Christopher Witt
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msbbirds.bsky.social
Christopher Witt
@msbbirds.bsky.social
1.7K followers 630 following 230 posts
Prof & Curator @UNM, Museum of Southwestern Biology

NM Game Commissioner

Studies: bird ecology, evolution, genetics, physiology, biogeography, & toxicology

Enjoys: Birding, hunting, fishing, running

Personal account, not representing UNM or State of NM
Posts Replies Media Videos
msbbirds.bsky.social
‘Endowed Chair of Ornithology’ jobs don’t come along too often, but here’s one: umiami.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/UMFacu...
College of A&S - Biology - FAC - Robert E. Maytag Chair of Ornithology - Associate Professor to Professor
Current Employees: If you are a current Staff, Faculty or Temporary employee at the University of Miami, please click here to log in to Workday to use the internal application process. To learn how to...
umiami.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com
November 12, 2025 at 9:05 PM
Reposted by Christopher Witt
elizabethhobson.bsky.social
In an increasingly divided world, how do strangers become friends? Parakeets might have something to teach us! New paper on formation of affiliative relationships, led by Dr. Claire O’Connell doi.org/10.1098/rsbl...
Graphic showing the paper title “Monk parakeets ‘test the waters’ when forming new relationships” in the journal Biology Letters. Also features photos of the co-authors (Claire, Annemarie, Gerry, and Liz) as well as the issue cover photo of two marked monk parakeets from Claire’s work grooming each other. Also shown are some of the main plots of the paper showing how the parakeets escalate their behaviors from low risk/low investment (like proximity) to higher risk/higher investment interactions (like preening/grooming)
November 12, 2025 at 1:39 PM
Reposted by Christopher Witt
jeffspence.github.io
How do GWAS and rare variant burden tests rank gene signals?

In new work @nature.com with @hakha.bsky.social, @jkpritch.bsky.social, and our wonderful coauthors we find that the key factors are what we call Specificity, Length, and Luck!

🧬🧪🧵

www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Specificity, length and luck drive gene rankings in association studies - Nature
Genetic association tests prioritize candidate genes based on different criteria.
www.nature.com
November 7, 2025 at 12:05 AM
Reposted by Christopher Witt
vscharff.bsky.social
Here’s what everyone must say.
atrupar.com Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 8d
Mamdani: "My message to ICE agents & to everyone across this city is that everyone will be held to the same standard of the law. If you violate it, you must be held accountable. There is sadly a sense growing that certain people are allowed to violate that law, whether they be POTUS or ICE agents."
November 5, 2025 at 6:04 PM
Reposted by Christopher Witt
johnfabianwitt.bsky.social
Harlem Congressman Vito Marcantonio is Mamdani’s closing message—and practiced at the Garland Fund’s law firm. Of course. #TheRadicalFund is all around us. @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social
zohrankmamdani.bsky.social Zohran Kwame Mamdani @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social · 10d
UNTIL IT’S DONE, Ep. 5: Vito Marcantonio

There are many who dismiss our vision for New York as impossible. To them, I say we need look only to our past for proof of how we can shape the future.

Tomorrow is Election Day. And this is the final Until It's Done of our campaign.
November 4, 2025 at 10:31 PM
Reposted by Christopher Witt
kevinmkruse.bsky.social
Look at these cosplay cowboys, geared up to wage war against us.
newseye.bsky.social News Eye @newseye.bsky.social · 10d
NEW: Footage of a US citizen in Chicago being rammed then dragged from her car on her way to work.

Abducted, with no warrant, her family couldn’t find her for hours.

She was later released with NO CHARGE.

A DHS statement said she “violently resisted arrest, injuring two officers”.

You decide…
November 3, 2025 at 9:14 PM
Reposted by Christopher Witt
karaswisher.bsky.social
Again Mackenzie Scott ftw www.atlantanewsfirst.com/2025/11/03/s...
Spelman College receives $38 million ‘unrestricted’ gift from philanthropist MacKenzie Scott
The university says Scott’s gift lets it address expanding financial aid and scholarship support and investing in a state-of-the-art technology infrastructure “to enhance the academic experience.”
www.atlantanewsfirst.com
November 4, 2025 at 2:09 AM
Reposted by Christopher Witt
jerthorp.bsky.social
There are five birds with the word "rainbow" in their names.

Let's meet them.

🪶
November 2, 2025 at 11:56 PM
Reposted by Christopher Witt
barkerms.bsky.social
Join us on Nov 18 at 2:30 PM MST to learn about CAMBIUM grad fellowships in biodiversity informatics & climate change @uarizona.bsky.social. For incoming Fall 2026 students interested in big data, ecology, evolution, climate adaptation & more. Register: events.trellis.arizona.edu/en/f44lNu67/... 🌵🧬🌐
Flyer for CAMBIUM (Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation Through Biodiversity Informatics Education and Mentoring) Graduate Research Traineeship program. Right side shows a scenic photograph of tall saguaro cacti against desert mountains. Program highlights listed in a blue box include: professional development training in communication, teamwork, and professionalism; interdisciplinary research rotations; career and professional development; $34,000 stipend with paid tuition, fees, and health insurance coverage for 2 years; and a Certificate in Biodiversity Informatics. A red box announces an informational webinar on November 18th at 2:30 PM MST with link to the CAMBIUM program website at https://cambium.arizona.edu/. Eligibility requirements include U.S. citizenship or permanent residency, incoming graduate student status for Fall 2026, and acceptance contingent on graduate program admission. Bottom features a 'Register here!' button with registration link at https://events.trellis.arizona.edu/en/f44lNu67/cambium-informational-webinar-4a3UKgGu6U/overview, along with NSF, University of Arizona, and CAMBIUM NRT logos.
November 3, 2025 at 11:50 PM
Reposted by Christopher Witt
josephwb.bsky.social
Only a few pages into @carlzimmer's new book, but already learned something (something an avian systematist should already know...):

"pedigree" derives from the french "pied de grue", as branching family tree diagrams were thought to resemble a crane's foot.
November 7, 2024 at 4:05 PM
Reposted by Christopher Witt
dominiqueberteaux.bsky.social
Amazing. From: The global biomass of wild mammals, PNAS (2023), 120 (10) e2204892120
doi.org/10.1073/pnas...
A graph showing how the global biomass of wild mammals is small compared to that of humans and domesticated mammals.
October 16, 2025 at 6:56 PM
Reposted by Christopher Witt
artbutmakeitsports.bsky.social
The Good Samaritan, by Joseph Highmore, 1744, 📸 by @patricksmith04
November 2, 2025 at 4:49 AM
Reposted by Christopher Witt
darrenirwin.bsky.social
Pleased to see published today: the Molecular Ecology special issue on "Genomics of Speciation"; many interesting papers: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/toc/1365294x...

Included in this issue is our paper on "The Distribution and Dispersal of Large Haploblocks in a Superspecies":

doi.org/10.1111/mec....
Figure 1 from the paper, showing (at top) the breeding distribution of greenish warblers in Asia. This is a ring of populations encircling the Tibetan Plateau, with two different species in west and east Siberia, and a ring of gradually changing populations connecting them to the south. In the lower left of the figure is a bivariate plot illustrating genomic relationships of individual birds around the ring. In the lower right is a plot of how the major axis of genetic variation changes with location around the ring.
October 30, 2025 at 1:39 PM
msbbirds.bsky.social
SIX cat species >4,200 m?!?! That’s amazing. I don’t imagine there would be more than two at similar heights in the Andes
wwf.org.uk WWF UK @wwf.org.uk · 15d
Camera traps at new heights. 📸

In Arunachal Pradesh, at 4,200m above sea level, WWF India have documented some incredible species living at this altitude, including 6 wild cat species!

Part of our ongoing work to support snow leopards and their prey, with thanks to #DarwinInitiative.
A pallas’s cat standing in the snow, crouched in a curious stance as if it's ready to pounce. Colour camera trap image of a red fox standing in a snowy mountainous landscape. The sun is shining bright; it stands with its eyes closed. Colour camera trap image of a snow leopard walking to the right of the frame in a snowy and rocky landscape. The light is dull and the snow leopard blends well to its rocky surroundings. Black and white camera trap image of a Himalayan wood owl mid-flight. Its wings spread up tall.
October 30, 2025 at 2:33 PM
Reposted by Christopher Witt
kairyssdal.bsky.social
Think about this for a minute
kylegriffin1.bsky.social Kyle Griffin @kylegriffin1.bsky.social · 16d
Breaking on MSNBC:

Two federal prosecutors have been placed on leave at the direction of the White House after filing a sentencing memo seeking 27 months in prison for a pardoned Jan. 6 rioter who brought illegal guns and ammunition to President Obama's house in 2023.
October 29, 2025 at 3:15 PM
Reposted by Christopher Witt
themorrancave.bsky.social
"According to his running club, the man, who is a U.S. citizen, was returning from a team run when agents pulled him out of his vehicle, tackled him to the ground and kneeled on top of him, allegedly breaking six ribs and causing internal bleeding"
US citizen, 67, ‘has six ribs broken’ by Border Patrol agents, his running club says
The incident unfolded Saturday in Chicago’s Old Irving Park neighborhood, where residents say federal agents disrupted a children’s Halloween parade
www.independent.co.uk
October 28, 2025 at 8:40 PM
Reposted by Christopher Witt
johnfabianwitt.bsky.social
A new pod episode! Come for the nudist beach scenes from the 1920s—stay for fights over the material foundations of 20th-c liberalisms.
October 28, 2025 at 3:46 PM
Reposted by Christopher Witt
needhibhalla.bsky.social
We have to absolutely hammer this home: Science suffers without the values embedded in DEI 🧪
trevondlogan.bsky.social Trevon Logan @trevondlogan.bsky.social · 17d
The Python Software Foundation was recommended for a $1.5M grant from the National Science Foundation. The terms of the award said PSF could not work on DEI, whether or not the grant funding was used for it.

PSF therefore declined the funding.

Science suffers, but commitment to core values remains
python.org Python Software Foundation @python.org · 18d
TLDR; The PSF has made the decision to put our community and our shared diversity, equity, and inclusion values ahead of seeking $1.5M in new revenue. Please read and share. pyfound.blogspot.com/2025/10/NSF-...
🧵
October 28, 2025 at 3:09 PM
Reposted by Christopher Witt
aridrennen.bsky.social
Food bank director: “for every meal that a food bank provides, the SNAP program provides nine. There’s no way we can meet that gap.”
October 27, 2025 at 4:30 PM
Reposted by Christopher Witt
jeremymberg.bsky.social
Happy "No Kings" Day!

I just sent this email to Director Bhattacharya regarding the recently appointment of a new NIEHS Director.
Dear Director Bhattacharya: I saw your announcement about the appointment of Dr. Kyle Walsh as Director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. It is hard for me to express how disappointed and saddened that I am with this turn of events. This has little to do with Dr. Walsh or his qualifications. Instead, my concerns are based on the damage that this appointment, with the complete lack of any reasonable process, does to the NIH and the ability of this agency. which matters so much to the American people. to recruit and retain the best people for the 13 institute and center director positions that are now vacant.
October 18, 2025 at 12:23 PM
Reposted by Christopher Witt
carlygoodman.bsky.social
Look man we’ve all been there, rejected by our reach schools
bakerdphd.bsky.social Dominique Baker @bakerdphd.bsky.social · 26d
DARTMOUTH OUT!

We are at 6 rejections. Vanderbilt is the only private left standing "considering" the compact along with UT Austin and the University of Arizona.
roopikarisam.bsky.social Roopika Risam @roopikarisam.bsky.social · 26d
Dartmouth is OUT! Thank goodness... a friend at U of A and I have been playing "Who will be the last of the 9 standing?" and it's not gonna be us!
October 18, 2025 at 4:13 PM
Reposted by Christopher Witt
minakimes.bsky.social
Among the citizens detained are nearly 20 children, including two with cancer. That includes four who were held for weeks with their undocumented mother and without access to the family’s attorney until a congresswoman intervened.
October 16, 2025 at 10:09 PM
Reposted by Christopher Witt
chasewnelson.bsky.social
OUT TODAY: SimHumanity, a SLiM 5 model of the human genome, replete with demography, autosomes, X/Y & mtDNA.

A shared starting point for reproducible evolutionary simulations.

Huge thanks to coauthors Ben Haller, @mufernando.bsky.social & Philipp Messer.
🔗 www.pivotscipub.com/hpgg/5/4/0006
October 16, 2025 at 12:10 PM
Reposted by Christopher Witt
jfallows.bsky.social
Where we stand, in long arc of history:

-Story on left, adding race as a factor when that favors white people.

-Story on right, banning race as a factor when that favors non-whites.

I often complain about NYT headlines and story-play. But these are strong. Including "If Court Guts 1965 Law."
Two headlines on front page of NYT. First is "Trump Weighs Transforming Refugee Policy. White People Would be Given Preference." Second is "Justices May Ban Race as a Factor in District Maps. Nation's Political Balance Could Shift If Court Guts 1964 Law."
October 16, 2025 at 2:38 PM