OMG what???? This is amazing. Thank you for sharing this.

Bird of Passage: April 2026 March was another whirlwind month.

Reminder that although I'm increasingly ambivalent toward social media, I do have a little monthly email you can sign up for with bird news, book recommendations, etc. buttondown.com/rheisman/arc...

Why Do Nuthatches Coat Their Nest Entrances With Sap? A simple series of experiments looked into why Red-breasted Nuthatches use sticky conifer resin to defend against nest predators and competitors.

I'm spending less time on social media lately, but I wanted to share that I have a story in the spring issue of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology magazine, about the story behind Red-breasted Nuthatches' quirky habit of painting the entrances of their nest cavities with pine resin. 🪶

Bird of Passage Bird of Passage, from award-winning bird conservation and ornithology writer Rebecca Heisman, is a free email newsletter published on the first Wednesday of every month. Each issue includes a short or...

(The best way at this point to follow me and my writing is to subscribe to my monthly email!)

Why Do Nuthatches Coat Their Nest Entrances With Sap? A simple series of experiments looked into why Red-breasted Nuthatches use sticky conifer resin to defend against nest predators and competitors.

I'm spending less time on social media lately, but I wanted to share that I have a story in the spring issue of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology magazine, about the story behind Red-breasted Nuthatches' quirky habit of painting the entrances of their nest cavities with pine resin. 🪶

Left: A photo of Jupiter's turbulent atmosphere. The gas giant's surface is aswirl with clouds, storms, and vortices in shades of orange, white, brown, and blue, like a tempest in cosmic cappuccino. Credit: NASA / SwRI / MSSS / Gerald Eichstädt / Seán Doran. Right: Photo of a soap bubble. Its surface swirls with mesmerizing ribbons and vortices in oranges, blues, and purples, reminiscent of an oil slick. Official caption from source: "This image shows a lamp's reflection on a soap bubble, revealing a vibrant rainbow pattern resulting from thin film interference." Credit: Pksois23, Wikimedia Commons.

On the left, Jupiter.
On the right, a soap bubble.

Patterns are expressions of nature's intrinsic poetry. The cosmos loves to rhyme.

So... we could be looking at *another* terrible snowpack year next winter? Yikes.

Is El Nino what's been driving the lack of snowfall this winter, at least in part?

Listening to the audiobook for @rheisman.bsky.social's excellent Flight Paths and was thinking "this better have a chapter about driving through a swamp with @rallidaerule.bsky.social" and BEHOLD!!

Aw, I'm so glad you're enjoying it!!!

A little offended Grammarly didn't make a sloppelganger of me

I use Gemini when I'm bored — and it's better than doomscrolling It became my ultimate distraction

WHAT IF YOU JUST WENT FUCKING BIRDING INSTEAD www.androidpolice.com/i-use-gemini...

My mom is having knee replacement surgery today, and man, you know you live in a small town when the anesthesiologist for your mom's knee surgery is the same one who did your son's tonsillectomy and oh, he also has a daughter in your son's second grade class.

So... I tried to get caught up on why some people here at mad at Bluesky this week and apparently the people who actually run this place are a bunch of obnoxious pro-AI bros?????

I swear, I'm about to just give up on social media entirely...

Have hit 2500 words in my "draft" Word doc but about 400 words of that is just quotes I pasted in as possibilities for the concluding section that I haven't really written yet. Still, progress! Genetics makes my brain hurt but people keep paying me to write about it.

I have *always* tried to be judicious with em dashes, limiting myself to one every couple paragraphs... but I hate, hate, HATE that now there's always a doubtful voice in the back of my head wondering how many em dashes it takes before someone will dismiss my writing as AI-generated.

This is the correct take

Nice! We have two (indoor!) cats and are always toying with the idea of putting together a proper catio for them. We do have a sort of pop-up mesh tent that they occasionally get to lounge in on the patio.

Yesterday and today I wrote 1300 words of rough draft for what's eventually supposed to be a 2500 word feature, about some very cool but very dense bird genetics research. I feel pretty good about that amount of progress. Maybe I'll reward myself with a treat tonight.

Thoughts & prayers to the EPA :(

Now back to writing about the genetics of warbler hybridization for a piece that won't be out until summer........

The Gull and the Garbage Truck | BirdNote One Western Gull’s most unusual foraging trip.

FINALLY: For BirdNote Daily, the tale of the best day of one Western Gull's life. www.birdnote.org/podcasts/bir...

Will Your State Bird Disappear? • The Revelator A new study shows that tens of millions of Americans could lose the chance to see their state bird due to climate change.

THIRD: How many people in the U.S. will lose the chance to see their "state bird" due to range shifts driven by climate change? And also... why should we care? therevelator.org/state-birds-...

The Surprising Connection Between Spruce Trees, Pine Siskins, and Salmonella Outbreaks New research linking climate, conifer seed production, and siskin irruptions could provide an early warning system for dangerous salmonella outbreaks at bird feeders and among people.

SECOND: I wrote about research linking summer temperatures in the mountains, conifer seed production, pine siskin irruptions, and salmonella outbreaks. Cool stuff. www.audubon.org/magazine/sur...

After the Outbreak - bioGraphic A northern gannet colony devastated by avian influenza is slowly recovering—and so are the researchers who witnessed the virus’s wrath.

FIRST: I talked to some really lovely seabird researchers in the UK about what it was like to see HPAI sweep through Northern Gannet colonies there and what the recovery has been like (for both the birds and the people who love them). www.biographic.com/after-the-ou...

I had an UNUSUAL volume of writing published in February, so even though I've shared everything individually here before, if you'll indulge me I'm going to string them together here in a thread.

Bird science incoming! 🪶🧵

Bird of Passage: March 2026 Hello dear readers — usually I write a brief column or essay here, but I have to admit the past month has been rougher than usual and I’ve got nothing! One...

Hey look it's my latest email newsletter! A little more barebones than usual, because February was, uh, a lot. buttondown.com/rheisman/arc...

Did you build or buy this? How do the cats get in and out from inside?

🤣

Bird of Passage: March 2026 Hello dear readers — usually I write a brief column or essay here, but I have to admit the past month has been rougher than usual and I’ve got nothing! One...

Hey look it's my latest email newsletter! A little more barebones than usual, because February was, uh, a lot. buttondown.com/rheisman/arc...