Alexander Lees
@alexanderlees.bsky.social
4.7K followers 1.4K following 820 posts
Birds, science, politics. Reader Man Met Uni, Associate Cornell Lab of #Ornithology, Chair BOURC, Trustee @bou.org.uk SC @ras-network.bsky.social. Usually found in the #PeakDistrict or #Amazonia, he/him. Views own.
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Reposted by Alexander Lees
davidkleijn.bsky.social
Intensifying grassland management leads to massive loss of arthropod species. However, total arthropod numbers remain more or less stable. Many losers, few winners. doi.org/10.1016/j.bi...
Reposted by Alexander Lees
fatpaulscholes.bsky.social
For any bird recorders who want to easily convert eBird data into a more recorder friendly format
dbradnum.bsky.social
Hi Jared, Mark - here's a link to the app: dbradnum-ebirdcountyrecordcleaner.share.connect.posit.cloud
It's also built in R, a Shiny app, and can share a link to the underlying code if helpful. See the instructions tab for details, and feel free to drop me a DM if any questions or issues.
eBird County Data Cleaner
dbradnum-ebirdcountyrecordcleaner.share.connect.posit.cloud
alexanderlees.bsky.social
Would assume that at least 10 times that number of birders there at the moment....
alexanderlees.bsky.social
Sure, but how many other (much less conspicuous) birds aren't visible from a public right of way most of the time and on Tresco/Mary's....
alexanderlees.bsky.social
Indicative of what proportion of birds are missed on Scillies that a pigeon could basically evade detection in the 1.48 km2 of St Agnes despite lots of people looking #UKBirding
hcbirding.bsky.social
American Mourning Dove finally in the bag!!! 3 days of searching put to rest. Tiny little thing. #UKBirding #RareBirdsUK #IoSBirding #IslesofScillyBirding @sophieshrike.bsky.social
A rare dove sits on a wooden pallet amongst a polytunnel frame
alexanderlees.bsky.social
Heritage = heritable there. Was saying that there isn't evidence that there is genetically-controlled prey-specialisation in generalist raptors
alexanderlees.bsky.social
None of it is convincing.... no evidence that prey specialisation is a heritage trait and likely just reflects variation in prey abundance. And Grey Squirrels only in Italy for the time being...
alexanderlees.bsky.social
Yes.... you can upload any interesting ones there
Reposted by Alexander Lees
davidho.bsky.social
Hey US scientists, the NY Times wants to hear from you if you've had your funding cut. 🌊🧪
Has Your Scientific Work Been Cut? We Want to Hear.
www.nytimes.com
Reposted by Alexander Lees
stevedudley.bsky.social
As a county bird recorder I can honestly say that the best and easiest way for you to make your birding count, is to upload them to either eBird or BirdTrack. Doing so contributes directly to #ornithology and bird #conservation at both local and national levels.

#birdingScotland #birdingWales
The remarkable rise of eBird – the world’s biggest citizen science project
In 2002, an online database was set up allowing birdwatchers to record their species observations. It is now a vast resource, shaping scientific research.
theconversation.com
Reposted by Alexander Lees
steffopp.bsky.social
NEW JOB in #ornithology with @RSPBScience to oversee research in #Wales with #seabirds and #waders: buff.ly/qkTVU6m
Reposted by Alexander Lees
piedflynet.bsky.social
JOB ALERT: We have an exciting Senior Research Assistant post available for a project tracking predators and prey simultaneously starting early 2026. We need someone with experience tagging adult raptors or wader chicks. This you? app.vacancy-filler.co.uk/salescrm/Car...
Reposted by Alexander Lees
wilsonornithsoc.bsky.social
BIRDBASE, a new publicly available dataset, brings together "ecological and life history traits for 11,589 bird species across 254 families." #ornithology
Explore a bird database with 11,500 species
Twenty-six years ago, a PhD student's unanswered question sparked a bird data revolution.
www.popsci.com
Reposted by Alexander Lees
jengill.bsky.social
The latest wadertales blog (no. 151) describes how scoring moult from photographs can reveal moult season duration and how it varies between populations: wadertales.wordpress.com/2025/10/09/m...
#ornithology
alexanderlees.bsky.social
Just noticed this artwork at Piccadilly for the first time. It must have been a subconscious search image....
Reposted by Alexander Lees
milesking.bsky.social
Same story - 2 very different takes.

Reeves claims she unblocked a development being held up by a "microscopic snail or something", while Natural England claim they and the EA negotiated an agreement with Southern Water, to reduce water abstraction from the snail's habitat.
Reposted by Alexander Lees
responsiblesci.bsky.social
The AI boom promises convenience, but at what cost?

Award-winning science communicator and author Dr Simon Clark argues that the energy and water demands of the requisite data centres are enormous, and that this poses great risks in a grid yet to fully decarbonise. 🧪 #AI
Reposted by Alexander Lees
Reposted by Alexander Lees
whstancil.bsky.social
Just openly cheering the destruction of any representation of gay people in public space. They think their power is totally unrestricted, and the entire country will support them rolling back society to the 1950s, or maybe the 1850s
Reposted by Alexander Lees
joshlukedavis.com
erm, so 3D scans from the Scottish Maritime Museum (!!) have been used by the IDF to create animations of supposed terror sites, tunnels and bunkers they've destroyed (!!!) 🫠
jacksapoch.bsky.social
As someone who works with satellite and 3D imagery, this project reinforced how crucial it is to question what’s rendered as truth.

Keep an eye out for some follow ups in different mediums looking ahead

Full story w/ @972mag.com via Oren Ziv:

www.972mag.com/israeli-army...
How a Scottish maritime museum ended up in Israel’s 3D propaganda
An analysis of dozens of Israeli army animations discovered digital assets sourced not from classified intelligence but commercial libraries and content creators.
www.972mag.com