I can see every ancient DNA scientist in the world currently cringing about @itiscolossal.bsky.social scientists' lack of gloves when sampling moa bones 🤦♂️ www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
Very excited that our dept invited @stephenbheard.bsky.social for a seminar talk next week. Our lab is looking forward to learning some new tips to improve our writing!
#academicsky
“Midnight Preening” by Sara Citron 🇨🇦
Bio: I am a PhD student studying the evolution of sensory systems. I love creating paleoart because is a way to visualize and engage with the past.
@evolsara.bsky.social
Courtesy of @evolsara.bsky.social: me introducing @alexophir.bsky.social with the story about how we both interviewed for the same job and one of the faculty members called me Alex for half a day
Check out the brief summary of our newest paper on Phys org phys.org/news/2026-02...! 🐦⬛🌴
@evoneuro.bsky.social @aub-birdy.bsky.social
Our new paper is out! @evoneuro.bsky.social @aub-birdy.bsky.social
A straw necked ibis, a large bird with a long slightly decurved beak, bald black head, glossy black wings, back and tail, and white neck and belly, is walking along the green grass of roadside. Behind it is a large fencepost and the foot and wing of another ibis standing on the road.
@evolsara.bsky.social got an early Christmas present: minor revisions for a manuscript! Keep an eye out for her paper in 2026 on Apteribis, the extinct Hawaiian ibis. And shout out to our coauthors @aub-birdy.bsky.social and @weisbeckerbblab.bsky.social
#birds #anatomy
#2025SVP has begun! Starting strong with the awesome Paleoart Workshop 🎨🌴🦕
If you’re around, come check out our poster about an extinct ibis that basically tried to be a kiwi 🐦🥝
@evoneuro.bsky.social @aub-birdy.bsky.social
#2025SVP #paleoart #birds #extinct
This talk is tomorrow. It would be good to see you all there. bsky.app/profile/te-a...
A little chubby Quetzal 🎨
Check out the trailer for the new documentary by amazing Elisabetta Palagi's team. It's a wonderful story of collaboration in the name of science 🦍🦧
youtu.be/Oy679UwNh_g?...
#Palagi #gelada #animal #behaviour
23 years after this (amazing) book has been published, the Spix's Macaw is still not safe.
It is a story of hope and relentless dedication, but also a hard truth about how far humans will go to take what isn’t theirs.
#science #book #conservation #parrot #endangered
Advertisement for two online events on 22nd August and 19th September. The upper one shows Mirasaura and 3D reconstructions. The panel speaker are Astrid O'Connor, Rick Stikkelorum, maybe Stephan Spiekman, and nova_studios. The lower one shows the cover of the upcoming book MesozoicArtII. Panel speaker are Darren Naish, Steve White and other artists
🦕 Let’s talk #MesozoicArtII!
I'm thrilled to announce a special online panel + virtual exhibition ahead of the book’s release! Join @tetzoo.bsky.social , @sharkbitesteve.bsky.social , featured artists, and myself on 19 September.
I am so excited already!
1/n
#Palaeoart #VirtualGallery #SciComm
A life-sized bronze statue has been unveiled on the island of Papa Westray, Orkney, in memory of the last known Great Auk Pinguinus impennis killed there in 1813. The statue is an exact replica of the preserved remains of the bird, which are held by the Natural History Museum.
A three dimensional reconstruction of the skull and beak of a Great Auk against a black background.
New project about to kick off in our lab on the Great Auk. We recently acquired CT scans of a beautifully intact Great Auk skull from the @tephrafan.bsky.social lab. Hopefully @evolsara.bsky.social and I will have a cool story for 2026!
#birds #skulls #ornithology 🪶🇨🇦🧪
Check out this new interview of my PI about bird brains and his new book 🧠 🐦! It's a great look at how amazing these guys really are. 🐦⬛
🌴🐦 Ever heard of an ibis that lived in Hawaii but acted like a kiwi?
Discover the fascinating story of Apteribis, the flightless Hawaiian ibis that adopted a kiwi-like lifestyle. 🌙
🎙️ Check out our talk on Apteribis at #ICVM2025!!
@evoneuro.bsky.social @aub-birdy.bsky.social
The perfect way to celebrate! I am lucky 'cause have the best PI 🦜
A largely grey great horned owl is perched in a tangle of cottonwood tree branches, looking slightly over its shoulder.
A fledgling, still partially fluffy, great horned owl is perched on the trunk of a cottonwood tree and surrounded by green, leafy branches.
Mama and baby great horned owls today!
#Alberta #owls #birds #birding #wildlife 🪶
Quick sketch of a channel-billed toucan 🦜
Glad to see the formal description of the Chicago specimen of #Archaeopteryx finally out in @nature.com! Troodontid and early bird features in the palate and evidence of tertiary feathers
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
I've written a Substack about the #ColossalBioSci #DeExtinction #DisInformation campaign; it's focused on polluting the information landscape, rather than the underlying science (except for species concepts, I talk about them)
open.substack.com/pub/devoevom...
It doesn't get more Canadian than that!
Turns out harriers don't only look like owls, but they hunt like owls too! 🦉
Check out the short version of our new paper at www.ulethbridge.ca/unews/articl...
Photo by Bob Bowhay
@evoneuro.bsky.social @aub-birdy.bsky.social
#harriers #bird #brain #evolution
A male Northern Harrier in quartering flight with its beak pointed towards the ground so that it can listen for prey.
A figure from our paper showing: left: scatterplots of auditory nuclei size against brainstem volume for 9 species of hawks, including harriers. In both plots, the harriers have much larger volumes than what is expected based on their brainstem volume. middle: photos of sections taken through auditory brain nuclei of the Northern Harrier right: photos of sections taken through the auditory brain nuclei of a Cooper's hawk
New paper out from our lab today!
@evolsara.bsky.social shows that harriers have expanded their auditory nuclei in a similar way to owls to enable them to calculate the position of prey by sound.
#birds #ornithology #neuroskyence 🧠🧪🇨🇦🇦🇺
doi.org/10.1111/joa....
A female ruffed grouse, brown and grey chicken-like bird, is fluffed up so that she is an almost perfect circle. Only her head and crest break up the circle. She is standing on a a tree trunk that is bent at approximately a 60 degree angle.
An almost perfectly spherical female Ruffed Grouse. Taken a few years ago near Rocky Mountain House, Alberta.
She had flown in to watch a male drumming and left after 20 min (i.e., she swiped left).
#birds #birding #grouse #Alberta #wildlife 🪶🇨🇦
New paper out from the lab today! Here we show that digital reconstructions of brains from skulls can be used to estimate cerebral hemisphere & cerebellum volumes in birds.
#birds #paleontology #ornithology
royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...
@aub-birdy.bsky.social
@evolsara.bsky.social
