Martin Stervander 🏳️‍🌈🇸🇪🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏛️🦉🦤🪶

18 Nov 2024

Hi all new followers & other folks! In National Museums Scotland's #birds collections, our amazing volunteers are digitising specimen label data to make the #museum collection accessible for #research. Today colourful pittas (Pittidae) and Whimbrels (Numenius phaeopus). #Ornithology 🪶🧪🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

🦅 Into #birds? 💥 #AviList, the unified global #avian #taxonomy, releases 1st annual update NOW: www.avilist.org/annual-avili...! ☑️ 6 new #species, splits→80 spp, 4 lumps, 🗺️ updated ranges, full revised linear sequence & MORE. Enjoy 🍏🍍 of 1000s volunteer hours from broad #ornithology community. 🧪

'Siberian' #chiffchaff ( #Phylloscopus collybita tristis) highlight of today's 88 #birds ringed at Landsort BO. It was *really* small (wing 55.5 mm) and round-winged (P2=P9). Not ashamed to have triple-checked for plain leaf #warbler (Ph neglectus)—caught 35 years ago here! 📸 @johrosen.bsky.social 🦅

So it's been a while (again), BlueSky. Making up for it with this stunner! Today at #Landsort Bird Obs 🇸🇪 we caught a ♂ Arctic/hoary #redpoll (Acanthis flammea exilipes). It may not have species status anymore, but it's goooooorgeous. Photos: Johan Rosén. 🦅 #birds #BirdRinging #BirdObservatory

Our photographer Johan Rosén is now on BlueSky @johrosen.bsky.social, woohoo!

birdguides.comRaso Lark reintroduction proves a triumphAfter a small number of Raso Larks were translocated to Santa Luzia in 2018, the population has grown to as many as 1,000 individuals.

Very strong winds and some rain today = no ringing (but data entry, laundering the bird bags etc). However, Landsort at Öja, in the very southermost part of the Stockholm Archipelago, is a beautiful place.

Martin Stervander 🏳️‍🌈🇸🇪🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏛️🦉🦤🪶 reposted

Stu Butchart

@stubutchart.bsky.social

12 Jan

Translocation of Raso Larks to the island of Santa Luzia in 2018 after eradication of invasive cats has been spectacularly successful, with nearly 1000 individuals now. Great work by @birdlifeglobal.bsky.social partner Biosfera, and long-championed by Mike Brooke www.birdguides.com/news/raso-la...

12 Jan

It's 5y since my greatest scientific breakthrough was published w the great @dhaelewa.bsky.social in OFOAJ! It truly marks a paradigm shift! 🤣 Need a break from the world? Read about fishy #birds + fungi + pizza at doi.org/10.19080/OFO... — and background at tinyurl.com/4ayknbty! 🪶🧪🐦🐟🍄‍🟫 #Scam

@thelabandfield.bsky.social

27 Nov 2025

#Thanksgiving 🦃 with our amazing volunteers in the bird collections of National Museums Scotland 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿! 😉 Do you live nearby and would like to join? We're capturing data from all our #birds. Well, now's your chance! Don't wait... careers.nms.ac.uk/job/800113 #museum #ornithology 🪶

Martin Stervander 🏳️‍🌈🇸🇪🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏛️🦉🦤🪶 reposted

Dr Alex Bond

10 Oct 2025

Well, it's official. After our paper last year (onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....), the Slender-billed Curlew is officially declared Extinct today. Scientists dream of describing new species, not writing their obituary and epitaph, knowing that they are gone forever #ornithology

7 Oct 2025

I've been silent a while, as I've struggled to keep up with *most* things, due to accumulated stress from hubby's 5-month unemployment, teenager+school+drama, challenging relatives & whatnot. #Birding gives me relief when #MentalHealth is so-so: recent Sabine's Gull (Xema sabini) = golden band-aid!

@trevorabranch.bsky.social

31 Aug 2025

A good 6 hours and 6 minutes left to apply! Don't be shy.

Martin Stervander 🏳️‍🌈🇸🇪🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏛️🦉🦤🪶@stervander.com

Join us as Assistant #Curator of Vertebrates @ 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿NMS! Large collections of #birds & #mammals + very active specimen prep = cool place! The ad doesn't say, but I say there's a good chance of prolongation beyond 1y. Hurry up and apply/spread the word: careers.nms.ac.uk/job/748553! 🪶🧪 #museumjobs #job

Martin Stervander 🏳️‍🌈🇸🇪🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏛️🦉🦤🪶 reposted

Trevor A. Branch

25 Aug 2025

The most chilling science video ever shot www.youtube.com/watch?time_c...

youtube.comWhelks overwhelm and consume lobstersYouTube video by Christie Wilcox

22 Aug 2025

Great news, the new application deadline is 31 August. 9 more days for you all to spread the word or/and submit your application for our position as Assistant Curator of Vertebrates! Again, in reality this should be a longer-term position despite what the ad says. Happy to chat/answer questions!

Martin Stervander 🏳️‍🌈🇸🇪🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏛️🦉🦤🪶@stervander.com

22 Aug 2025

#EOU2025 #ornithology folks and friends liking #birds and #mammals, this is the position I just highlighted. Join us! Cool collection and very active continuous preparation of new specimens. Deadline soon... Happy to chat with anyone curious today!

Martin Stervander 🏳️‍🌈🇸🇪🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏛️🦉🦤🪶@stervander.com

22 Aug 2025

I am very pleased to note confirm that the application deadline has now been extended to 31 August. We look forward to your applications!

theguardian.comUK to recognise state of Palestine in September unless Israel holds to ceasefireCabinet agrees to support Middle East roadmap at emergency meeting called amid humanitarian crisis in Gaza

12 Aug 2025

Martin Stervander 🏳️‍🌈🇸🇪🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏛️🦉🦤🪶 reposted

Spoke

@wintersparv.com

3 Aug 2025

Either you recognize a state or you don't. If you do, that sovereignty shouldn't be any less, depending on a third party. This is like telling someone you're their friend unless their neighbor stops parking in their driveway. Where's the integrity? Where's the spine? #KeirStarmer #palestine #israel

Martin Stervander 🏳️‍🌈🇸🇪🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏛️🦉🦤🪶 reposted

Carl T. Bergstrom

@carlbergstrom.com

26 July 2025

1. Here's a fish swimming upstream. Nothing unusual about that. What's unusual is that this particular fish is *dead*. Vortices in the water as it flows past the fish cause the fish's body to flex, maintaining orientation and actually propelling it forward. (D. N. Beal et al 2006 J. Fluid. Mech.)

Welcome a new family of #birds, the Caribbean cave rails, Nesotrochidae! They were—surprisingly—the sisters of NZ adzebills, all sadly extinct. New #OpenAccess paper out in Avian #Systematics w Gerald Mayr, Chen Guangji & Feng Shaohong: www.avespress.com/uploads/down... 🧵 #ornithology #taxonomy 🧪🪶

I ran this side project for @ntlmuseumsscot.bsky.social & @nhm-london.bsky.social w great collabs: Gerald Mayr (Dr Bones & Rapid-write) and Chen Guangji & Feng Shaohong (of #B10K #Bird10K, saving the day when supposedly public data was not so public). Special thx to Piotr Gryz for cave rail pic!

Finally, I must shout out to the journal Avian Systematics and EiC Trevor Worthy + wizard Steven Gregory. I've learned tons about nomenclature in the revisions and edits and the process has been fast and good. No fees + Open Access, the journal just moved to www.avespress.com/avian-system....

This fully supported topology presents three options: merge family Aptornithidae (adzebills) with (1) Nesotrochis or (2) that + current family Sarothruridae (flufftails)—or (3) award the cave rails family status as Nesotrochidae. #1–2 seem unreasonable given the marked distinctness of adzebills...

...so we described Nesotrochidae fam. nov., the cave rail family! They are (were) distinguished by a number of osteological characters, not least that the humerus has a large and ventrally protruding processus flexorius. Voilá: Nesotrochidae Stervander, Chen, Feng & Mayr, 2025!

—so we generated new mitogenomes for Madagascar Forest Rail (Mentocrex kioloides) and Forbes's Forest Rail (Rallicula forbesi), neither of them rails, but members of the flufftail family (Sarothruridae)!

Dated Bayesian analyses of 9,615 base pairs coding mitochondrial sequence, in 16 partitions w optimised substitution models, didn't result in the unresolved polytomy of Oswald et al. (2021). Neither was Nesotrochis sister with Sarothruridae, but split as sister from Aptornithidae 37 Mya!

This was a super cool study, but the exact placement of cave rails was unresolved: they could be basal to flufftails & adzebills, sister to flufftails (best supported) or to adzebills—yielding wildly different classification options. Expanding Sarothruridae (flufftails) or Aptornithidae (adzebills)?

The phylogenetic analyses bugged me a little, though, as I thought more rigorous DNA substitution model testing and partitioning (and RY-coding of third-codon positions) might provide more clarity... So I'd better test it! We used the same dataset—except data for two species were unavailable—

So what's new and what was known? In 2021, Jessica Oswald & colleagues managed to extract ancient DNA from a Haitian Cave Rail (Nesotrochis steganinos) and, analysing #mitochondrial DNA, found they were not #rails(!) but more closely related to flufftails and adzebills: doi.org/10.1098/rsbl...

Martin Stervander 🏳️‍🌈🇸🇪🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏛️🦉🦤🪶 reposted

Steffen Oppel

@steffopp.bsky.social

19 June 2025

NEW JOB in #ornithology and #conservation managing two major restoration projects for #islands important for #seabirds: buff.ly/yfl1Vo2

20 June 2025

🐦 It's been a while (in several aspects), so I'm extra excited to start the day with a #paper accept. Can't wait for this to hit the press, clarifying relationships among a bunch of cool #birds and introducing a new #avian family! Which one? You'll soon see... 😉 #taxonomy #systematics 🪶🧪

20 June 2025

Aspects, respects, my brain is mush. Also, might have been smart to tag this with #ornithology... Oh well!

My main contribution to this monumentous project has been to shake up the linear sequence of the checklist to better reflect our current understanding of the avian evolutionary tree! Ostrich first—Saltator last no more... We go from Somali Ostrich to Blue-necked Tanager!

Martin Stervander 🏳️‍🌈🇸🇪🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏛️🦉🦤🪶@stervander.com

🦅 The new unified global #avian #taxonomy #AviList has just been released at www.avilist.org! Xmas for anyone interested in #birds & checklists... The first version will be followed by annual updates, with decisions and processes aimed to be more transparent than its predecessors'. 🪶🧪 🧵

avilist.orgComponents of the AviList ChecklistTaxonomy The core taxonomic fields (taxon rank, order, family name, scientific name) are all adjudicated by the Taxonomic Committee (TaxCom). For the first version (v2025), TaxCom has assessed all ...

The principles applied are outlined on the Components page: www.avilist.org/checklist/co.... I'm expecting to annoy a fair number of peeps who would have liked things not to change. 😆

avilist.orgProposals to AviListAviList welcomes proposals for changes or revisions from the ornithological and birding community. Future versions will move forward based on this proposal system. Proposals need not be especially ...

The process up to release has been a bit of a black box to the world, but take note of clearly stated ambitions of participation and transparency. Anyone can submit a taxonomic proposal (www.avilist.org/about/propos...), and any change is published with a decision summary.

There's a tab explaining how to use the checklist (different fields etc.), but importantly, there is a also a page outlining various important components of the checklist: www.avilist.org/checklist/co....

The checklist is downloadable from doi.org/10.2173/avil... and comprises *lots* of info, incl e.g. author, year of description, and publication source. Decision summary statements are included for all 1000+ cases where taxonomy differed between IOC, eBird/Clements & @birdlifeglobal.bsky.social.

2 June 2025

Life's been a bit much and I haven't logged on in a few months... But today's a good day to post. Über luck with 15-20 bottlenose #dolphin (Tursiops truncates), 2 minke #whale (Balaenoptera acutorostrata) & 5 (2♂ 3♀) #ORCA (Orcinus orca) in the #FirthOfForth 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿! Seabird count with #cetacean extras!

Ian Andrews@ijandrews.bsky.social

2 June. A Forth Seabird Group count day off North Berwick ended up with the amazing spectacle of 4 Orcas midway to the Isle of May. Too close for my 400m at times!

2 June 2025

The photos of @ijandrews.bsky.social are great! I filmed with phone while watching in bins, but here's a phone screen grab to water your mouths...

1 Jan 2025

Happy New Year's Day from Portobello beach, #Edinburgh! 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

1 Jan 2025

Botched the ALT text. 😠 Pink Aurora borealis over Portobello beach.

Martin Stervander 🏳️‍🌈🇸🇪🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏛️🦉🦤🪶 reposted

Santiago Claramunt

@sclaramunt.bsky.social

16 Nov 2024

I'm recruiting a PhD student to join my lab at the University of New Orleans starting in Fall 2025. Research topics will focus on building and using phylogenies to study the diversification of birds, with an emphasis on Neotropical bird radiations. Contact me if interested.

17 Dec 2024

🪶Help me out, #ornithology folks of #BirdSky! Curating @ntlmuseumsscot.bsky.social collections for digitisation, I found this labeled Stripe-tailed Yellow Finch (Sicalis citrina), which it's NOT. #SouthAmerican #birds ≠ my forte: is this a Blue-black Grassquit (Volatinia jacarina) or something else?