Nick Antonson

My 4th chapter of my dissertation with @cowbirdlab, Niche Construction through a Goldilocks principle maximizes fitness for a nest-sharing brood parasite, is now published! (1/4) @RSocPublishing royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rs…

Finally some great new interspecific data, now online in @EthoGes ‘ journal Ethology, by @NickAntonson and colleagues! onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/et…

🚨New preprint!🚨 We show greater fatigue-resistance in the neck muscles of brood parasitic cowbirds compared to one of their hosts, the prothonotary warbler. This result mirrors begging behavior, where cowbirds are able to keep their heads up longer than host warbler chicks.

AVOTREX is out: an open-access companion to AVONET containing morphological traits for ~600 extinct bird species and a phylogeny grafting these taxa onto the global bird tree to support future research on Anthropogenic extinctions. Hat-tip to many co-authors; led by @FerranSayol

I am excited to share our new paper published today @CellCellPress (link: authors.elsevier.com/a/1jw%7ElL7PXq…). This is one of my favorite studies and took ~7 years to complete. In early 2018, we started the project, aiming at understanding the neural plasticity of the Winner effect. 1/6

Mating songs of Galápagos finches from a set of possible futures, played to territorial males, reveal links between adaptation and speciation. Check out our new study—led by Dr. Jeff Podos @UMassAmherst—in @sciencemagazine! ⬇️ Summary 🧵below! (1/10) science.org/doi/10.1126/sc…

CALLING ALL BIRD NERDS we are hiring Asst Prof Avian Ecology at UW Seattle! Please apply, or spread the word: ap.washington.edu/ahr/position-d…

New from ⁦@Hannah_Scharf_⁩ Sexual size dimorphism of brood-parasitic nestlings does not affect host chick survival, size or fledging phenology sciencedirect.com/science/articl…

New from @katieschro8 @HealeyLab in @J_Exp_Biol, report that in zebra finches, brain cells in forebrain auditory areas are already selectively tuned to conspecific song before the sensitive period Nice use of cross fostering w/Bengalese finches journals.biologists.com/jeb/article/do…

We just started a search for a postdoc to join my lab group to study honey bee microbes through some collaborative/interdisciplinary projects. We will review applications through Aug 19. Full ad here: igb.illinois.edu/sites/default/…

Seeking a postdoc with experience in histology, IHC, & microscopy to study brain-behavior relationships in dogs & foxes. Additional opportunities to learn MRI &/or animal behavior. Come join our multidisciplinary team at @HarvardHEB!😎🧠🔬 🦊🐶academicpositions.harvard.edu/postings/13840

Cover image initiative at Evolution Letters! We are looking for artists who would like to work with authors of Evolution Letters Editor’s Pick papers to design cover images for upcoming journal issues!!

Extremely pleased to share our team’s latest #BirdAgenda work in @Nature - hawks and other soaring birds use their lungs to enhance their flight muscles: nature.com/articles/s4158…

This playlist is almost perfect. Just missing: 8. Rejection (by AC/DC) and 9. Coming Your Way (by Fleetwood Mac)

This is a series of very cool projects on the evolution of the avian vocal organ, for which I had the opportunity to contribute to. Birdsong and Human Voice Built from Same Genetic Blueprint. @jclarkepaleolab @MichaelChiappo3 jsg.utexas.edu/news/2024/05/b…

Heads up animal behavior researchers! Amazing opportunity: 3 3-year independent postdoctoral fellowships based in Panama at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. Deadline July 15. Come collaborate with @livingingroups @MPI_animalbehav stri.si.edu/academic-progr……

Cuckoos—which lay their eggs in nests of other birds—have higher speciation rates when they lay their eggs in a broader range of host bird species’ nests, a new Science study reports. Read that research and more in this week's issue: scim.ag/78T

Very excited to share a news article about our paper on a nuclear genome of a little bush moa, the vision of the late Allan Baker @ROMtoronto, drawings by Wren Lu ‘19 @HarvardOEB. Great help from friends #Maori #Aoteroa from whom I learned much abcnews.go.com/International/…

Fledgling integration in altricial birds: a response to Redondo and Amat | Evolutionary Ecology now online!! link.springer.com/article/10.100…

This has been my job the last 2 years, and its been great getting to write about the amazing research at the IGB. This position has really helped me improve my writing and expand my knowledge across other disciplines. Everyone interested in a cool postdoc position should apply!

The #UniversityofSouthDakota has been enforcing a new SD Board of Regents policy (1.7.6) that limits what can be in the email signature of a BOR employee. On 3/13 I received an email stating I was in violation of this policy for including my tribal affiliation and pronouns.