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Posts by Will Brooks

3rd Asian Ornithological Conference, 14-17 Nov 2026, Singapore

3rd Asian Ornithological Conference, 14-17 Nov 2026, Singapore

Hi folks, the Asian Ornithological Conference will be happening from 14-17 Nov 2026 in Singapore. Please consider adding this to your conference schedule if you have bird research projects focused on the Asian region. Early registration opens 1 Feb, more info at aoc2026.sg

2 months ago 12 11 1 3

Big effort, exciting results - our paper on the constraints of thermal limits in tropical insects is now out in @nature.com! 🦋🐝🪰🪲🦗
@ecoresearchzoo3.bsky.social
@biologie-uniwue.bsky.social
@uni-wuerzburg.de

1 month ago 98 37 4 3
Graphic with two parts, a map and a chart. Top section: A map showing intact tropical forests in northern South America, most of them in the Amazon River basin. Three locations are called out: 1 is in Panama; 2 is on the eastern border of Ecuador, near the borders with Colombia and Peru; and 3 is in Brazil, on the Amazon River. Undisturbed tropical forest areas are defined as areas where no disturbances were detected in a comparison of satellite imagery from 1990 to 2024. Bottom section: Dot plot with confidence intervals. For each of the three map locations, the chart shows the average annual change in mist net captures for insectivores and for the total bird community. For all three locations, the average annual change for insectivores is in the negative and is lower than for the total bird community.

Graphic with two parts, a map and a chart. Top section: A map showing intact tropical forests in northern South America, most of them in the Amazon River basin. Three locations are called out: 1 is in Panama; 2 is on the eastern border of Ecuador, near the borders with Colombia and Peru; and 3 is in Brazil, on the Amazon River. Undisturbed tropical forest areas are defined as areas where no disturbances were detected in a comparison of satellite imagery from 1990 to 2024. Bottom section: Dot plot with confidence intervals. For each of the three map locations, the chart shows the average annual change in mist net captures for insectivores and for the total bird community. For all three locations, the average annual change for insectivores is in the negative and is lower than for the total bird community.

Intact tropical forests are seeing mysterious bird declines. Is another “silent spring” brewing?

Learn more: https://scim.ag/4aCs0Er

1 month ago 51 26 3 1
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Using genomic tools to evaluate assumptions in a conservation breeding program for endangered red siskins (Spinus cucullatus) - Conservation Genetics Conservation Genetics - Ex situ conservation breeding programs can provide essential support for recovering endangered species. However, breeding recommendations and strategies may be suboptimal...

Nice paper out from the lab! With genomics in breeding programs of Red Siskins, they were able to ground-truth genomic estimates of kinship and determine that there were no introgressed canary genes from cross-breeding of pets. So the captive populations are "clean" link.springer.com/article/10.1...

2 months ago 3 1 0 0

Just a reminder that this is happening tomorrow! Register if interested!

2 months ago 0 0 0 0
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Great paper by @marcuschua.bsky.social out this month! In recent years, African Swine Fever has devastated wild pig populations in Southeast Asia. He found that the loss of pigs in Singapore appears to have resulted in a fivefold increase in greater mouse-deer populations. doi.org/10.1016/j.bi...

2 months ago 0 0 1 0
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Excited to give an online seminar with @amornith.bsky.social on Feb 2! I’ll be sharing new results from my dissertation work in Borneo.

Interested in forest fragmentation, passive acoustics, landscape genetics, or just cool bird pics? Register: americanornithology-org.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

3 months ago 5 2 0 2
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A bride and groom hold hands

A bride and groom hold hands

A view of Machu Picchu

A view of Machu Picchu

Field researcher holds a Red-bearded Bee-eater

Field researcher holds a Red-bearded Bee-eater

Presenter stands at a podium next to a projected slide titled: “Avian responses to forest fragmentation in Borneo”

Presenter stands at a podium next to a projected slide titled: “Avian responses to forest fragmentation in Borneo”

Goodbye 2025! Absolutely the most eventful year of my life, so far. I got married, honeymooned in Peru, finished my final field season in Borneo, and advanced to PhD candidacy. Looking forward to a more ordinary 2026

3 months ago 5 0 0 0

📖Published📖

Plewnia et al. designed a comprehensive workflow allowing rapid community metabarcoding with minimum, self-manufacturable equipment in the field 🧬 🌍 🧪 Read more here 👇

10 months ago 3 1 0 0

"Women are PIs on 58% of the canceled grants, although they are PIs on only 34% of all active NSF grants.

Similarly, Blacks are PIs on 17% of the terminated grants, although they make only 4% of the total pool. Hispanic PIs and those with disabilities were twice as likely to lose a grant."

11 months ago 1290 944 31 63
Picture of a dwarf kingfisher eating a lizard, showing how images uploaded to eBird can provide important dietary information.

Picture of a dwarf kingfisher eating a lizard, showing how images uploaded to eBird can provide important dietary information.

A call to arms for eBirders and iNaturalists. 🚨

We want your bird photos! If you photograph feeding birds with flowers, fruit, seeds or prey, upload the image with locality details. We are data-harvesting species, size and type of food/prey to study foodwebs and species interactions. Thanks! 🧪🌐🪶

1 year ago 86 48 3 3
Screenshot of the Bluesky @AnimalesEnEspanol.bsky.social page, with a blue-green circle drawn around the text in the bio that reads "Happy to proof-read English manuscripts" and a smiley face emoji next to it

Screenshot of the Bluesky @AnimalesEnEspanol.bsky.social page, with a blue-green circle drawn around the text in the bio that reads "Happy to proof-read English manuscripts" and a smiley face emoji next to it

As I'm going through journal guidelines for a paper, I keep seeing suggestions that non-native English speakers pay $$$ for editing services, and thought it was a good time to remind anyone that needs it that @AnimalesEnEspanol.bsky.social will do this for free, just send us a message!

1 year ago 30 13 1 0
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Climate change aggravates bird mortality in pristine tropical forests Climate change threatens Amazon rainforest birds, with harsher dry seasons significantly affecting their survival over 27 years.

Harsher Amazonian dry seasons caused by climate change are linked to declining bird survival in 'pristine' Amazonia. Happy that NBC Conservation Awards Programme modestly financed some of the very early stages of this work. doi.org/10.1126/scia... #ornithology

1 year ago 23 16 0 1
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I love this. Thank you to the ebird folks @birdsoftheworld.bsky.social

1 year ago 0 0 0 0
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I can do better

1 year ago 0 0 1 0
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Of course my real life bestie/fiancé is also my birding bestie

1 year ago 0 0 1 0
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Gotta work on uploading recordings

1 year ago 0 0 1 0
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Yard birding beating patch birding was a surprise here. Also damn I basically birded from DC to Massachusetts

1 year ago 0 0 1 0
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Solid amount of hours too

1 year ago 0 0 1 0
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Always good to get more checklists than days

1 year ago 0 0 1 0
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EBIRD WRAPPED IS OUT #Ornithology #birding

1 year ago 2 1 1 0
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A call in the dark: Nocturnal flight calls and their potential to advance the study of avian migration Abstract. Migratory birds have experienced widespread declines in abundance and face numerous threats. The conservation of migratory species relies in part

A call in the dark: Nocturnal flight calls and their potential to advance the study of avian migration | doi.org/10.1093/orni... | Ornithology | #ornithology

1 year ago 32 18 0 0

Hooded merganser, first bird of the year!

1 year ago 0 0 0 0

We read your paper in a Conservation biology class at GMU. So it is getting around!

1 year ago 1 0 0 0
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Sequential introgression of a carotenoid processing gene underlies sexual ornament diversity in a genus of manakins Integrative analyses reveal sequential instances of interspecies gene flow at a key gene controlling plumage coloration in birds.

Great paper by HC Lim, @kevinfpbennett.bsky.social et al. on color evolution in a manakin hybrid zone. Among many results, two hybridization events among three species allowed yellow collars to be moved from species to species (to species)! Evolution is messy

science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adn8339

1 year ago 6 1 0 0

As a current Oakton resident I can confirm.

1 year ago 3 1 0 0
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When you see that mega-rarity

1 year ago 1 1 0 0
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In the early stages of planning another field season in Borneo and it really had me missing the birds.

This is a Blue-headed Pitta from my last time there. It’s my absolute favorite bird. How could a bird possibly be so round and colorful??

1 year ago 3 1 0 0