Nick Mason

#AOSMembers: Join us at noon ET Monday (10/6) for a seminar: "The solar reflectance properties & structures of iridescence in Sturnidae & their potential biomimetic applications" w/ Samantha Rutledge, 2023 AOS Student research grant winner.
#AOS_SRGS
Register: americanornithology.org/professional...

Nice shout out for the LSUMNS!

They are reported not by random, casual observers but typically by select enthusiasts deeply committed and emotionally attached to the idea of the ivory-billed woodpecker's survival against all odds. These individuals have often dedicated years to the hopeful pursuit of clues supporting the species' continuing existence. Therefore, as one of the former searchers admitted in hindsight, “many searchers may have been subconsciously biased and, as a result, not sufficiently cautious in their identifications under field conditions” (Sykes 2016).

The purported sightings invariably occur in flooded southern swamp forests deemed by the dedicated enthusiasts as the ideal habitat for the species and less often, if at all, frequented by other observers (Hill 2007, Collins 2019). The vastness and inaccessibility in the descriptions tend to be exaggerated: “Alligators, wild boars, and venomous snakes are abundant, and there is a danger of heat stroke during the summer and hypothermia during the winter” (Collins 2019), being a description of an area of less than 100 km2, a mere 40 kilometers (km) away from New Orleans, the most populous city in Louisiana. The LSU Museum of Natural Science in Baton Rouge, historically one of the most vibrant ornithological centers in the Unites States, is about 145 km away. An area of 100 km2 would by no means be vast enough even for a single ivory-billed woodpecker, let alone a breeding population, to hide in for long. Meanwhile, there are abundant eBird reports of other bird species from the same area (Pearl River swamp), with the widest gap between adjacent observations of pileated woodpeckers, as an example, being less than 5 km (figure 3).

I had missed this well written rebuttal on the purported Ivory-billed Woodpecker rediscoveries; these passages in particular are gold:🪶
academic.oup.com/bioscience/a... #Ornithology

A job ad with multiple images, including the exterior of the museum, a view of collections (jars on shelves), and pictures of some cool, tropical fish but I don't know enough about fish to describe them other than to say they're pretty colors of yellow and blue/green

🚨We're hiring! The Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History is seeking a tenure-track split position as Assistant Curator of Ichthyology and Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences. Please retweet & share with colleagues! 🐟🐠🧪

Apply here: apply.interfolio.com/174674

The Weir Lab at the University of Toronto seeks PhD students for Fall 2026 to study avian genomics and speciation. Competitive funding, diverse training, and a collaborative environment are offered. Apply: jason.weir@utoronto.ca. More info: https://www.utsc.utoronto.ca/~jweir/index.html #phd

🧪 Were you one of the many thousands of STEM students (and mentors) impacted by the sudden change in #NSF #GRFP eligibility last week?

We created a petition to NSF leadership and Congress to reverse the changes - please sign and share your stories here!!

laurenkuehne.github.io/grfpChanges/

Early career researcher in systematics?

Make sure to apply for early career travel funds to attend #ssb2026

👇
www.systbio.org/early-career...

1 week left to get your image in for Evolution 2026 logo contest! www.evolutionmeetings.org/2026-logo-co...

NEW IBIS ISSUE

Past research and future directions in understanding how birds use their sense of smell | onlinelibrary.wiley....

Darcy Creece, Rafael Freire, Melanie Massaro | #ornithology

🥳New paper out in the Journal of #ornithology

Assignment of wintering Barnacle Geese (Branta leucopsis) to breeding populations using genome-wide single-nucleotide polymorphisms
link.springer.com/article/10.1...

A nice collaboration between Wageningen University and NIOO-KNAW. 🤝

Call for Review, Perspective, or Methods Papers—Open Access Fees Waived The Editors-in-Chief of The Wilson Journal of Ornithology invite prospective authors to submit presubmission inquiries for Review, Perspective, or Methods papers that we can publish Free Open Acces…

Reminder: We continue to seek presubmission inquiries for Review, Perspective, and Methods papers for The Wilson Journal of #Ornithology! We can offer a limited number of Open Access fee waivers each year for these types of papers.

the graphic includes the same text provided in the post and includes cover images for Ornithology and Ornithological Applications.

The AOS journals are piloting a new Peer Editing Program to provide English-language editing assistance for AOS members whose primary language is not English to assist authors before their articles are sent out for peer review. Learn more!
americanornithology.org/aos-editoria...

Photo showing the inside atrium of the new Life and Mind Building

Oxford Biology is growing 📢

We’re appointing 3 Associate Professors in:
🌱 Plant Sciences
🦉 Animal Behaviour
🔬 Molecular Cell Biology

3 fields. 3 opportunities. One new home for Oxford Biology.

Learn more 👉 bit.ly/41S2Tc7
Apply now 👉 bit.ly/488CNW3

#AOSMEMBERS: Join us at noon ET on Mondays through mid-December for our Fall 2025 Student Research Grant Seminar Series. Our lunchtime series highlights cutting-edge student research funded by the AOS! See the full lineup: americanornithology.org/professional...
#AOS_SRGS

Melodies of the Amazon Trailer 2 This is "Melodies of the Amazon Trailer 2" by Cabala Producciones on Vimeo, the home for high quality videos and the people who love them.

This summer in Brazil we partnered with the talented team at Cabala Producciones, who captured our fieldwork and the magic of Amazonian biodiversity on film. 🎥 Here’s the trailer—hope you enjoy it as much as I did! vimeo.com/1115821170/b...

Wow!! Can’t wait to see the whole thing!! Very cool

Employment | New York Botanical Garden Find out what employment opportunities are available at The New York Botanical Garden.

I am recruiting a postdoc to work for 2-3 yrs on our NSF-funded project aiming to investigate plant migration and river connectivity with the closure of the Isthmus of Panama. Leading publications, fieldwork in CR & Panama, applying and expanding phylo. & pop.gen tools👇

www.nybg.org/about/work-w...

We're thrilled to see such an enthusiastic response for SSB 2026!

111 spots are already claimed, with a cap of 200. Be sure to register soon, if you're planning to join us!

ssb2026.github.io

#SSB2026 @systbiol.bsky.social

Genetic Characterization of the Cell Types in Developing Feathers, and the Evolution of Feather Complexity We used single cell sequencing to investigate the cell types of developing chicken feathers. From these data, we are able to describe the transcriptional profile of feather cell types, look at their ....

My feather cell type paper is finally out! doi.org/10.1111/ede.... We’ve packed a ton of stuff into this paper but I’ll go through some highlights in this thread!

ecoevojobs.net 2025-26

New academic year, new ecoevojobs site. Already >200 faculty / permanent jobs!

ecoevojobs.net

Moncrieff Lab | Bird Evolution The Moncrieff Lab is a research lab based at the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History on the campus of the University of Oklahoma. Research in the lab involves museum specimens, fieldwork, and...

🐦🔬 Recruiting PhD students! 🌎🧬
I’m looking for 1–2 PhD students to join our team starting Fall 2026 at the Sam Noble Museum & University of Oklahoma.

Our research: 🐦 birds • 🌍 biogeography • 🌴 Neotropics • 🧬 population genomics • 🌱 speciation

👉 Learn more: www.moncriefflab.org

Please share!

Does anyone have a recommendation for a good review / synthesis of the evolution of DNA sequencing technologies over the last 40-50 years? Looking for something to read as a lab group with folks who are newer to the field. TIA

Calling all natural history/museum collections folxs

The theme of the @systbiol.bsky.social breakout meeting in Baton Rouge is 'The Importance of Natural History Collections'

The LSU Museum of Natural Science will host some events. Hope to see you there, Jan 9-11, 2026.

ssb2026.github.io

You will do great, Quinn!! Proud of you

I'm very excited (and a bit nervous) to talk all about the work I did on Zonotrichia sparrows with @darrenirwin.bsky.social at UBC tomorrow morning at 10:30 am in the JEB Stearns Prize Symposium at #ESEB2025!

Registration is now open for #SSB2026!

I'm so excited to see many of you here in Baton Rouge in January! We're going to hear great talks, discuss the immeasurable value of natural history collections, and continue to strengthen our scientific community.

ssb2026.github.io

@systbiol.bsky.social

We're excited to kick off another year of LAGNiAppE! 🎉
Welcome to our new cohort — we can't wait to see how they grow as researchers and individuals.

Stay tuned as their journey unfolds!

@tropicalbotany.bsky.social @invertevoeco.bsky.social @jembrown.bsky.social

#postbacc #RaMP #training

Quinn working on painting a miniature. (Photo credit: Amanda Harvey).

"This campaign wasn't written by biologists...I have to come up on the fly with a reason why it makes sense to somebody who knows about genetics." @lsumns.bsky.social PhD student @harveyyamanda.bsky.social interviews Quinn McCallum about his RPG & miniatures hobbies: thelattinlab.com/beyond-the-b...