benjaminfreeman.bsky.social - Profile | ThreadSky | a Reddit-style client for Bluesky

One legged partially leucistic junco mom successfully fledges nestlings. Wonders what sort of world her children are flying off to.

submitted 9 hours ago • 1 comment

“All of science is underfunded—and now we really mean it.” Former NSF Director France Córdova on the future of American science. My piece for Forbes: www.forbes.com/sites/johndr...

submitted 1 day ago • 3 comments

The newest budget numbers out of NSF are... not good. We're looking at worse than worst case scenarios for U.S. research universities. That's in addition to all the other attacks. Every person w/ a word processer and an hour of time should be penning an op-ed to their local papers this weekend.

submitted 3 days ago • 15 comments

The presidents budget ends FS research and closes research stations

submitted 3 days ago • 3 comments

Great piece here featuring Scott Weidensaul discussing the very real possibility of losing the Bird Banding Lab

submitted 3 days ago • 1 comment

Millions of birds nest in the Arctic each year. But did you know they’ve been doing this since the Cretaceous? Can’t believe I finally get to share that our paper on the birds of the Prince Creek Formation is out in ‪@science.org (and on the cover)! 🧵 Art: Gabriel Ugueto ‪@serpenillus.bsky.social

submitted 5 days ago • 11 comments

Re-upping this: If you are an ornithologist (ideally U.S.-based) who uses bird banding or BBS data in your work, I'd love to hear from you! You could comment as something like "a scientist from a state university" (for example) if you don't want to use your name.

submitted 5 days ago • 2 comments

🚨🔊Our new paper is out @commsbio.nature.com! 🔥We explore the global variation in speciation rates across >7,000 amphibian species-& the environmental factors that might drive it 🌎⛰️🌡️ Dive into what we found: rdcu.be/eogmd 🙏 @fabrovillalobos.bsky.social @juvelas.bsky.social @franzessl1.bsky.social

submitted 5 days ago • 1 comment

My friend is trying to get the most bird species for her state this year on eBird, so I whipped up a little ShinyApp that downloads checklists from the state from the past 5 days and then tells her where to go to find birds she still needs on her list! I gotta find a way to market this haha

submitted 5 days ago • 1 comment

I like to think Phil is a snail

submitted 6 days ago • 13 comments

cool paper alert sea turtles nesting at a Malaysian beach are getting smaller over time, mostly because population is increasing so there are more young & small first-time breeders super interesting addition to literature on recent body size changes

submitted 7 days ago • 1 comment

Global Decline in the Size of Sea Turtles 🔗 buff.ly/QKx3Sm8

submitted 7 days ago • 0 comments

Pls share: I'm seeking ornithologists willing to comment about how the Bird Banding Lab &/or Breeding Bird Survey are crucial to their research & conservation efforts, for a piece for @therevelator.org defending these programs. Reply, DM, or email me at rebecca dot heisman at gmail. #ornithology

submitted 7 days ago • 4 comments

Three things made the US a rich and powerful nation: the rule of law, its science & innovation system, and openness to foreign talent. Remarkable how Trump has taken a sledgehammer to all three. No enemy of this country could do more.

submitted 12 days ago • 314 comments

cool vignette! similar things from Brazil, where Bates talks about how everyone tried to convince him that hawkmoths could change into hummingbirds and vice versa

submitted 11 days ago • 1 comment

great eco-eco position working with @martinbulla.bsky.social in Prague - check it out! www.researchgate.net/job/1021667_...

submitted 11 days ago • 0 comments

I commented. You should too!

submitted 12 days ago • 0 comments

It will surprise nobody that the President of the University of Sydney is not, in fact, "Andrew T. T. D. B. D. K. F. K. H. L. M. N. O. P. Q. R. S. T. U. V. W. X. Y. Z. J. K. L. M. N. O. P. Q. R. S. T. U. V. W. X. Y. Z....." Remember, LLMs do not know things, but are excellent at making things up!

submitted 12 days ago • 0 comments

@jameststroud.bsky.social

submitted 12 days ago • 1 comment

NEW: Under Trump, the National Science Foundation is awarding grants at the slowest pace in decades. We took a detailed look at every area of science affected by the funding lag. Here's a gift link: www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

submitted 12 days ago • 24 comments

For #BiodiversityDay, check out some of the mammals that “should” be in Southern California today (species that went extinct since the last interglacial are greyed out). From our paper www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... Illustrated by coauthor @ohsanisidro.bsky.social

submitted 12 days ago • 0 comments

NEWS: Sen. Ossoff and Sen. Mark Kelly reintroduced their Ban Congressional Stock Trading Act. Repost if you agree it's time to BAN stock trading by members of Congress.

submitted 12 days ago • 157 comments

New paper! If trees are closely related, does it matter where they are from to plant-eating insects? We raised >950 Promethea moth caterpillars on 14 Prunus species to answer that question. Turns out, it matters a lot! Non-native trees = Lower performance OA paper here: doi.org/10.1002/ecs2...

submitted 13 days ago • 5 comments

New study in @science.org Science Advances: Clownfish can shrink to survive heatwaves and social conflict! Led by Melissa Versteeg, with Chancey MacDonald, Morgan Bennett-Smith, Pete Buston @newcastleuni.bsky.social @sciencesncl.bsky.social @bostonu.bsky.social www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

submitted 13 days ago • 2 comments

203 years now. RIP Pfeilstorch.

submitted 13 days ago • 2 comments

There are only 14,393 comments submitted as of this moment! That's waaaay too few, considering the number of people who are affected by or rely on NIH/NSF funding.

submitted 13 days ago • 2 comments

The reductions in funding touch virtually every area of science and seem certain to harm American competitiveness. www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

submitted 12 days ago • 3 comments

Make America Uncompetitive Again

submitted 12 days ago • 1 comment

done as well. easy & fast to do

submitted 12 days ago • 0 comments

Pleased to contribute some long(ish..) term data from Honduras as part of BioTIME 2.0: a terrific dataset ripe for all sorts of questions! onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... Also another wake up call as to the massive biological data gaps across equatorial Africa (and the tropics in general)..

submitted 14 days ago • 0 comments

Okay heck with it, where should I pitch an op ed to about the importance of the Bird Banding Lab & Bird Breeding Survey, both now on the chopping blog at the USGS? I wrote about both programs at length in my 2023 book on the science of bird migration.

submitted 14 days ago • 8 comments

Congratulations to our 2025 Early-Career Research Award Winners! Our James G. Cooper Early Professional Award winners are Teresa Pegan, PhD and Valentina Gómez-Bahamón, PhD; our Ned K. Johnson Early Investigator Award winner is Maria Stager, PhD. americanornithology.org/aos-announce... #AOSAwards

submitted 14 days ago • 0 comments

bill kittredge

submitted 15 days ago • 0 comments

What's new in the world of adaptive radiation?! Here's what we think! academic.oup.com/evolinnean/a... Out now in @evojlinnsoc.bsky.social! Wonderful writing this with Julia Day, @fishspeciation.bsky.social, and María del Rosario Castañeda

submitted 15 days ago • 0 comments

LIZARDS ARE WHAT IS NEW THAT IS THE ANSWER

submitted 14 days ago • 1 comment

EUROVISION! electricliterature.com/eurovision-r...

submitted 14 days ago • 6 comments

Pollinator decline has captured global attention, but another plant-animal mutualism is quietly unraveling. Our new Nature Reviews Biodiversity article synthesizes global evidence on seed disperser decline and what it means for plant biodiversity, ecosystem recovery, and climate adaptation. 🧵

submitted 16 days ago • 4 comments

just saw this & thought it was v good ecoevoevoeco.blogspot.com/2025/05/tale...

submitted 15 days ago • 0 comments

If you care about nature, it's worth submitting a public comment in opposition to this proposed rule: www.federalregister.gov/documents/20... 1/n

submitted 15 days ago • 1 comment

This Tayra was hunting nests in the trees at @tapirvalley.bsky.social this morning and tried to pee on me. So rude! #mammals #costarica #nature 🌿

submitted 16 days ago • 27 comments

Ah yes, the Halloween Warbler! (American Redstart)

submitted 16 days ago • 6 comments

Thrilled to share the 3rd and largest paper from my PhD!🎉: "Spatiotemporal Dynamics of Non-Ecological Speciation in Rubyspot Damselflies" is out now in Molecular Ecology! ⬇️Includes divergence times and an F1 hybrid Thanks to my fantastic co-authors & collaborators! 📖 doi.org/10.1111/mec.... 🧬🌎🧪

submitted 15 days ago • 1 comment