iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Robert Francis @birdhistory.bsky.social · 10h

The most triggering thing you can do to a birder is call something a "sea gull" and that's exactly what Utah's legislature did when they chose their state bird

3238

Robert Francis @birdhistory.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Here's who she married! The govt bought her family farm and turned it into a waterfowl reserve. She fell in love w/ its managing ornithologist, then they moved to MD where he ran a bird banding lab. They bought a farm where he put up birdfeeders and she had her cows 🦆♥️ 🐄

1311

Robert Francis @birdhistory.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Somehow the phrase "loco in the coco" dates back to at least 1932

020

Robert Francis @birdhistory.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Most devastating thing I've ever read

1204

Robert Francis @birdhistory.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

I’m reading the depression-era diary from a highschooler in North Dakota and it’s making me emotional

124250

Robert Francis @birdhistory.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Maybe it was true in 1876, but now we know that putting white tabs on power lines stops birds from crashing into them. And painting one wind turbine blade black stops bird collisions. And little dots on windows stop birds from hitting those too. We can learn to live with nature.

0215

Robert Francis @birdhistory.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

American imperialism is a fun jump scare in this chart of Junior Audubon membership from 1930. There were 27 junior Audubon kiddos enrolled in the "Canal Zone."

171

Robert Francis @birdhistory.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Millions of birds are still killed every year by flying into power lines (one very wide estimate puts it between 8 and 57 million). repository.si.edu/server/api/c...

182

Robert Francis @birdhistory.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

I've seen 980 kinds of birds and at least according to the first issue of Birding magazine in 1969 that would put me at #3 in the world (since then I've dropped 15,155 spots)

060

Robert Francis @birdhistory.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

always surprising to see that problems like "roadkill" are not particularly modern, this passage is from 91 years ago

031

Robert Francis @birdhistory.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

hummingbird names are a love letter to birds

13910

Reposted by Robert Francis

Chris Cantwell @cdc29.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

My first post explores the people John James #Audubon enslaved, and so far as I've been able to tell this may be the first time these names have been put to print. My hope is that it is the first of many post on the histories behind the birding world /end avianamericana.substack.com/p/a-is-for-a...

avianamericana.substack.com

A is for Audubon

Or, what how I spent my summer vacation.

243

Robert Francis @birdhistory.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

List of Individual Birds is my favorite Wikipedia page

1181

Robert Francis @birdhistory.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

State birds have proven that the laboratory of democracy is a failure, they should be centrally planned by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology

2100

Robert Francis @birdhistory.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

This is my most anticipated book of 2027 wwnorton.com/books/978132...

060

Robert Francis @birdhistory.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

Riding his horse from Denver to Cheyenne in 1876, the ornithologist Elliot Coues saw more than a hundred birds killed by flying into a telegraph wire in less than an hour. He's one of the earliest writers to reckon with the toll of the built environment on wildlife.

34813

Robert Francis @birdhistory.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Amazing things are happening in the Original Plum Torte NYT Cooking App comments section

0203

Robert Francis @birdhistory.bsky.social · 03/05/2026

THE 10 GREATEST BIRD NAMES OF ALL TIME 🧵 #10: Strange Weaver On first appearances no more odd than any of the other weavers. But they’re a real freak, once you get to know them. Found in Uganda, Rwanda, and Burundi.

13514

Robert Francis @birdhistory.bsky.social · 02/05/2026

100 Greatest Bird Names, Day 9: #20 to #11 🧵 #20: Blood Pheasant We’re in the FINAL STRETCH and the birds names are going harder than is advisable. From the netherworld (or, the Himalayas, depending on who’s asking), and wears the blood of its enemies in its feathers.

2113

Robert Francis @birdhistory.bsky.social · 01/05/2026

100 Greatest Bird Names, Day 8: #30 to #21 🧵 #30: Vampire Ground-Finch A species of Galapagos finch (ie, Darwin’s Finches) that evolved the taste for blood, which it sometimes drinks by pecking open the skin of Blue-footed Boobies.

2245

Robert Francis @birdhistory.bsky.social · 30/04/2026

100 Greatest Bird Names, Day 7: #40 to #31 🧵 #40: Modest Tiger-Parrot Beautiful, not to mention accomplished, but won’t tell you about it. Females have gorgeous orange and black tiger-like barring on their chest.

2163

Robert Francis @birdhistory.bsky.social · 29/04/2026

On July 28, 1880, a woodcock flew into an auction store on 6th Avenue. They caught him, put him in a cage, and named him Dick. He got a NYT profile and crowds came to watch him. Dick was New York City's first celebrity woodcock. I told his story here: birdhistory.substack.com/p/the-tragic...

171

Robert Francis @birdhistory.bsky.social · 29/04/2026

100 Greatest Bird Names, Day 6: #50 to #41 🧵 #50: Squacco Heron Lots of birds are named after their call but none so persuasively as this one. If a bird squawks, shouldn’t it be called Squacco?

1121

Robert Francis @birdhistory.bsky.social · 28/04/2026

100 Greatest Bird Names, Day 5: #60 to #51 🧵 #60: Growling Riflebird Its black velvety plumage supposedly resembles the uniform of the 19th century British Army Rifle Brigade. Plus, it growls.

1102

Robert Francis @birdhistory.bsky.social · 27/04/2026

100 Greatest Bird Names, Day 4: #70 to #61 🧵 #70: Chaco Chachalaca Say this bird's name out loud. You're already happier than you were 8 seconds ago. Chachalaca comes from the Nahuatl word for “to chatter”. eBird transcribes their song as “bink, ka chee chaw raw taw.”

3227

Robert Francis @birdhistory.bsky.social · 26/04/2026

100 Greatest Bird Names, Day 3: #80 to #71 🧵 #80: Cinderella Waxbill 293 birds are “grey”, 32 are “ashy”, and 16 are “cinereous,” which all could have worked for this bird, but some ornithologist with joy in their heart called it Cinderella instead.

1182

Reposted by Robert Francis

“alien” 👽 @tinolqa.bsky.social · 25/04/2026

Tiny Hawk, Pro Skater

14020

Robert Francis @birdhistory.bsky.social · 25/04/2026

100 Greatest Bird Names, Day 2: #90 to #81 🧵 #90: Weebill Everything's little about Australia's littlest bird but its bill is littlest of all. It's song even sounds like it's saying "I'm a wee-bill." Decently cute bird but impossibly cute name. How could I say no?

2234

Robert Francis @birdhistory.bsky.social · 24/04/2026

100 Greatest Bird Names, Day 1: #100 to #91 🧵 #100: Chad Firefinch This is no Virginia Rail. Cockiest bird in Central Africa. Even though it's #100, the selection process was still incredibly competitive. This bird is still in the top 1% of all bird names.

36324

Robert Francis @birdhistory.bsky.social · 23/04/2026

There are more than 11,000 kinds of birds. I evaluated them all and made a definitive list of the 100 greatest names. I consider myself a bird name connoisseur but these blew me away. Over the next 10 days I'll add them to this thread. This is the hardest thing I’ve ever done.

313142

Robert Francis @birdhistory.bsky.social · 23/04/2026

Love a bird that tells you exactly who it is

0251

Robert Francis @birdhistory.bsky.social · 17/04/2026

One thing I love about new york is that its most important birds get obituaries

1235

Robert Francis @birdhistory.bsky.social · 16/04/2026

If you thought people got excited about woodcocks today, the things sportsmen said about them a hundred years ago would make you blush

0153

Robert Francis @birdhistory.bsky.social · 15/04/2026

Maybe you just learned about woodcocks, but they've been a big deal for centuries. I wrote about the long history of loving the American Woodcock birdhistory.substack.com/p/more-than-...

0164

Robert Francis @birdhistory.bsky.social · 14/04/2026

i found this florida woman who was feeding a sandhill crane Grape-Nuts in 1913 and I'm not sure what to do with this info but I'm kind of floored "his favorite food is grape-nuts" okay! go off!

0175

Robert Francis @birdhistory.bsky.social · 27/02/2026

Eighty percent of the time I get excited about hearing a bird song I don't recognize it's actually a catbird. I love this description from Florence Merriam, 1889.

0191

Reposted by Robert Francis

Brian Rusnica @neogonzo.bsky.social · 25/02/2026

saw an opportunity and i took it

An image meme re-enacting the coffee shop scene from Role Models with Paul Rudd discussing Great Egrets, Medium Egrets and Little Egrets and their size overlaps and conundrums.

172

Robert Francis @birdhistory.bsky.social · 23/02/2026

Seeking: books on gilded age / progressive era social movements. Any recommendations??

261

Robert Francis @birdhistory.bsky.social · 23/02/2026

A hundred years ago this is what people were thinking about when there was a blizzard birdhistory.substack.com/p/charity-to...

1136

Robert Francis @birdhistory.bsky.social · 20/02/2026

here's 36 names that people used to call the Northern Flicker. personal favorites include yucker and tapping-bird

54213

Reposted by Robert Francis

Brett "Solidarity 2026" Banditelli @banditelli.org · 20/02/2026

Federal Holiday for bird migration is a great idea.

211113

Robert Francis @birdhistory.bsky.social · 19/02/2026

corset-burning: quite hardcore? Also, corsets: made from whale bones??

120

Robert Francis @birdhistory.bsky.social · 19/02/2026

I had a conversation with my friend Grant Mulligan at Progress Accumulation about the role birds have played in America’s history, not just for the birders and ornithologists, but for everyone who’s called America home. Give it a listen! substack.com/home/post/p-...

060

Robert Francis @birdhistory.bsky.social · 18/02/2026

I read a passage about street urchins (c. 1886) and thought "we really don't talk about street urchins any more" but google suggests we're actually talking about them more than ever. Any theories?

161

Robert Francis @birdhistory.bsky.social · 17/02/2026

Obsessed with this journal for publishing caricatures of “prominent ornithologists,” which no academic today is brave enough to do

2173