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Kevin Bennett

@kevinfpbennett.bsky.social
451 followers 236 following 276 posts

Postdoc, Penn State University. Previously U of Maryland. Evolution. Hybridization. Sexual selection. Birds. www.kevinfpbennett.com

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Kevin Bennett @kevinfpbennett.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
This is me like half the time these days. Pants need to fit well. Belt won't save you. You don't want this situation.
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Kevin Bennett @kevinfpbennett.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Warblers are great, but catbirds are the perfect size to hold.
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Kevin Bennett @kevinfpbennett.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Very exciting. I first got interested in these efforts fifteen years ago. It's great to see them coming to fruition.
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Kevin Bennett @kevinfpbennett.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Makes sense!
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Kevin Bennett @kevinfpbennett.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Congrats on defending! Where are you headed next?
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Reposted by Kevin Bennett
The Washington Post @washingtonpost.com · 07/09/2026
Guest Column: Over the past year, I attached a multi-sensor geolocator backpack to a warbler, which he carried throughout his migratory journey, recording the long trek from his breeding grounds in Anchorage to a yet-unknown winter refuge and back again.
washingtonpost.com
Guest Column | I put a tiny backpack on a warbler. It revealed an epic migration.
Cutting-edge tracking is illuminating the migratory journeys of warblers and dozens of other species at a scale not previously possible for small birds.
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Kevin Bennett @kevinfpbennett.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
🤙
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Kevin Bennett @kevinfpbennett.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
Agree with yellow x redstart
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Kevin Bennett @kevinfpbennett.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
I don't know my native rodents very well, but it looks like a Norway rat to me.
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Kevin Bennett @kevinfpbennett.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
Rattus norvegicus?
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Kevin Bennett @kevinfpbennett.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
Now with issue number etc. And we got the cover!
The cover of the journal Evolution, with a photo of a gray warbler with a reddish-brown cap and yellow belly standing in some shallow water.
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Kevin Bennett @kevinfpbennett.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
Likewise!
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Kevin Bennett @kevinfpbennett.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
Yes I saw that. I don't know the deliberation behind the scenes, but it felt like "let's say something about this before the meeting."
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Kevin Bennett @kevinfpbennett.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
I mean, it's clear that they are laying low on it, so the point still stands.
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Kevin Bennett @kevinfpbennett.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
Similarly: how much have you heard anyone complain about Audubon the last couple of meetings? They opted not to change their name and everyone got pissed, but then got over it (or they were only performatively pissed). AOS is probably wishing they had gone that route with the bird names.
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Kevin Bennett @kevinfpbennett.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
Nah, Sara Morris mentioned it as something that was still going behind the scenes during one of the morning announcements. I mean, they are clearly trying not to bring attention to it, and I can't blame them...
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Reposted by Kevin Bennett
Azwad Iqbal @azwadiqbal.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
BLink-seq is out! Linked-read sequencing that brings phased whole-genome data to non-model species at population scale. We show it phases haplotypes and detects SVs, revealing previously undocumented structural complexity in an adaptive Atlantic silverside inversion. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
biorxiv.org
BLink-seq delivers population-scale haplotypes without long reads: a scalable framework for non-model genomics
Information about segregating haplotypes and structural variation (SV) can be extremely rich for a variety of applications in population genomics but remains largely inaccessible for many non-model sp...
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Reposted by Kevin Bennett
Brant Faircloth @brantfaircloth.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
Came across this awesome paper today - pretty excited to try it out. Bravo to the authors on a really clever approach 👏 academic.oup.com/genetics/art...
academic.oup.com
Chimeric reference panels for genomic imputation
Abstract. Despite transformative advances in genomic technologies, missing data remain a fundamental constraint that limits the full potential of genomic r
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Reposted by Kevin Bennett
Vertebrate Genomes Project @vertebrategenomes.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
We are excited to officially share the first fully phased telomere-to-telomere (T2T) reference genome for a songbird! 🐦 www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...
manuscript alert

The Complete Genome of a Songbirda major milestone in bird genomics

This new genome closes nearly all previous gaps, including complex heterochromatic regions, microchromosomes, and sex chromosomes. Built using a combination of PacBio HiFi long reads, ONT ultra-long reads, Arima Genomics Hi-C reads for chromosome scaffolding, and Illumina parental short reads for haplotype phasing, this T2T assembly provides an unprecented view of the zebra finch genome and advances research of vocal learning and evolution.featured in a special issue in Cell

Images:
- Article title and authors
- QR code for manuscript
- Cell T2T issue cover
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Kevin Bennett @kevinfpbennett.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
🤙
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Kevin Bennett @kevinfpbennett.bsky.social · 02/08/2026
Oh no, more waiting 😭 @amornith.bsky.social
A message from the journal Ornithology. The 67th North American checklist supplement will be published in the October issue this year instead of the July issue.
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Kevin Bennett @kevinfpbennett.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
The person who does the lighting for the mugshots knows a thing or two. Look at the twinkle!
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Reposted by Kevin Bennett
David Toews @davetoews.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
Just appreciating natural science illustrators, like Jillian Ditner, who turned this "sketch" (a dog's breakfast would be generous) into a clear, beautiful illustration of gene introgression among warblers... www.allaboutbirds.org/news/when-ev...
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Reposted by Kevin Bennett
Luke Anderson @dialektical.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
Excited to share a preprint of my 3rd dissertation chapter! We evaluated how a potential genomic measure of sexual selection strength, the ratio of genetic diversity on the Z chromosome vs the autosomes, varies across selective and biogeographic contexts in #manakins. Check it out! bit.ly/4fY43de
biorxiv.org
Can the Z:A ratio serve as a genomic index of sexual selection? An assessment across space and time in a genus of lekking birds
Understanding the role of sexual selection in shaping evolutionary trajectories is a key goal of biology, and thus developing a genomic measure of sexual selection strength is desirable. In systems wi...
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Reposted by Kevin Bennett
Gerben Debruyn @gdebruyn.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
What makes this parrot look green? It's more than just a pigment! We found that the color comes from the interaction of pigments, nano- and even microstructures of the feather itself. @jessica-dobson.bsky.social @michaelnicolai.bsky.social @wybouw.bsky.social @lilianadalba.bsky.social.
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Kevin Bennett @kevinfpbennett.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
The end
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Kevin Bennett @kevinfpbennett.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
Part six. Our last two field days in a beautiful setting.
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Kevin Bennett @kevinfpbennett.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
A few drops of blood from each bird, each containing billions of copies of the genome, are sitting in a freezer at Penn State, soon to be sequenced. This is just how the whole process of doing science starts when you're lucky and work as a field biologist in evolutionary genomics. What a life!
Me holding a red-faced warbler. Feeling content.Me on the ground awkwardly taking a picture of a bird in front of a black poster board.Me lying on the ground, re-attaching the piece that previously fell off the bottom of the van. See previous post.
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Kevin Bennett @kevinfpbennett.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
Day 11. We had a nice airport breakfast and parted ways. But this isn't really the end of the story.
A view out the plane window.
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Kevin Bennett @kevinfpbennett.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
After a cab to the hotel, we enjoyed hot showers. After a very hot and dusty trip, this was nice.
The hotel shower.
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Kevin Bennett @kevinfpbennett.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
Here an employee drives the van away after we returned it with my toiletry kit, unbeknownst to me, departing with it.
The van drives away in an empty gravel parking lot.
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Kevin Bennett @kevinfpbennett.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
We high-tailed it back to Phoenix for our final leg of driving. We made the last few miles on fumes and returned the van with 15 minutes to spare. Success!
The map with a dashed line returning to PhoenixThe fuel gauge showing empty. The remaining range estimate has stopped displaying.
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Kevin Bennett @kevinfpbennett.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
Finally, we headed down the mountain and back into Safford. Here we gave the van a good cleaning.
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Kevin Bennett @kevinfpbennett.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
Our final day was another productive one. We caught several birds of both species, including one orange-y and one reddish redstart. What makes them different colors? Maybe the DNA from these individuals will help answer that question.
My hand holding a painted redstart, its breast is slightly orange-red.My hand holding a painted redstart. It's breast is red-red.A red-faced warbler in the hand.
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Kevin Bennett @kevinfpbennett.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
Day 10: We rose before dawn and set off for our last day catching birds.
The van in the dark. The lights are on as we prepare breakfast and coffee.The sunrise over the forest.
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Kevin Bennett @kevinfpbennett.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
We took some photos of the landscape (including some badly burned areas), then dropped down to redstart elevations for our last night in the field.
The van parked at a pulloff with Leilton standing nearby. Forest, desert, and mountains are in the background.Leilton takes a selfie at the pulloff.A hillside full of bare trees, killed by fires in previous seasons.
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Kevin Bennett @kevinfpbennett.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
Day 9: Too high for painted redstarts, this was a 100% red-faced day, and we caught our highest-elevation warblers, plus one unusual non-warbler. The olive warbler is in a monotypic family unrelated to our target species, though it's called "warbler."
My hand holding a red-faced warblerBelow the position of the photographer, a road snakes through a conifer forest. Desert and mountains are visible in the distance.Me holding a small yellowish bird with a black face mask (the bird, not me).
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Kevin Bennett @kevinfpbennett.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
!!!!!!!!!!
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Kevin Bennett @kevinfpbennett.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
Part five. Cruising along, catching lots of birds.
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Kevin Bennett @kevinfpbennett.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
We arrived at our highest campsite, Shannon Campground, at 9,000 feet. Among huge Douglas firs and Engelmann spruce, we settled in and ate dinner in the van to escape the rain as it arrived at sunset.
A dirt road through a campground with towering evergreen trees overhead.
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Kevin Bennett @kevinfpbennett.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
After another successful day, we drove to our last (and tallest) mountain range of the trip, the Pinaleños in Arizona, with a stop in Safford, AZ to stock up for the last time.
The route map, showing the route going from Phoenix down to SE Arizona, over to New Mexico, down to another spot in NM, and back across into AZ.The van in a Walmart parking lot with some mountains in the background. The weather looks a bit unsettled.A large brown sign next to the road. Coronado National Forest.
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Kevin Bennett @kevinfpbennett.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
Day 8: We checked out more spots nearby, including this lovely trail, Little Cherry Creek. Here we caught a pair of painted redstarts plus a couple of neat "bycatch" birds: a black-throated gray warbler and a broad-tailed hummingbird.
A dirt track in a shady pine/oak wood.Leilton looking at a redstart he's holdingMy hand holding a small white, black, and gray bird with a yellow spot between its eye and bill.Leilton's hands taking a greenish hummingbird out of a mistnet.
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Kevin Bennett @kevinfpbennett.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
...and back into the mountains. We stayed in Cherry Creek Campground again. Our only consecutive nights of the trip in the same place.
A green sign: Continental Divide Elevation 7080 Ft.
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Kevin Bennett @kevinfpbennett.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
After a good morning catching birds, we drove into Silver City for a much needed shower in the van and laundromat visit.
A washing machine with clothes in it.The landromat: Laundryland. An American flag-colored OPEN sign is in the window.
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Kevin Bennett @kevinfpbennett.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
Day 7: This was a lovely spot. Plenty of birds around and close to the road. Nice setting.
The van by a forested, paved road at dawn.A red-faced warbler in the hand.My hand holding a red-faced warbler next to a color checker with little colored boxes in front of a black poster board.
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Kevin Bennett @kevinfpbennett.bsky.social · 09/07/2026
Part four. Despair and redemption.
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Kevin Bennett @kevinfpbennett.bsky.social · 09/07/2026
We triumphantly drove back west to Silver City, NM and up into the mountains to Cherry Creek Campground. We made dinner and fell asleep sleep with a spotted owl hooting in the canyon.
Leilton driving the van in evening light.A large wooden sign on the side of a paved road in oaks and pines. "Gila National Forest."
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Kevin Bennett @kevinfpbennett.bsky.social · 09/07/2026
When we'd gotten our fill of warblers, I drove the van out of the canyon without incident, and on the unbelievably long, bumpy, dusty drive back to the highway, we found the gray water tank valve in the road.
Leilton and I pose with a cylindrical black plastic thing in the middle of a dirt road.The van with doors open on the side of a sandy dirt road. In the distance are some small trees. Lots of wide open space. Big blue sky. A few little clouds.
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Kevin Bennett @kevinfpbennett.bsky.social · 09/07/2026
Day 6: Bird fortunes reverse. Red-faced warblers were plentiful and easy to catch.
Leilton sitting on a stool at a small table holding a bird. There is banding gear laid out in front of him in a tackle box. Dappled sun in pines behind.My hand holds a red-faced warbler while Leilton does something in the background.The van sits in dappled sun coming through pines along a dirt road.
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Kevin Bennett @kevinfpbennett.bsky.social · 09/07/2026
We arrived at Hughes Mill Campground frustrated after two one-bird days in a row and discovered the waste valve had fallen off our our gray water tank somewhere along the drive. That night I had nightmares of falling off the cliff on the way out the next day. This was the low point of the trip.
The van parked among oaks and pines. Missing piece not pictured.
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