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Michaël Nicolaï @michaelnicolai.bsky.social · 1d

Hopefully it will stay a bit longer like last year and you can see it in it's full glory!

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Michaël Nicolaï @michaelnicolai.bsky.social · 4d

The answer is ´no´. As a rooteater: is it worth the effort?

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Michaël Nicolaï @michaelnicolai.bsky.social · 7d

Any idea about the densities of this phenomenon (in km² or km³)?

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Michaël Nicolaï @michaelnicolai.bsky.social · 9d

Is looking for iridescent plumage, but then finding an iridescent bill one? Or dark skin in one specimen resulting in finding that it's actually wide spread?

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Michaël Nicolaï @michaelnicolai.bsky.social · 9d

I'm not comparing myself to Darwin "But I am very poorly today & very stupid & hate everybody & everything."

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Will Allen @wlallen.bsky.social · 13d

📢🦋 Our paper ‘Global selection on insect antipredator coloration’ is out and featured on the cover of @science.org

We ran a huge experiment to find out how ecological context favours camouflage and warning colouration as antipredator strategies. 1/6

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

A white-fronted bee-eater (Merops bullockoides) decides whether to consume a warningly colored white-barred acraea butterfly (Telchinia encedon). Photo (c) Mike Rowe

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Michaël Nicolaï @michaelnicolai.bsky.social · 14d

Every year again, this blows my mind. At the same a gentle reminder that one upon a time there were over a BILLION passenger pigeons alone. What we are seeing now is probably just a fraction of what we had before 😱

Kyle Horton @kyle-horton.bsky.social · 14d

Truly impressive number of birds migrating tonight. More than 800 MILLION birds up in the air right now❗ #BirdMigration

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aukwardjess90.bsky.social @aukwardjess90.bsky.social · 16d

In 2017, we discovered the whereabouts of the last known male #greatauk 👉 tinyurl.com/3nc8s74x

Now we’ve confirmed where the last female resides…
Spoiler: she’s at @cincymuseum.bsky.social!

Read the full story here 👉 academic.oup.com/zoolinnean/a...

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Reposted by Michaël Nicolaï

Melanie Brien @melbrien.bsky.social · 15d

Funded PhD position available 🎉 Come and work with me in Helsinki to uncover the pathways producing colourful tiger moth wings. Lots of options for genomics, CRISPR, fieldwork, behaviour experiments… Email with questions! jobs.helsinki.fi/job/Helsinki...

Wood tiger moth on leaf. Photo: Juhani Maamela.

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Jessica Dobson @jessica-dobson.bsky.social · 21d

Super happy to share the first chapter of my PhD, published in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface ✨🐀 royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...
Iridescence in mammals is not as rare as we thought, but it’s all created in the same way!

Rainbow-like colours in the fur of a tropical rat (Otomys tropicalis)

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Dr Alex Bond @thelabandfield.bsky.social · 26d

Hey you. Wanna apply for a fellowship on collections? the AHRC Early career fellowships in cultural & heritage institutions are open!

The Natural History Museum priorities are below.

If you wanna talk birds, hit me up. Collectors, colonialism, Canada, Australia & more

www.ukri.org/opportunity/...

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Michaël Nicolaï @michaelnicolai.bsky.social · 28d

Mammal colours boring? Guess again (mostly a note to myself). Superstar Jess has been finding iridescence colours across mammals! royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...

Multilayer thin-film produces recurrent evolution of iridescence in mammals | Journal of The Royal Society Interface

Iridescent coloration is a vibrant structural colour that is widespread in nature, but in mammals is thought to be limited. Although multiple rodent and Eulipotyphlan species have been anecdotally des...

royalsocietypublishing.org

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Will Allen @wlallen.bsky.social · Sep 4

New paper @biolinvasions.bsky.social led by Sarah-Sophie Weil.

Can macroevolution inform contemporary invasion potential?

We outline the assumptions of this approach, assess support, then test if dispersal ability can proxy for naturalisation success in several tetrapod groups.

rdcu.be/eD9Tt

Schematic figure indicating scientific support for the assumptions underlying the relationship between diversification rate and current naturalisation potential.

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Cody Limber @codylimber.bsky.social · Aug 26

My feather cell type paper is finally out! doi.org/10.1111/ede.... We’ve packed a ton of stuff into this paper but I’ll go through some highlights in this thread!

Genetic Characterization of the Cell Types in Developing Feathers, and the Evolution of Feather Complexity

We used single cell sequencing to investigate the cell types of developing chicken feathers. From these data, we are able to describe the transcriptional profile of feather cell types, look at their ....

doi.org

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Michaël Nicolaï @michaelnicolai.bsky.social · Aug 18

My talk at #eseb2025 is over, but do come and find me if you want to talk (bird) colour!

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Michaël Nicolaï @michaelnicolai.bsky.social · Aug 13

Great thread, great paper

Jarome Ali 🇹🇹 🏳️‍🌈 @jarome.bsky.social · Aug 13

Pick an idiom: "more than meets the eye", "beauty more than skin [feather] deep" etc.

In work led by Rosalyn Price-Waldman, we describe a hidden (and ignored!) black or white layer found below the visible surface of bird feathers which helps make bird colours so striking!

🧪 🪶 #colsci

Songbirds play optical tricks to make their feather colors ‘pop’

Concealed black or white bands on feathers boost the vibrancy of bird plumage

www.science.org

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Michaël Nicolaï @michaelnicolai.bsky.social · Aug 13

Great, thanks!

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Michaël Nicolaï @michaelnicolai.bsky.social · Aug 13

"some" 😅 This is great. I remember seeing the first one and being blown away. Makes me want to go back :o Any advice on the Id of this Heterixalus (?) from Fianarantsoa?

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Michaël Nicolaï @michaelnicolai.bsky.social · Aug 12

Oh especially sad to miss the talk on white because I could come up with answer why it is either yes or no and now I'm curious what you guys found.

Michaël Nicolaï @michaelnicolai.bsky.social · Aug 11

Oh! Nice prospects for when I ever make it back to the states.

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Michaël Nicolaï @michaelnicolai.bsky.social · Aug 11

I can vouch for Insomnia cookies. Among the best I've had.

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Michaël Nicolaï @michaelnicolai.bsky.social · Aug 11

Pretty late, but I would be happy to talk about colour evolution in birds. I have worked with colleagues from UMaine before, so it would provide me with a great opportunity to finally meet in person.

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Catherine Sheard @sheardcat.bsky.social · Jul 30

New bird tree who dis.

www.cell.com/current-biol...

a figure from the linked paper, showing extremely high rates of species diversification in the higher latitudes, higher diversification in the passerines (and in the early history of the oscines), and a marked (but unevenly distributed) uptick in diversification towards the present day

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Science Magazine @science.org · Jul 25

New research in #ScienceAdvances shows that some songbirds have such bright-looking feathers by having a backdrop of black or white plumage underneath their bright feathers—an illusionary tactic of color also used by painters.

Learn more in #ScienceAdviser: scim.ag/46ZaPeM

Aptly named scarlet-rumped tanagers get their impressive red backsides because their pigmented feathers have a layer of white beneath, which enhances the rouge hue by backscattering light.

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Chris van Swaay @chrisvanswaay.bsky.social · Jul 14

Is 2025 (red lines) a good butterfly year? Yes, on Dutch Butterfly Monitoring transects there are more butterflies than in 2023 and 2024. Numbers almost exactly equal 2022. But look at the 1990s. Compared to then it is a poor butterfly year. Shifting baselines!

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