iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Chris Sweeney @cbsweeney.bsky.social · 10/03/2026

After *years* of unpaid labor, the North Carolina State Museum officially appointed Roxie Laybourne as its staff taxidermist in 1937. I was delighted to find this clip while doing research for The Feather Detective. #womenshistorymonth #taxidermy #birds #BreakingGroundSkinningBirds

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Chris Sweeney @cbsweeney.bsky.social · 16/10/2025

If you’ve not read The Feather Detective yet, what are you waiting for? You too may be inspired to volunteer to skin #birds at your local #museum. It has murders, airplane crashes, and the bad ass that is Roxie Laybourne Order here: bookshop.org/p/books/the-... #mystery #truecrime #wildlife

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Chris Sweeney @cbsweeney.bsky.social · 01/10/2025

Whoever put together the NYT list of most influential magazine covers entirely overlooked city mags.

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Chris Sweeney @cbsweeney.bsky.social · 23/09/2025

Jeez talk about serendipity, from @washingtonpost.com review of Bobbi Brown’s new memoir.

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Chris Sweeney @cbsweeney.bsky.social · 11/08/2025

My father died last week. He spent 26 yrs in the NYPD and had *many* stories. Him being among the first responders to John Lennon’s murder was among my favorite. I’d somehow never seen this illustration before his passing.

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Chris Sweeney @cbsweeney.bsky.social · 19/07/2025

Incredible to speak with Scott Simon on Weekend Edition @npr.org about Roxie Laybourne and The Feather Detective. Listen here: www.npr.org/2025/07/19/n...

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Chris Sweeney @cbsweeney.bsky.social · 18/07/2025

The blurbing process is pretty painful for many authors, self included. But it also allowed me to reconnect with the great Amy Stewart. So grateful so took the time to do this Q&A with me: amystewart.substack.com/p/the-feathe... #books #birds

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Chris Sweeney @cbsweeney.bsky.social · 16/07/2025

If you live in the Providence area and like cool shit, including crazy bird-related disasters and crimes, come to Riffraff book shop next Thursday. It’s gonna be fun!

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Chris Sweeney @cbsweeney.bsky.social · 24/06/2025

The fine folks at Elle name The Feather Detective one of the best books of summer and give it a stylish review. Yessss! www.elle.com/culture/book...

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Chris Sweeney @cbsweeney.bsky.social · 30/05/2025

Coming this summer, the first biography of Roxie Laybourne, who pioneered the field of forensic ornithology and forever changed our understanding of birds and the feathers they leave behind! Preorder here: bookshop.org/p/books/the-...

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Chris Sweeney @cbsweeney.bsky.social · 22/05/2025

My book about Roxie Laybourne drops two months from today. If you’re interested in birds, disasters, true crime, tough women, and pioneering science, please preorder a copy of The Feather Detective here bookshop.org/p/books/the-...

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Chris Sweeney @cbsweeney.bsky.social · 15/05/2025

This snowy owl at @vinsnaturecenter.bsky.social is named LaGuardia because it was rescued from the airport in 2014 after sustaining bad injuries from a “jet blast.” One lucky bird… Love VINS and the work it does. If ever in Vt, pop by and say 👋 to LaGuardia and the many other raptors in care

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Chris Sweeney @cbsweeney.bsky.social · 11/05/2025

Pavos absolutely flexing in Medford, Mass.

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Chris Sweeney @cbsweeney.bsky.social · 08/05/2025

I don't write about this in The Feather Detective, but one day while hanging around the Smithsonian's Feather ID Lab, I noticed a book about Bong Joon Ho's "Snowpiercer." Seemed out of place but turns out Roxie Laybourne inspired the costume for Minister Mason, played by Tilda Swinton

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Chris Sweeney @cbsweeney.bsky.social · 15/04/2025

Nice @nytimes.com reporting on seemingly extreme avian challenges at S Korea’s Muan International Airport, where a Jeju Air flight crashed after striking some ducks in December, killing 179 #birdstrike nytimes.com/2025/04/15/wor…

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Chris Sweeney @cbsweeney.bsky.social · 08/03/2025

I really wanna know how big this beaver was to warrant a parenthetical “massive”

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Chris Sweeney @cbsweeney.bsky.social · 07/03/2025

“Everyone in the village is sick.” Such a fun @outsidemag.bsky.social piece. www.outsideonline.com/outdoor-adve... thx @longreads.com for flagging

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Chris Sweeney @cbsweeney.bsky.social · 28/02/2025

Old pic I found while researching the book. Birds (and a plane) at a dump near DeKalb-Peachtree Airport. Crazy. A Learjet eventually crashed as a result, hitting an apt building and several cars in a parking lot.

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Chris Sweeney @cbsweeney.bsky.social · 27/02/2025

Direct impact during a short-window on northwest Ohio’s Lake Erie. Birds (and birders) are very good for business. See @nicosgonzalez.bsky.social short 🧵👇 for more about 🦅🦆 & 💸🤑

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Chris Sweeney @cbsweeney.bsky.social · 24/02/2025

Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health is shutting down its very good digital magazine. This is a real shame, especially in context of @dicktofel.bsky.social piece below about the need for sustained & substantive coverage of public health. Timing could not be worse.

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Chris Sweeney @cbsweeney.bsky.social · 24/02/2025

Washboard ridges on an Anhinga's tail feathers. So pretty.

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Chris Sweeney @cbsweeney.bsky.social · 09/02/2025

Short-eared owl hunting at Plum Island yesterday. #SuperbOwl

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Chris Sweeney @cbsweeney.bsky.social · 06/02/2025

New study highlights big business of shoddy Lyme disease clinics www.cidrap.umn.edu/lyme-disease... via @cidrap.bsky.social

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Chris Sweeney @cbsweeney.bsky.social · 29/01/2025

Really nice @reuters.com data reporting on global challenges of birdstrikes with all types of neat & compelling visualizations, and good addtl context ti understanding Jeju Air disaster: www.reuters.com/graphics/SOU...

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Chris Sweeney @cbsweeney.bsky.social · 31/12/2024

And here’s a table from the same paper, highlighting some of the species whose population have ticked upward and that are known hazards to planes, including a few types of gulls and geese.

a chart showing different birds and their weights and populations

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Chris Sweeney @cbsweeney.bsky.social · 31/12/2024

As he notes in this paper, most airworthiness standards pertaining to birds were set decades ago (including after the above-mentioned Vickers crash).

An abstract of a scientific paper about bird strikes

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Chris Sweeney @cbsweeney.bsky.social · 31/12/2024

Then there’s the Vickers Viscount turboprop that nailed a flock of Tundra Swans at 5,000 feet in the late ‘70s over Maryland. The birds blew apart one of the rear stabilizers and all 17 ppl on board died.

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Chris Sweeney @cbsweeney.bsky.social · 31/12/2024

I’m in the final edits of a book about Roxie Laybourne, the scientist who pioneered methods for ID’ing the remains of birds struck by airplanes. She ID’d many thousands of jet-struck birds, usually by looking at feather microstructures.

The cover of the book "The Feather Detective" by Chris Sweeney

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Chris Sweeney @cbsweeney.bsky.social · 26/11/2024

Impressively/insanely integrated DoorDash ad in Bon Appetit that includes cover wrap, inside cover spread, and has the recipe in the feature well cookie package. The QR on cover wrap goes to Door Dash ingredient list for the cookies.

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