Need an escape from #COVIDー19 nonsense?

Feast your eyes on this gorgeous illustration of an Arctic Warbler by Tracey Faber (website URL below!). Thread

http://Traceyraefaber.com 

#ornithology #SciArt #SciComm

This Arctic Warbler may weigh no more than 3 pennies, but don't let the adorable tiny package fool you. It may have been Arctic Warblers that influenced the common adage "mighty things comes in small packages."

Wait, do I have that right? It was mighty, right?

#ornithology

For one thing, their song is straight power. They produce this radar gun-like song that is as intensely vigorous as it is constant. Check out the @MacaulayLibrary link below to hear such melodic force.

#ornithology

https://search.macaulaylibrary.org/catalog?taxonCode=arcwar1&q=Arctic%20Warbler%20-%20Phylloscopus%20borealis

And don't even get me started abt their chip notes. When they get really angry (re: think there's a territory intruder come to take over their space), they flit about the shrub, angrily flashing their wings in display.

Check out that feisty face.

I mean, if looks could kill...

I mean, gram for gram, they have enough attitude for an obstinancy of buffaloes (it's a thing, promise).

Dallin Smith

#BirdTwitter #ornithology

Beyond these awesome qualities, however, they are a super interesting bird. They are one of only a handful of "old world" birds that come to North America to breed. That special place where most old world species converge is #alaska.

#ornithology

The majority of Arctic Warblers live west of North America - in Eurasia, Russia/Siberia, Mongolia, & China. A tiny portion of them occur just in #Alaska. How neat is that?

#ornithology #SciComm

#SciArt by @laurelmundyillo
(bonus Wilson's Warbler in there!)

While we have an idea of where they spend their summers, we hardly know the extent to where they spend their winters. For the AK population of Arctic Warblers, we have no idea. Anecdotal records & sightings show them in the Phillippines & areas of SE Asia, but we don't rly know.

To start filling in the blanks to these Qs, we started putting geolocators on Arctic Warblers @DenaliNPS. These tiny tags (weighing a quarter of a gram!) log time & sunlight levels, which can be converted to latitude & longitude - & ultimately, turn into a map of their migration.

We don't have the answers yet, but we're working to find out.Finding out not only where @DenaliNPS Arctic Warblers go, but also where other pops of Arctic Warblers in #Alaska go, is rly impt & one of the 1st steps to filling in critical gaps in what we know of their annual cycle.

It's def a lot more fun to mind-travel to the tropics of SE Asia imagining where Arctic Warblers may be hanging out now. Are they in rainforest drinkin margaritas w/ little umbrellas? Who knows?!

Way more fun than stressin abt #coronavirus. I hope this thread was a nice escape!