Nicole Gerlach
@ngerlach.bsky.social
Behavioral ecologist, evolutionary organismal biologist (birds, other verts, & critters in general), & educator. Aspiring Ms. Frizzle. Avid reader. Seeker of tiny moments of joy and magic. she/her.
Comments, opinions, & photos my own.
Comments, opinions, & photos my own.
#LocalVertDiversity 36. Downy Woodpecker male (Dryobates pubescens)
I just learned that Downys are not particularly closely related to Hairy Woodpeckers, which are almost identical except they've got bigger bills and are bigger overall, which absolutely blows my mind. Evolution's so neat. #birds 🪶
I just learned that Downys are not particularly closely related to Hairy Woodpeckers, which are almost identical except they've got bigger bills and are bigger overall, which absolutely blows my mind. Evolution's so neat. #birds 🪶
November 24, 2025 at 6:32 PM
#LocalVertDiversity 36. Downy Woodpecker male (Dryobates pubescens)
I just learned that Downys are not particularly closely related to Hairy Woodpeckers, which are almost identical except they've got bigger bills and are bigger overall, which absolutely blows my mind. Evolution's so neat. #birds 🪶
I just learned that Downys are not particularly closely related to Hairy Woodpeckers, which are almost identical except they've got bigger bills and are bigger overall, which absolutely blows my mind. Evolution's so neat. #birds 🪶
I’d seen the cool spiky egg sacs of the Brown Widow (Latrodectus geometricus) before, but this was the first time I’ve seen some with mom guarding them! #spider 🕷️📸
(They’re related to black widows but Wikipedia says their bites are “painful but not dangerous”. I’ll take their word for it.)
(They’re related to black widows but Wikipedia says their bites are “painful but not dangerous”. I’ll take their word for it.)
November 21, 2025 at 2:17 PM
I’d seen the cool spiky egg sacs of the Brown Widow (Latrodectus geometricus) before, but this was the first time I’ve seen some with mom guarding them! #spider 🕷️📸
(They’re related to black widows but Wikipedia says their bites are “painful but not dangerous”. I’ll take their word for it.)
(They’re related to black widows but Wikipedia says their bites are “painful but not dangerous”. I’ll take their word for it.)
The Vert Diversity #mammal lab really does have a bunch of neat specimens. This is our station on bacula, which is the penis bone found in many species of mammals. The big one is from a walrus, the curved one in the box is from a raccoon, and the squirrel mount has the baculum in situ! 1/3 #anatomy
November 20, 2025 at 8:06 PM
#LocalVertDiversity 35. Some kind of mouse (superfamily Muroidea)
Only a crop of the picture today, since the whole thing's a little gory. 😔 (Full pic's on iNat if you can help ID, though!) I found it near a house that has a semi-feral cat colony. Keep your cats indoors, folks!
Only a crop of the picture today, since the whole thing's a little gory. 😔 (Full pic's on iNat if you can help ID, though!) I found it near a house that has a semi-feral cat colony. Keep your cats indoors, folks!
November 20, 2025 at 4:34 PM
#LocalVertDiversity 35. Some kind of mouse (superfamily Muroidea)
Only a crop of the picture today, since the whole thing's a little gory. 😔 (Full pic's on iNat if you can help ID, though!) I found it near a house that has a semi-feral cat colony. Keep your cats indoors, folks!
Only a crop of the picture today, since the whole thing's a little gory. 😔 (Full pic's on iNat if you can help ID, though!) I found it near a house that has a semi-feral cat colony. Keep your cats indoors, folks!
#LocalVertDiversity 34. Pileated Woodpecker (Dryocopus pileatus)
I first encountered pilateds while doing fieldwork in a large, remote, protected National Forest, so I was shocked when I moved to Florida and they're just... in my backyard. #birds 🪶
I first encountered pilateds while doing fieldwork in a large, remote, protected National Forest, so I was shocked when I moved to Florida and they're just... in my backyard. #birds 🪶
November 19, 2025 at 5:45 PM
#LocalVertDiversity 34. Pileated Woodpecker (Dryocopus pileatus)
I first encountered pilateds while doing fieldwork in a large, remote, protected National Forest, so I was shocked when I moved to Florida and they're just... in my backyard. #birds 🪶
I first encountered pilateds while doing fieldwork in a large, remote, protected National Forest, so I was shocked when I moved to Florida and they're just... in my backyard. #birds 🪶
#LocalVertDiversity 33. Domestic Cat (Felis catus)
Following the iNaturalist rules for what counts as wild vs. captive observations (is the animal at that place/time under its own power or because a human put it there), the feral campus cats count towards our class project, although pet cats don't.
Following the iNaturalist rules for what counts as wild vs. captive observations (is the animal at that place/time under its own power or because a human put it there), the feral campus cats count towards our class project, although pet cats don't.
November 18, 2025 at 8:20 PM
#LocalVertDiversity 33. Domestic Cat (Felis catus)
Following the iNaturalist rules for what counts as wild vs. captive observations (is the animal at that place/time under its own power or because a human put it there), the feral campus cats count towards our class project, although pet cats don't.
Following the iNaturalist rules for what counts as wild vs. captive observations (is the animal at that place/time under its own power or because a human put it there), the feral campus cats count towards our class project, although pet cats don't.
I am very behind on my #LocalVertDiversity posting. Time to catch up!
32. Mourning Dove (Zenaida macroura). The sound that their wings make upon takeoff is potentially used as a signal/cue to other birds about the presence of a predator. (In this case, me and my dog.) #birds 🪶
32. Mourning Dove (Zenaida macroura). The sound that their wings make upon takeoff is potentially used as a signal/cue to other birds about the presence of a predator. (In this case, me and my dog.) #birds 🪶
November 18, 2025 at 7:21 PM
I am very behind on my #LocalVertDiversity posting. Time to catch up!
32. Mourning Dove (Zenaida macroura). The sound that their wings make upon takeoff is potentially used as a signal/cue to other birds about the presence of a predator. (In this case, me and my dog.) #birds 🪶
32. Mourning Dove (Zenaida macroura). The sound that their wings make upon takeoff is potentially used as a signal/cue to other birds about the presence of a predator. (In this case, me and my dog.) #birds 🪶
This can’t possibly be what Past Me was referring to, but I love that the textbook authors thought it worth noting that pelycosaurs (including sailbacks like Dimetrodon) did not have an ass.
November 17, 2025 at 3:40 PM
This can’t possibly be what Past Me was referring to, but I love that the textbook authors thought it worth noting that pelycosaurs (including sailbacks like Dimetrodon) did not have an ass.
I preordered Amanda Gorman’s Call Us What We Carry shortly after Biden’s inauguration. When it arrived in Dec 2021, I read maybe 30 pages, but the various hurts of the pandemic were still too raw for me, and I had to put it down. 1/3
#books 💙📚
#books 💙📚
November 16, 2025 at 10:25 PM
I preordered Amanda Gorman’s Call Us What We Carry shortly after Biden’s inauguration. When it arrived in Dec 2021, I read maybe 30 pages, but the various hurts of the pandemic were still too raw for me, and I had to put it down. 1/3
#books 💙📚
#books 💙📚
Some alligator and softshell turtle zen for your weekend. 🐊🐢
November 15, 2025 at 7:27 PM
Some alligator and softshell turtle zen for your weekend. 🐊🐢
Are they, though?
(FD5, at least. I still haven’t watched Bloodlines.)
(FD5, at least. I still haven’t watched Bloodlines.)
November 15, 2025 at 4:21 AM
Are they, though?
(FD5, at least. I still haven’t watched Bloodlines.)
(FD5, at least. I still haven’t watched Bloodlines.)
Am I too late for more snailposting? Although, isn’t late snailposting really capturing the true essence of snailposting? 🐌
These Ghost Bulimuluses (Bulimuli?) (Bulimulus bonariensis) were having an all-ages snail party on this mural yesterday morning.
These Ghost Bulimuluses (Bulimuli?) (Bulimulus bonariensis) were having an all-ages snail party on this mural yesterday morning.
November 14, 2025 at 3:40 PM
Am I too late for more snailposting? Although, isn’t late snailposting really capturing the true essence of snailposting? 🐌
These Ghost Bulimuluses (Bulimuli?) (Bulimulus bonariensis) were having an all-ages snail party on this mural yesterday morning.
These Ghost Bulimuluses (Bulimuli?) (Bulimulus bonariensis) were having an all-ages snail party on this mural yesterday morning.
I’m wearing a new pair of sexually dimorphic earrings today, and the desire to have them facing each other is warring with the voice in my head insisting that “ladies go on the LEFT!” (our mnemonic for which of a bird’s legs gets the numbered silver band.)
November 13, 2025 at 4:21 PM
I’m wearing a new pair of sexually dimorphic earrings today, and the desire to have them facing each other is warring with the voice in my head insisting that “ladies go on the LEFT!” (our mnemonic for which of a bird’s legs gets the numbered silver band.)
Hmm, goombas do kind of have fangs…
November 11, 2025 at 3:27 PM
Hmm, goombas do kind of have fangs…
*sighs in zoology professor*
November 11, 2025 at 3:04 PM
*sighs in zoology professor*
#LocalVertDiversity 31. Little Blue Heron (Egretta caerulea)
Not the most illustrative picture, I know (adults are slaty blue with maroon-tinted necks and heads, not that you can tell that here). I usually see them much more frequently, but somehow this is the only one I've found this semester. 🪶
Not the most illustrative picture, I know (adults are slaty blue with maroon-tinted necks and heads, not that you can tell that here). I usually see them much more frequently, but somehow this is the only one I've found this semester. 🪶
November 10, 2025 at 5:23 PM
#LocalVertDiversity 31. Little Blue Heron (Egretta caerulea)
Not the most illustrative picture, I know (adults are slaty blue with maroon-tinted necks and heads, not that you can tell that here). I usually see them much more frequently, but somehow this is the only one I've found this semester. 🪶
Not the most illustrative picture, I know (adults are slaty blue with maroon-tinted necks and heads, not that you can tell that here). I usually see them much more frequently, but somehow this is the only one I've found this semester. 🪶
Old pictures of two of my local favorites, the Manatee Treesnail (Antidrymaeus dormani), which is endemic to FL, and the Rosy Wolfsnail (Euglandina rosea), a predator of other snails. 🐌
November 9, 2025 at 3:23 PM
Old pictures of two of my local favorites, the Manatee Treesnail (Antidrymaeus dormani), which is endemic to FL, and the Rosy Wolfsnail (Euglandina rosea), a predator of other snails. 🐌
#LocalVertDiversity 30. Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis)
Like the squirrel, this is another species that I see pretty much every day, but didn't realize until a month into the semester that I should take a picture of it so it could count towards my list.
Like the squirrel, this is another species that I see pretty much every day, but didn't realize until a month into the semester that I should take a picture of it so it could count towards my list.
November 6, 2025 at 7:54 PM
#LocalVertDiversity 30. Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis)
Like the squirrel, this is another species that I see pretty much every day, but didn't realize until a month into the semester that I should take a picture of it so it could count towards my list.
Like the squirrel, this is another species that I see pretty much every day, but didn't realize until a month into the semester that I should take a picture of it so it could count towards my list.
Here's the slide I made when we were online during COVID, but it's so much more fun to make students do it in person. Once full-speed, then once in slow-mo so you can talk about what's happening at each step.
I think it's one of the best teaching brainwaves (ha!) that I've ever had.
I think it's one of the best teaching brainwaves (ha!) that I've ever had.
November 5, 2025 at 4:06 PM
Here's the slide I made when we were online during COVID, but it's so much more fun to make students do it in person. Once full-speed, then once in slow-mo so you can talk about what's happening at each step.
I think it's one of the best teaching brainwaves (ha!) that I've ever had.
I think it's one of the best teaching brainwaves (ha!) that I've ever had.
#LocalVertDiversity 29. Marsh Rabbit (Sylvilagus palustris)
Marsh rabbit range overlaps with cottontails, but they’ve got stubbier ears and limbs, and are supposedly good swimmers.
This little buddy was feeling bold that day! Helps that the dog was asleep in another room.
#wildlife #mammal 🐇
Marsh rabbit range overlaps with cottontails, but they’ve got stubbier ears and limbs, and are supposedly good swimmers.
This little buddy was feeling bold that day! Helps that the dog was asleep in another room.
#wildlife #mammal 🐇
November 3, 2025 at 5:08 PM
#LocalVertDiversity 29. Marsh Rabbit (Sylvilagus palustris)
Marsh rabbit range overlaps with cottontails, but they’ve got stubbier ears and limbs, and are supposedly good swimmers.
This little buddy was feeling bold that day! Helps that the dog was asleep in another room.
#wildlife #mammal 🐇
Marsh rabbit range overlaps with cottontails, but they’ve got stubbier ears and limbs, and are supposedly good swimmers.
This little buddy was feeling bold that day! Helps that the dog was asleep in another room.
#wildlife #mammal 🐇
November 2, 2025 at 4:11 PM
Wishing everyone a very batty Halloween! 🦇🦇🦇
November 1, 2025 at 12:04 AM
Wishing everyone a very batty Halloween! 🦇🦇🦇
Duolingo, un ver de terre n’est pas un insecte! Tous les invertébrés ne sont pas des insectes!
I almost flagged it, but there’s no option for “your biology is terribly incorrect.”
I almost flagged it, but there’s no option for “your biology is terribly incorrect.”
October 31, 2025 at 3:19 AM
Duolingo, un ver de terre n’est pas un insecte! Tous les invertébrés ne sont pas des insectes!
I almost flagged it, but there’s no option for “your biology is terribly incorrect.”
I almost flagged it, but there’s no option for “your biology is terribly incorrect.”