Becca Ralston
@rebeccaralston.bsky.social
PhD student studying avian responses to climate change @nathist.bsky.social and @helsinki.fi 🐦
Pinned
New paper out now at @consbiog.bsky.social !
eBird data reveals that nonbreeding conditions can affect prothonotary warbler spring arrival timing at broad scales, and spatial patterns suggest that eastern populations are more vulnerable to climate change
doi.org/10.1111/ddi....
eBird data reveals that nonbreeding conditions can affect prothonotary warbler spring arrival timing at broad scales, and spatial patterns suggest that eastern populations are more vulnerable to climate change
doi.org/10.1111/ddi....
New paper out now at @consbiog.bsky.social !
eBird data reveals that nonbreeding conditions can affect prothonotary warbler spring arrival timing at broad scales, and spatial patterns suggest that eastern populations are more vulnerable to climate change
doi.org/10.1111/ddi....
eBird data reveals that nonbreeding conditions can affect prothonotary warbler spring arrival timing at broad scales, and spatial patterns suggest that eastern populations are more vulnerable to climate change
doi.org/10.1111/ddi....
October 22, 2025 at 4:56 AM
New paper out now at @consbiog.bsky.social !
eBird data reveals that nonbreeding conditions can affect prothonotary warbler spring arrival timing at broad scales, and spatial patterns suggest that eastern populations are more vulnerable to climate change
doi.org/10.1111/ddi....
eBird data reveals that nonbreeding conditions can affect prothonotary warbler spring arrival timing at broad scales, and spatial patterns suggest that eastern populations are more vulnerable to climate change
doi.org/10.1111/ddi....
Reposted by Becca Ralston
Bird migration is changing. What does this reveal about our planet? – visualised
Bird migration is changing. What does this reveal about our planet? – visualised
Bird migrations rank as one of nature’s greatest spectacles. Thanks to GPS tracking, scientists are uncovering extraordinary insights into ancient and mysterious journeys – and new threats that are reshaping them.
www.theguardian.com
October 16, 2025 at 8:32 AM
Bird migration is changing. What does this reveal about our planet? – visualised
Reposted by Becca Ralston
A thing I've been working on is out now: I wrote the cover story for the summer issue of Living Bird! Scientists have sequenced the genomes of almost all 25 (!) song sparrow subspecies AND connected their genes to how they're each likely to fare under climate change.
The Secret to Song Sparrows' Extraordinary Success Lies in Their Genome
This ordinary-seeming songbird species is teeming with subtle genetic diversity, which allows local populations to respond in various ways to a changing world.
www.allaboutbirds.org
July 7, 2025 at 6:15 PM
A thing I've been working on is out now: I wrote the cover story for the summer issue of Living Bird! Scientists have sequenced the genomes of almost all 25 (!) song sparrow subspecies AND connected their genes to how they're each likely to fare under climate change.
Reposted by Becca Ralston
An absolute stunner of an Archaeopteryx fossil preserves SO MUCH soft tissue, including scales on its toe pads and a group of flight feathers never seen before in Archaeopteryx. Known as tertials, they lie between the elbow and the body, and play a key role in powered flight for modern birds 🧪
A rare Archaeopteryx fossil was kept from scientists for decades. Its first-ever analysis reveals how the ‘first bird’ took flight | CNN
Scientists were finally given access to a remarkable Archaeopteryx fossil that’s allowed them to better understand exactly how the earliest known bird could fly.
www.cnn.com
May 21, 2025 at 2:22 PM
An absolute stunner of an Archaeopteryx fossil preserves SO MUCH soft tissue, including scales on its toe pads and a group of flight feathers never seen before in Archaeopteryx. Known as tertials, they lie between the elbow and the body, and play a key role in powered flight for modern birds 🧪
Reposted by Becca Ralston
My painting TIDAL WETLANDS
April 24, 2025 at 1:36 PM
My painting TIDAL WETLANDS
It's so exciting to see the places I've been visiting since January fill with birdsong
April 20, 2025 at 12:37 PM
It's so exciting to see the places I've been visiting since January fill with birdsong
Reposted by Becca Ralston
I'm delighted to be able to share my latest artwork for the @songbirding.com podcast and audiobook series! Singing female American Redstart, because female birds definitely do sing and we're finally starting to pay attention. 🎨🪶 #SciArt #BirdArt 🧪
April 19, 2025 at 7:02 PM
I'm delighted to be able to share my latest artwork for the @songbirding.com podcast and audiobook series! Singing female American Redstart, because female birds definitely do sing and we're finally starting to pay attention. 🎨🪶 #SciArt #BirdArt 🧪
Reposted by Becca Ralston
“A new review of 50 recent studies finds that protests tend to sway media coverage and public opinion toward the climate cause, without appearing to backfire, even when disruptive tactics are used”.
climatecommunication.yale.edu/publications...
climatecommunication.yale.edu/publications...
April 17, 2025 at 6:31 AM
“A new review of 50 recent studies finds that protests tend to sway media coverage and public opinion toward the climate cause, without appearing to backfire, even when disruptive tactics are used”.
climatecommunication.yale.edu/publications...
climatecommunication.yale.edu/publications...
only a few geese in Pärnu today
April 5, 2025 at 4:22 PM
only a few geese in Pärnu today
Reposted by Becca Ralston
Factors underlying migratory timing of a seasonally migrating bird | www.nature.com/artic... | Scientific Reports | #ornithology 🪶
March 18, 2025 at 4:32 PM
Factors underlying migratory timing of a seasonally migrating bird | www.nature.com/artic... | Scientific Reports | #ornithology 🪶
I had a really great birding trip today, where I got my FOY eiders and oystercatchers, as well as one of the coolest new birds I've seen here so far: a eurasian eagle owl!
March 29, 2025 at 6:29 PM
I had a really great birding trip today, where I got my FOY eiders and oystercatchers, as well as one of the coolest new birds I've seen here so far: a eurasian eagle owl!
Reposted by Becca Ralston
This dataviz is absolutely amazing 😍 Global bird species' conservation status displayed as a massive flock!
By Andrea Garrec, longlisted for the 2024 Information Is Beautiful Awards
www.informationisbeautifulawards.com/showcase/731...
#dataviz 📊🌏🧪🐦🦉🦆🦅
By Andrea Garrec, longlisted for the 2024 Information Is Beautiful Awards
www.informationisbeautifulawards.com/showcase/731...
#dataviz 📊🌏🧪🐦🦉🦆🦅
March 19, 2025 at 2:40 AM
This dataviz is absolutely amazing 😍 Global bird species' conservation status displayed as a massive flock!
By Andrea Garrec, longlisted for the 2024 Information Is Beautiful Awards
www.informationisbeautifulawards.com/showcase/731...
#dataviz 📊🌏🧪🐦🦉🦆🦅
By Andrea Garrec, longlisted for the 2024 Information Is Beautiful Awards
www.informationisbeautifulawards.com/showcase/731...
#dataviz 📊🌏🧪🐦🦉🦆🦅
Reposted by Becca Ralston
“It’s extremely alarming that grants that have been vetted by the scientific community and deemed important and impactful to understand the world are now being cancelled because of political ideology,” says @lkfazio.bsky.social.
“This is direct censorship of scientific research.”
“This is direct censorship of scientific research.”
Exclusive: NIH to terminate hundreds of active research grants
Studies that touch on LGBT+ health, gender identity and DEI in the biomedical workforce could be terminated, according to documents obtained by Nature.
www.nature.com
March 6, 2025 at 2:17 AM
“It’s extremely alarming that grants that have been vetted by the scientific community and deemed important and impactful to understand the world are now being cancelled because of political ideology,” says @lkfazio.bsky.social.
“This is direct censorship of scientific research.”
“This is direct censorship of scientific research.”
Reposted by Becca Ralston
Potential for bird–insect phenological mismatch in a tri‐trophic system | doi.org/10.1111/1365... | @animalecology.bsky.social | #ornithology 🪶
March 3, 2025 at 11:30 AM
Potential for bird–insect phenological mismatch in a tri‐trophic system | doi.org/10.1111/1365... | @animalecology.bsky.social | #ornithology 🪶
Reposted by Becca Ralston
"The diversity of sexual phenotypes across species is vast and spectacular" & so is this delightful story. Thanks to @professormaney.bsky.social for showing how white-throated sparrows are more proof that we shouldn't "flatten nature’s wondrous diversity into two categories, male and female." 🧪
Do white-throated sparrows have four sexes? This bird challenges us to think carefully about what "sex" even means. Check out this article in Scientific American for my two cents: sex means many different things.
www.scientificamerican.com/article/a-ba...
www.scientificamerican.com/article/a-ba...
This Backyard Bird Has a Lot to Teach Us about Sex Variability
White-throated Sparrows demonstrate that traits we usually associate with sex can be influenced by genes that are not on sex chromosomes
www.scientificamerican.com
February 19, 2025 at 6:11 PM
"The diversity of sexual phenotypes across species is vast and spectacular" & so is this delightful story. Thanks to @professormaney.bsky.social for showing how white-throated sparrows are more proof that we shouldn't "flatten nature’s wondrous diversity into two categories, male and female." 🧪
Reposted by Becca Ralston
On International Day of Women and Girls in Science, a reminder to not close your eyes and turn away from what is happening in the US right now. Fascism is an assault on scientific integrity, knowledge, and innovation.
www.chron.com/news/space/a...
www.chron.com/news/space/a...
NASA to wipe mentions of women, Indigenous people from websites
NASA employees told to remove mentions of women, indigenous people, and environmental justice from websites.
www.chron.com
February 11, 2025 at 8:07 AM
On International Day of Women and Girls in Science, a reminder to not close your eyes and turn away from what is happening in the US right now. Fascism is an assault on scientific integrity, knowledge, and innovation.
www.chron.com/news/space/a...
www.chron.com/news/space/a...
Reposted by Becca Ralston
Happy International Day for Women and Girls in Science!
Fantastic women scientist are working in the my research group @nathist.bsky.social @helsinki.fi!
Please have a look at what kind of research topics they have:
youtu.be/ugiyHy86taw
It is a privilege to work with you!
#womeninscience #minätutkin
Fantastic women scientist are working in the my research group @nathist.bsky.social @helsinki.fi!
Please have a look at what kind of research topics they have:
youtu.be/ugiyHy86taw
It is a privilege to work with you!
#womeninscience #minätutkin
youtu.be
February 11, 2025 at 5:33 AM
Happy International Day for Women and Girls in Science!
Fantastic women scientist are working in the my research group @nathist.bsky.social @helsinki.fi!
Please have a look at what kind of research topics they have:
youtu.be/ugiyHy86taw
It is a privilege to work with you!
#womeninscience #minätutkin
Fantastic women scientist are working in the my research group @nathist.bsky.social @helsinki.fi!
Please have a look at what kind of research topics they have:
youtu.be/ugiyHy86taw
It is a privilege to work with you!
#womeninscience #minätutkin
Reposted by Becca Ralston
"In every living thing there ticks a clock...": @david-farrier.bsky.social superb & unsettling on how "wild clocks"––spruce saplings, oyster colonies, reindeer herds––are falling out of synchronization as the Earth transforms.
It’s becoming harder to keep time.
emergencemagazine.org/essay/wild-c...
It’s becoming harder to keep time.
emergencemagazine.org/essay/wild-c...
Wild Clocks – David Farrier
Attentive to the loss of age-old ecological relationships as “wild clocks” fall out of synchronization with each other, David Farrier imagines an opportunity to renew the rhythms by which we live and ...
emergencemagazine.org
January 30, 2025 at 6:49 PM
"In every living thing there ticks a clock...": @david-farrier.bsky.social superb & unsettling on how "wild clocks"––spruce saplings, oyster colonies, reindeer herds––are falling out of synchronization as the Earth transforms.
It’s becoming harder to keep time.
emergencemagazine.org/essay/wild-c...
It’s becoming harder to keep time.
emergencemagazine.org/essay/wild-c...
Reposted by Becca Ralston
The dismantling of American Science continues. The Organismal Response to Climate Change grant call has been cancelled. The NSF Director is a disgrace
![Email text:
[EXT] Grants.gov
Opportunities Update
External Email
The following grant opportunities were created, updated, or deleted on Grants.gov:
NSF
National Science Foundation
25-504 - Organismal Response to
Climate Change
Deletion Comments: Opportunity deleted](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:misyogthncmyejlvlflkvjbh/bafkreibzievopgxfpflskzvszff3bgr6komy6htkril4e3zgiob3rtc3qi@jpeg)
February 1, 2025 at 6:53 PM
The dismantling of American Science continues. The Organismal Response to Climate Change grant call has been cancelled. The NSF Director is a disgrace
two goldcrest putting on a show
February 1, 2025 at 12:02 PM
two goldcrest putting on a show
I've had less opportunity to watch birds in the snow since coming to Finland than I expected but I did manage to see this very round bullfinch the other day
January 22, 2025 at 3:01 PM
I've had less opportunity to watch birds in the snow since coming to Finland than I expected but I did manage to see this very round bullfinch the other day
Reposted by Becca Ralston
This is incredibly cool research, even more so because it was done using nocturnal flight call recordings! 🪶 www.scientificamerican.com/article/migr...
Migrating Birds Sing to Team Up with Other Species
Songbirds may socialize across species during nighttime migrations
www.scientificamerican.com
January 17, 2025 at 4:26 PM
This is incredibly cool research, even more so because it was done using nocturnal flight call recordings! 🪶 www.scientificamerican.com/article/migr...
Reposted by Becca Ralston
New paper published today in Movement Ecology! We show North American birds that migrate in flocks have greater long-term non-breeding range shifts, particularly if flocks are mixed-age.
We link this to social learning in novel migration route development.
rdcu.be/d57Mw
1/10
#ornithology
We link this to social learning in novel migration route development.
rdcu.be/d57Mw
1/10
#ornithology
North American avian species that migrate in flocks show greater long-term non-breeding range shift rates
rdcu.be
January 14, 2025 at 8:37 AM
New paper published today in Movement Ecology! We show North American birds that migrate in flocks have greater long-term non-breeding range shifts, particularly if flocks are mixed-age.
We link this to social learning in novel migration route development.
rdcu.be/d57Mw
1/10
#ornithology
We link this to social learning in novel migration route development.
rdcu.be/d57Mw
1/10
#ornithology
Reposted by Becca Ralston
The web-pages of our research group @hkilabornithology.bsky.social @nathist.bsky.social @helsinkiuni.bsky.social have been updated, incl. a video about our work. Please have a look!
www.helsinki.fi/en/researchg...
youtu.be/ugiyHy86taw
www.helsinki.fi/en/researchg...
youtu.be/ugiyHy86taw
January 14, 2025 at 2:23 PM
The web-pages of our research group @hkilabornithology.bsky.social @nathist.bsky.social @helsinkiuni.bsky.social have been updated, incl. a video about our work. Please have a look!
www.helsinki.fi/en/researchg...
youtu.be/ugiyHy86taw
www.helsinki.fi/en/researchg...
youtu.be/ugiyHy86taw
Reposted by Becca Ralston
2024 daily temperatures compared to past years. A frightening graphic from the BBC. #ClimateEmergency
January 11, 2025 at 12:12 PM
2024 daily temperatures compared to past years. A frightening graphic from the BBC. #ClimateEmergency