iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Vanessa Bateman @vbateman.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Prepping for the UAAC conference (Universities Art Association of Canada), where I’ll be discussing the history of nest cams - from some of the first (c.1900) to YouTube Livestreams. Below, an adult bald eagle watches their young/the camera streaming a live feed to YouTube. #animalhist

Screenshot from 2026-05-31 of the Big Bear Valley Bald Eagle livestream on YouTube. An adult eagle is perched beside their nest, watching their two young eaglets sleep at nighttime.

021

Vanessa Bateman @vbateman.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

A first for me: live animal habitat diorama (very cute African penguins) among traditional taxidermy dioramas at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco

A display of living African penguins in a natural history museum

040

Vanessa Bateman @vbateman.bsky.social · 25/06/2026

My article about wapiti and red deer in 20th cent New Zealand is out with @animalhistory.bsky.social ! 🦌🚁🏔️ It’s a wild story about colonial animals + technology, trophies + pests, the venison + velvet industry, and hybridity doi.org/10.1525/ah.2... #envhist #animalhist #histech

A man in a red jumpsuit stands behind a very large and sedated red deer stag with large antlers. A small helicopter is grounded behind them in the distance. Taken in New Zealand in 1976.

1123

Vanessa Bateman @vbateman.bsky.social · 28/05/2026

Streaming an eagle cam while writing about (the earliest?) eagle cam photos from over a century ago Such great heights! #animalhist #birds #photohistory www.youtube.com/live/B4-L2nf...

A black and white photograph of Herman Bohlman standing in a tree top while holding his camera, demonstrating how he literally goes to great heights to photograph a golden eagle nest. From 1904.

140

Vanessa Bateman @vbateman.bsky.social · 20/05/2026

Rather than “invasive” or “alien” species, “new species” is used in the Swedish Museum of Natural History to describe non-native plants and animals.

A museum display case of taxidermy animals and plant specimens.

010

Vanessa Bateman @vbateman.bsky.social · 18/05/2026

In Stockholm for the “BIOrdinary Anthropocene” conference. Human- #animalhist prominently displayed in front of the royal palace and parliament building — in the form of loop net fishing boats

A green ring net fishing boat in Stockholm

020

Vanessa Bateman @vbateman.bsky.social · 04/05/2026

*Globalizing Wildlife* is OUT THIS MONTH (!) with @uncpress.bsky.social “An essential and timely intervention… exciting, cutting-edge vantages on crucial global histories” -Daniel Vandersommers Edited by @rafdebont.bsky.social myself, & Tom Quick #animalhist #globalhist #HistSci #envhist

Cover of the book Globalizing Wildlife, edited by Raf De Bont, Vanessa Bateman, and Tom Quick. Featuring a photo of a red deer held in a nylon sack hanging from below a helicopter.

24819

Vanessa Bateman @vbateman.bsky.social · 07/04/2026

After I FINALLY found a male wood duck (swimming in the very beautiful “wilderness” of a sewage treatment plant) the ornithologist who has been helping me said: “they are not that attractive.” I disagree! Genuinely interested in what defines this: to a specialist and non? #ducks

A very poor quality image taken through binoculars with a phone camera. A wood duck swimming in sewage waters in Peterborough, Ontario.

000

Vanessa Bateman @vbateman.bsky.social · 07/04/2026

With such colorful plumage wood ducks are often called the “most beautiful” duck in all of North America. (They are also supposed to be quite tasty).

A screenshot from eBird’s webpage on Wood Ducks: featuring a photo of a very colorful male wood duck

100

Vanessa Bateman @vbateman.bsky.social · 23/03/2026

Visiting @ontarioturtlecc.bsky.social I learned that turtles need/use artificial wildlife corridors (eco-passages) just like large migratory mammals. Users also include snakes, ducks, beavers. Continually reminded of the Moving Animals project 🐢 #envhist

Info poster about how Ontario turtles need eco-passages.

030

Vanessa Bateman @vbateman.bsky.social · 17/03/2026

Extinct “Species at Risk” at the Redpath Museum at McGill University: Passenger Pigeon + Labrador Duck #animalhist

A museum display case featuring a passenger pigeon with the text “species at risk”

A taxidermied Labrador Duck with a sign reading: “these ducks are now probably extinct as none have been seen since 1875”

011

Vanessa Bateman @vbateman.bsky.social · 23/02/2026

Of course, I dug into the bins of birds and exchanged emails with a retired ornithologist for hot tips on where to find wood ducks at the end of March.

Hand holding a bird study skin of an oriole

000

Vanessa Bateman @vbateman.bsky.social · 23/02/2026

I recently joined the Peterborough Field Naturalists @ptbonature.bsky.social with my child and was happy to witness taxidermy as a tool for hands-on learning for the “junior naturalists” last weekend at Trent University. #animalhist Most of the tags read “window collision” as cause of death.

Child standing at a table on which some taxidermy specimens of birds are placed, as well as a bin of bird study skins of ducks.

120

Vanessa Bateman @vbateman.bsky.social · 19/01/2026

This booklet features info on the latest research on wood duck conservation using nest boxes, how to build and install them yourself, and various designs to do so.

Mid century wood duck housing design! Four photographs demonstrating the design and installation of a galvanized metal pipe wood duck nest box. It’s got a cylinder base and a cone shape roof.

000

Vanessa Bateman @vbateman.bsky.social · 19/01/2026

Currently reading the booklet “Housing for Wood Ducks,” published by the Illinois Natural History Survey (1953) and want to know more about the making, circulation, and use of natural history circulars from the mid cent. Any suggestions for readings/info on this topic? #envhist #histSTM

Hand holding booklet “Housing for Wood Ducks,” published by the Illinois Natural History Survey (1953). On the cover is a painting of two Wood Ducks using an artificial bird nesting box made out of wood.

141

Vanessa Bateman @vbateman.bsky.social · 01/10/2025

Besides the chimps, the material legacy of her research there was especially memorable for me. Her cabin (and all the books, skulls, and objects collected by her and others over the years), her son “grub”’s house that kept him safe from the baboons, the old feeding station. #animalhist

Inside Goodall’s cabin at Gombe. Piles of books, skulls of apes and other animals, empty wine bottles and candles.

One of Goodall’s bookshelves, with a stuffed baboon toy.

022

Vanessa Bateman @vbateman.bsky.social · 01/10/2025

Thinking about Jane Goodall, and grateful to have spent time at Gombe as a @anthropogeny.org graduate student in 2019.

Entranceway to Gombe National Park, Tanzania in 2019. “Care, conserve and protect for future generations”

164

Vanessa Bateman @vbateman.bsky.social · 22/05/2025

Sharing my fav photo from my research on the work of Herman Bohlman and William and Irene Finley: A self portrait with golden eagles, taken from 158 feet up a sycamore tree, 1904. #animalhist

Self portrait of William Finley and Herman Bohlman with two golden eagles. The photographers sit at the edge of a large nest, five feet wide, where two young golden eagles sit. One holds a camera while the other a box of glass plates.

130

Vanessa Bateman @vbateman.bsky.social · 22/05/2025

Excited to talk #animalhist with other art historians today at the “Interspecies Interactions in the Visual Arts”symposium, org by @claralanger.bsky.social and Oriane Poret. I’ll be speaking about seeking a “bird’s eye view” in avian photography, and finding (un)wanted encounters.

Poster for “Interspecies Interactions in the Visual Arts (1550-1914) Collaborations, Experiments, Oppositions” international symposium held May 21-23, 2025.

1288

Vanessa Bateman @vbateman.bsky.social · 30/04/2025

Looking forward to next week’s online workshop “Wild or Domestic? Research on Artificial Bird Nesting Sites” organized by @dollyjorgensen.bsky.social & Thomas Reitmaier. I’ll be discussing wood duck conservation via nest boxes and the film Wood Duck Ways (1956) [linked below] #envhist #animalhist

Poster for online workshop Wild or Domestic? Research on Artificial Bird Nesting Sites. May 6, 2025.

A black and white photograph of two men on ladders resting on a tree. One is holding a camera while the other poses beside a metal canister wood duck nest. The bird emerges from the entrance. 1966, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

1111

Vanessa Bateman @vbateman.bsky.social · 08/01/2025

And most recently, trying to solve a mystery about two swans at the Bell Museum. More to come! #animalhist #envhum

170

Vanessa Bateman @vbateman.bsky.social · 08/01/2025

Presenting my research on wildlife photography and wapiti (elk) at a conference in Banff while two walk by the window and steal the show #animalhist #envhist

170

Vanessa Bateman @vbateman.bsky.social · 08/01/2025

And searching for cows with @monicavasile.bsky.social in the Swiss alps as part of the @eseh.bsky.social summer school

150

Vanessa Bateman @vbateman.bsky.social · 08/01/2025

Also not to forget the non-humans: holding lemming, loon, and finch along the way!

120

Vanessa Bateman @vbateman.bsky.social · 10/12/2024

Found a sandhill crane feather in the archive last year - taped to a letter from 1930. 🪶 #animalhist #envhist

1190

Vanessa Bateman @vbateman.bsky.social · 08/04/2024

My article discusses 19th cent self-taught naturalist Martha Maxwell, who was ahead of her time in modernizing taxidermy and its display. I conclude by sharing the experience of holding one of the finches she collected in the 1870s.

A souvenir stereograph of Martha Maxwell sitting within her exhibit at the Centennial Exhibition in 1876

Holding a rosy finch in the collection of the Bell Museum

0155

Vanessa Bateman @vbateman.bsky.social · 08/04/2024

In good company with @moneschleper.bsky.social and @monicavasile.bsky.social in the recently published Gender and Animals in History, edited by @wildpasts.bsky.social! So many good chapters 🐱🪿🐞🐆🐘🐎 open access with @amsterdamupress.bsky.social at library.oapen.org/handle/20.50...

2289

Vanessa Bateman @vbateman.bsky.social · 20/03/2024

This week: Presenting new research on habitat dioramas as productive archives of human-(migratory)animal histories for the TU Berlin workshop “From Passive Livestock to Untamed Beings: Reanimating Animals in the History of Technology” organized by Christian Zumbrägel. #animalhist

Visitors looking at the Snow Geese (1942) diorama at the University of Minnesota’s natural history museum.

1101

Vanessa Bateman @vbateman.bsky.social · 19/03/2024

Lots of zoo animal taxidermy at the Natural History Museum in Berlin. Including Bobby (1928-1935), Knut (2006-2011) and unnamed son (195?-?) of Knautschke (1943-1988). #animalhist

151

Vanessa Bateman @vbateman.bsky.social · 08/03/2024

My favorite find in the archive: a letter from 1874 addressed to Maxwell that crosses out the stationery’s “Sir”

040

Vanessa Bateman @vbateman.bsky.social · 08/03/2024

Happy #IWD Excited to share my article on Martha Maxwell (taxidermist & feminist) in the Yearbook of Women’s History: Gender and Animals in History, edited by @wildpasts.bsky.social out next month! #envhist

1142

Vanessa Bateman @vbateman.bsky.social · 08/02/2024

Working on something about migratory birds represented in habitat dioramas. Does anyone know of dioramas or museums that display tagged/ringed birds (like this tundra swan at the Bell Museum)? thank you! #envhist

Tundra Swan diorama (1947) at the Bell Museum

000

Vanessa Bateman @vbateman.bsky.social · 29/01/2024

Getting ready to talk about wildlife filmmaking, lemmings, and Disney for the upcoming Moving Animals fest @naturalis.bsky.social and learned that lemming populations can shape snowy-owl migrations (and they make nests out of lemming corpses?!)

084