Andrew Iwaniuk
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evoneuro.bsky.social
Andrew Iwaniuk
@evoneuro.bsky.social
neurobiologist, ornithologist, scruffy looking nerfherder, social distancing since 1974, Canadian in Alberta, Treaty 7 lands
🇨🇦 🇦🇺 🧪🪶🧠 stuff
open access link for our book: https://direct.mit.edu/books/oa-monograph/6000/Bird-Brains-and-BehaviorA-Synthesis
Pinned
In celebration of me avoiding becoming department chair for the next 3 years and receiving a new research chair, please enjoy one of my favourite parrot photos from two years ago.
Crimson rosella (Platycercus elegans)
#birds #birding #academicsky #WildOz #parrots 🪶🦜🇨🇦🇦🇺
Reposted by Andrew Iwaniuk
Alberta has quietly legalized "canned hunting", allowing hunters to track & kill deer & elk in fenced enclosures for sport. Long condemned as cruel & unethical, this practice also fuels the spread of fatal Chronic Wasting Disease 👎🫎 #AbPoli
Alberta Legalizes Hunt Pens for Deer & Elk
Alberta legalizes enclosed hunting, reviving a cruel sport that lets hunters pay to kill captive deer and elk trapped behind high fences.
animaljustice.ca
February 2, 2026 at 8:07 PM
Reposted by Andrew Iwaniuk
Winter 2026 Psychology Seminar continues with Dr Jared Wesley, Associate Dean (Graduate Studies), and Professor of Political Science at the @ualberta.bsky.social

'Polarization in Alberta: How Partisanship is Reshaping the Province’s Politics'

Feb 27th 3pm- 4pm MST in BS P226 and also via Zoom.
February 2, 2026 at 5:57 PM
Reposted by Andrew Iwaniuk
@ctvnewscalgary.bsky.social imagine if Alberta actually rehabbed its orphaned grizzly bear cubs like BC does. Kind of makes sense given it's a threatened species, and then we wouldn't need to be talking about wild bears living a life in the zoo as if it's a good thing.
February 2, 2026 at 10:10 PM
Happy Wakefield retraction day to all those who celebrate it
February 2, 2026 at 7:42 PM
Reposted by Andrew Iwaniuk
February 1, 2026 at 9:33 PM
Reposted by Andrew Iwaniuk
Once again, a hearty "fuck you" to the voters in Alberta who foisted this narcissistic asshole on all of us. #ABPoli #CdnPoli
February 2, 2026 at 5:58 PM
Reposted by Andrew Iwaniuk
Groundhog Moon
Roy Henry Vickers ~ Haida, Heiltsuk, Tsimshian
2005
February 2, 2026 at 10:00 AM
Reposted by Andrew Iwaniuk
The parents weren't really interested, but the baby Tawny Frogmouth had to look at everything that went past.
February 2, 2026 at 4:47 AM
Anyone in the #Lethbridge area, I will be giving a public talk this week to address the question I get the most: Why study bird brains? I will discuss how studying bird brains led to some major discoveries and helps us understand bird behaviour.
#yql #birds #Alberta
www.sacpa.ca/why-study-bi...
February 2, 2026 at 3:08 AM
Reposted by Andrew Iwaniuk
I don't think a lot of Albertans understand that when you have insurance, you still get the FULL bill. And you're on the hook for the FULL bill. You don't know what your insurance company will do about it. There are fights. It's a very stressful experience.

They've never seen a bill at all.
February 1, 2026 at 8:31 PM
JFC Australia please don’t go this route. You are currently my escape plan.
February 1, 2026 at 8:53 PM
Of course Hauser is in the list. Because it wasn’t enough for him to be found guilty of scientific misconduct
For those of us who were grad students at Harvard in the 1990s it’s interesting to read Marc Hauser’s correspondence with JE, through the lens of Hauser’s subsequent departure from Harvard bc of scientific misconduct.
February 1, 2026 at 8:31 PM
I have yet to decide if this is hilarious or hits too close to home. I’m sure the Respect in the Workplace webinar that we are all asked to complete will provide the answer…
"Most of our high-level administrators have no experience or interest in higher education. But they do have experience and interest in management science, which is universal. (Management science is not a science or a form of management. But we have new early retirement incentives)"
News, Bad and Good, from the Dean of Arts and Sciences
We have no money for copies. But our Live, Love, Learn program now includes two Undergraduate Scribe Fellows. We have no money for raises, but we’v...
buff.ly
January 31, 2026 at 8:37 PM
Reposted by Andrew Iwaniuk
Two of our great Canadian treasures.💔🇨🇦
January 31, 2026 at 5:17 PM
Glad to see the news picking this up. I just received the proposed changes to migratory bird hunting for review and the biggest issues are the swan season and a mourning dove season. Inability to ID swan species is a huge problem and our data on dove numbers is deficient

www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...
Can you tell these swans apart? This former biologist worries hunters won't | CBC News
The federal government is considering a proposal to establish a new hunting season for tundra swans in Alberta, Manitoba and Saskatchewan — a move that one hunter says could endanger the trumpeter swa...
www.cbc.ca
January 31, 2026 at 3:42 PM
Reposted by Andrew Iwaniuk
A new Powerful Owl site found this morning in a Brisbane conservation area. That's the 3rd new site @lucyparkerpaul.bsky.social & I have found and seen POwls at this year, and another with scat/pellets/POwl feathers, but no POwl seen yet. So a very good start to the year.
#brisbane #birds #wildoz
January 31, 2026 at 2:26 AM
Reposted by Andrew Iwaniuk
Indigo-capped Hummingbird at El Retorno de los Colibris, Anaime, Tolima #Colombia

#birds #hummingbirds #nature
January 30, 2026 at 9:39 PM
Reposted by Andrew Iwaniuk
Peerless. Irreplaceable. Legendary. 🇨🇦💔 Catherine O’Hara helped define modern comedy, from SCTV to Moira Rose. CBC helped nurture and share talents like hers. That’s why public broadcasting matters. Share your favourite O’Hara moment. ❤️ #SaveTheCBC
January 30, 2026 at 7:49 PM
Reposted by Andrew Iwaniuk
The females are also lovely colorful birds, just with a brown head. Their black and white striped tails are my favorite part.
January 17, 2026 at 5:59 PM
Reposted by Andrew Iwaniuk
Powerful Owl pair sleeping at dusk in a Brisbane conservation park yesterday. After sunset they were allopreening ("kissing"). There was a sign at the entrance saying there would be burn offs, so the Powerful Owl Project will get in touch today to say the POwls are there & where the nest hollow is.
January 29, 2026 at 10:57 PM
Reposted by Andrew Iwaniuk
I am LOVING the pressure Canadian Premiers are putting on Smith. Eby and Kinew as well.

Doug, you’re often a bozo, but you do know how to wave the Canadian flag.

Go ahead, guys.

Shame her.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford asking Alberta Premier Danielle Smith "to stand up and say enough is enough" to those leading Alberta's sovereignty movement as they meet with U.S. officials, saying you're either with Canada or not with Canada.
January 29, 2026 at 6:56 PM
Reposted by Andrew Iwaniuk
new paper alert! CAM researchers Chris Guglielmo & Greg Mitchell (also ECCC) co-authors on study led by Katherine Peel (UOttawa): experimental warming reduced monarch butterfly fat mass via reductions in nectar. Another way glob chg is hurting migrant animals

doi.org/10.1002/gcb4...
Warming‐Mediated Decreases in Nectar Quality Translate Into Lower Energy Reserves of the Monarch Butterfly (Danaus plexippus)
Warming caused a significant decrease in monarch fat mass, likely due to an observed reduction in sucrose concentration caused by warming of the nectar. Since sucrose fuels fall migration and overwin....
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
January 29, 2026 at 3:43 PM
Reposted by Andrew Iwaniuk
Floofy Tawny Frogmouth chick. #birds #wildoz #brisbane
January 29, 2026 at 2:35 AM
While I appreciate trying to boost tourism in western Canada if you are visiting here, this is a remote area with a relatively high cougar and bear density, highly variable weather and a lot of ATVs and firearm usage. Do not travel here if you aren’t prepared…

www.bbc.com/travel/artic...
The 109km trail opening up the Canadian Rockies
Away from Banff and Jasper national parks, a new rail trail is opening up a previously inaccessible corner of Canada and teaching travellers about the nation's past.
www.bbc.com
January 29, 2026 at 2:16 AM
Reposted by Andrew Iwaniuk
Report: Craziest politician in America makes excellent suggestion
January 28, 2026 at 10:33 PM