Met Virginia’s finest birders on Sunday at the 2023 Kiptopeke Big Sit! Northampton County is truly a special place to bird. 94 total species for me this weekend, with more peregrine falcons in one day than I’d seen in my whole life

Pro tip: If you plan on taking a picture of a salamander to ID it later, it's a good idea to get a picture of its belly! Some species, like the northern ravine salamander, can't be distinguished from other species without a belly pic.

Uh oh. Spotted lanternfly outside Virginia’s quarantine zone. Promptly dispatched

Finally participating in the year of the vagrant #limpkins. If you haven’t read about them, they’re fascinating. Could be a more frequent visitor here in VA/MD as invasive snails provide a food source to expand their range

BREAKING: AOS will change all English bird names currently named after people within its geographic jurisdiction—one step in an effort to address past wrongs and engage more people in the enjoyment, protection and study of birds. americanornithology.org/about/english-… #BirdNames

Successful #RarityRoundup2023 in Northampton County, Virginia. 158 species found including numerous golden eagles, vagrant flycatchers, clay-colored sparrow, greater white-fronted geese, white pelican, and dickcissel. Also grateful to have met so many dedicated birders

Florida one weekend, Great Lakes the next. Not everyone can travel, but appreciative of how exposure to a variety of ecosystems has been so important to me in my growth as a naturalist

Most important 2023 wrapped: 122 herps (2424 individuals) 🐢 284 birds (44,194 birds) 🐦 A decrease in herping but 101 more birds than last year, with way less travel. And still a great year in herping, too

The surprising result is that observers tend to walk right by plainly visible turtles [pic], we missed about 40% of these in open habitat w/ some obs. differences which seemed to be explainable by variations in how well observers covered space.

The good news is you can model this search efficiency structure using spatial capture-recapture models, naturally.

Looks fun, but more fun than walking around the edge and surveying the breeding birds and insects...? I think we all know the answer.

Spotted turtle pics 2023 vs 2024. Had to go back and look more for this endangered species after a brief encounter last year. Out of the water basking in overcast weather barely over 50 degrees #herping #turtles #spottedturtle

I don't know which geospatial data providers need to hear this, but: your download portal is a mess.

Ecosystem Restoration vs Nature-based Solutions

White-winged scoter, Cape Cod, MA 🇺🇸 Grabbed some photos of this lifer whilst on the Hyannis Whale Watch trip out of Barnstable > Stellwagen Bank SE Waters. Good to meet Will Heinle from VA aboard for Cape knowledge and an extra pair of eyes. 🐋 #BirdingUS 🇺🇸Life✅#169; 🌎Life✅#563

Manx shearwater, Stellwegan Bank SE 🇺🇸 Lots of shearwater action. Counted (with Will Heinle) at least 2 sooty, 4 great and lots of manx too, this being my first pelagic (on the back of a whale watch) here ❤️ #birdingUS Hyannis Whale Watch 🇺🇸Life✅#170

Florida, Great Lakes, New England. Been a lot of places recently and thankful to have seen some really cool habitats and wildlife. Plenty of cross-ecosystem connections. Here’s a few samples: