Category Archives: evolution

Bird Names For Birds

Posted on 14 July 2020 by Tim O'Connell

It’s long past time to consider, learn, care about, and correct a problem in our nomenclature for birds. via Historical Bios

Posted in academics, animal behavior, bird banding, bird evolution, birding, birds/nature, career, environment, evolution, history, IUCN, mentoring, National Audubon Society, nature deficit disorder, No Child Left Inside, ornithological newsletter, professional development, skepticism and science, wildlife | Tagged #AOS, #BirdNamesForBirds, #nomenclature, EDI, environment, history, ornithology, science, URM | Leave a comment

Coronavirus in Oklahoma: some data from the first week of April

Posted on 5 April 2020 by Tim O'Connell

As we have now left March 2020 in the rear-view mirror, I thought it might be a good idea to adjust my semi-weekly interpretation of national comparisons on #COVID-19 deaths and drill drown into some data from US states. Apropos … Continue reading →

Posted in academics, editorial, environment, evolution, history, life, population estimates, skepticism and science | Tagged #coronavirus, #COVID-19, CDC, death, double-digit date, doubling rate, environment, epidemic, OK State Department of Health, Oklahoma, pandemic, pandemic response, Safer At Home, science, Shelter in Place, WHO, Wuhan | 1 Comment

You Share the Planet With #2: Glistening-green Tanager

Posted on 25 March 2020 by Tim O'Connell

It’s taken me one year for the 2nd installment of this series on species of birds new to me, and perhaps to you too. I want to resist the temptation to only present the most colorful species when I do … Continue reading →

Posted in animal behavior, bird evolution, birding, birds/nature, environment, evolution, HBW Alive, IUCN, wildlife, You Share The Planet With | Tagged adaptive radiation, biodiversity, carotenoid, Chlorochrysa, cloud forest, Colombia, Ecuador, Glistening-green Tanager, IUCN, melanosome, tanager, Thraupidae, YouShareThePlanetWith | Leave a comment

Yes, we know that “the climate has always changed”…

Posted on 9 February 2020 by Tim O'Connell

… but that’s not the point. Here’s what that point really is. The concentration of global, atmospheric CO2 today exceeds 400 ppm. The last time that happened on Earth was something like 2–5 million years ago, in the Pliocene Epoch … Continue reading →

Posted in academics, deforestation, editorial, Endangered Species Act, environment, evolution, history, IUCN, overpopulation, skepticism and science, weather | Tagged #climate justice, #climate proxy, #ClimateAlwaysChanges, #coastal, #famine, #greenhouse gases, #Homo habilis, #human migration, #IPCC, #land cover, #land use, #Pliocene, #ppm, #refugee, #sea level, climate, CO2, environment, nature, NOAA, population, science, sustainability | Leave a comment

The state of global biodiversity — it’s worse than you probably think — ConservationBytes.com

Posted on 25 January 2020 by Tim O'Connell

Sobering synopsis here by CJA Bradshaw. For those of us who study natural history, such information confronts us every day. It can be easy to forget that we are a tiny minority of the billions of humans on this planet … Continue reading →

Posted in bat conservation, birds/nature, deforestation, editorial, Endangered Species Act, environment, evolution, history, IUCN, nature deficit disorder, No Child Left Inside, overpopulation, paleontology, population estimates, population monitoring, skepticism and science, wildlife | Tagged Anthropocene, biodiversity, Conservation Bytes, Diaz et al. 2019, environment, extinction, nature, population, science, Sixth Mass Extinction | Leave a comment

Your life is profoundly meaningful

Posted on 28 November 2019 by Tim O'Connell

It’s quite simple, really. The matter in our universe is comprised of the same elements throughout. Proportions differ and it might be mixed together differently here and there, but it’s the same stuff. Some of those mixes develop self-replication under … Continue reading →

Posted in academics, animal behavior, birds/nature, editorial, environment, evolution, history, life, Links, mentoring, skepticism and science, wildlife | Tagged #cosmos, astrobiology, bison, buffalo, Carl Sagan, education, environment, George Catlin, history, intelligence, life, Marie Curie, meaning, nature, nebulae, pale blue dot, research, Revelation, science, sentience, universe | Leave a comment

One to watch: Nick Russo’s Ecology of Bird Movement and Dispersal

Posted on 8 July 2019 by Tim O'Connell

via Research Follow the link above to the Nick Russo’s website Ecology of Bird Movement and Dispersal. Interesting work and a lot more to come I’d wager!

Posted in academics, animal behavior, bird evolution, birds/nature, environment, evolution, IUCN, Links, mentoring, migrants, Partners in Flight, population monitoring, professional development, wildlife | Tagged dispersal, ecology, environment, movement, ornithology, science | Leave a comment

Kerri J. Smith – beaked whales

Posted on 29 May 2019 by Tim O'Connell

via Research I found another bright young scientist to amplify today. This is Kerri J. Smith, who is studying Sowerby’s beaked whale. No, I’d never heard of this species either. #TIL

Posted in academics, animal behavior, birds/nature, editorial, Endangered Species Act, environment, evolution, history, IUCN, population estimates, population monitoring, professional development, skepticism and science, wildlife | Tagged environment, Kerri J. Smith, Mesoplodon bidens, nature, Sowerby's beaked whale | Leave a comment

The Wild Side for April 2019

Posted on 25 April 2019 by Tim O'Connell

Check out the latest newsletter of the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation’s Wildlife Diversity Program. Note: Only do this if you want to learn cool stuff about wildlife in the Sooner State and how to support them through your education … Continue reading →

Posted in animal behavior, bat conservation, bird banding, birding, birds/nature, Endangered Species Act, environment, evolution, IUCN, life, Links, migrants, monarch butterfly, National Audubon Society, No Child Left Inside, Partners in Flight, population estimates, population monitoring, professional development, skepticism and science, wildlife | Tagged chestnut-collared longspur, citizen science, gray treefrog, herps, non-game, ODWC, Oklahoma, pollinators, The Wild Side, Wildlife Diversity Program, wildscaping | Leave a comment

The nightjars are returning! — A Feathered Reptile

Posted on 26 March 2019 by Tim O'Connell

The world needs to better appreciate the unique style of of Gretchen Newberry and her use of art in her #SciComm! This just in! The last of the migrants are on their way back, as evidenced by this announcement by … Continue reading →

Posted in academics, animal behavior, bat conservation, bird evolution, birding, birds/nature, Endangered Species Act, environment, evolution, life, migrants, National Audubon Society, skepticism and science, wildlife | Tagged A Feathered Reptile, Caprimulgiformes, environment, Gretchen Newberry, migration, nature, nightjar, science, writing | Leave a comment

You Share the Planet With #1: The Malay Peacock-pheasant

Posted on 25 March 2019 by Tim O'Connell

If you’re like most people – I mean literally most, as in >99% of the people who have ever lived – then this one you will file under TIL (today I learned). My Ornithology students are currently exploring the diversity … Continue reading →

Posted in animal behavior, birding, birds/nature, deforestation, Endangered Species Act, environment, evolution, HBW Alive, Internet Bird Collection, IUCN, life, Links, National Audubon Society, population estimates, wildlife, You Share The Planet With | Tagged biodiversity, Depeche Mode, endangered species, environment, Handbook of the Birds of the World, Internet Bird Collection, IUCN, lowland forest, Malay Peacock-pheasant, Malaysia, nature, science, tropical forest, You Share The Planet With | Leave a comment

007 — History of Ornithology

Posted on 7 January 2019 by Tim O'Connell

BY: Bob Montgomerie, Queen’s University | 7 January 2019 A couple of years ago, my family and I had an early morning stopover in Frankfurt, Germany, en route to our spring bolthole in the French Pyrenees. As we stumbled bleary-eyed … Continue reading →

Posted in academics, bird evolution, birding, birds/nature, environment, evolution, history, wildlife | Tagged Bob Montgomerie, David Lack, Ian Fleming, James Bond, ornithology, Queen's University, West Indies | Leave a comment

Handbook of the Birds of the World newsletter #50

Posted on 10 August 2018 by Tim O'Connell

The August newsletter of HBW Birds Alive– a milestone as the 50th in this series – has just been released. I’ve already lost track of how many new things I just learned in a few minutes’ browsing. Highlights:

Posted in animal behavior, bird evolution, birding, birds/nature, environment, evolution, HBW Alive, IUCN, migrants, population estimates, population monitoring, skepticism and science, wildlife | Tagged biogeography, Golden Masked-owl, HBW Alive, Internet Bird Collection, ornithology, phylogenetics, Rain Quail, Siwa Reed Warbler, Southern Dark Newtonia, systematics, taxonomy, Torrent Tyrannulet | Leave a comment

Beach-nesting birds: assault from all sides

Posted on 7 August 2018 by Tim O'Connell

Their fortunes tied to the tides, many species of coastal birds nest directly on the beach. Here Nature seems to conspire against them in these places we so often associate with idyllic relaxation. On North America’s temperate Atlantic Coast, beaches … Continue reading →

Posted in animal behavior, birds/nature, editorial, Endangered Species Act, environment, evolution, IUCN, Links, migrants, National Audubon Society, Partners in Flight, population estimates, population monitoring, skepticism and science, wave energy, weather, wildlife | Tagged American Oystercatcher, Atlantic Coast, barrier islands, beach, beach-nesting, Black Skimmer, chick, Common Tern, competition, creche, dunes, Eastern Shore, egg, encroaching species, environment, fledgling, flooding, ghost crab, Great Black-backed Gull, Herring Gull, high tide, invasive species, Laughing Gull, Least Tern, LTER, nature, nest predation, nestling, northern harrier, overwash, Piping Plover, sea level rise, storm surge, tidal creeks, TNC, Virginia, Virginia Coast Reserve, wrack line | Leave a comment

Historical data – shorebirds and a sea turtle on the Virginia Coast Reserve

Posted on 18 June 2018 by Tim O'Connell

Long ago my life was quite different. I spent a lot more time outside and I traveled to some pretty wild places. I did not, however, carry a camera with me. Back in those days, you might have a compact … Continue reading →

Posted in animal behavior, birding, birds/nature, Endangered Species Act, environment, evolution, history, IUCN, life, Links, migrants, Partners in Flight, population estimates, population monitoring, wildlife | Tagged Atlantic Ocean, barrier island, citizen science, Eastern Shore, eBird, iNaturalist, Leatherback Sea Turtle, LTER, Northampton County, Piping Plover, shorebird survey, The Nature Conservancy, Virginina Coast Reserve, William and Mary | 1 Comment

The Wild Side newsletter – March 2018

Posted on 22 March 2018 by Tim O'Connell

The Wildlife Diversity Program of our Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation publishes a great little e-newsletter: The Wild Side. This month’s issue hearkens to the extraordinary ecosystem diversity our state packs into its relatively modest area: mixed-grass prairie, Ozark caves, … Continue reading →

Posted in bat conservation, bird banding, birding, birds/nature, Endangered Species Act, environment, evolution, life, migrants, population estimates, population monitoring, wildlife | Tagged Banded Darter, citizen science, environment, migration, nature, ODWC, Red-cockaded Woodpecker, The Nature Conservancy, The Wild Side, Wildlife Diversity Program | Leave a comment

HBW Alive #42 – December 2017

Posted on 15 December 2017 by seiurus

The latest newsletter update from the Handbook of the Birds of the World is out, and it took me about 10 seconds to open the file and learn something new. In this case, the first thing I learned was that … Continue reading →

Posted in animal behavior, bird evolution, birding, birds/nature, deforestation, Endangered Species Act, environment, evolution, HBW Alive, IUCN, life, wildlife | Tagged Grey-browed Wren, Handbook of the Birds of the World, HBW Alive, Herve' Jacob, New Guinea Highlands, Nick Athanas, Snow Mountain Tiger-parrot | Leave a comment

Vicarious early winter in Vermont

Posted on 30 November 2017 by Tim O'Connell

Snow squalls sweep across the mountains in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont. ./ © K.P. McFarland Fear not, during these short days and long nights of December, we’re still finding plenty of life in the fading light. Once we pass … Continue reading →

Posted in animal behavior, birding, birds/nature, environment, evolution, life, Links, migrants, weather, wildlife | Tagged climate, deer yard, diapause, environment, fir, irruption, kinglet, mourning cloak, science, snow, Vermont Center for Ecostudies, winter | Leave a comment

More nails in the yeti/bigfoot coffin

Posted on 29 November 2017 by Tim O'Connell

The pseudoscientific business of belief in undescribed hominids wandering the wilder places of our planet marches on like a yeti across an alpine snowfield. I found this Barry Gibb-resembling bigfoot at Pike’s Peak in Colorado last summer, and it was … Continue reading →

Posted in academics, editorial, environment, evolution, life, skepticism and science, wildlife, yeti/sasquatch | Tagged almasty, bigfoot, bigfoot DNA, Finding Bigfoot, Himalaya, Lan et al. 2017, orang-pendek, pseudoscience, science, skepticism, Sykes et al. 2014, yeti, yeti relic | Leave a comment

AUTHOR BLOG: To the Grasshopper Sparrow, the Grass May Be Greener on the Other Side — Auk & Condor Updates

Posted on 12 October 2017 by Tim O'Connell

Emily Williams Linked paper: Patterns and correlates of within-season breeding dispersal: A common strategy in a declining grassland songbird by E.J. Williams and W.A. Boyle, The Auk: Ornithological Advances 135:1, January 2018. Late in the summer of 2013, when Alice … Continue reading →

Posted in academics, animal behavior, bird banding, bird evolution, birding, birds/nature, environment, evolution, Links, skepticism and science, wildlife | Tagged Alice Boyle, dispersal, Emily Williams, Flint Hills, Grasshopper Sparrow, grassland birds, Kansas State University, Konza Prairie, Ornithological Advances, ornithology, territoriality | Leave a comment