree to tree, got a good picture of two of them!
July 23, 2025 at 6:29 PM
Took a little walk just outside @lpzoo.org and came across a family of Cooper’s hawks. There were four flying from tree to tree, got a good picture of two of them!
In the past I've told people that "I've seen it all" when it comes to conducting an urban #cameratrapping study for 15 years. But today, after literally millions of images collected, we now have our first image of a deer peeing in the woods, so I guess there is still more to see out there 🤣🤣🤣🧪
July 23, 2025 at 1:01 PM
In the past I've told people that "I've seen it all" when it comes to conducting an urban #cameratrapping study for 15 years. But today, after literally millions of images collected, we now have our first image of a deer peeing in the woods, so I guess there is still more to see out there 🤣🤣🤣🧪
By far the largest glue up I’ve done. My shop isn’t great for dimensioning boards this size, so I’ve been putting off doing this for a while. Hopefully this does indeed become the top to my dresser!
May 24, 2025 at 4:52 PM
By far the largest glue up I’ve done. My shop isn’t great for dimensioning boards this size, so I’ve been putting off doing this for a while. Hopefully this does indeed become the top to my dresser!
New blog post sharing updates on the latest version of the Diel.Niche R package, which we just released about an hour ago. Interested in quantifying if a species is nocturnal with data? Well it is easier than ever now! 🧪 #rstats #cameratrapping
masonfidino.com/Diel.Niche_u...
masonfidino.com/Diel.Niche_u...
May 22, 2025 at 9:11 PM
New blog post sharing updates on the latest version of the Diel.Niche R package, which we just released about an hour ago. Interested in quantifying if a species is nocturnal with data? Well it is easier than ever now! 🧪 #rstats #cameratrapping
masonfidino.com/Diel.Niche_u...
masonfidino.com/Diel.Niche_u...
Arguably the goofiest goose #cameratrapping photo we have collected in over 15 years of biodiversity monitoring throughout #Chicago. Be on the look out for laser eyes here in Humboldt Park! 🧪
May 20, 2025 at 1:58 PM
Arguably the goofiest goose #cameratrapping photo we have collected in over 15 years of biodiversity monitoring throughout #Chicago. Be on the look out for laser eyes here in Humboldt Park! 🧪
My graduate school held onto this banner for years (I placed in a research image competition while I was there), and now it has made its way back to my office.
April 24, 2025 at 2:31 PM
My graduate school held onto this banner for years (I placed in a research image competition while I was there), and now it has made its way back to my office.
Ah, yes, the joys of cleaning data from large-scale collaborations.
March 13, 2025 at 4:09 PM
Ah, yes, the joys of cleaning data from large-scale collaborations.
I thought I had enough opossum art in my life but I was wrong. Dead wrong.
December 25, 2024 at 10:55 PM
I thought I had enough opossum art in my life but I was wrong. Dead wrong.
Once again on that date/time grind set while cleaning #cameratrapping data. #rstats
December 13, 2024 at 2:57 PM
Once again on that date/time grind set while cleaning #cameratrapping data. #rstats
Making new slides for talks is sometimes fun
December 5, 2024 at 9:15 PM
Making new slides for talks is sometimes fun
Working on identifying Census tracts to survey people along occupancy gradients of coyote, raccoon, and income throughout Chicago. Really digging these Bivariate Choropleth maps for visualizing these patterns (e.g., North and South side are high occupancy but have very different incomes).🧪
November 22, 2024 at 3:17 PM
Working on identifying Census tracts to survey people along occupancy gradients of coyote, raccoon, and income throughout Chicago. Really digging these Bivariate Choropleth maps for visualizing these patterns (e.g., North and South side are high occupancy but have very different incomes).🧪
We've been doing camera trapping in urban greenspace throughout the Chicagoland area for the last 15 years. We've amassed MILLIONS of images. This last Fall deployment was special though, as we photographed a North American River Otter for the VERY FIRST TIME! 🧪
shorturl.at/r6XMR
shorturl.at/r6XMR
November 21, 2024 at 2:23 PM
We've been doing camera trapping in urban greenspace throughout the Chicagoland area for the last 15 years. We've amassed MILLIONS of images. This last Fall deployment was special though, as we photographed a North American River Otter for the VERY FIRST TIME! 🧪
shorturl.at/r6XMR
shorturl.at/r6XMR
Little Sunday project while I am taking a break from building my dresser. Made a little mounting setup for a comically large mirror in my bedroom.
November 18, 2024 at 4:07 PM
Little Sunday project while I am taking a break from building my dresser. Made a little mounting setup for a comically large mirror in my bedroom.
The examples do link back to the topic sentence here, but adding a concluding point can help distill the main point you are trying to get across. There are a bunch of ways you could do this, but here is one (highlighted in red): 2/3
October 25, 2023 at 2:17 PM
The examples do link back to the topic sentence here, but adding a concluding point can help distill the main point you are trying to get across. There are a bunch of ways you could do this, but here is one (highlighted in red): 2/3
One writing error I see A LOT while reviewing papers is that people will provide a list of examples and then end the paragraph right there. This puts the work on the reader to decide what these examples mean, which is less than ideal. Take, for example, this paragraph: 1/3
October 25, 2023 at 2:17 PM
One writing error I see A LOT while reviewing papers is that people will provide a list of examples and then end the paragraph right there. This puts the work on the reader to decide what these examples mean, which is less than ideal. Take, for example, this paragraph: 1/3
I biked by a dead Virginia rail on my ride to work today. Most people won’t see this bird in the wild because of how cryptic they are. I’ve seen them many times migrating through Chicago. This is the first dead one though.
October 18, 2023 at 2:05 PM
I biked by a dead Virginia rail on my ride to work today. Most people won’t see this bird in the wild because of how cryptic they are. I’ve seen them many times migrating through Chicago. This is the first dead one though.
5. Use relative file paths, not absolute paths. This is maybe the biggest issue I see when people share their code with me. Relative paths mean people on different computers can run your code, that makes collaborating that much easier. 6/6
October 3, 2023 at 6:59 PM
5. Use relative file paths, not absolute paths. This is maybe the biggest issue I see when people share their code with me. Relative paths mean people on different computers can run your code, that makes collaborating that much easier. 6/6
1. Keep your working directory clean! While I may deviate from this a bit, I always make these four folders when starting a new project. This way you know what should be in each folder, making it easier to locate what you need. 2/6
October 3, 2023 at 6:58 PM
1. Keep your working directory clean! While I may deviate from this a bit, I always make these four folders when starting a new project. This way you know what should be in each folder, making it easier to locate what you need. 2/6
I'm Mason! I study a mix of urban ecology and quantitative ecology. I do a lot of camera trapping, and my favorite animal is the Virginia opossum. I occasionally blog about Bayesian statistics and hierarchical modeling on my website (masonfidino.com).
September 27, 2023 at 1:42 PM
I'm Mason! I study a mix of urban ecology and quantitative ecology. I do a lot of camera trapping, and my favorite animal is the Virginia opossum. I occasionally blog about Bayesian statistics and hierarchical modeling on my website (masonfidino.com).
A friend found this sticker while walking around Chicago yesterday. Opossum on a bike? That's a thumbs up from me.
September 27, 2023 at 1:38 PM
A friend found this sticker while walking around Chicago yesterday. Opossum on a bike? That's a thumbs up from me.