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Michael (Mike) C. Mahoney

@mikecmahoney.bsky.social
188 followers 379 following 14 posts

PhD Student | NSF GRF | Safford Vegetation and Fire Ecology Lab | Graduate Group in Ecology | U.C. Davis | Research on the nexus of avian ecology, fire ecology, and forest management 🪺🌲🔥

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Michael (Mike) C. Mahoney @mikecmahoney.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Coming off of my nutcracker summer, I think I’m gearing up for a corvid obsessed fall and winter. Since getting back to the Bay, I’ve really been taken by the local American Crows that fly south in over where I live towards their nightly roost (somewhere in Oakland?) in the hours before sunset.
An American Crow with spread wings, soars through the sky. The black bird is lit by the fading sun, giving the bird an orange tint. The orangish blue sky is behind the bird. A view of a stream of crows flying south towards their nightly roost. In the foreground, there is a city scape with telephone poles and palm trees. In the background, you can see the faint outline of the Golden Gate Bridge. The scene is washed orange by the setting sun.
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Michael (Mike) C. Mahoney @mikecmahoney.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Now that I am back from the eastern Sierra and no longer likely to run into nutcrackers (though you never know!), I will be turning my attention to my neighborhood corvids.
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Michael (Mike) C. Mahoney @mikecmahoney.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
I’ve got one more Clark’s Nutcracker survey left before I wrap up the first field season of my dissertation research! Oh how the summer flew by.
An image taken of Highway 120 near Tioga Pass in Mono County, CA. In the foreground there are yellowing willow, and in the background are yellowing aspens, the highway, and mountains.
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Michael (Mike) C. Mahoney @mikecmahoney.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
I was not expecting the dopamine hit I would get when I would see a Clark’s Nutcracker with a FULL sublingual pouch (the special pouch beneath their tongue where they store their seeds for transport). Even in this blurry photo you can see the pouch bulging with seeds beneath the bird’s chin!!
A Clark’s Nutcracker, a gray, black, and white crow shaped bird, flys through the sky. The specialized pouch beneath its chin is rounded and bulging from the typical profile of the birds head, full of seeds. It’s prominent even though the photo is low quality.
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Michael (Mike) C. Mahoney @mikecmahoney.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
As I start to parse through my nutcracker count data, I am struck at how much of it gets distilled down to just the number of detections (or even just presence-absence) at a given loc. Where do I put it in the model that one curious/confused nutcracker flew to <1 m of me and made eye contact?
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Great Basin Bird Observatory @greatbasinbirds.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
Pinyon Jays can carry 50+ pine nuts at a time in their crop & fly long distances to cache them across the landscape. As scatter-hoarders, #PinyonJays may hide millions of seeds over their lives. While they recover many, some are forgotten, giving new pinyon pines the chance to grow. #ForestFriday
Pinyon jay flying with nut. Photo by Bobby Wilcox.
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Great Basin Bird Observatory @greatbasinbirds.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
Late summer marks the start of pine nut harvest for Pinyon Jays. As pinyon pine cones ripen, the jays begin collecting and caching seeds for the months ahead, though the timing of cone maturity varies from year to year. #PinyonJays #pines #birds
green pinyon cone
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Michael (Mike) C. Mahoney @mikecmahoney.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
I’m lifting my head up for a moment before diving back into the last few weeks of my first field season researching Clark’s Nutcrackers in California’s eastern Sierra Nevada Mtns. I may leave my field season with more questions than answers, but one things for certain: these birds are special!
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Tommy Siegel @tommysiegel.bsky.social · 11/12/2025
bird song
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Association for Fire Ecology @afe-fireecology.bsky.social · 22/12/2025
New article alert 🚨 for the #FireEcology Journal! "A post-fire reforestation assessment and prioritization tool for the Western United States" #SNFECO🔥 Read it here: ow.ly/mtot50XJWmr
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Kat Kerlin @katkerlin.bsky.social · 19/12/2025
Some called it the "Christmas Valley miracle" when that Tahoe community and Meyers were spared during 2021's Caldor Fire. A @ucdavis.bsky.social study reveals which pre-fire treatments worked best to ⬇️ the fire damage. Also: Unburned fuel piles are a big problem. www.ucdavis.edu/climate/news...
ucdavis.edu
Lessons from the Caldor Fire’s Christmas Valley ‘Miracle’
The Lake Tahoe communities of Christmas Valley and Meyers were spared during 2021's Caldor Fire. A UC Davis study reveals which pre-fire fuel treatments worked best to bring about the Christmas Valley...
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Tsupi_WBSY カラリーマン @tsupi-wbsy.bsky.social · 12/12/2025
日本の一般的カラ類混群メンツ:非シジュウカラ科 ・キクイタダキ科 (ほかにもまだいるかな?) キクイタダキ Goldcrest / Regulus regulus エナガより小さいこのこたちも、カラの混群に混ざっていることがあります。 ヒガラと似たようなところでチョコチョコ。 Mixed flocks of tit birds in Japan: non-tit birds #ArtAdventCalendar #BirdArt
グリーン系で描いたキクイタダキ2羽の平面イラスト。
Flat illustration of two Goldcrests painted in green tones.
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Wilson Ornithological Society @wilsonornithsoc.bsky.social · 05/12/2025
Your Friday #ornithology read: A snapshot of how birds populations in the mountains of the Pacific Northwest are responding to climate change.
theconversation.com
New study finds Pacific Northwest birds are becoming more common in the mountains as the climate warms
A new study provides a clear picture of how birds are responding to climate change in the mountains near Vancouver.
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Michael (Mike) C. Mahoney @mikecmahoney.bsky.social · 24/11/2025
I had a lovely time at Staten Island this weekend watching the Sandhill Cranes return to their overnight roost. Winter birding in the Central Valley is magical!
Three Sandhill Cranes descending in flight with a sunset hue background.
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Michael (Mike) C. Mahoney @mikecmahoney.bsky.social · 10/11/2025
It’s awesome to read about the field research my advisor, lab mates, and I conducted this summer in California’s high Sierra. It’s giving me motivation as I wrap up proposals to fund my 🤞🏻 field research on Clark’s Nutcrackers!
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Dan Starr @danstarrucdavis.bsky.social · 04/11/2025
Warning. ⚠️ If you are writing an NSF GRFP, new this year, you need official transcripts to apply. Beware. They will not review applications without official transcripts. ‼️
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SK Winnicki, PhD 🏳️‍⚧️ @skwinnicki.bsky.social · 24/10/2025
According to @corvidresearch.bsky.social on a reddit post about it from years ago, they have a expandable sublingual pouch to hold food. I can't find a jay diagram, but here's one from a Clark's Nutcracker paper, guessing it's similar: digitalcommons.usf.edu/cgi/viewcont...
old-timey hand-drawn diagram from the linked paper. It shows a bird's head and neck muscles. Under the bird's beak hangs a pouch of muscles. In the top diagram, A, the pouch is not full of food. Below that, in B, shows the pouch expanded with food.
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Point Blue Conservation Science @pointblue.bsky.social · 22/10/2025
🔥🐦🌎🧪Can fire boost bird populations!? A new study found that population density of some #bird species grew rapidly in burned areas. While high-intensity megafires threaten birds, low to moderate intensity #prescribedburns may have benefits. Learn more: shorturl.at/coEC6 #GoodFire #FireEcology
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The Institute for Bird Populations @instbirdpop.bsky.social · 21/10/2025
🪶 IBP is proud to be a Founding Partner of California Bird Atlas (@californiabirdatlas) — a new nonprofit launching the first-ever statewide effort to map CA's breeding birds. (1/2)
A photo of two Black-necked Stilts by Michelle MacKenzie. The bird in the foreground is a juvenile and the background bird is an adult.
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Michael (Mike) C. Mahoney @mikecmahoney.bsky.social · 21/10/2025
Time for an intro! Hi everyone, my name is Mike, and I recently started grad school in the Safford Lab at UC Davis where I’ll be working towards a PhD in the Grad Group in Ecology researching avian ecology for improved conservation efforts and ecosystem management, primarily in forested systems.
The writer of the post, laying on the ground behind a small Jeffrey Pine Seedling growing from rocky soil. An upclose photo of a female Anna’s Hummingbird face. A Mountain View with pink skies and tents in the foreground.
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Association for Fire Ecology @afe-fireecology.bsky.social · 15/10/2025
New article alert 🚨 for the #FireEcology Journal! By Chris Ray, Rodney B. Siegel, Robert L. Wilkerson, Lynn Schofield, Morgan W. Tingley, Sonia Aronson, Sylvia Haultain, Sarah Stock, and Kent van Wagtendonk #SNFECO 🔥 Read it here: ow.ly/RFjr50XazhK
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Alejandra Echeverri, PhD @ornithoale.bsky.social · 10/10/2025
New paper out today led by Prof. @dskarp.bsky.social Marketing birds: The traits birdwatching tourism companies highlight in Costa Rican tour itineraries
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ESA Journals @esajournals.bsky.social · 08/10/2025
Alpine lakes among the dramatic peaks of Kings Canyon Nat'l Park grace Ecosphere's October cover. New research shows how introduced trout have impacts that ripple through the food web and reshape bird communities Browse the full #OpenAccess issue: esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/toc/21508925...
Cover of the October 2025 issue of Ecosphere
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Point Blue Conservation Science @pointblue.bsky.social · 17/07/2025
🌊🦑🦉Check it out! Our Farallon Islands-inspired apparel collaboration with #BirdCollective is here! Rock threads featuring Farallones favorites like the #CommonMurre, #RhinocerosAuklet, #TuftedPuffin, & more! Shop: shorturl.at/mhIZQ #seabirds #marinelife
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