Michaël Nicolaï

a figure from the linked paper, showing extremely high rates of species diversification in the higher latitudes, higher diversification in the passerines (and in the early history of the oscines), and a marked (but unevenly distributed) uptick in diversification towards the present day

New bird tree who dis.

www.cell.com/current-biol...

Aptly named scarlet-rumped tanagers get their impressive red backsides because their pigmented feathers have a layer of white beneath, which enhances the rouge hue by backscattering light.

New research in #ScienceAdvances shows that some songbirds have such bright-looking feathers by having a backdrop of black or white plumage underneath their bright feathers—an illusionary tactic of color also used by painters.

Learn more in #ScienceAdviser: scim.ag/46ZaPeM

Is 2025 (red lines) a good butterfly year? Yes, on Dutch Butterfly Monitoring transects there are more butterflies than in 2023 and 2024. Numbers almost exactly equal 2022. But look at the 1990s. Compared to then it is a poor butterfly year. Shifting baselines!

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Excited to advertise a shared PhD position at KU Leuven (Belgium) and Mondsee (Austria) with @markusmoest.bsky.social on the genetic basis, plasticity and evolution of melanization in Daphnia from alpine lakes. Apply here: www.kuleuven.be/personeel/jo...

Our new preprint @scottvedwards.bsky.social 🧬🐦 Long-read genomes show songbird germline-restricted chromosomes (GRCs; expelled from somatic cells) are 70 % repeats and packed with active LTR retroviruses. A hidden reservoir for TE-driven innovation/diversification! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Can Macroevolution Inform Contemporary Extinction Risk? We investigate the underlying assumptions of the idea that macroevolutionary indicators for large groups of species, such as rates of extinction, diversification or niche evolution, can inform specie...

Can macroevolutionary indices be used to inform contemporary extinction risk? We explore this question in an Ecology Letters review out today. Led by Sarah-Sophie Weil and Laure Gallien, it should be a useful resource for anyone using these approaches. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Not sure if this will make you feel better, but knowing that YOU got negative reviews, helps me process the absolutely horrific reviews I've received recently for a grant I really liked.

Yes, I failed successfully at turning him into a zoologist. He still can't separate a swan from a pigeon, but somehow he managed to use the vegetable gardens as the basis for his taxonomy with tomato-family, pea-family, sunflower-family, wolf's-milk family...

Do I know someone who can help me with slides on plant diversity? I know nothing about plants, but my son is turning into Linnaeus, spending hours looking at flowers and classifying plant families (correctly). I would like to help him out (instead of the other way around 🤣).

Yeah sure!

Going through your previous post. Is it possible that your jackdaw is a hooded crow? Currently rare, but present in Belgian/Dutch paintings from that period!

This is an awesome thread!

Hoopoo without crest erected?

Even how the bill is colored is an intriguingly similar estimate to Falculea.

Again, African, but this immediately made me think of Falculea palliata

Acanthis flammea? The white bar is striking..

Not likely :(

not likely :(

Actually this is even better than the goldfinch.

Markings on head and wings match goldfinch

This would have been a great drawing of Klaas´ cuckoo

Weird eurasian jay? Blue wings, too little pinkish brown and a bit exhessive on the white?

(Lesser) white throat?

Colours remind me of bee eater but not shape (which i kinda recognize 11/16 if not kingfisher)

Not flanders, but American blue jay?

And/or eurasian roller. That´s more rare in flanders though

Kingfisher?

Probably lark, but has some wryneck vibes

Actually middle spotted might be a better fit