skye, certified bug enthusiast (they/he)

joanns closing was ROUGH!!!

also hi from entsoc!

AND! There are still the Dewind Awards for Lepidoptera conservation from @xercessociety.bsky.social. 🦋🦋🐛 $5000; application deadline is Jan 7, 2026 xerces.org/dewind

Deborah BanDrosky Award | Xerces Society The Deborah BanDrosky Awards are made to students engaged in higher education studies and research related to invertebrate conservation.

Attn graduate and undergraduate students! 🚨 🪲 🦋🚨 New research funding opportunity from @xercessociety.bsky.social! $5000; deadline is Jan 7 2026. xerces.org/bandrosky

Haven't posted here in a BRICK but here's some positive updates!
- Passed written quals
- Finished my first field season
- Currently taking my first entomology class
- Will be presenting at #EntSoc2025

Hope everyone is doing as well as they can with the current state of things.

Y'all I'm making a wish list of entomology reference books (like the Arnett books, Marshall books, etc) for North America. I would love recommendations!

My body is a machine that turns Bohart and Menke’s 1963 “A Reclassification of the Sphecinae” into stupid bullshit ideas with zero intellectual merit

a conference badge for the ecological society of america conference. text on a white background reads “ESA 2025” and the name Skye Austin is below it. Below Skye’s name is “UC Davis”. Skye has a variety of ribbons (from top to bottom): a light blue “Poster Presenter” ribbon, a silver “Student Member” ribbon, a neon green “Student” ribbon, a dark green “They-Them-Theirs” ribbon, a green “SEEDS Alumni” ribbon, and a navy blue “Career Central” ribbon. The badge is resting on a faux-wood table.

If anyone is at #ESA feel free to say hi if you see me! I’ll be presenting a poster on Thursday!

the new developments on inat inspired me to make a diagnostic thread for every insect order because there's only like 30something of them. going to try and avoid exceptions and extremely technical characteristics when possible. 🧵

worms for brains? no no, WASPS for brains. pound rock on sand. drink nectar from flower. bite and drag things into holes.

goth gf x golden retriever bf

Skye is holding a snap cap vial with an orange bee inside it. the bee is looking at the camera

Yes! Xylocopa sonorina! I caught one of the males a couple of weeks ago.

a large, black bee is contained in a snap cap vial that skye is holding. you can see vegetation in the background of the photo.

What.

On a lighter note—what in gods name are they putting in the nectar and pollen that’s making the bees so freakin big?! I hear a Blackhawk helicopter next to my head and turn to see the largest bee I’ve ever laid eyes on.

Excited to see what the rest of my field season brings and the start of my second year! Feels surreal, especially with everything going on at the moment.

Today's progress: instead of feeling like a middle schooler who wandered into a PhD program, I feel like a collage freshman who wandered in. Not completely lost, but still finding my way.

Also see: the absolutely ridiculous flappy fairy wings of Olixon banksii

Having a field site inside campus is all fun and games until it’s a weekend and everything is closed. Had to DRIVE back to my office to go to the bathroom. :/

Please, if you love anything about this life, stop using ChatGPT and other GenAI. Just stop. Don't use it to dunk on it, don't use it for a laugh, just stop and let that shit wither.

Happy #WorldWildlifeDay. A friendly reminder that livestock cannot replace native biodiversity, despite what you may have heard.

Please please please please post the things you love.

Everyone knows the world is on fire, giving a little light in the world is a good thing and more important than ever. 💜

THIS THIS THIS THIS THIS!!!

These elected legislators are specifically looking for FACULTY feedback, please do not put the onus on the academic precariat to yell about it

UC Davis colleagues might like to know that several State Senators and Assembly members seem to support a 8% cut to the University of California budget, even as our campuses are under threat of federal defunding by Trump. Let's call them to tell them how this devastates us! Here's how, a 🧵:

a photo of oryx, the taken king reaching towards the camera. the caption reads “I’m taking that”

obligatory:

I GOT A 90 WE TAKE THESEEE!

YOU GET ME!!

the Lightfall track “Dread” came on at about 22:50 and i just knew deep in my soul i was cooked

a white cat laying on a pink blanket looking up Alt: a white cat laying on a pink blanket pumping his head up and down

driving home at 23:47 head banging to The First Disciple after turning in the most ass paper of my scientific career

I found this absolutely wild looking yeast growing on a bee cadaver and it reminded me of one of those spikey 2000s-style earrings lol