Welcome to the newest members of AOS Council, who assumed their leadership roles following the #AOS25 annual meeting in St. Louis! Learn more about these dedicated volunteer leaders: americanornithology.org/announcing-t...
I recently presented these results at #AOS25, and it’s great to see the paper come out! Thanks to all my wonderful coauthors and advisor @cognitiveecol.bsky.social 🐦
I had the privilege of visiting the St Louis Zoo while in town for the #AOS25 conference and…THEY HAVE KING PENGUINS!!! They are so much SMALLER than I thought they were! What incredible creatures perfectly suited for their rapidly vanishing Antarctic habitat. Protect them now while we can! #birds
Walk through Cypress Swamp flight cage at the St Louis zoo, where a boardwalk stretches over water that is home to egrets, spoonbills, ducks, gallinule, and more.
Birds in the cypress swamp aviary, including a Cattle Egret on a log and Roseate Spoonbills and Great Egrets in a flock behind, on the opposite shore.
Horned Puffin, a Pacific Arctic penguin like bird, white below and black on top, with a cute white face and a large orange beak. It is sitting on rocks in its exhibit at the St Louis zoo, close enough that this is a cell phone photo.
Puffin exhibit at the St. Louis zoo; ornithologists walk by a large tank where Tufted Puffin are floating feet away.
The #AOS25 (bird researcher society meeting) closing banquet was at the St. Louis zoo, which has phenomenal bird exhibits.
We had ~45 minutes to explore before the ceremony, but so many of us were in the aviaries the ceremony had to be delayed 😂
Can’t trust ornithologists in a wonderland like this
Historic Wainwright Building in downtown St. Louis Missouri, a terra cotta colored ornate office building now dwarfed by the modern buildings around it.
Back-of-the camera shot of a sapsucker on a tree. They are a beautiful dark woodpecker with creme colored stripes and a black spot on the breast.
Had one of my most “can you tell I was a history and biology double major?” moments yet.
Before the #AOS25 closing banquet I walked to see the historic Wainwright Building (1891 skyscraper) and happened to notice a rare bird there—a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker! They should only be here in the winter.
Oscar Johnson has the goal of creating valuable research experiences for undergraduates. High Impact Practices help us train the next generation of scientists ask questions, gain skills, and complete goals. Creating a inclusive research community can lead to collaboration at many levels. #AOS25
Elsie Shogren asks how closely related species coexist alongside one another. On the Solomon Islands, Myzomela honeyeaters have significant overlap in ranges, but have largely assortative mating. Moreover, nests of black birds are much more inland than nests of red birds! #AOS25
Eamon Corbett studies color in bird eyes! Age, sex, region, and time of year may all be associated with eye color differences. We have very little knowledge about eye color genetics in wild birds, except for now in grackles, where dark or light eyes may have links to genes like KCNJ13 #AOS25
Dr Amanda Falk studies apparent convergence - that may not be actually convergence - in vultures. Vultures have evolved 3 distinct times. We can use their osteological features, like toes, to disentangle their evolutionary history. But it may be tendons, not bones, that change with ecology. #AOS25
@kaiyaprovost.bsky.social studies how light stresses out birds and changes their song. In several flycatcher species, more light pollution means that birds sing at lower frequencies. (If you study olive-sided flycatcher, please contact Kaiya to solve a mystery!) #AOS25
Population declines in birds are concerning and can often be attributed to habitat loss. But is the conservation of large areas enough? Bette Loiselle examines spatial patterns in Tiputini and species decline. How do we move forward? Understand that different species have different needs. #AOS25
Along the hybrid zone, traits can vary on a measurable scale (clines). Changes in clines can give us indicators of environmental or behavioral changes through time. We can use the links between genotype and phenotype present in these hybrids to understand how populations are changing! (2/2) #AOS25
@s-m-aguillon.bsky.social starts off the post-lunch sessions at #AOS25 talking about the incredibly cool intersection of color and hybridization (I’m totally not biased). In Northern Flickers, six plumage patches can result in some very unique combinations of traits in hybrids (1/2)
Pretty much any North American birder knows that it’s hard to distinguish Hairy and Downy woodpeckers. Brian Smith explains that this classic example of mimicry may be partially the result of ancestral asymmetric gene flow, but the whole picture is likely more complex than we realize #AOS25.
Bob Mulvihill (of the National Aviary) describes the team effort to understand the behavior of a very strange bird (a hybrid Baltimore x Orchard oriole) in an urban environment. At a nest attended by an orchard oriole pair and the unrelated hybrid, the hybrid did the most of the work! #AOS25
Roslyn Price-Waldman looks at color from a multi-faceted approach. Following a classic principle we use in color theory, feathers can have both white and/or black bases depending on if they use structural or pigment based coloration. White color enhances brightness, black enhances saturation #AOS25
Sarah Khalil studies the humble red-backed fairy wren. The birds have high rates of extra-pair paternity, and females largely prefer males with redder backs. In the hybrid zone (where colors range from orange to red), red males have more reproductive success because they have more EPC young #AOS25
Starting off the last day of #AOS25 talks with speaker Geoff Hill. Cardinals are a great system to study how red birds become red from the perspective of gene expression. Using tissue from gut, liver and feather follicles they found that captivity (stress) equals loss of red pigment production (1/2)
Thank you to #AOS25 exhibitor Avinet Research Supplies, the @fieldornith.bsky.social business that provides essential field equipment to bird and bat researchers. We make Avinet mist nets and source other nets for researchers. #webringsciencetothefield #mistnet #AFO
Skipping live-scicomming the next session because I’m in it! If you’re at #AOS25 come see me talk about a weird bird and it’s cool genome at 4:45 in Genomics 3 (Ballroom A). (Or email me any time!)
Allison Shultz has a strong love of house finches, but some of them look kinda dirty. In urban species, pollution can result in carbon deposition in the feathers. Using specimen data, we can see dirtiness correlates with air quality, wildfire presence, and modern pollution sources like cars. #AOS25
Thank you to #AOS25 Exhibitor, Ducks Unlimited! Ducks Unlimited conserves, restores, and manages wetlands and associated habitats for North America's waterfowl. These habitats also benefit other wildlife and people. Visit their exhibit booth in our Exhibit Hall to learn more!
Thank you to #AOS25 Bronze Sponsor, the Missouri Birding Society, who are dedicated to the preservation and protection of birds and other wildlife; to education and appreciation of the natural world; and to effective wildlife and habitat conservation practices.
Elkin Tenorio studies adaptation across heterogeneous landscapes in both generalist and specialist species. Elevation and temperature are important promoters of genetic differentiation that can lead towards speciation. But it’s precipitation that may explain overall genetic variation #AOS25
I arrived to #aos25 yesterday, Wednesday, and have been leaving stickers around the conference. I have just one left!
Thank you to #AOS25 Bronze Sponsor, the National Audubon Society. For more than 100 years, Audubon has embraced the mission of protecting birds and the places they need.
Ashwin Sivakumar asks how wing morphology varies at both intra- and inter-specific scales. In oscines, there are three distinct modules to watch out for when questioning how wings lengthen. Primaries and secondaries drive wing length, whereas bones contribute to wing shape #AOS25.
Thank you to #AOS25 exhibitor and @amornith.bsky.social publishing partner Oxford University Press! Visit with Kyle in. our exhibitor hall to learn more about OUP!
Thank you to our #AOS25 Platinum Sponsor, the Missouri Department of Conservation. The MiDC is proud to be considered one of the finest fish, forest and wildlife agencies in the country.
