Corrections - Tumblr Posts

Hello and thank you for your input! We here at The Academy of Bird Sciences always strive for the utmost accuracy in our ground-breaking ornithological research, and we are happy to know our readers are equally fervent in making sure the truth about birds is known. That said, I am not sure precisely why you claim we are incorrect. Your statement that Sandhill Cranes build ground nests does not at all contradict our findings which fully admit their use. Granted, the supporting links you have provided make no mention of the peculiar incubation method but it is normal for reference materials to become outdated, especially in the fast-paced world of ornithobiolography. Upon consideration, I think perhaps the source of confusion is the Sandhill’s tendency to use ‘decoy’ eggs in the nests whilst incubating the real ones. This nugget of information was unfortunately excised from the original post in the interest of brevity, and I see how an amateur birder could thus be confused by their own field experience. For this omission I apologise, and hope you can again find trust in us here at The Academy of Bird Sciences. 

Sandhill cranes have a surprising and stomach-turning method of incubating their eggs. Rather than build a nest, these cranes place the eggs on their back and gently yet firmly press them until they become embedded in the flesh. After thirty days of incubation the eggs hatch, but the chicks will live in the cavities left behind for an additional two to three weeks before the mother moves them to a more traditional ground-style nest.

Minor point of correction but that actually appears to be a Gluttonous Blue Heron! The confusion is understandable as they look very similar to their Great Blue cousins, but you can spot the difference by the prey they attempt to capture. Great Blue Herons tend to eat modest meals, whereas Gluttonous Blues go after prey larger than their heads. Unfortunately they don’t often survive past three years of age as their diets put enormous pressure on their internal organs; most extant museum specimens were collected post-mortem after the bird died of a torn stomach.

When your meal is as big as you are…. #greatblueheron #heron #saltlife #fishing #fish #swfl #southflorida #birding #bird #birds #notachicken #birdnerd #lovefl

I am super stoked about this!!! This is the first I think actual factual non-commissioned art inspired by my work here at The Academy of Bird Sciences.

HOWEVER

(she says, pedantically)

It appears you’ve accidentally drawn a Gorgeted Blue Heron instead! The giveaway was the fact that it’s holding a sword; Gross Blue Herons use short clubs or their own bodies because it makes their racially-targeted violence more ‘personal’. Gorgeted Blue Herons on the other hand are all about martial appearances, cleaving to more ‘elegant’ instruments of warfare.

Don’t feel too bad about this sort of misidentification! It happens all the time among field interns, no doubt in part because the Alpha codes all resolve down to GBHE.

Night shift doodle! How better to represent the Gross Blue Heron than with the V of Swords. He’ll take everything you have and doesn’t even feel a little sorry. Inspired by @maverick-ornithography​.

Hello friend! Thank you for your valuable contribution to Bird Discourse (or as it is known in Prosumer Ornithographical circles: Bourse). 

While ordinarily we here at The Academy of Bird Sciences welcome any and all corrections in the name of scientific cooperation and education, in this specific instance it appears you are in error: the photo you have attached is an Eastern Meadowlark, sister species to the Western Meadowlark described above. Do not be dismayed, this sort of mistake happens all of the time! They look quite similar but can be differentiated by the fact that Eastern Meadowlarks are incapable of terrestrial locomotion, as you can see in the above photograph. While ordinarily this would be a minor impairment to other birds, these skyborne Sturnella are quite able to hunt and eat enough aerial insect life to sustain their unceasing flapping.

Thank you again for your Bourse and have a nice day!

Incapable of traditional flight, Western Meadowlarks maneuver through the world by leaping with powerful legs. Capable of jumping three times their body’s length completely vertically, these springy Sturnella are hardly hampered by the lack of flying ability; many casual observers have been fooled into believing they take wing due to the speed and precision of their numerous jumps. Above, a pair of meadowlarks judge the leaping form of a third.

an excellent genetics question from @idkwhoiamanymorebutwtf !

short version: you're correct, i accidentally wrote it in a way that was misleading and i will edit the post. thanks for pointing out the mistake!

the long version:

The answer here is that the red gene is sex-linked and is attached to the X chromosome.

A tortoiseshell cat has one copy of the red gene, which is co-dominant with whatever their base coat gene is (in this case I'm simplifying it to black), which means that a tortoiseshell cat will have black and orange patches. This genotype would be written as XrX because she has one copy of the red masking gene attached to one of her X chromosomes.

In order to be completely orange, a cat needs to have an r gene on all of their X chromosomes. So for a male cat this would look like XrY and for a female cat this would look like XrXr, whereas a tortoiseshell cat would normally have the genotype XrX.

A pairing between a tortoiseshell cat (chromosomes XrX) and an orange cat (chromosomes XrY) would look like this:

Xr X

Xr XrXr XrX

Y XrY XY

In this case, "XrXr" is a completely orange female cat (two copies of the r gene). This means that one in four kittens produced will be an orange female cat. My mistake was to say that it would be more likely for a female kitten to be tortoiseshell; as you correctly point out, half of all female kittens will be tortoiseshell. In writing the post, I accidentally internally conflated "one in four kittens will be orange mollies" with "one in four female kittens will be orange," which are not equivalent statements.

my favorite actual chimera moonpaw designs are the ones where one part is black and one part is orange.

because of the way inheritance of the orange gene works, a 100% biologically female chimera can’t be orange and black.

with an orange mother and an orange father, all kittens in the litter would be orange.

with an orange mother and a black father, all male kittens would be orange and all female kittens would be tortoiseshell.

with a tortoiseshell mother and an orange father, a female kitten could be (with a 1 in 4 chance) orange or, more likely, tortoiseshell. male kittens could be black or orange.

with a black mother and an orange father, female kittens would be tortoiseshell and male kittens would be black.

(with a black mother and a black father, no kittens would be orange, obviously.)

the black/orange chimera moonpaw designs are intersex, trans, or both!

You're quite right -- thank you for pointing that out!

Have you seen our new security monitor yet?

Curse you and your superior lizard knowledge!

(I kid, I kid. I should have been more diligent in my fact checking as well.)

But! If you check out the original post, the lizard in question is a Komodo Dragon, which is a type of monitor lizard.

To further clarify, the second gif features Odin, a Savannah Monitor dressed as a Night Fury (from How To Train Your Dragon).

Have you seen our new security monitor yet?