Jack Smith

Very happy person holds a craft beer can with a Kakapo label on it in a brewery pub booth. Proudly posing with can as of it's a can they brewed themselves, but in reality they just love fat green parrots.

Moved to Sheffield! Went for drinks in the spot we always go when visiting (shout-out Triple Point Brewery). Turns out they have a Kākāpō wheat beer! Shame it's one of the 2 out of 7 days of the week where I'm not wearing a Kākāpō shirt, but I'm treating seeing this as a sign of good times ahead 🦜

Petition for future palaeontologists to name the golden age of birds the Tarsometatarstical period.

Also actual answer was Carboniferous for those interested.

New favourite wrong answer on a quiz show. Celebrity Mastermind, specialist subject was 'Sharks'.

Q: 'Which geologic period, that ended around 300 million years ago, is sometimes known as "The golden age of sharks"?'

Contestant's answer: 'The Metatarstical [sic] period.'

www.doc.govt.nz/news/media-r...

Thankfully they sent this out before midnight here because I audibly cheered when I got the email notification. Is this what football fans feel like when their team scores a goal? GWAN THE FECKIN' KĀKĀPŌ!

Kakapo at an all time high while I'm at an all time low mentally feels like it's a sign to help me, BIG KAKAPO 2026 is my driving force going forward this year LETS FUCKING GOOOOOO

I was so lucky to be part of @nhcooper123.bsky.social lab group when the 'greasefish' was an amazing topic of conversation. What a bizarre and unfortunately likely extinct creature! The folds instantly reminded me of the breadbugs in Pikmin... Really fun episode as always!

A kākāpō on a nest with two eggs. Credit: Andrew Digby

Three more #kakapo nests found on Pukenui/Anchor Island yesterday. Here's Konini with her two eggs. We have found nests for 26 out of the 36 adult females on the island, with more to come in the next few days. It's a big year! #conservation #kakapo2026 A

I don't even know how I'm supposed to play Wingspan with over like 500 cards. Do I play with subsets of cards? Primary reason I bought them is because I just like looking at pretty bird art on cards. Well worth picking up.

A screenshot from yet another anti-trans opinion piece in the Irish media, this time from The Irish Times. It reads, "The department has not issued guidelines on transgender students since 2016. These guidelines are under review by Maynooth University, but the landscape has changed greatly since then. The UK Cass Review is central to that change. Not only does the Know Your Rights guide not reference it, but it also acts as if it never happened."

The eagerness of some people for Ireland to follow the UK in its anti-trans crusade is genuinely worrying.

If the UK jumped off a cliff are we supposed to follow?

‘It left me traumatised’: The barriers to accessing transgender healthcare in Ireland The HSE has admitted that transgender healthcare is ‘limited’ and is ‘not meeting people’s full range of needs’.

The compassion is basically because Ireland is somehow worse than TERF island for trans healthcare... 10+ year waiting lists. Hope it gets upended completely. www.thejournal.ie/investigates...
Worth reading this series of articles from @conorocarroll.bsky.social, tough read but gives hope for change

Very scary in UK. Only good news I've seen is Irish government has been very good recently on trans rights and are trying for reform after recent investigation that uncovered how horrible trans healthcare is here. The subject was met with a lot of compassion and I hope that reflects to the UK.

My favourite day of any conference I've been to! Thank you so much to the excellent speakers and organisers for some truly brilliant talks.

Our first Bluesky presenter of #BOUasm25, YaHsin’s Lu’s presentation “From Roadside to Research: How Public Engagement and Veterinary Science are Transforming Avian Specimen Collection in a Changing World”

@cindy841123.bsky.social #BOUasm25 #ornithology #collections

The Gearagh in Ireland, an alluvial forest that was flooded for a dam, was a one of a kind habitat in Europe (still kinda is) that I wish got more attention internationally. The landscape would really suit documentaries because of how ghostly and 'lunar' it looks. A few great books about it though!

I'm really surprised about cormorants. Especially with flightless cormorant being on the no-mention list, now there's a flightless seabird I want to know more about than penguins!

Too slow noooooo

Had to figure this one out because of the Rakiura mention (Kākāpo brained), Mottled Petrel (Pterodroma inexpectata)?

I was gifted this by a ranger in the zoo I worked at before I went to NHM for my Masters 2 years ago as a congrats gift. Have a lot of fondness for it because of that, it was an interesting look at the history of the place I was about to join, but I completely agree with your assessment.

Yet more proof that ankylosaurs are the COOLEST extinct dinosaurs. Fascinating stuff, if I could be transported back to a point and place in time it would be a hard contest between going back to see this, Borealopelta or Jakapil (outside of Thyreophorans I'd go for Simosuchus and Desmatosuchus!)

It is probably the best part of the temp check but there's just something special about the forward-facing chaffinch of despair.

A photo of a Canary Islands chaffinch (Fringilla canariensis) facing towards the camera in a way that is comical. The text reads 'Despair'.

No context chaffinch temperature check from today's lab meeting.

Listen to this episode of @perfect-specimen.bsky.social because it might be the best yet. Aardvark cucumbers, a specimen that most Irish people would call 'unreliable', and morbid space monkey deaths told in rapid succession to the point I couldn't tell whether to laugh or cry. RIP all the Alberts!

If there was ONE thing you wish people knew about the Natural History Museum - whether it's a fact about its history, an old exhibit, just something people might have no idea about when they visit - what would it be? Alternatively, just a fact you wish everyone knew about your favourite taxa!

Long-term parasite decline associated with near extinction and conservation of the critically endangered kākāpō parrot Boast et al. analyze a unique fecal record of the endangered kākāpō parrot to reveal >800 years of changing parasite communities. Parasite losses occur during the species’ decline to near extinction a...

Parasite extinctions in threatened species may be far more prevalent than previous estimates suggest. Our new study of kākāpō dung spanning from ~1,500 years ago to present, finds >80% of parasite species were lost as the host species declined.

Josh doesn't care about T. rex lips | The 'Perfect' Specimen Ep5 YouTube video by Natural History Museum

It’s our most controversial episode yet! What do Josh and Natalie think is OVERRATED? Do you agree???

m.youtube.com/watch?v=2IKx...

Might have been digging deep for some controversial thoughts lol, they're still one of my favourite birds to see! But I just think if I as being honest with myself a lot of the other kingfishers are even better. Always love seeing them in museums and parks.

I'm pretty sure I have seen pics of golden-collared manakins before tbf, but I can only hold so much knowledge in my head so when I see a bird doing something phenomenal I may have seen before my brain still goes crazy.

My favourite thing about birds is I probably spend 60% of my time thinking about them and yet every day I find a new one. 'This can't be real' I say, 'I would have heard about this'. And it's always real and so weird and brilliant. Silly creatures with endless forms most wonderful.

Must read regarding Colossal's moa news. I unfortunately find it hard to not just be angry at anything 'de-extinction' related (I think I resonate with the second comment most...), so it's always fantastic to have level-headed takes from experts on the issue!

My more controversial (and birdy) answer that I don't know I can stand by is Eurasian kingfisher... Like, on paper many others in the same family are soooo much cooler, but I don't know if I can call it overrated when it would still make me giddy with excitement if I saw one in person again 😂