Samuel Jones
@seijones.bsky.social
Ornithologist with a penchant for tropical forests, mountains, avian life-histories and most things in-between. NSF Postdoctoral Fellow @GeorgiaTech.
Reposted by Samuel Jones
excellent new paper by Sam well summarized in this nice thread --- a TON of hard work went into testing these major hypotheses for range limits
Check out our new paper in @royalsociety.org testing mechanisms behind elevational range restriction in tropical montane songbirds! ⛰️🦜🌳
Backstory: when i first visited Central America in the early 2010's i was struck with elevational ranges of birds..
royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...
Backstory: when i first visited Central America in the early 2010's i was struck with elevational ranges of birds..
royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...
Testing the thermal physiology, habitat and competition hypotheses for elevational range limits in four tropical songbirds | Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
Restricted elevational ranges are common across tropical montane species, but the
mechanisms generating and maintaining these patterns remain poorly resolved. A long-standing
hypothesis is that specia...
royalsocietypublishing.org
November 12, 2025 at 8:54 PM
excellent new paper by Sam well summarized in this nice thread --- a TON of hard work went into testing these major hypotheses for range limits
Check out our new paper in @royalsociety.org testing mechanisms behind elevational range restriction in tropical montane songbirds! ⛰️🦜🌳
Backstory: when i first visited Central America in the early 2010's i was struck with elevational ranges of birds..
royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...
Backstory: when i first visited Central America in the early 2010's i was struck with elevational ranges of birds..
royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...
Testing the thermal physiology, habitat and competition hypotheses for elevational range limits in four tropical songbirds | Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
Restricted elevational ranges are common across tropical montane species, but the
mechanisms generating and maintaining these patterns remain poorly resolved. A long-standing
hypothesis is that specia...
royalsocietypublishing.org
November 12, 2025 at 8:46 PM
Check out our new paper in @royalsociety.org testing mechanisms behind elevational range restriction in tropical montane songbirds! ⛰️🦜🌳
Backstory: when i first visited Central America in the early 2010's i was struck with elevational ranges of birds..
royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...
Backstory: when i first visited Central America in the early 2010's i was struck with elevational ranges of birds..
royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...
Reposted by Samuel Jones
🦎THREAD: We just published something wild in @asn-amnat.bsky.social - lizards missing entire limbs not only survive, but some appear to actually thrive in the wild?!
Let me tell you about the "three-legged pirate" lizards 🏴☠️
[Paper: www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/... ]
(1/n)
Let me tell you about the "three-legged pirate" lizards 🏴☠️
[Paper: www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/... ]
(1/n)
October 14, 2025 at 1:52 PM
🦎THREAD: We just published something wild in @asn-amnat.bsky.social - lizards missing entire limbs not only survive, but some appear to actually thrive in the wild?!
Let me tell you about the "three-legged pirate" lizards 🏴☠️
[Paper: www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/... ]
(1/n)
Let me tell you about the "three-legged pirate" lizards 🏴☠️
[Paper: www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/... ]
(1/n)
Novel game idea: geoguessing but with eBird checklists 🌎 🦢
July 17, 2025 at 1:30 AM
Novel game idea: geoguessing but with eBird checklists 🌎 🦢
Reposted by Samuel Jones
Our paper about the flow of nocturnal bird migration through Colombia is finally out today in #ProcB! Using weather radars operated by the #IDEAM, we found that low variability in wind underlies a pace of migration that is far more gradual than at temperate latitudes. #Ornithology 📡🪶🇨🇴
🧵1/10
🧵1/10
June 11, 2025 at 12:53 PM
Our paper about the flow of nocturnal bird migration through Colombia is finally out today in #ProcB! Using weather radars operated by the #IDEAM, we found that low variability in wind underlies a pace of migration that is far more gradual than at temperate latitudes. #Ornithology 📡🪶🇨🇴
🧵1/10
🧵1/10
Reposted by Samuel Jones
We've just launched AviList! - the new unified global taxonomic checklist for the world's birds, developed through the Working Group on Avian Classification, including BirdLife, Cornell Lab of Ornithology, IOC and others @birdlifeglobal.bsky.social @birdsoftheworld.bsky.social www.avilist.org
June 11, 2025 at 2:44 PM
We've just launched AviList! - the new unified global taxonomic checklist for the world's birds, developed through the Working Group on Avian Classification, including BirdLife, Cornell Lab of Ornithology, IOC and others @birdlifeglobal.bsky.social @birdsoftheworld.bsky.social www.avilist.org
Reposted by Samuel Jones
My student Vanessa Perez is analyzing hundreds of photos of the Barred Fruiteater. If you have some, you can help her fill some geographic gaps. A cool story is unwrapping ⛰️🪶 Please share! #birds #ornithology #speciation #andes
May 22, 2025 at 1:31 PM
My student Vanessa Perez is analyzing hundreds of photos of the Barred Fruiteater. If you have some, you can help her fill some geographic gaps. A cool story is unwrapping ⛰️🪶 Please share! #birds #ornithology #speciation #andes
Reposted by Samuel Jones
🚨New paper alert!🚨
We show that hummingbird beaks have changed in shape & size since around WWII, driven by the rise of commercialized feeders! 🧵
📄 Paper: dx.doi.org/10.1111/gcb....
#ornithology #evolution #GlobalChangeBiology
We show that hummingbird beaks have changed in shape & size since around WWII, driven by the rise of commercialized feeders! 🧵
📄 Paper: dx.doi.org/10.1111/gcb....
#ornithology #evolution #GlobalChangeBiology
Supplemental Feeding as a Driver of Population Expansion and Morphological Change in Anna's Hummingbirds
Bird beaks are highly adaptable, with the potential to undergo rapid morphological shifts in response to environmental change such as climatic variation or food availability. Anna's Hummingbirds (Cal...
dx.doi.org
May 21, 2025 at 1:20 PM
🚨New paper alert!🚨
We show that hummingbird beaks have changed in shape & size since around WWII, driven by the rise of commercialized feeders! 🧵
📄 Paper: dx.doi.org/10.1111/gcb....
#ornithology #evolution #GlobalChangeBiology
We show that hummingbird beaks have changed in shape & size since around WWII, driven by the rise of commercialized feeders! 🧵
📄 Paper: dx.doi.org/10.1111/gcb....
#ornithology #evolution #GlobalChangeBiology
Pleased to contribute some long(ish..) term data from Honduras as part of BioTIME 2.0: a terrific dataset ripe for all sorts of questions! onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Also another wake up call as to the massive biological data gaps across equatorial Africa (and the tropics in general)..
Also another wake up call as to the massive biological data gaps across equatorial Africa (and the tropics in general)..
May 20, 2025 at 5:42 PM
Pleased to contribute some long(ish..) term data from Honduras as part of BioTIME 2.0: a terrific dataset ripe for all sorts of questions! onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Also another wake up call as to the massive biological data gaps across equatorial Africa (and the tropics in general)..
Also another wake up call as to the massive biological data gaps across equatorial Africa (and the tropics in general)..
Reposted by Samuel Jones
It's that dreaded time of the year when one has to sort thru Willow and Alder Flycatchers. Primary tip spacing can make one's life much easier as outlined in Andrew Birch's and my article in Western Birds. Photo below from @evornithology.bsky.social static1.squarespace.com/static/54b9b...
May 17, 2025 at 1:39 PM
It's that dreaded time of the year when one has to sort thru Willow and Alder Flycatchers. Primary tip spacing can make one's life much easier as outlined in Andrew Birch's and my article in Western Birds. Photo below from @evornithology.bsky.social static1.squarespace.com/static/54b9b...
Seemingly another one of Africa’s avian enigmas resolved!
Just uploaded to @biorxivpreprint.bsky.social
'Genetic and morphological analysis shows the Nechisar Nightjar is a hybrid'
with Thom Shannon and Hein van Grouw
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
1/3
'Genetic and morphological analysis shows the Nechisar Nightjar is a hybrid'
with Thom Shannon and Hein van Grouw
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
1/3
Genetic and morphological analysis shows the Nechisar Nightjar is a hybrid
The Nechisar Nightjar Caprimulgus solala was described only from a single wing collected as roadkill from Nechisar National Park in Ethiopia in 1990. To resolve its taxonomic status a sample was taken...
www.biorxiv.org
May 9, 2025 at 8:16 AM
Seemingly another one of Africa’s avian enigmas resolved!
Reposted by Samuel Jones
Another birding paper! 🐦 Where do the Nearctic landbirds that show up in Europe each autumn come from? We usually assume they come from NE populations, pushed off course by bad weather - but is that the whole story? #ornithology 1/3
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
May 5, 2025 at 9:22 AM
Another birding paper! 🐦 Where do the Nearctic landbirds that show up in Europe each autumn come from? We usually assume they come from NE populations, pushed off course by bad weather - but is that the whole story? #ornithology 1/3
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Liquid whistles of Swainson’s Warbler.. fast becoming one of my favourite birds of the south eastern bottomland forests of the US..
April 25, 2025 at 6:37 PM
Liquid whistles of Swainson’s Warbler.. fast becoming one of my favourite birds of the south eastern bottomland forests of the US..
Of which the epithet solala means only one wing!
forever flying in circles..
Recent searches on the Nechisar plain to find it have still drawn a blank 🤔
forever flying in circles..
Recent searches on the Nechisar plain to find it have still drawn a blank 🤔
TIL there's a whole-ass nightjar species described from one random wing found on the side of the road in Ethiopia
birdsoftheworld.org/bow/species/...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
birdsoftheworld.org/bow/species/...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
March 27, 2025 at 2:16 PM
Of which the epithet solala means only one wing!
forever flying in circles..
Recent searches on the Nechisar plain to find it have still drawn a blank 🤔
forever flying in circles..
Recent searches on the Nechisar plain to find it have still drawn a blank 🤔
Reposted by Samuel Jones
Our recent paper made the cover of Ornithological Applications! We used Bayesian hierarchical mark-recapture modelling to understand demographic rates across an elevational gradient in Honduras. @amornith.bsky.social @seijones.bsky.social. Check out the paper: doi.org/10.1093/orni...
February 14, 2025 at 3:48 PM
Our recent paper made the cover of Ornithological Applications! We used Bayesian hierarchical mark-recapture modelling to understand demographic rates across an elevational gradient in Honduras. @amornith.bsky.social @seijones.bsky.social. Check out the paper: doi.org/10.1093/orni...
Reposted by Samuel Jones
Whenever I hear someone say that ebird data sucks and is unreliable, it tells me that they are repeating something they were told 15 years ago, and that they haven’t read any of the truly groundbreaking methods developments that have made ebird one of the best macroecological datasets on earth
other fun facts I learned today is that ebird data is garbage and too low quality to be used for anything
and spatial products for good abiotic data are not available at resolutions <1km 🫠
News to me!
and spatial products for good abiotic data are not available at resolutions <1km 🫠
News to me!
February 12, 2025 at 4:56 AM
Whenever I hear someone say that ebird data sucks and is unreliable, it tells me that they are repeating something they were told 15 years ago, and that they haven’t read any of the truly groundbreaking methods developments that have made ebird one of the best macroecological datasets on earth
A lot of different people have been saying this in different ways.. for a long time
If you did not read this paper, please do!!! Fieldwork needs to be recognized as a valuable and tangible aspects of science! Funding agency needs to start to value this more or....
Extinction of experience among ecologists sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Extinction of experience among ecologists sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Extinction of experience among ecologists
Fieldwork-based research and education in ecology are under multiple threats and are progressively declining. We call for greater attention to this on…
sciencedirect.com
February 8, 2025 at 3:18 PM
A lot of different people have been saying this in different ways.. for a long time
Anyone reading this know anything about this paper in Bill ABC?! Would love to hear more if so!
January 24, 2025 at 12:24 AM
Anyone reading this know anything about this paper in Bill ABC?! Would love to hear more if so!
🚨Elite.. comparable to Cocha Cashu 1982 big day record!
OK, mind blown... A single site, *on foot* big day record of 345 species on this eBird checklist!
ebird.org/checklist/S2...
ebird.org/checklist/S2...
eBird Checklist - 23 Jul 2015 - Los Amigos Biological Station (CICRA) - 345 species (+1 other taxa)
Submitted by Sean Williams.
ebird.org
January 6, 2025 at 1:05 AM
🚨Elite.. comparable to Cocha Cashu 1982 big day record!
200% all killer no filler
December 23, 2024 at 4:26 AM
200% all killer no filler
Big fan of the (new?) aberrant plumage tag on Macauley library - some enjoyable perusing of some avian weirdos tagging some of my own images..
search.macaulaylibrary.org/catalog?tag=...
search.macaulaylibrary.org/catalog?tag=...
December 6, 2024 at 6:10 PM
Big fan of the (new?) aberrant plumage tag on Macauley library - some enjoyable perusing of some avian weirdos tagging some of my own images..
search.macaulaylibrary.org/catalog?tag=...
search.macaulaylibrary.org/catalog?tag=...
Reposted by Samuel Jones
cool paper alert
authors compared modern eBird records to info from historical bird atlas from 1970s to infer distributional changes in Kenyan birds
lots of cool results, including expansions in introduced sp (lots of green on maps below)
admirably concise and clear as well
authors compared modern eBird records to info from historical bird atlas from 1970s to infer distributional changes in Kenyan birds
lots of cool results, including expansions in introduced sp (lots of green on maps below)
admirably concise and clear as well
December 5, 2024 at 2:03 PM
cool paper alert
authors compared modern eBird records to info from historical bird atlas from 1970s to infer distributional changes in Kenyan birds
lots of cool results, including expansions in introduced sp (lots of green on maps below)
admirably concise and clear as well
authors compared modern eBird records to info from historical bird atlas from 1970s to infer distributional changes in Kenyan birds
lots of cool results, including expansions in introduced sp (lots of green on maps below)
admirably concise and clear as well
Still reigning 👸
We humbly interrupt your scroll to bring you the news that Wisdom—the world's oldest known wild bird—is breeding again, age 74.
Go on girl. 😍
Go on girl. 😍
December 4, 2024 at 7:32 PM
Still reigning 👸
🚨🦜🗻Check out our new paper on demographic rates of tropical birds along elevation in Cusuco NP, Honduras. Props to @mhcneateclegg.bsky.social
for leading the analytical charge! @amornith.bsky.social
See linked thread for paper coverage - here for a bit of background.. 1/5
doi.org/10.1093/orni...
for leading the analytical charge! @amornith.bsky.social
See linked thread for paper coverage - here for a bit of background.. 1/5
doi.org/10.1093/orni...
🚨Kicking off my Bluesky life, I present our study in @amornith.bsky.social! We use Bayesian multi-species mark-recapture (CMR) models to assess avian demographic rates across an elevational gradient in Honduras! @samuel-ei-jones.bsky.social, @jsaracco.bsky.social 🧵(1/7) doi.org/10.1093/orni...
November 21, 2024 at 7:17 PM
🚨🦜🗻Check out our new paper on demographic rates of tropical birds along elevation in Cusuco NP, Honduras. Props to @mhcneateclegg.bsky.social
for leading the analytical charge! @amornith.bsky.social
See linked thread for paper coverage - here for a bit of background.. 1/5
doi.org/10.1093/orni...
for leading the analytical charge! @amornith.bsky.social
See linked thread for paper coverage - here for a bit of background.. 1/5
doi.org/10.1093/orni...
Reposted by Samuel Jones
🚨Kicking off my Bluesky life, I present our study in @amornith.bsky.social! We use Bayesian multi-species mark-recapture (CMR) models to assess avian demographic rates across an elevational gradient in Honduras! @samuel-ei-jones.bsky.social, @jsaracco.bsky.social 🧵(1/7) doi.org/10.1093/orni...
November 14, 2024 at 3:21 PM
🚨Kicking off my Bluesky life, I present our study in @amornith.bsky.social! We use Bayesian multi-species mark-recapture (CMR) models to assess avian demographic rates across an elevational gradient in Honduras! @samuel-ei-jones.bsky.social, @jsaracco.bsky.social 🧵(1/7) doi.org/10.1093/orni...