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Ed Kroc

@edkroc.bsky.social

Statistician, gull lover. At UBC, Vancouver, Canada. I like math, statistics, science, and seabirds. Blog: https://edkroc.wordpress.com/ Salish Sea Urban Gull Monitoring Program: https://ekroc.weebly.com/salish-sea-urban-gull-monitoring-program.html

543 Followers  |  212 Following  |  94 Posts  |  Joined: 16.11.2024  |  2.5325

Latest posts by edkroc.bsky.social on Bluesky

I have one but it's much more stats oriented than eco (a little of that too though). Also, I can get my hands on others but need to be discreet. Can I email you?

08.08.2025 01:34 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

To be fair, it's "lazy" because it's a theorem that requires a proof but often people just take it as definition. Casella and Berger were famously unhappy with the phrase LOTUS, taking a shot at Ross - who introduced the term - in their Statistical Inference text.

07.08.2025 20:13 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

Would be interesting to formally quantify that though.

21.07.2025 20:16 β€” πŸ‘ 3    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Yes, Spearman is not immune. It is quite literally a Pearson correlation on the rank data. But the deleterious effects are undoubtedly greatly mitigated because transforming data into ranks makes everything look more uniform, and uniform marginals will span the full theoretical -1 to +1 range.

21.07.2025 20:16 β€” πŸ‘ 3    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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Look to the rooftops.

17.07.2025 02:44 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

It's been 10 years for me and I still can't bring myself to chuck them. Someday!

16.07.2025 01:25 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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Lots of little gull floofs at the Tsawwassen ferry terminal this morning.

14.07.2025 22:19 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Haha, yes, that happens to me too! πŸ˜† I think serious statisticians can make good arguments for most paradigms. But when it comes to non-statistician scientists appropriately applying them, I think the Fisherian approach is the most foolproof.

10.07.2025 22:04 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Science, unlike politics, is not about making binary decisions. It's about weighing available evidence and updating plausible beliefs. Those are continuous actions, not discrete.

10.07.2025 21:29 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

That's a good post. I still think the Neyman-Pearson framework completely misses how science is typically done. Rarely do we believe a hypothesis by default. We just have one that aligns best with the evidence or absence thereof.

10.07.2025 21:28 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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Building height continues to be the strongest predictor of nesting propensity for GWGUs.

10.07.2025 19:35 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Hello, Sechelt. There are two rooftop GW Gull nests in this picture. Can you guess where? Answer below.

10.07.2025 19:34 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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In the UK, 2021-2023, 103,497 carcasses of 155 species tested for HPAI. Gannets, Black-headed Gulls, Barnacle Goose most affected. 7500 +ve for HPAI across 80 species. Mortality data to estimate impact.
πŸ‘‰ www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

10.07.2025 04:19 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Across 13 European countries, only 3 dead Little Terns found in 2022-2023, amongst tens of thousands of breeding birds. Surprising given how other tern species have been impacted.
πŸ‘‰ www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

10.07.2025 04:26 β€” πŸ‘ 3    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Welcome! Looking forward to some gull content. 🌊πŸ₯

10.07.2025 04:29 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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Partial Niche Partitioning in Three Sympatric Gull Species Through Foraging Areas and Habitat Selection | doi.org/10.1002/ece3... | Ecology and Evolution | #ornithology #seabirds πŸͺΆ

04.07.2025 13:30 β€” πŸ‘ 33    πŸ” 10    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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the ivory gull, one of the most fascinating birds of the Far North!
It stays in the Arctic all winter and follows polar bears to feed on the leftovers of their kills β€” a brilliant and icy survival strategy β„οΈπŸ»β€β„οΈ
#birdart #wildlifeart #sketchbook #seabirds #natureillustration
🌿 #SciArt 🐑

21.06.2025 16:52 β€” πŸ‘ 31    πŸ” 5    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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More Arctic gulls! The Sabine’s gull is a beautiful bird I dream to see one day!
This watercolor is part of my β€œArctic Larids” poster, available as a print in Maudeux Redbubble shop. #birdart #wildlifeart #sketchbook #sabinesgull #natureillustration #scientificillustration
🌿 #SciArt 🐑

14.06.2025 20:26 β€” πŸ‘ 21    πŸ” 3    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
Sketches of mediterranean gull characters. They are enjoying the sun with sunglasses and cocktail. The idea is to illustrate its wintering groundsβ€”far from the cold of Northern Europe ❄️.
So the bird is shown in its non-breeding plumage (yes, the black head is just for summer!)

Sketches of mediterranean gull characters. They are enjoying the sun with sunglasses and cocktail. The idea is to illustrate its wintering groundsβ€”far from the cold of Northern Europe ❄️. So the bird is shown in its non-breeding plumage (yes, the black head is just for summer!)

Sketches of mediterranean gull characters. One is flying, an other one on the water and an other one is taking off its sunglasses.

Sketches of mediterranean gull characters. One is flying, an other one on the water and an other one is taking off its sunglasses.

Sketches of mediterranean gull characters. One has a breeding plumage and try to seduce a partner and the other one is looking at it's tags on its legs...

Sketches of mediterranean gull characters. One has a breeding plumage and try to seduce a partner and the other one is looking at it's tags on its legs...

Sketches of the Mediterranean gull... I quite like the one sunbathing 😎
These humorous drawings are based on real biology!
#birdart #characterdesign #natureillustration #sketchbook #wildlifeart #MediterraneanGull #funnybirds #nonbreedingplumage
🌿 #SciArt 🐑 #FieldworkSketches

11.06.2025 19:43 β€” πŸ‘ 11    πŸ” 2    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Vacancy β€” PhD Position Gull Foraging Ecology in the North Sea - NO-REGRETS Project Are you passionate about animal movement ecology? Interested in studying gull foraging ecology at sea? Apply for this unique PhD opportunity at the Department of Theoretical and Computational Ecology ...

New PhD position in our group! Join us to study gull foraging ecology at sea using GPS and accelerometry data! You will be working here Amsterdam Movement Ecology group under supervision of @judyshamounb.bsky.social, @rooskentie.bsky.social and me. Apply here werkenbij.uva.nl/en/vacancies...

13.06.2025 10:41 β€” πŸ‘ 46    πŸ” 57    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 5

I'm glad to see you and your family are all safe.

14.06.2025 14:26 β€” πŸ‘ 3    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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Weekend loveliness: retrapping a gull-billed tern carrying a GPS and getting to know a few of the newest colony members.

08.06.2025 21:37 β€” πŸ‘ 38    πŸ” 5    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

I always liked Maugham.

08.06.2025 06:33 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Haha, yes, that is a great observation! πŸ˜‚

07.06.2025 03:41 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Haha, no worries! Yes, home base is Vancouver, but I'm always on the gulls up and down the N. American Pacific coast. Just starting to expand work into the Baja Peninsula!

06.06.2025 18:26 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Scientists Can’t Get Enough of Watching Seagulls Steal Your Food Birds’ ability to seamlessly swap marine food for a Big Macβ€”and outwit humans to get itβ€”is a source of fascination

A nice article on urban gulls' eating habits that doesn't paint them in a negative light. With some commentary from me, @alice-risely.bsky.social and others.
www.wsj.com/articles/sci...

06.06.2025 17:40 β€” πŸ‘ 33    πŸ” 11    πŸ’¬ 2    πŸ“Œ 1
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This seagull took an 80-mile truck ride twice to find food Researchers say it's the first recorded case of a seagull using a vehicle for transport while foraging.

#Waterbirds in the news! @axios.com just featured Cimino et al.'s new study, "The First GPS Observation of a Western Gull Riding in a Long-Haul Garbage Transfer Truck" bioone.org/journals/wat...

ttps://www.axios.com/local/san-francisco/2025/06/04/hitchhiking-seagulls-san-francisco-climate-change

06.06.2025 13:15 β€” πŸ‘ 11    πŸ” 5    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 1

Yes! Totally agree.

29.05.2025 18:50 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Hmmm, I think any kind of automatic/unthinking model selection is my biggest pet peeve. Thoughtful model selection should largely address both overparameterization and sample size constraints, at least if done reasonably!

29.05.2025 18:07 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

Lol! Fair warning I guess to not suggest me as a reviewer for a paper that uses it. But I'll be a nice reviewer for other work!

28.05.2025 22:55 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

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