David Tan
@mangrovepitta.bsky.social
1.3K followers 1.3K following 640 posts
Ornithologist and biogeographer. Working on the global macroecology of bird-window collisions and on the genetics of faunal adaptation to mangroves. Obsessed with pittas. Postdoc at iDiv in Leipzig.
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mangrovepitta.bsky.social
This is always a major target on many visitors' needs lists, which is always funny since this bird is easily found in one of the most accessible parks in the country: the car park.
biodiversitypix.bsky.social
🍒 The birds of Singapore Island..
Singapore: Printed at the Govt. Print. Office by W. T. Cherry, Govt. Printer, 1927..

[Source]
Historical illustration titled "The birds of Singapore Island" depicting two Malayan Pygmy Woodpeckers (Dryobates nanus auritus) perched on the branches of a tree. The birds are shown with detailed brown and white striped plumage and distinct facial markings. One woodpecker clings vertically to the trunk looking upward, while the other is positioned on a lower branch with wings slightly spread. The background features muted green foliage, emphasizing the birds. The image is signed by artist G. A. Levett-Yeats and printed by W. T. Cherry, Govt. Printer, in 1927.
mangrovepitta.bsky.social
As an added bonus, I've finally conquered my long time nemesis: SNOW BUNTING. I've chased this bird for 9 years in Chicago, Scotland, Norfolk, the Czech Republic, and South Holland, and finally managed to see a flock of 4 in North Holland.
mangrovepitta.bsky.social
Arrived in Amsterdam on the overnight bus (aka the Weed Express), ready to make the schlep up to Texel for the Spectacled Eider! Actually managed to catch a combined 6hrs of sleep on the drive over.
mangrovepitta.bsky.social
To be fair, I think countries that buy American military equipment sometimes have overseas detachments stationed in American bases for training purposes. Singapore has a detachment at Mountain Home AFB too.
mangrovepitta.bsky.social
Also:

One More Time (Daft Punk) - 8/10
One More Time (Rod Stewart) - 7/10
One More Time (Blink-182) - 6/10

And a bonus

(Baby) One More Time (Britney Spears) - 9/10
Reposted by David Tan
joshlukedavis.com
with the official IUCN listing for the slender-billed curlew now being Extinct here is the rather sad piece I wrote about what went into this decision

I tried to include everything we know about their behaviour and biology, which is tragically little 🪶🧪
www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/new...
A picture of two slender-billed curlews in the Natural History Museum's collections.
mangrovepitta.bsky.social
I've got an easy one:

Photograph (Def Leppard) - 9/10
Photograph (Ringo Starr) - 7/10

And a bonus...

Photograph (Ed Sheeran) - 6/10
byrobdavies.bsky.social
Fun music game.

Take two songs with the same name and post your combined score out of 10. How high can you get?

No covers/no triples (e.g. Power of Love)

My first effort, which i think is hard to beat...

Zombie (Fela Kuti) 10/10
Zombie (The Cranberries) 7/10

Total score: 17
Reposted by David Tan
thelabandfield.bsky.social
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
Reposted by David Tan
bou.org.uk
Puffins, petrels, and places: Understanding human perceptions to prevent seabird mortality due to light pollution | doi.org/10.1093/orni... | Ornithological Applications | #ornithology 🪶
Reposted by David Tan
jackdashby.bsky.social
The bird gallery at @mfnberlin.bsky.social is closed for redevelopment, but instead of packing away their #birds, they crated up 11,500 #taxidermy specimens and put the crates on display instead. It's a really interesting - and beautiful - approach to open storage. #museums
A series of wooden crates with glass fronts, containing densely packed shelves of taxidermy birds. A wooden crate with a glass front, containing densely packed shelves of taxidermy birds. A wooden crate with a glass front, containing densely packed shelves of taxidermy birds of prey. A wooden crate with a glass front, containing densely packed shelves of taxidermy toucans and hummingbirds
Reposted by David Tan
ecosystemunraveller.com
It’s National Egg Day, a reminder that although Kiwis may lay proportionally massive eggs, it’s exactly the volume expected by their body mass. The only birds that lay WAY more egg than expected are the only ones that incubate without body heat—moundbuilders! ecosystemunraveller.com/connectivity...
Graph between clutch volume and body mass for all modern bird families with just one dot (actually a black square) diverging from the overall close relationship
Reposted by David Tan
juncowren.bsky.social
So excited to finally share our work on how birds responded to the 2024 Great American Eclipse! Thanks to @rosvall-lab.bsky.social for inviting me on this journey! I never expected any of my research to show up in @science.org, let alone on the cover. Surreal. I hope you enjoy it!
science.org
As the Moon eclipsed the Sun on 8 April 2024, birds took note.

Leveraging nature’s own experiment, scientists and the public joined forces to show how different species responded to sudden midafternoon darkness followed by a new “dawn.” Learn more this week in Science: https://scim.ag/48WbhLL
As the Moon eclipsed the Sun on 8 April 2024, birds like these rock pigeons (Columba livia) took note.
Reposted by David Tan
robert.bio
Just published an interactive article about a magical algorithm known as the Burrows-Wheeler Transform, which powers sequence alignment tools like bowtie and bwa: sandbox.bio/concepts/bwt

It's also notoriously unintuitive so I'm hoping this article helps you build that intuition.
mangrovepitta.bsky.social
Finally, a restaurant that first models my dietary niche before they start cooking.
Reposted by David Tan
peralstrom.bsky.social
I was honoured to be invited to give a talk on AviList, the new unified global checklist of birds, at the Delta Birding Festival 2+ weeks ago, and the organizers just sent me a link to a YouTube video of my talk: www.youtube.com/watch?v=QO5x... #birds #ornithology #taxonomy
AviList: a unified global bird checklist - Per Alström
YouTube video by Delta Birding Festival
www.youtube.com
Reposted by David Tan
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
Reposted by David Tan
lightsoutforbirds.bsky.social
Peak bird migration is happening, help migrating birds reach their destinations by keeping lights out 11pm to 6am and make windows bird friendly
flap.org
report injured birds in Chicago area birdmonitors.net
or ahnow.org
Chicago Bird Collision Monitors
Sep 23・
Peak fall bird migration is underway!
The mighty and the small were injured an... See more