Olivia M. Smith

A group of people smiling and holding binoculars getting ready to go birding. The park has a lawn and trees in the background.

September 2021 - very first MSU eeBirding ever!

A group of people smiling and holding binoculars getting ready to go birding. The park has a lawn and corn in the background.

September 2022

A group of people smiling and holding binoculars getting ready to go birding. The park has a lawn and an agricultural field in the background.

September 2023

A group of people smiling and holding binoculars getting ready to go birding. The park has a lawn and corn in the background.

September 2024

A group of people smiling and holding binoculars getting ready to go birding. The park has a lawn and trees in the background.

September birding with the MSU EEB Community. This is now the 5th year of me running this group!

Group of 16 people smiling and holding binoculars getting ready to go birding. They are in front of a tree on the side of the street.

Monthly MSU EEB Program birding

We're just getting into migration, so it wasn't the most exciting birding, but we did see about 20 wood ducks.

Woman holding binoculars looking for birds. She is standing in a small field of mixed vegetables. Behind her is a high tunnel and a shed that says "HOPE". In front of her is a sign that says, "market garden."

Really excited for the Smith BIRDS Lab to be starting up our first large research project! We're surveying small-scale diversified, organic farms in urban and rural areas to examine tradeoffs of having songbirds on farms in different contexts.

📸 Rachel Fredrickson looking for birds at Growing Hope

On our "rugged trail" loop, we saw 46 species total, including some colorful migratory birds. Our accessible trail group also had some great sightings, with 26 species total.

Group of 37 people smiling and facing the camera. They are carrying binoculars and cameras and about to go birding. It is a sunny spring morning but chilly, so they are wearing winter jackets.

The MSU EEB Program's monthly birding trip today was packed! This month, we opened up our birding group to the public as part of a warbler ID learning series co-hosted with the Michigan State Bird Observatory and Capital Area Audubon Society. We had somewhere around 40 birders join us!

Finally, shout-out to the Accessibility Research Group (The ARG)—an amazing team of early-career researchers pushing for a more inclusive science community! @caitlinmack.bsky.social and other ARG members not on bsky 🎉

Plus, we provide a table of actionable recommendations for publishers, journals, authors and reviewers to make the publishing system more inclusive: doi.org/10.6084/m9.f...

This needs to change! We call for journal policy reforms that require authors to format their manuscripts according to Universal Design principles. As a starting point to improving article accessibility, we created a checklist for authors: doi.org/10.6084/m9.f...

Circular bar chart showing the number and percent of journals with their own guidelines for all mentioned disabilities and manuscript components. Mentioned disabilities included colourblindness, visual impairments, seizures, learning disabilities, and non-specific disabilities. Mentioned manuscript components included main text, figures, tables, supplementary information, and videos. The figure displays 25 manuscript component/disability combinations. We found zero guidelines for 17 of those combinations in journal-specific guidelines. Supplementary Tables 1 and 2 in the manuscript detail the number and percent of journals with each guideline type.

The answer: not often! We found that nearly 3 in 4 journals do not encourage authors to consider accessibility when preparing manuscripts. Most policies that did exist only mentioned colorblind-friendly figures—almost twice as often as any other recommendation.

Despite growing recognition of publishing inequities, accessibility barriers have remained largely overlooked. In our new study, we reviewed the websites of 541 ecology and evolution journals to ask how often they prompt authors to prepare accessible manuscripts.

Widespread lack of article accessibility policies among ecology and evolution journals Nature Ecology & Evolution - An analysis of manuscript preparation guidelines across 541 ecology and evolution journals reveals widespread paucity in guidelines intended to make journal...

We are excited to share our new article just out in @natureecoevo.bsky.social 🎉

“Widespread lack of article accessibility policies among ecology and evolution journals” rdcu.be/ejFQH

Birders walking along board walk in the center of the marsh.

Lots of cool waterfowl out, such as gadwall, blue-winged teal, northern shovelers, wood ducks, and more!

Group of 26 people around the Corey Marsh Michigan State University sign at the entrance of the park. People are smiling and carrying binoculars and cameras preparing to look for birds.

Super fun morning birding with the MSU EEB community! This month we joined up with the Capital Area Audubon Society to explore MSU's Corey Marsh Ecological Research Center. Fun group and great birds!

Super excited for you to come work with @lars-brudvig.bsky.social and me!

Just got word that I landed my first grant as a #NewPI! 🎉 It's $50k—not huge, but a big milestone in my faculty career!

Rapid butterfly declines across the United States during the 21st century Numerous declines have been documented across insect groups, and the potential consequences of insect losses are dire. Butterflies are the most surveyed insect taxa, yet analyses have been limited in ...

Our paper is out, and it is distressing.

Rapid butterfly declines across the United States during the 21st century | Science www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

8 people on a dock next to a forest. They are smiling and looking for a bird with binoculars.

....and an action shot of when we found the pileated woodpecker

22 people gathered together for a group photo before birding. They are wearing winter coats, hats, and gloves because it is cold. There is snow on the ground. They are wearing binoculars.

March birding with the MSU EEB community.

We got a surprise snow on top of cold/wind, but we still had a great time. We found a bald eagle while leaving the parking lot, a pileated woodpecker, and a rough-legged hawk. Pretty good winter birding, esp. for a park in the middle of town!

Twenty-two people stand in front of a dam, which has snow and ice around it. The people are wearing many layers for the cold. They are holding binoculars and preparing for birding.

Another great birding event with the MSU EEB community! Early February is challenging to find many bird species, so we were pleased with having seen 15. Our two American Black Ducks were my favorites.

JOB OPENINGS | KBS LTER Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU): Applications are open for Summer Undergraduate Programs at the Kellogg Biological Station! If you are looking for research experience in the field or in…

There are many ways to get involved w/ the @kbslter.bsky.social this summer & beyond!

#RET for #K12 teachers - 8 weeks w/ us this summer!

#REU undergraduate positions to work w/ @kelloggbiostn.bsky.social labs!

& a new KBS Director & Ecosystems Ecologist!

lter.kbs.msu.edu/get-involved...

So excited to see our paper led by @austinrspence.bsky.social out in @jappliedecology.bsky.social!

We show most birds present low food-safety risks, but E. coli survives longer in big poops produced by big birds (a thread)

besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10....

First grant submitted as a new PI! ✅

Group of 20 people standing on a road surrounded by cattle pastures. The people have binoculars and are preparing for birding. Snow is seen on the ground, and the people are wearing many layers due to the cold.

I had a great time birding with my MSU birding group even if the "feels like" temp was 0 F! We found the Short-eared Owls we were looking for. You know, the temp wasn't too bad with 3 pairs of pants, a snow suit designed for snowmobiling, heated gloves, "HotHands" hand warmers, a mask, etc.