Alexander Lees

Homogenization of Northern Belgian landscapes through centuries of reclamation, agricultural transition, and urbanization Nature Communications - Digitizing land-use from historical maps with GeoAI, this paper exposes the homogenization of landscapes in Northern Belgium 1774-2022, through reclamation of natural areas,...

Flemish landscapes are becoming increasingly similar: a comparison by Luc De Keersmaeker using AI in @natcomms.nature.com of three sets of maps over the years shows us that the unique characteristics of historical landscapes in Flanders are fading and we can speak of homogenisation. rdcu.be/e4U8A

Meet the 'Old Mother Goose' from NZ's subtropical prehistoric past Important new light has been shed on the origins of New Zealand's recently extinct giant, flightless geese of the genus Cnemiornis.

www.rnz.co.nz/news/nationa...

Rough-legged Buzzard, Eccles, Cart Gap and Happisburgh Nov 22-24 Rough-legged Buzzard, Eccles, Cart Gap and Happisburgh Nov 22-24 Andy Kane, Phil Heath and Tim Allwood.The day started quietly but things quickly got moving when Andy had a Rough-legged Buzzard on Hem...

#norfolkbirding

A bit on the Rough-legged Buzzard from last November and our changing avifauna.

tg42lowcarbonbirding.wixsite.com/tg42/post/ro...

A line graph showing NSF grant awards made through 2/27/26 for fiscal year 2026 compared with grant awards for fiscal years 2021-2025.

NSF Update (Awards through 2/27/26)

Directorates to follow

1/10

Israel responsible for two-thirds of record 129 press killings in 2025, says CPJ Committee to Protect Journalists report says Israel also to blame for 81% of ‘intentionally targeted’ journalist killings * The deadly toll on journalists in the Gaza war A record 129 journalists and media workers were killed in the course of their work in 2025, two-thirds of them by Israeli forces, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). It was the second consecutive year in which killings of members of the press reached unprecedented levels, and the second year running in which Israel was responsible for roughly two-thirds of the total, the New York-based independent organisation, which documents attacks on journalists worldwide, said in its annual report published on Wednesday. Continue reading...

Israel responsible for two-thirds of record 129 press killings in 2025, says CPJ

Datacentre developers face calls to disclose effect on UK’s net emissions Campaign groups write to technology secretary amid concerns that sites could double overall electricity demand Datacentre developers are facing pressure to reveal whether their projects will increase the UK’s net greenhouse gas emissions, amid concerns the sites could double national electricity demand. Campaign groups have written to the UK technology secretary, Liz Kendall, warning that the energy required by new AI infrastructure poses a “serious threat to efforts to decarbonise the electricity grid”. Continue reading...

Datacentre developers face calls to disclose effect on UK’s net emissions

• ~3.2M Afghan refugees are currently in Pakistan
• ~3–4M Afghans are estimated to be in Iran
• Afghanistan already has ~6M+ internally displaced people
• Gulf states host ~30M+ migrant workers

If multiple fronts destabilize at once, even small % moving becomes major regional migration event.

A party of four foraging waders on Skaw beach, Unst, Shetland. Two Turnstone (Arenaria interpres) in the background; Dunlin (Calidris alpina) front left; and Great Knot (Calidris tenuirostris) front right. © Jon Dunn

Good morning, today's #BirdOfTheDay theme is #FourOrMore, an image of four or more birds.

Here's a little gang of waders on a Shetland beach. Two Turnstone, a Dunlin and a gorgeous Great Knot, the latter a great rarity in these parts.

#birds #EastCoastKin #photography #ukbirding #birdphotography

Common Scoter (mating pr), Fen Drayton Lakes, Mar 2018
Though more commonly seen in coastal rafts just offshore, this sea duck moves in big numbers overland at night (esp Mar-April) and some stop off at inland water bodies. We're 70 miles from the coast here but this pair obvs couldn't wait. #Birds

White-bellied Storm-petrel- seen occasionally in the air above Phillip Is Norfolk but its breeding location remains unknown-Friday nights recovery within a petrel colony was a first. Known breeding 900 km Sth or 1400 km Est. What an exquisite fellow! #SuperSeabirdSunday

This article is related to this scientific paper published in Biological Conservation, where I focus on the legal vacuum in addressing the impact of pets on wildlife and suggest ways to bridging the gap between conservation and animal welfare laws in the EU. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Yes, I'm well aware.

This is incredible....

Degradation of fish food webs in the Anthropocene The decrease in body size driven by the selective species turnover is widely altering fish food web topology and function.

New paper out examining fish food web degradation in the Anthropocene. We show the structure of aquatic food webs are changing-- even when species richness doesn’t. These signals are strongly associated with decreases in body size within fish communities. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... 🌐🐠🐡🦈🐟

Southern California air board rejected pollution rules after AI-generated flood of comments The opposition appeared overwhelming: Tens of thousands of emails poured into Southern California's top air pollution authority as its board weighed a June proposal to phase out gas-powered appliances...

They were going to pass rules to phase out gas stoves, until they received 20,000 public comments against the regulations. Except, oops, it turns out the comments were generated by AI.

With colleagues across ornithological societies and led by Nathan #Thayer, Ashley #Dayer, and Dai #Shizuka, I'm happy to share this first publication from some collaborative research we began in 2022 to study the role of #belonging in #ornithology: lnkd.in/gYGQzHer.

Feeding birds in our gardens is a joy – but it may be harming weaker species | Alexander C Lees By boosting dominant species such as great tits, human-provided food can make life harder for many woodland birds, says conservationist Alexander C Lees

For many reasons www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

The Marsh Tit and The Willow Tit 'A superb account of the ecology and behaviour of two declining bird species whose lives are intimately shaped by their woodland habitats.' – Rob Fuller'There c…

That's why feeders are bad idea in Willow Tit/Marsh Tit habitat, in addition to attracting & boosting survival of their competitors: Blue Tits and Great Tits, which are individually at lower risk as they don't obsessively collect seeds. More in the book: www.bloomsbury.com/uk/marsh-tit...
/End

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 🌍 📚 🧪

White House stalls release of approved US science budgets The US Congress rejected sweeping cuts to science agencies. But the NIH, the NSF and NASA have had their spending slowed.

Congress rejected massive cuts to US science budgets for 2026, but much of the money still isn’t flowing to researchers.

The culprit? The White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is quietly slow-walking the release of funds. 🧵👇

Well this is fcking crazy. Work from @msbbirds.bsky.social and others found that Black Metaltail hummingbirds can drop their body temperature down to 3 °C (37 °F) during torpor. 🤯 Turns out birds aren't warm-blooded after all! royalsocietypublishing.org/rsbl/article...

📷 Steve Juhasz

April.

I was mostly posting to highlight the feeder's condition, but predation and competition remain huge issues associated with feeding.

Worst possible time to be luring Willow Tits predictably into the open hundreds of times a day, at end of winter. If a Sparrowhawk gets lucky just once, taking a Willow Tit on those hundreds of daily rolls of the dice, then that territory is finished for the whole year - no replacement, no breeding.

Another ship-assisted House Crow in Brazil (Recife) #Ornithology
www.instagram.com/reel/DR9kXkJ...

Seen on FB at a popular birding spot, feeder presumably last cleaned many moons ago... but the rule than than the exception. Not sure how much longer WT will persist at this site @richardkbroughton.bsky.social

That's the thing - the broadbill is an incredible bird, it looks like AI nonsense and I'd bet most folks would assume that the other things are therefore real. We don't need pretend birds when we have such fabulous ones to celebrate.

One of these images is AI slop and one is a real species...

FYI what?

I'm pretty triggered by the nest architecture too...