iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Liam U. Taylor @liamtaylor.bsky.social · 13/10/2026

I'm now quite a ways into DARWIN AND THE QUEER ORIGINS OF LIFE @rossbrooks.co.uk Really enjoying it. We've come through a wave of "penguins can be gay!" writing that has left many young people excited about queer biology, but with few real weapons to face the world about it. This book will help!!

Darwin and the queer origins of life by Ross Brooks

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Liam U. Taylor @liamtaylor.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

People don't really prepare you for life in Big Science, when the spotlight comes shining and it's your time for the stage

an extremely unenticing spam bot email about a niche scientific topic in a recent preprint about storm-petrels

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Liam U. Taylor @liamtaylor.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Proud of Luke Robinson, who took an undergrad project and turned it into a full manuscript, now out as a preprint. Using burrow measurements replicated 18 years apart, Luke shows how Leach's Storm-Petrel burrows change through use and disturbance. The nests are very dynamic! doi.org/10.64898/202...

Figure 1 from the preprint, showing the study site and system, including an illustration of a petrel burrow and the architecture of several example burrows.

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Liam U. Taylor @liamtaylor.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

(Aside: beaming at this section, as no less than two hours ago I was drafting these slides for an upcoming research talk!)

a powerpoint slide that reads: "HOW DO ORGANISMS EVOLVE TO FACE THEIR SOCIAL SYSTEMS?"

A powerpoint slide that describes what is apparently the dialectical processes of evolution w/r/t social systems. This thinking was originally adapted from Prum and Stearns during my dissertation. There is, on the one hand, the evolution of a social system (like a seagull breeding colony). There is, on the other hand, the evolution with respect to the breeding colony. Or the evolutionary consequences of a breeding colony. These include delayed reproduction and delayed plumage maturation (for example). Obviously, the evolutionary consequences of a social system are not its evolutionary causes; coloniality does not evolve due to delayed reproduction. Narrow adaptationists are forced to either except the non-adaptive consequences of a social system or believe Wynne-Edwards. Oopsy poopsy!

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Liam U. Taylor @liamtaylor.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

hahaha I remember it well. It was definitely this. I'm not sure if I even agree with their characterization, but I take compliments when I can get them. The thoughts ended up in the discussion of a small paper about seagull behavior, lol.

From Taylor 2024 published in the all-timer greatest scientific journal Waterbirds.

'I thus raise the hypothesis that young Herring Gulls develop with respect to territorial conventions (“what does lunging at another bird do?”; cf. Kohn 2024) even if they are neither developing territories (“where is the border at which I lunge?”; cf. Coulson 2002:103) nor learning per se (“what is a lunge?”; cf. Groothuis 1992). Closer studies of immature seabirds are needed to understand different forms of social development across species. Ainley et al. (1983) generally suggest that young penguins need rookery experience to eventually obtain territories or mates. Bradley and Wooller (1990) make somewhat vague references to “social environments” and “conventions.” Pickering (1989) implies young albatross must establish and maintain a pair-bond before reproduction. These remain radical suggestions, couched as they are in the subtle terms of seabird biology. For example, albatross depend on biparental care to successfully raise young (Tickell 1968). Developing a pair-bond is thus a material requirement of reproduction, like having feathers or gonads. There are many studies of feathers and gonads. There are few clear statements on what it means for a bird to “develop a pair-bond,” let alone “develop a social convention.”'

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Liam U. Taylor @liamtaylor.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

hey chat, how's my scheduling poll looking?

a poll that shows essentially a solid block of no one being able to meet all together

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Liam U. Taylor @liamtaylor.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Something very weird about Maine is that everyone has custom plates. I don't know why but I love it

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Liam U. Taylor @liamtaylor.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

the details of the paper are obvi the most important bit, but you'll get the point if you understand the stakes of these two statements

two snippets from the paper. The first, from the Introduction, reads:

"Although recent research increasingly posits environmental, social, or age-related plasticity in female preferences and male traits, it nevertheless continues to assume that during courtship displays, preferences and traits are intrinsic to audiences and performers, respectively."

The second snippet, from the discussion, reads:
"In contrast, our analysis of Masius displays shows that the expression of male behavioral traits (i.e., the constituent elements and syntactic ordering of male displays) is changed by the simple fact of female presence and subsequent female behavior. Females therefore codetermine the features of male display traits during the process of observation and assessment itself (sensu "intra-action")

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Liam U. Taylor @liamtaylor.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

One of my greatest privileges has been studying manakins with Dave McDonald. I'm of course especially fond of our *unusual* paper on courtship dances. I bet all three authors would describe the work differently. My summary is 'QUEER INTRA-ACTIVE COURTSHIP' Link: doi.org/10.1086/734995

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Liam U. Taylor @liamtaylor.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

later on in the files, a jump scare

American Herring Gull stares down a field camera at night on Kent Island, New Brunswick, Canada

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Liam U. Taylor @liamtaylor.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

A Leach's Storm-Petrel makes a dramatic exit from its underground nesting burrow in a rainstorm on Kent Island, New Brunswick, Canada

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Liam U. Taylor @liamtaylor.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

awhile ago I saw a post that DAYS was the best @themountaingoats.bsky.social driving album, which I think is probably true, but there's also a lot of nuance so I've made a helpful guide

a visual guide to tmg driving albums - list forthcoming

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Liam U. Taylor @liamtaylor.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Sometimes I make my books hug and make up

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Liam U. Taylor @liamtaylor.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

here's a sad one. these are storm-petrels, small pelagic seabirds, like tiny albatrosses that nest underground Pairs can spend decades together, but odds are low that both partners survive that long. The crumbling of the pyramid shows those pairs falling apart

A figure showing data from Leach's Storm-Petrels on Kent Island. Data from 7,102 pairs, 1992 to 2025. The x-axis shows the age of the older partner in a pair. The y-axis shows the duration of the pair-bond.

Don't @ me that the phylopic is H. pelagicus; there's no Leach's sillhouette! (https://www.phylopic.org/images/d6668ea1-5914-4b05-abe9-fbc7562f83fc/hydrobates-pelagicus)

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Liam U. Taylor @liamtaylor.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

there are many reasons I am a bad birder, and good that I stopped. But this is definitely my favorite photo of me birding

gannets on one of their most famous rocks. look to your left, Liam~!!

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Liam U. Taylor @liamtaylor.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

I asked undergrad field techs to do a simple task, which was record when storm-petrels in our long-term study site had damage. The following is a partial list of the codes they used to indicate 'no damage'

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Liam U. Taylor @liamtaylor.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

by the way, here's the Golden-winged Manakin putting those wing patches into action. (from the supplement to McDonald, Taylor, Oakley, AmNat, 2025).

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Liam U. Taylor @liamtaylor.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

Usually you don't see this base, because the coverts are covering it. But the coverts are dropped during molt. So you end up with a patch that is only present in YOUNG BIRDS at a SPECIFIC PART of the molt cycle! I think...

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Liam U. Taylor @liamtaylor.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

Young male White-throated Manakins have a 'black mask' - they have a distinct color patch around their face. Older birds do not have that patch. Not because their face isn't black anymore (it is!). It's because the REST of their feathers are now also black. Poof, patch gone!

Young male Corapipo gutturalis, with his black mask. Clipped from Macaulay Library. Photo credit Cristina Isabela Mosca. ML655743873

The best corapipo photo, by Cody Limber! ML624271086

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Liam U. Taylor @liamtaylor.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

The inner vanes of Golden-winged Manakin flight feathers are golden. When he spreads his wing (or tail), it goes from solid black wing to black with a solid gold patch. Even though all the feathers are partially black, and partially gold. (Photo clipped from Joseph Tobias, ML652348397)

The spread wing of a Golden-winged Manakin in hand. One of the best photos of one of the best species, by Joseph Tobias, clipped from Macaulay Library https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/652348397

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Liam U. Taylor @liamtaylor.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

for obvious reasons I think about these ones too

a small triangular moth with a deep, pitch, velvet-black spot on its back

a hand-sized moth with a shimmering blue, green, purple back

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Liam U. Taylor @liamtaylor.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

In French Guiana we saw this moth with little fake leaf holes in its wings and I think about it often

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Liam U. Taylor @liamtaylor.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

I am starting to draw my cat and his many forms

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Liam U. Taylor @liamtaylor.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

I made this Literature Cited section once and people's responses to it have taught me a lot about why I might face some hurdles in my day job

references section, hostage note cut and paste style, that reads I U WANT TO SAVE YOUR BELOVED CITATIONS DELIVER $35 CASH TO CRYBABY @ HOTMAIL .COM BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE

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Liam U. Taylor @liamtaylor.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

now on the cover @esajournals.bsky.social Front. Ecol. Env. with @ejgnam2.bsky.social beautiful photo from world's coolest site by Francesco Ventura Young seabirds are mysterious - but we need to keep learning about them! They matter for biology, and for conservation! doi.org/10.1002/fee....

front cover image from frontiers in ecology and the environment - a peer-reviewed scientific journal - showing a young albatross standing amidst adults at a breeding colony

photo by Dr. Francesco Ventura

more photo info here: https://doi.org/10.1002/fee.70063

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Liam U. Taylor @liamtaylor.bsky.social · 22/07/2026

Oops, I missed a very important page. Glad I check - would have meant jello and cornmeal for two months!

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Liam U. Taylor @liamtaylor.bsky.social · 18/07/2026

Check it! Sea-birds, a sanitary necessity - Thayer et al. 1900. In the journal Science, haha!

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Liam U. Taylor @liamtaylor.bsky.social · 25/06/2026

If they had a sense of humor, they'd announce the Ivory-billed Woodpecker de-extinction but the press materials would all be footage that looked like this

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Liam U. Taylor @liamtaylor.bsky.social · 17/06/2026

Drafting a very firmly worded email to facilities 😤

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