Syd Cannings

The secrets of the extreme durability of odonata wings Abstract. Essential properties considered in the design, fabrication, and application of contemporary bio/nanomaterials have been modeled on adaptations of

Terrific new paper by @jessicalwarelab.bsky.social and others on dragonfly wings, in particular the hydrocarbons which act in multiple ways - structurally, pheromonally and in terms of water resistance. Wish I were still teaching, I'd use this as a great example. of multiple adaptations.

Female Eurasian Bullfinch in spruce tree: Small chubby bird with black head, grey back and smoky pale pink belly

Happy birders!

A carload of somewhat crazy birders drove to the beautiful little town of #WatsonLake, #Yukon today to see the female #EurasianBullfinch that has been visiting a feeder there... First record for Canada! (that wasn't an escaped cage bird) #birds #listers

More decades-long studies like this, please! Science crammed into short grant cycles misses important patterns.

We Can Now Track Individual Monarch Butterflies. It’s a Revelation.

For the first time, humans have tracked an individual butterfly, as shown in the Monarch migration of north America.
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/17/s...
@savebutterflies.bsky.social
@bc-suffolk.bsky.social

Screenshot of an email: "Whether it’s a parent finding support at Family Services of the North Shore, a teen in crisis receiving housing through Hollyburn Community Services, a senior connecting with Silver Harbour, or a newcomer learning English at Impact North Shore - these groups form an invisible web of care that strengthens our entire community. But if there’s one thing our office has heard repeatedly this year, it’s that while this sector has never been more invaluable, it has also never been more strained. This is backed up by a new report from the BC Non-Profit Network. Stretched Thin: 2025 State of BC’s Non‑Profit Sector report confirms what local organizations have been telling us for months. Demand for community programs is soaring. On the North Shore, this means more families seeking housing supports, more seniors needing help to stay connected, and more residents turning to food banks and meal programs. Across B.C., nearly nine in ten non‑profits say community need now exceeds their capacity to respond - a record high. Yet while pressures mount, revenues have not kept pace. Many organizations are facing flat or declining donations, rising administrative costs, and escalating wages needed simply to keep dedicated staff from burning out. One in three non‑profits in British Columbia now doubts its sustainability beyond the next year. Smaller community‑based groups are especially vulnerable. Many have frozen hiring, trimmed services, or are relying on exhausted teams of part‑time workers and volunteers to “do more with less.” Our local experience bears this out. We regularly meet non‑profit directors juggling grant applications late into the night or diverting program dollars to cover rent, insurance, or staff retention. These organizations are the connective tissue of our community, yet those who hold them together are stretched to the breaking point."

Unbelievable - my Liberal federal MP emailed his constituents today asking us to consider supporting a local non-profit because orgs providing housing and food to our neighbours are so stretched thin.

If only there was some kind of central governing body that could provide funding and services

“Monarchs Tagged by Xerces Are Arriving in Mexico” Screenshots from the Project Monarch app, showing the path of one butterfly with the ID number XOKC005 as it flies down from Oklahoma into Mexico.

On Oct 28, a male monarch called XOKC005 (does he need a nickname?) was this year's 1st Xerces-tagged butterfly to make it Mexico, but he's already joined by several others!
See their journeys on the Project Monarch app⤵️
🍎iOS: apps.apple.com/us/app/proje...
🤖Android: play.google.com/store/apps/d...

Providing a springboard for early-career researchers to turn curiosity and passion into conservation action is one of the things I value the most.

One example is leading the Weston Family Conservation Science Fellowship Program at @ncccnc.bsky.social!

natureconservancy.ca/what-we-do/c...

youtu.be/DU-RuR-qO4Y?...

Congratulations to Kate White and the entire Yukon NDP team on forming the Official Opposition!

When New Democrats come together, we win!

We’re all cheering you on as you continue to stand up for working people and for the North. 🧡

Biodiversity Lecture Series with Justina Ray | Beaty Biodiversity Museum Biodiversity Lecture Series returns with Dr. Justina Ray, President and Senior Scientist of Wildlife Conservation Society Canada, lead research on biodiversity conservation in northern boreal landscapes.

If you’re in Vancouver, don’t miss this 🌿

On Nov 20, WCS Canada’s Justina Ray joins UBC for a talk on reframing biodiversity - from “what we can spare” to “what nature needs” in planning, policy & climate action ↓

Vaccine records, 1956-69

Found this while digging through my old boxes... so glad my mother made sure I got me every vaccine going!

My 11-year-old sitting with her pile of Halloween candy, sorting it into a bar graph

We have progressed from data collection to data analysis.

Grassland Program Biologist Photo: Nick Saunders | The Grassland Program Biologist plays a key role in delivering Birds Canada’s Grassland Conservation Program within Bird Conservation Region 11 (the Prairie Provinces). This pos...

Join the flock! Are you a skilled field biologist passionate about protecting Canada’s grassland birds? Birds Canada is hiring a Grasslands Program Biologist to help deliver our Grassland Conservation Program across the Prairie provinces.

Apply by November 7: tinyurl.com/jab5yhka

"Did you know? Toronto experiences an average of 28 smug alert days annually" from the stats_canada parody book

Record highs in October

Birding is clearly having a cultural moment. What it would take to make this a political moment? Birds are declining at an alarming rate and the 100M birdwatchers w/ the $107B they spend on birding yearly haven't emerged as a political constituency. It's a hobby, not a movement.

YouTube video by PBS NewsHour Rescue crews airlift hundreds out of rural Alaskan villages after powerful storm

This is good reporting on the disaster in Alaska if you're looking for a reliable summary.

This is a bigger disaster than I think most are realizing. 1500 people have been displaced by the flooding with an exceptionally complicated response and recovery.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5kz...

Two tiny stripy grey and brown flies mating Dipteran Style in mid air, and their heads are extremely large for their body and are composed seemingly entirely of red compound eyes

Big-headed fly sex. Real acrobatic stuff

#BugSex

A nearly microscopic bug that has a bulbous body, an ant-like head, and two long antennae crawls on a thin piece of wood which has a slime mold growing on it. The slime mold has a short white stalk and the top is a long cylindrical-shaped, reflective thing. It looks like a small bean but reflects a faint blue, green and purple in the light.

A cute springtail hangs with its white-footed slime mold friends

📷 Canon R5
Canon RF 100mm f/2.8L IS USM
M, f/4, 1/2, ISO 640
Stack of 9 images
8/29/25
Northern Oregon Coast

#mushroom #fungifriends #mushrooms

🍄📷 📸🎞 🌿🌱 🟢 🍄 🍄‍🟫

The 2025 Vaseux Lake Bird Observatory season ended with 1539 birds of 55 species banded and an impressive 185 species detected. A record hot September kept birds at higher elevations so a lot of birds passed us by. Thanks to David and Aiva and all the volunteers!

What Does an Ant Smell Like?

Huh. Apparently I have a photo in the NYTimes today.

(Licensed not to the Times, but to the museum exhibit it covers, which is allowed)

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/15/a...

Weight by Joanna Lilley. The leaded weight / hanging from my sternum / keeps me perpendicular // It's comforting, / the pendulum of you / thudding against my breastbone, / knowing I'm the replica / and you're the original

The Canada Post strike held it up but it was definitely worth the wait. I'm chuffed to have a little poem in the Love Loves Our Loving chapbook edited by @radiasilencia and published by @canadianpoets.bsky.social. What fine company I'm in. Oh, and the pages are all soft and creamy.

@TurnstonePress

"Did someone say.... euphausiid shrimp?" 👀

Crested Auklet to continue the #Auktober celebrations

A comic titled Spooky Bird Stories. In panel 1, a turkey vulture is telling stories to other vultures, and it says, "She walked toward the source of the terrible smell. She got closer and closer, and then, to her horror, she saw... No dead body." A black vulture says "No!" and a turkey vulture says "Did someone already eat it??" In panel 2, a northern cardinal is telling a story to some songbirds. It says "They peered through the windows of the house at the gory scene. Zombies had smashed through the door in the night. The homeowner was dead. But worst of all... He hadn't refilled the feeders." An eastern bluebird says "Aaah!" and an American goldfinch says "It can't be!". In panel 3, a screech owl is telling a story to other owls. It says "And then the ghost fluffed itself up really big to appear scarier." A saw-whet owl gasps, and a long-eared owl says "Horrifying!". In panel 4, a downy woodpecker is telling a story to other woodpeckers, and says "The eerie sound rang through the dark woods. Tap-tap. Tap-tap. It was the distinctive two-part knock of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker. The species had returned from the dead... FOR REVENGE." A red-cockaded woodpecker says "Yesss".

Spooky bird stories. Last year's Halloween comic.

A Lapland Longspur (a stripy brown and black sparrow) perched at base of senescent brown bulrush stalks

I like to think that #RobertBateman would paint a Lapland Longspur just like this! #birds #Whitehorse #Yukon

A macro photo of a moth, seen from the side, on brown bark. The moth has white wings with lots of dark speckles, and a pattern of four orange vertical stripes, plus a row of dark spots above, with reflective scales in the centers. The effect creates a pattern that looks like a jumping spider seen face-on; the orange stripes mimic legs, and the dark spots mimic a jumping spider's row of large eyes.

For #Arachtober, here is a spider that's not a spider. It's Petrophila jaliscalis, a jumping-spider-mimicking moth - see the face-on spider pattern, with orange legs and sparkly dark eyes? I love finding these - I think they breed in my small goldfish pond, because the caterpillars are aquatic. 🌿🐙

The fall season is winding down at the Vaseux Lake Bird Observatory with the shift to late migrants like Pacific Wren and Ruby-crowned Kinglet. Last day of operation is October 15.

Source: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/6343096

The Cook Strait giant wētā (Deinacrida rugosa) is an anostostomatid from New Zealand. It's one of the largest insects in the world! Major threats to this cutie include land clearing and predation by rats. It's listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List. #EverydayEnsifera

📸: d_kluza (iNaturalist)

BirdCast map showing 1.24 billion birds headed south at 9:50pm EDT on October 8, 2025. Most of the migration is concentrated in the east, especially the southeast.

NEXRAD radar composite map showing birds and weather.

BILLION BIRD NIGHT!!!
#birds #fall #migration