@msbbirds
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
Our understanding of the origin of COVID-19, while still incomplete, is one of the most well-supported scientific theories of any pandemic.
When it comes to “Scientific Freedom”, it must be based in science and evidence - this is the opposite, platforming pseudoscience instead.
The whole story behind the proposed CDC funded Hepatitis B vaccine trial in Guinea-Bissau from the Bandim Project continues to unfold.
What is described, frankly, are shocking “research” practices far outside normal ethical norms or conduct.
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
Main foraging areas (75% AKDE) of male Goshawks foraging exclusively in forest (A), in forest and farmland (B), and in forest and town (C). Foraging areas of individual birds are indicated by different colours. The town of Hajnówka is shown in grey. White dots indicate known active Goshawk nests.
Several male Goshawks breeding deep in Poland's Białowieża Forest 'routinely travelled up to 20 km to hunt feral pigeons in a town' with the authors concluding that 'urban environments shape the foraging behaviour of raptors even within primeval forests' #ornithology 🌍 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
😱🤯 -- Just looked up the cost to go gold open access at Nature Eco Evo: US$12850! That's $21,600 NZD. That's the same cost as a Royal Society Master's Scholarship!
This has gone too far. Absolutely bonkers.
Are you a student who wants to visit the NHMLA for your research? Do you advise or know a student who would benefit from visiting our collections? Well, there are three weeks left to apply for the NHMLA Student Collections Award. Help spread the word!
Brilliant work by Devi!
A dispatch from the annals of Project 2025 authoritarianism: Universities are now being required to provide demographic data on all students who applied to their schools for the past 5 years so the feds can sniff out illegal affirmative action. Until last year, tho, keeping such data was not allowed
A nice read from @puginiercamille.bsky.social and @talbotlabtsl.bsky.social !
The world may be falling apart, but at least we've got this incredible live-stream of a pair of ernesti subspecies Peregrine Falcons and their 4 chicks nesting in the middle of downtown Singapore.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHBU...
Grosbeak Weaver, Kisoro, Uganda markscheflen.com #weavers #birdsofafrica #grosbeaks #birdsseenin2026 #bitdsofeastafrica #kisoro #seedeaters. #biodiversity #conservationphotography #grosbeakweavers
Awful reading about concentration camp conditions. It’s currently closed to visitors due to a measles outbreak—WaPo has reported it may close completely but it hasn’t yet. Starvation, suicide, restricted healthcare, but also “detainees only see sunlight during brief outings once or twice a week”
Do you want somebody to blame? Start with Russell Vought at OMB, Jay Bhattacharya, Matthew Memoli, Jon Lorsch at NIH. These are evil, small minded men. I hope one day they’re held accountable for the destruction of biomedical research in the United States.
SHOULD THE U.S BLOT OUT THE SUN AND USHER IN AN AGE OF ETERNAL DARKNESS? - Gallup 2/20/26-3/5/26
NO - 41%
YES - 38%
UNSURE - 21%
Want a reliable way to tell the two cryptic giant hummingbird species apart while birding in the Andes? Use your ear! 🎶 In a new @fieldornith.bsky.social J. Field Ornithology paper, we show how their vocalizations differ clearly—making sound a slam dunk for identifying them in the field.
*malicious and deliberate
"She could be dead by now." A doctor in Chicago hasn't seen his 10-year-old HIV-positive patient — living in a car with her mother — since ICE raids scared her family away from the clinic. This is what the rollback of public health looks like in practice.
The point is to destroy the administrative state, centers of knowledge and all civic institutions that stand in the way of Russell Vought’s vision of an authoritarian theocracy. It sounds insane and something out of Atwood. But this is where we are. Under his eye.
Sorry but the moral of the story is that, be you Anthropic, NSF, a Ivy university, a doctor, a cop, doesn’t matter if you do 95% of what these people tell you in the hope you get to save the other 5% of your ethics, or your dignity, or your funding. They’ll steamroll you anyway until full compliance
Well this is fcking crazy. Work from @msbbirds.bsky.social and others found that Black Metaltail hummingbirds can drop their body temperature down to 3 °C (37 °F) during torpor. 🤯 Turns out birds aren't warm-blooded after all! royalsocietypublishing.org/rsbl/article...
📷 Steve Juhasz
And here is some of the amazing news coverage of our paper. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/26/c... by @catrineinhorn.bsky.social
tropical lowland birds aren't doing well -- this is an excellent article on what's happening featuring a slew of fantastic research projects
www.science.org/content/arti...
How do they look in the mirror every morning?
the party that wants to require ID to vote abruptly invalidating a thousand people’s IDs overnight seems like a pretty giant flashing red light
Hard hitting environmental journalist Ted Williams turns a bright light on the State of Utah’s Orwellian mountain lion “management” program
And as Williams documents, in true Orwellian fashion, Utah uses doublespeak to justify their BS actions
yellowstonian.org/ted-williams...
And if we’re going to talk about the head, let’s dig into the mechanics of #2026MMM. Randall Monroe of @xkcd very accurately and unintentionally summed up the heart of MMM thusly:
Can u please film a psa about this? (“In the arms of the angel… 🎶🎶🎶)
Dont go chasing nutcrackers🎶
