#bird development PhD candidate and researcher at UIUC, interested in #photography, #birding, #biology, #evolution, #ecology, and #ScienceCommunication #SciComm, they/them (#queer #trans) [previously @skwinnicki on the mastodon-dot-social instance, also still active on Twitter @skwinnicki]
Why work to make birding spaces more inclusive? There’s so many reasons, but especially just to produce the kind of joy seen in this video of the Birding Pride event I attended earlier this month
I can’t recommend watching this enough, the event really was as cool as this suggests: https://vimeo.com/836812636?share=copy
Many people love birds-- they're excited when I say I research birds, but waaaaay less excited when I say that I often study cowbirds (brood parasites that people tend to hate)
Why care about cowbirds? Well, because they're the kind of species that producers are hoping to include in a new documentary for Disney+ narrated by Ryan Reynolds, that's why! Colleagues have convinced them to film cowbirds here in Illinois, hopefully they'll make the cut!
Oh man this new paleontology paper is so cool— sauropod dinos may have laid sequential eggs like birds, in a mound like a brush turkey or an alligator? How cool!
Popular science summary: https://cosmosmagazine.com/history/titanosaur-india-egg-nest/
Scientific paper: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0278242
Feel free to private message me here if you want, or email me at sarahkw2@illinois.edu!
I'm proposing a panel for the August AOS/SOC-SCO ornithology meeting and looking for 2SLGBTQIA+ ornithology folks who are hoping to attend that meeting and who wouldn't mind discussing their experiences as a panelist!
If you'd like to participate please let me know (or if you know someone who you can recommend with their permission please let me know)!
Hoping to find folks who represent diverse perspectives (of identities, career stages/paths, etc.) of course, paging @queerornithology folks!
So by noon today I definitely thought I already knew the highlight of my day-- I ran my first round of PCR on robin DNA and got a perfect gel, every sample amplified!
But then at 1:30 I got a message that a colleague had found a Long-eared Owl roosting in the parking lot of the office (!!!) so that ultimately won I guess! Only the third I've ever seen! (photos taken with a high-zoom camera at a distance of course)
Okay so I definitely don't recommend getting covid, especially on the heels of months (years?) of steadily declining health and burnout
I basically had to just shut down for 6 weeks and it was excruciating, but also I feel rested finally for the first time in years? So excited to get my life and career back together! This is going to be awesome y'all, so much to do now but I've never been more motivated!
@Gigi_QueenOfNuttin aw thanks! She’s such a good cat!
@Beedazzled not yet, unfortunately I don’t really have a primary care physician. I tried calling my uni medical center, but they couldn’t even provide antivirals
@Bobsee thanks!
@EricLawton maybe I just know she generally displays few coherent thoughts haha
For years I’ve done winter/holiday greeting card exchanges with folks on the other site
If you or someone you know would want a card please let me know, happy to send them international too! They’ll definitely be later this year (New Years maybe)?
And I promise it won’t just be this photo of my kitten (although I’d love to hear your best captions haha)
This inspired a family photo shoot. Some understood the assignment more than others haha
My Christmas gift to Bluestem was my getting too tired and leaving the wrapping paper on the floor
@akornblatt I don’t directly study conservation (although my PhD will have “conservation” in the title, my work is just a little more basic science right now) but I loved The Lorax growing up!
I’ve always been awful at memorizing anything but I read that book so many times I think I could still recite the whole thing from memory!
I suck at shameless self promo, but I used to sell a bunch of these over on the bird site. When I left my sales of my 2023 calendars dropped. These calendars are full of Minnesota images, so I don't think the appeal will be large beyond The North and the Midwest. Anyway, if some of my bird site friends made it here and were looking, here it is. Now back to my regular sharing of art.
You can get them for 10% off using the code: BLIZZARD10
@wtspman that sounds amazing! Although chilly haha
@peachfront thanks!!
@wtspman I grew up in Cleveland (Ohio), birded the Niagara River a few times in the winter on family trips to the Falls—kittiwakes were always one I looked for, folks had them around, but no luck! I’ve seen them in Alaska but I really wanted a Midwest wintering bird, so pleased!
Did once get a Little Gull on the Niagara, just upstream from the falls, that was a cool one for me as a kid!
@Luo_Qing definitely worth it! I’ll need to sleep for, like, 24 hours but I’m so grateful to have some happy memories right now haha
