Eliot Miller

Hi Boris! All the recordings submitted to eBird end up in Macaulay Library, where they are freely available for research, education, and conservation. From there they end up building resources like BirdNET and Merlin.

Ok. We the world are up to 125. Tomorrow I start activating collaborators here in Ecuador.

rambaut/figtree Automatically exported from code.google.com/p/figtree - rambaut/figtree

The first version of FigTree was released nearly 20 years ago and it is still widely used (including by me). But there are currently 85 issues on the GitHub repo (github.com/rambaut/figt...) and some of them I don’t really like the look of.

#notajocotoco

The local parks carry an extra large version as well

In 2006 I spent a week w Harold Greeney trying to find the first nest of the Jocotoco Antpitta. We spent 12 hrs a day swimming through soaking wet bamboo. After all that, I managed to see one's shadow for about 1/16 of a second. Flash forward to today...

Birds Aren’t Just Declining. They’re Declining Faster, a New Study Finds.

And here is some of the amazing news coverage of our paper. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/26/c... by @catrineinhorn.bsky.social

Pacific Hornero - eBird Thrush-sized, plump bird of open habitats, especially near water. Particularly fond of disturbed areas, often around human settlements, clearings, and roadsides. Builds an impressive dome-shaped mud nest. Rich rufous above and pale tan below, with a whiter throat and eyebrow. Look for staring pale eye. Most often seen strutting confidently on the ground, and also perches high in a tree or atop a building to sing: listen for a long, loud, descending series of explosive “pee” notes. Mostly restricted to lowlands and foothills in western Ecuador and northwestern Peru, just barely occurring in far southwestern Colombia.

This is a common bird in w Ecuador, and one that I really wish was covered by Merlin, but it's not well recorded given how common it is. We need ~150 recordings to make it eligible for the model--nice little mini-mission for the community. Currently at 118. Let's go! ebird.org/species/palh...

ML651775654 - Pacific Hornero - Macaulay Library Macaulay Library ML651775654; © Eliot Miller; Loja, Ecuador

On a mini-mission to get enough recordings of Pacific Hornero into the @cornellbirds.bsky.social's Macaulay Library that we can add it to the Merlin sound ID model. Getting after it with phones, a parabola and, most importantly, encouraging others to do the same! macaulaylibrary.org/asset/651775...

the most important question of presidents day is what did they think about birds and luckily for you chumps i've got answers
birdhistory.substack.com/p/our-birdy-...

Getting ready for a really cool community-led monitoring project in shade-grown coffee and cacao farms in Ecuador and Mexico. Quick stop in #ICTC2026 first! #BirdsPlusIndex @abcbirds.bsky.social @wildlifeacoustics.com

Have you ever seen Blue Jays flighting with Crows and be like, I need to record this on eBird? Your comment could help with tracking species interactions! In this piece, we show how LLMs can be used to collect interaction data on large scales from comments on participatory science platforms. 1/3

Comic. [2x2 chart. Top left quadrant: seem like dinosaurs x are dinosaurs. Silhouettes of dinosaurs stegosaurus, triceratops, tyrannosaurus, velociraptor, and long-neck dinosaur. Top right quadrant: seem like dinosaurs x are not dinosaurs. Silhouettes of mosasaur, quetzalcoatlus, dimetrodon, plesiosaur, and pteranodon. Bottom left quadrant: don’t seem like dinosaurs x are dinosaurs. Silhouettes of penguin, egret, ostrich, pigeon, falcon. Bottom right: don’t seem like dinosaurs x are not dinosaurs. Silhouettes of squirrel, stapler, plant, person, and bicycle.]

Dinosaurs And Non-Dinosaurs

xkcd.com/3204/

why do males defend territories in some species while pairs or family groups defend territories in others?

then-undergrad Shreyas Arashanapalli did a fantastic project to find out, analyzing 3177 playback experiments on 264 species

the best predictor?

latitude

academic.oup.com/evolut/advan...

Birds of World's new Phylogeny Explorer It’s been an exciting week. Five years in the making, we’re very excited to release this new, updated, dynamic phylogeny of the world’s birds. By harnessing Open Tree of Life ’s existing...

Taxonomy and phylogeny are two sides of the same coin, but that doesn't mean they are always in agreement. I wrote a blog post on why the new Phylogeny Explorer in @birdsoftheworld.bsky.social is such a big deal in that regard, and what's in store next for us.

eliotmiller.weebly.com/blog/birds-o...

If you thought regular bird listing was for nerds, wait til you get a load of phylolisting. @snacktavish.bsky.social

I've seen most of the taxonomic orders of birds out there, but I'm still missing three: kiwis, cuckoo-roller, and cariamas. Any of you all ticked all of them yet? #birds #birding

One of my favorite things in life is admiring the emergent structures of different tree species in winter

Me and Jesus, Julio, and Bobby. What a way to start your day…yo it’s like 1, 2, 3…

Sad twist of fate that I spend many dozens of hours a year processing venison so that my family can eat clean, local meat and somehow I end up basically subsisting on leftover chicken nuggets I find on the couch.

Maybe we can find a way to link up! Let’s chat in January. We’ll probably be doing another survey starting in May.

Listening in on the Birds of New York City - American Bird Conservancy Learn how American Bird Conservancy’s BirdsPlus Index uses bird song and calls to measure the impact of habitat restoration efforts in New York Harbor.

Hmm, try this: abcbirds.org/news/birdspl...

Listening in on the Birds of New York City - American Bird Conservancy Learn how American Bird Conservancy’s BirdsPlus Index uses bird song and calls to measure the impact of habitat restoration efforts in New York Harbor.

Short blog on an exciting collaboration using the #BirdsPlusIndex to document recovering biodiversity in NYC harbor. In partnership w Billion Oyster Project, Newtown Creek Alliance, & NYC Bird Alliance
@newtowncreek.bsky.social @nycbirdalliance.org @abcbirds.bsky.social
abcbirds.org/news/birdspl...

Definitely still in the horseshoes and hand grenades realm, but enough to catch my attention. @snacktavish.bsky.social

Me: "Create a Newick string that exactly matches the topology of this phylogeny, with matching tip labels. Do not worry about branch lengths or support values."

ChatGPT:

Topological discordance between the concatenated ultra-conserved element species tree of parulid warblers and a 1.8-kb region of the BCO2 gene. Left: Full co-phylogeny, with the species tree on the left and gene tree on the right. Right: A magnolia warbler (Setophaga magnolia) perched on a rose branch. Image credit Davey Walters.

Introgression between species can shape #evolution. Study of the colorful American #warblers (Parulidae) by @kevinfpbennett.bsky.social @davetoews.bsky.social &co reveals intergeneric & interspecific introgression of genes related to carotenoid #plumage color @plosbiology.org 🧪 plos.io/48MyfU2

Boxing up the NSF at Eisenhower Av for the forced relocation. Boxes have “Details Matter” signage.

NSF

- Forced reorg

- POs down ~ 40% (DRP, most rotators not renewed, retirements)

- Forced move (and we have to pack and clean) to a building with no furniture, little to no conference space for panels, inadequate 🛜, …)

I personally love the boxes they gave us for packing.
“Details matter” 🙃

AGRAWAL | Tar, Traffic and the Butterfly's Silent Scream Opinion Columnist Professor Agrawal argues that America’s dependence on roads and cars inflicts silent ecological harm and that investment in rail, via the “All Aboard Act” currently being considered ...

www.cornellsun.com/article/2025...

Took me years to get that bird—it’s a great one!

Check out our review/perspective piece on phylogenetic diversification analysis, intended for the 75th anniversary of
@systbiol.bsky.social. I had the privilege of working with great coauthors, @fhenaodiaz.bsky.social, @tvasconcelos.bsky.social and @roszenil.bsky.social!
doi.org/10.1093/sysb...

ML235615 - Crypturellus sp. - Macaulay Library Macaulay Library ML235615; © Tom Schulenberg; Loreto, Peru

Epic and awesome description. Congrats to authors! FYI also in Peru macaulaylibrary.org/asset/235615