Siobhan Leachman

SARS-CoV-2 in Wastewater and Reported COVID- 19 Case Numbers - National, last 6 months, on linear scale (NZ)

SARS-CoV-2 in Wastewater and Reported COVID- 19 Case Numbers Auckland, last 6 months, on linear scale (NZ)

This was last updated 26 Feb because lack of government funding doesn’t allow for more frequent reporting, but you can see we’re in a new Covid wave.
Anecdotally, three separate people today mentioned they were WFH because they had it, or knew someone with it.
Politicians/NZ media, please push:
🧵

Full-time science photography job at the BioEconomy Science Institute - Maiangi Taiao, in Auckland, NZ. a great gig: careers.sciencenewzealand.org/jobdetails?a... #science #photography

Clemence Acland - Wikipedia

I wrote a Wikipedia biography of Clemence "Clem" Acland, a pioneering bird photographer and early radio broadcaster

Thanks to @btobirds.bsky.social for the inspiration.

Need I point out there are dozens of great photos of the beehive, some professional quality, available in Wikimedia Commons absolutely free, no effort required. Well, you do have to credit the photographer, which most papers find overly taxing. commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Categor...

Diagram showing that New Zealand is the island worst affected by invasive weeds in the world.

Ouch. #isbcw

Screenshot of a Wikidata WikiProject page background is green with mostly black text and an image of a moth specimen illustrates the page.

I've been working on data models for #Wikidata type specimen items & structured data for #WikimediaCommons specimen images. This is part of my WiR & is a collaboration with Brodie Satherley from Auckland Museum.
See www.wikidata.org/wiki/Wikidat...
#Wikidata #NaturalHistory #TypeSpecimen #DataModel

Female #kakapo are utterly focussed on their chicks. Stella came back to the nest while I was checking her very young chicks two nights ago. Apparently unconcerned by me being there, she jumped in and started brooding them in front of me. #conservation #parrots #birds #kakapo2026

A female Kākāpō on a nest with a young chick. Credit: Andrew Digby

Eva at her nest tonight on a very wet Pukenui/Anchor Island. Her chick Evohe-A2 is doing ok and her foster egg underneath her is about to hatch. #kakapo #conservation #kakapo2026 #birds

Tile with text that reads: Measles, new cases and locations of interest

New measles cases: More locations of interest confirmed, public asked to monitor for symptoms. Locations of interest: healthnz.govt.nz/health-topics/…

You know that feeling when you're struggling to stay awake? #kakapo chicks Tiwhiri-A3 and Tiwhiri-A4 in Tiwhiri's nest on Pukenui/Anchor Island. Both around two weeks old, and doing well. #kakapo2026 #conservation #parrots

Illustration of a red-headed woodpecker perched on a tree branch, showing its distinctive bright reddish-brown head, black and white wings, and tail feathers. The bird is facing right with its beak close to the bark, highlighting its natural behavior of pecking wood. The background is plain, emphasizing the details of the woodpecker’s plumage and the textured tree branch. The image is a detailed, hand-colored lithograph from 1851, reflecting rural wildlife. Text below identifies the species and publisher, George P. Putnam, New York.

🌄 Rural hours
New York, George P. Putnam, 1851.

[Source]

NZ politicians from *all* parties should recognise that science is not something to 'conveniently' repackage to suit your government’s short-term goals, but a long-term driver of good for the country.

When you cut at it, you cut at *everyone’s* longer-term future.

1/n

Covid hospitalisations climb as New Zealand enters new wave There’s been an increase in hospitalisations and in wastewater detections, and it’s expected to last another month or two.

Thanks to this article, I went from "I must get my booster before winter" to "I will get my booster this week". So today, between meetings, I went to my local pharmacy as a walk-in. The entire process (including the precautionary hanging around afterwards) took 15 mins. Get to it Kiwis #nz

ICZN call for new Commissioners:

Rakiura kākāpō's youngest chick is a quiet eater but *very* hungry - and mum is happy to oblige. Timestamp 10.09.10
www.youtube.com/live/BfGL7A2...

Image of the holotype BRACHYTHECIACEAE: Brachythecium macrogynum Cardot. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Carl Skottsberg https://bionomia.net/Q942078 collected the holotype BRACHYTHECIACEAE: Brachythecium macrogynum Cardot in Argentina https://gbif.org/occurrence/473996917 #TypeSpecimenToday

Women in Red is a global volunteer project dedicated to turning red links—articles which don't yet exist—into blue links, making the history of women more openly accessible.

Get more info at WomenInRed.org and help make the internet more equitable.

This Sunday, 8 March 2026 we're celebrating International Women's Day 👩‍🔬💪🎉

Despite their impact on history, science, and the arts, thousands of notable women are missing from Wikipedia, where they make up only 20% of articles about people.

For background on the project see "BioNames: linking taxonomy, texts, and trees" (https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj. 190 L) and "Ten years and a million links: building a global taxonomic library connecting persistent identifiers for names, publications and people" (https://doi.org/BDJ.11.e107914 L). Database Statistics Distinct name clusters Names with publications Names with DOls Names with free PDFs Total names 5,464,929 4,496,603 1,782,674 504,962 286,091

Slowly adding content to bionames.org and tweaking the interface. Hope page loads faster now and looks a little better on mobile. Lots of DOIs and PDFs for taxonomic papers, but so much to do. Half a million names linked to DOIs, wish it were more.

SimpleMappr Create free point maps for publications and presentations

Regrettably, I have decided to decommission SimpleMappr, www.simplemappr.net on September 1, 2026. You may read about its origins, what others have accomplished in its 18 year run, and the reasons why I must turn it off in a document I wrote last night bit.ly/simplemappr.

Covid hospitalisations climb as New Zealand enters new wave There’s been an increase in hospitalisations and in wastewater detections, and it’s expected to last another month or two.

There is a COVID wave currently hitting NZ atm. Go get your booster if you are eligible and wear masks if you want to protect yourself, loved ones etc www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/3609...

@biodivlibrary.bsky.social Just in case you weren't aware, I've come across this publication about you! doi.org/10.22456/fei...

A female kākāpō looking out of a nest, with one small chick showing. Credit: Andrew Digby

Female #kakapo Kohengi on her nest with a newly-hatched chick and an egg (unseen). We removed the egg from underneath her and gave it to another female (Phoenix) who had infertile eggs. We're trying to ensure each female on Anchor Island has 1-2 fertile eggs to hatch. #kakapo2026 #conservation

We agree it’s the best news, but BHL provides an even greater date range of invaluable research materials than many know. BHL’s 63+ million page “incredible free open treasure trove of nature papers and books” spans the 1100s to 2026!

David Klein: For the love of birds (and Wellington) Calling all bird lovers! In a celebration of our feathery friends, David Klein shares fun scientific facts with a dollop of silly at the Wellington Fringe Festival in the aptly named David Klein prese...

It's important to champion the increase in bird numbers around Wellington.

But at an ecosystem level, it's uneven recovery. Plants, lizards, wetlands, freshwater fish, pāua etc all continue to decline.

David Klein: For the love of birds (and Wellington) www.rnz.co.nz/national/pro...

a cartoon sloth is walking with a cane and wearing a green shirt . Alt: a cartoon sloth is walking with a cane and wearing a green shirt .

When I was first shown the internet on a "fastest you could buy as a private individual" set up in 1994 my reaction was ... "could be faster". I'm currently copying lots of little files to a USB stick in case a software update goes wrong ... and I repeat my original statement. *sigh*

An historic black and white illustration of a paper nautilus floating on the ocean. There are boats, a city and hills in the background.

🎉 Huge news for BHL: The Field Museum is taking over the hosting of BHL’s website, servers & infrastructure, ensuring long-term stability and access for its 63+ million pages of open biodiversity literature. Learn more:
blog.biodiversitylibrary.org/2026/02/tran...
#BHLTransition #ILoveBHL 🌍 📚 🧪

This is wonderful news!

The Biodiversity Heritage Library is a crown jewel of biodiversity literature and is deserving of both stability and ongoing support.

Thanks to the Field Museum for recognizing that.

Transition Update #8: The Field Museum to Host BHL’s Technical Infrastructure With the Biodiversity Heritage Library now officially operating in its new chapter following its transition away from the Smithsonian Institution, we are delighted to announce that the Field Museum…

This is such fabulous news for @biodivlibrary.bsky.social! A huge thank you to the #FieldMuseum for hosting BHL's technical infrastructure. blog.biodiversitylibrary.org/2026/02/tran...

Thanks! I find it a bit worrying that GBIF only gives 6 million of these links. It just emphasises that institutions aren't taking advantage of existing linking. ALL my contributions should be roundtripped into collection management systems & then uploaded by institutions into GBIF.