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William Hemstrom

@birdpicsandscience.bsky.social
115 followers 28 following 36 posts

Population/conservation Geneticist at Colorado State University. Avid birder and extreme nerd. More of my photos hosted at the Macaulay Library/eBird (search.macaulaylibrary.org/catalog?…).

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William Hemstrom @birdpicsandscience.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
An Orange-throated Longclaw from near Himeville, South Africa. Gorgeous bird in the pipit family which lives up to it's name; I love the personality in these photos. #birds #birdsofsouthafrica
Orange-throated Longclaw doing some kind of summoning ritual, I think.Orange-throated Longclaw feat. long claws.
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William Hemstrom @birdpicsandscience.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
This lovely bird is an Arrowhead Warbler (ebird.org/species/arrw...), also endemic to Jamaica. They are widespread, but more common up in the high, wet forest. Most closely related to Elfin-woods and Plumbeous warblers, also endemic to specific islands in the Caribbean. #birds #birdsofjamaica
An Arrowhead Warbler, chilling on a branch. What is it thinking about? Who knows. Lovely.
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William Hemstrom @birdpicsandscience.bsky.social · 02/07/2026
Black and Red-billed Streamertails from the Starlight Chalet and LF Jungle Retreat, Jamaica. The stars of the show, the #1 target birds for Jamaica; easy to find in the right places. Red-billed are pretty widespread, black-billed restricted to the far northeast. #birdsofjamaica #birds
A Black-billed Streamertail from LF Jungle Retreat, Jamaica. Probably pissed at something--it is a hummingbird after all.A Red-billed Streamertail from Starlight Chalet, Blue Mountains, Jamaica. Looks serene, but it's probably also pissed.
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William Hemstrom @birdpicsandscience.bsky.social · 20/06/2026
A Flammulated Owl from Rist Canyon, CO. Lovely little migratory screech-owls with black eyes which breed in the lower elevation parts of the rockies. It took us a half hour or so to find it when we knew exactly the tree. They are well camouflaged! #birdsofbluesky #birds #birdsofcolorado
A Flammulated Owl looking at us with suspicion. Is it contemplating murder? Probably not, but who can say.
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William Hemstrom @birdpicsandscience.bsky.social · 14/06/2026
A Gray Go-away-Bird from Rietvlei Nature Reserve, outside of Pretoria, South Africa. Turacos (the family to which Go-away-Birds belong) are one of my favorite bird families and a highlight of birding in Africa. #birdsofsouthafrica #birds #birdofbluesky
A Gray Go-away-Bird examining the viewer, feat. sick mohawk.
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William Hemstrom @birdpicsandscience.bsky.social · 08/05/2026
A Sentinel Rock-Thrush from the top of Sani Pass, Lesotho. These are pretty common in rocky areas in South Africa and Lesotho, mostly in the Drakensburg Mountains. Gorgeous birds! #birds #birdsoflesotho #lesotho #birdsofbluesky
A Sentinel Rock-Thrush perched on (unsurprisingly) a rock at the top of Sani Pass in Lesotho.
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William Hemstrom @birdpicsandscience.bsky.social · 04/05/2026
Haven't posted in a while. Been teaching Ornithology; took students out to Wray, CO last weekend to see a Greater Prairie-Chicken lek. Had a great showing! #birdsofbluesky #birds #birdsofcolorado
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William Hemstrom @birdpicsandscience.bsky.social · 03/02/2026
Time to start with photos from South Africa now that I'm editing them. My bird of the trip was this species, the Drakensburg Rockjumper. It was the species I most wanted to see, and it hopped up about four feet from us on Sani Pass! #birds #birdsofsouthafrica
A Drakensburg Rockjumper from Sani Pass, South Africa giving us a once over.
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William Hemstrom @birdpicsandscience.bsky.social · 03/11/2025
A Jocotoco Antpitta from Tapichalaca reserve, Ecuador. "Discovered" (by western scientists) in 1997, this critically endangered species lives in three disconnected patches in southern Ecuador and Peru. One of my favorite birds I've ever seen. Fundación Jocotoco is their key protector. #birds
A critically endangered Jocotoco Antpitta staring into your soul. Judging.
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William Hemstrom @birdpicsandscience.bsky.social · 18/10/2025
A Short-tailed Shearwater from Rausu, Hokkaido, Japan. Dad and I went out on a whale watching trip with our guide. Didn't see any whales, but did see somewhere around 10-50k Short-tailed Shearwaters. Incredible numbers, more seabirds than I've ever seen. #birds #birdsphotography #birdsofjapan
A Short-tailed Shearwater from Rausu, Hokkaido, Japan.
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William Hemstrom @birdpicsandscience.bsky.social · 16/10/2025
A Blakiston's Fish-Owl from Hokkaido, Japan. This giant species is endangered and restricted to a few locations. Washi no Yado has shepherded generations of owls over the last few decades; they are one heck of a draw for birders. Worth a visit! #birds #birdsofjapan #birdphotography
A Blakiston's Fish-Owl from Washi no Yado, Rausu, Hokkaido, Japan chewing on a fish.
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William Hemstrom @birdpicsandscience.bsky.social · 22/08/2025
A Black-tailed Gull from Miyakejima, Japan. A very abundant species in the area, but still a really nice bird when seen well! Gulls get too little love. #birdsofjapan #birdsofbluesky #birds #birdphotography
A soaring Black-tailed Gull
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William Hemstrom @birdpicsandscience.bsky.social · 12/07/2025
Bathing White-browed Fulvettas from Kathmandu, Nepal. Super cute. Super fluffy. I have so many photos from this bathing spot that are just lovely, one of my favorite places I've ever birded. #birds #birdsofnepal #birdphotography #birdsofbluesky
Bathing White-browed Fulvettas from Kathmandu, Nepal.
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Reposted by William Hemstrom
Andy Lee, PhD @andylee.bsky.social · 11/07/2025
New paper with @birdpicsandscience.bsky.social out TODAY!! We found that choosing "highly informative loci" (aka high fst loci) may bias results in common population genetic analyses onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... Explainer thread to come! #PopGen #PopulationGenomics #Evolution
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
‘Highly‐Informative’ Genetic Markers Can Bias Conclusions: Examples and General Solutions
High-grading bias is the overestimation power in a subset of loci caused by model overfitting. Using both empirical and simulated datasets, we show that high-grading bias can cause severe overestimat...
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William Hemstrom @birdpicsandscience.bsky.social · 06/07/2025
An Izu Robin from Miyakejima, Japan. I've kinda fallen in love with island endemics--made a trip to Japan almost entirely for the purposes of seeing these and the other endemics on Miyake. Miyake was awesome: rainy, chill little island with nice people and great birds. #birds #birdsofjapan
An Izu Robin from Miyakejima, Japan. Lovely, cute little endemic species.
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William Hemstrom @birdpicsandscience.bsky.social · 05/07/2025
The only endemic bird of Nepal, a Spiny Babbler. This bird was a serious adventure to get--ended up pulling myself up the side of a ~70-80% grade via all of the vegetation to get to the spot where these were active. #birds #birdsofnepal #birdsofbluesky #birdphotography
A Spiny Babbler chilling in a ticket up the side of a sheer hill that nearly killed me in Kathmandu, Nepal.
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William Hemstrom @birdpicsandscience.bsky.social · 07/06/2025
White-capped Redstart from the Helambru area of Nepal. This one is just about to take off from a rock in a fast, clear, high elevation stream where it was foraging. Light was excellent so I was able to shoot with a fast shutter speed and get this one in action! #birdphotography #birdsofnepal
A White-capped Redstart just about to take off from a rock in a clear stream.
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William Hemstrom @birdpicsandscience.bsky.social · 29/05/2025
White-crested Laughingthrush. Fabulous. From Kathmandu, Nepal. #birdsofnepal #birdphotography #birdsofbluesky #goodhairday
A White-crested Laughingthrush giving a staredown. A White-crested Laughingthrush perched on a branch from Kathmandu, Nepal. #goodhairday
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William Hemstrom @birdpicsandscience.bsky.social · 12/05/2025
A Blue Whistling-thrush from Nepal. I adore Whistling-thrushes; both of the species I've seen so far (Blue and Taiwan) have huge personalities and usually aren't shy at all. #birdsofnepal #birdphotography #birdsofbluesky
A Blue Whisling-thrush from Nepal sitting on a rock with a "you lookin' at me?" face.
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William Hemstrom @birdpicsandscience.bsky.social · 11/05/2025
A Jungle Owlet from Chitwan NP, Nepal. Tiny bird, big poof. #birdsofbluesky #birdphotography #birdsofnepal
A Jungle Owlet perching from Chitwan NP, Nepal. Has a big, poofy head.
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William Hemstrom @birdpicsandscience.bsky.social · 07/05/2025
New paper out! Monarch butterflies in Australia started migrating again after they spread across the Pacific. We found that ancestral genetic variation was maintained to help enable this. #genomics #PopGen #PopulationGenetics #PopulationGenomics #monarchbutterfly doi.org/10.1186/s128...
doi.org
Novel genetic association with migratory diapause in Australian monarch butterflies - BMC Ecology and Evolution
Background Monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus) are a charismatic and culturally important North American butterfly species famous for their unique, dramatic migratory life history. While non-migrat...
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William Hemstrom @birdpicsandscience.bsky.social · 17/04/2025
A Brown Boobook from Sauraha, Chitwan National Park, Nepal. Tracked this one around through dense vegetation for a solid 45 minutes before finally getting a nice look at it. #birdsofbluesky #birdsofnepal #owl #birdphotography
A Brown Boobook owl from Chitwan NP, Nepal, staring at you with big ol' eyes.
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William Hemstrom @birdpicsandscience.bsky.social · 06/04/2025
A Japanese Accentor from Lake Miyagase, Kanagawa, Japan. One of several Accentors I saw on my trip to Nepal and Tokyo last January. Near-endemic to Japan and a really nice bird to find! #birdsofbluesky #birdsofjapan #birding
A Japanese Accentor on a mossy canyon wall.
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William Hemstrom @birdpicsandscience.bsky.social · 31/03/2025
A Long-billed Thrush. Very appropriately named. Usually very cryptic. We spent an hour and a half chasing them up heavily forested streams to no avail. The next morning we walked out of our lodge and immediately saw one just chilling on a stone fence. #birdsofnepal #birdsofbluesky #birding
A long-billed thrush sitting on a stone fence, out in the open, mocking us after we spent ages trying to photograph one in heavy riparian forest the day before. From Langtang NP, but not Langtang Valley.
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William Hemstrom @birdpicsandscience.bsky.social · 18/03/2025
Had high variance in coverage at the VCF stage AFTER downsampling bams. I'd marked but not removed dups. Found out I had large variance in duplication rates (and high rates period) across samples. Good reason to remove them! #genomics #PopGen #PopulationGenetics #PopulationGenomics
High variation in final coverage at the VCF stage across samples. Points are samples, boxplots are distributions within sampling areas. Big range (2-6) despite downsampling bams to consistant coverage pre-genotyping.Distribution of duplication rates in bamfiles--downsampling didn't fix coverage differences due to high overall duplicaiton rates which varied across samples! Points are samples, boxplots are distributions for sampling locations.
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William Hemstrom @birdpicsandscience.bsky.social · 18/03/2025
A Striated Laughingthrush from Tarkeghyang, Bagmati, Nepal. It's hard not to just continuous photos of laughingthrushes--they are all too dang pretty. Even a "bland" one like this species. #birdsofnepal #birdsofbluesky #birding #birdphotography
A Striated Laughingthrush hanging sideways off of a branch in Tarkeghyang, Nepal
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William Hemstrom @birdpicsandscience.bsky.social · 16/03/2025
A Rufous Sibia from Kathmandu, Nepal at the bathing pond on Phulchowki hill. #birdsofnepal #birdsofbluesky #birding
A Rufous Sibia bathing in Kathmandu, Nepal
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William Hemstrom @birdpicsandscience.bsky.social · 06/03/2025
A Brown Wood-Owl from Kathmandu, Nepal. We had a really solid trip owl-wise. Found this one as we were driving back and saw a promising patch of woods to check right as it started to get dark. #birdsofnepal #birdsofbluesky #birding
A Brown Wood-Owl from Kathmandu
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William Hemstrom @birdpicsandscience.bsky.social · 05/03/2025
This female Hodgeson's Redstart doesn't seem to care about her spiky perch. I love that I took this photo in the middle of downtown Kathmandu, but it looks like a grassland; makes me appreciate natural areas, even tiny ones, wherever you can find them. #birdsofnepal #birdsofbluesky #birding
A Hodgson's Redstart perched on a spiky twig in Kathmandu, Nepal.
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William Hemstrom @birdpicsandscience.bsky.social · 04/03/2025
A Crimson Sunbird from Kathmandu, Nepal. Pretty bird! They have a large range in southeast Asia from Nepal to Borneo. We saw this one engaging in a bit of casual thievery, stealing nectar from some flowers by piercing the base. #birdsofnepal #birding #birdofbluesky
A Crimson Sunbird from Kathmandu, Nepal.
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William Hemstrom @birdpicsandscience.bsky.social · 03/03/2025
A Chinese Hwamei from Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan. This in an introduced species in Japan (and in Taiwan and a few other places), but this was still a life bird for me. They are a laughingthrush, which are one of my favorite taxa of birds. #birdsofbluesky #birdsofjapan #birding
A Chinese Hwamei from Yokohama, Japan holding an acorn in its bill.
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William Hemstrom @birdpicsandscience.bsky.social · 14/02/2025
A Scaly Thrush from Kathmandu, Nepal. I missed these in Taiwan a year ago, so I was very glad to see one last month, particularly with such a great view! In Taiwan they're found alongside the extremely similar White's Thrush, which makes them a bit of a trial. #birdsofbluesky #birdsofnepal
A Scaly Thrush on some leaf-litter in Kathmandu, Nepal.
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William Hemstrom @birdpicsandscience.bsky.social · 01/02/2025
Black-faced Warblers from the same water hole in Phulchowki Hill, Kathmandu, Nepal. These birds move in big packs; when you see one, you see many! #birdphotography #birding #birdsofbluesky #birdsofnepal
A pair of bathing Black-faced Wablers.A Black-faced Warbler on a stick above a pool of water.
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William Hemstrom @birdpicsandscience.bsky.social · 29/01/2025
A Stripe-throated Yuhina from Phulchowki Hill, Kathmandu, Nepal. There's a pond about 2/3rds of the way up which offers amazing photo opportunities. I took a TON of photos along with a few friends and Yubin Shrestha, who guided for us. #birdphotography #birding #birdsofbluesky #birdsofnepal
A Stripe-throated Yuhina doing some wild moves while bathing in Kathmandu, Nepal.
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William Hemstrom @birdpicsandscience.bsky.social · 26/01/2025
A Lidth's Jay from Amami Island, Japan. They are one of a handful of endemic species on the island, and one of my favorite-ever birds. #birdphotography #birding #birdsofbluesky
Lidth's Jay
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