Maybe you just learned about woodcocks, but they've been a big deal for centuries. I wrote about the long history of loving the American Woodcock
birdhistory.substack.com/p/more-than-...

What’s the role of history—historical archives and historical thinking—in the formation of environmental justice movements in the past and today?

JOB ALERT: Two 4.5 year postdoctoral positions to work on my Wellcome-funded project 'Conserving Global Health: Biodiversity Protection and the Prehistory of Planetary Health'. Please share widely!

CLOSING DATE: 23 April (the date on Jobs.ac.uk is apparently incorrect)

A debate has erupted in this thread re: longstanding descriptions of Picasso's dog Bob—yes, his name was Bob!—as a Great Pyrenees, with @sharonbutler.bsky.social asserting he was clearly a St. Bernard. After the last few days not sure I have the energy for a response; you can weigh in if you'd like

“The Forest Service was the last major federal land agency that still had the institutional muscle to resist. It had the scientists. It had the regional foresters. It had the culture, imperfect as it was, that still believed forests belonged to the public.”(Jim Pattiz +hatchmag.com)
#envhist

to make this more complicated that’s probably a red deer-wapiti (elk) hybrid we got hanging there.
Elk are wapiti but moose are not wapiti (!)

A poster by Bird and Moon for Flap dot org. In a comic-style format, a bird explains for humans that window collisions kill billions of birds worldwide each year. Birds don't really get windows, and instead see a safe space past the glass, reflected outdoor plants, a reflected rival bird (themselves), or outdoor plants viewed through transparent corner windows. What can you do? There are cheap, easy, attractive fixes. Create a visual barrier for birds to see using window tape for vertical lines, string or ribbon hanging down, decals, or window film. Put these on the outside of the window, spaced 2 inches or 5 centimeters apart or less. You can also make window strikes less deadly. Keep bird feeders and baths close to windows. One point five feet or a half-metre away or closer. You can also u screens on the outside of windows. To learn more visit FLAP dot org. Thank you, bird hero.

It's the start of National Wildlife Week in Canada and the start of spring migration, so it's the perfect time to make sure your windows are as bird-friendly as they can be.

This great poster by @rosemarymosco.com summarizes the problem of window collisions; learn what you can do at birdsafe.ca

They said “not attractive because they look too non-native…….” There’s a lot there. But begs the question of what makes a bird appealing to us in different ways.

A very poor quality image taken through binoculars with a phone camera. A wood duck swimming in sewage waters in Peterborough, Ontario.

After I FINALLY found a male wood duck (swimming in the very beautiful “wilderness” of a sewage treatment plant) the ornithologist who has been helping me said: “they are not that attractive.”
I disagree!
Genuinely interested in what defines this: to a specialist and non? #ducks

A screenshot from eBird’s webpage on Wood Ducks: featuring a photo of a very colorful male wood duck

With such colorful plumage wood ducks are often called the “most beautiful” duck in all of North America. (They are also supposed to be quite tasty).

I’m currently writing about the history of wood duck conservation and have spent the last few weeks trying to find one in real life (out of the archive!) as they arrive for spring nesting season.
#animalhist #ducks

Bird people! What makes a duck attractive?
🦆
#birds #ducks #animahist #envhum

A baby hermit crab the size of a fingernail sits on a person's hand.

A 🧵on #conservation and humane treatment of one of the world's most overlooked, underdog pet #animals... 🧪🌎🦑

When I first met Crab Con founder Mary Akers in 2024, I was floored by what she told me...
www.nytimes.com/2026/03/26/m...

Info poster about how Ontario turtles need eco-passages.

Visiting @ontarioturtlecc.bsky.social I learned that turtles need/use artificial wildlife corridors (eco-passages) just like large migratory mammals. Users also include snakes, ducks, beavers.
Continually reminded of the Moving Animals project 🐢 #envhist

A museum display case featuring a passenger pigeon with the text “species at risk”

A taxidermied Labrador Duck with a sign reading: “these ducks are now probably extinct as none have been seen since 1875”

Extinct “Species at Risk” at the Redpath Museum at McGill University: Passenger Pigeon + Labrador Duck
#animalhist

Hey #envhist! Parks Canada is ending its library services+ “decommissioning” its collection. We stand to lose a valuable set of materials that reveal if and how the Agency fulfilled its mandate (or didn’t). Read more here+write the Minister @juliedabrusin.bsky.social niche-canada.org/2026/03/10/c...

Ding-dong! The Dutch Fish Doorbell needs you to help migrating fish A Dutch lock is closed for the spring, and its employees want you to tell them when migrating fish come knocking by ringing a digital doorbell

A Dutch lock is closed for the spring, and its employees want you to tell them when migrating fish come knocking by ringing a digital doorbell

Hand holding a bird study skin of an oriole

Of course, I dug into the bins of birds and exchanged emails with a retired ornithologist for hot tips on where to find wood ducks at the end of March.

Child standing at a table on which some taxidermy specimens of birds are placed, as well as a bin of bird study skins of ducks.

I recently joined the Peterborough Field Naturalists @ptbonature.bsky.social with my child and was happy to witness taxidermy as a tool for hands-on learning for the “junior naturalists” last weekend at Trent University. #animalhist
Most of the tags read “window collision” as cause of death.

Restoration ecology fieldwork is delightful and deeply creepy in equal measure.
#Histsci #envhist

Searching for Birds An interactive story about the birds that capture our curiosity, told through data, visuals and illustrations

Searching for Birds, an engaging visualization of eBird and Google Trends data that reveals human curiosity about birds. [searchingforbirds.visualcinnamon.com]

The Unruly Politics of Glitter In the visual arts, glitter has been used to make the presence of such marginalized identities impossible to overlook.

In the late 1930s, Henry Ruschmann patented a high-speed machine for cutting photographic prints, which produced small, glossy cellulose “schnibbles” as waste. His employees took these fragments home to use as artificial snow, and glitter was born.

Yes! I think I can make this. Sounds fantastic.

1/ The NYU Wild Animal Welfare Program is hiring a Postdoctoral Associate!

The NYU Wild Animal Welfare Program is currently seeking a postdoctoral associate to join an interdisciplinary research project focused on wild animals in urban environments.

CFP: The Invisible Image: Photography and the Unseen (Liverpool, 18-19 Jun 26)

https://arthist.net/archive/51566

Parakeets feeding on Welwyn barn wall display Amazonian behaviour Ornithologist Jack Baddams says the video is “really cool”.

“A flock of ring-necked parakeets that were filmed feasting on the wall of a 19th Century barn were echoing Amazonian feeding habits…near Welwyn in Hertfordshire.” [bbc.com]

Back-scratching bovine leads scientists to reassess intelligence of cows Brown Swiss in Austria has been discovered using tools in multiple ways – something only ever seen in humans and chimpanzees

COW TOOLS COW TOOLS COW TOOLS

Mid century wood duck housing design! Four photographs demonstrating the design and installation of a galvanized metal pipe wood duck nest box. It’s got a cylinder base and a cone shape roof.

This booklet features info on the latest research on wood duck conservation using nest boxes, how to build and install them yourself, and various designs to do so.

Hand holding booklet “Housing for Wood Ducks,” published by the Illinois Natural History Survey (1953). On the cover is a painting of two Wood Ducks using an artificial bird nesting box made out of wood.

Currently reading the booklet “Housing for Wood Ducks,” published by the Illinois Natural History Survey (1953) and want to know more about the making, circulation, and use of natural history circulars from the mid cent. Any suggestions for readings/info on this topic? #envhist #histSTM

Wow! Congrats Simone!