Table of Contents
- Biography: About myself and this webpage.
- To-Read Lists: What I'm interested in reading.
- Featured Writing: Amateur prose and poetry.
- Artwork of the Month: Pictures I like.
- Rolodex: Other webpages I like.
- Read/Watched Log: Chronological entries of books I've read and movies I've watched.
- Birdwatching Lifelist: Every bird I've ever seen.
- Appendix: Changelog, current status, miscellaneous objects and links.
Biography
My name is Aaron. I am a recent graduate of the Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences program at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. I still live in Champaign, Illinois. I have a number of interests, which include but are not limited to:
- Topics in the natural sciences
- History
- Language
- and parochially, birdwatching
I was somewhat disatisfied with my education. Since climate change and other kinds of anthropogenic environmental catostrophes threaten the very foundations of life on this planet, and because the mysteries of life and ecology are so big in the first place, I think we ought to take these topics quite seriously.
Please feel free to message me about anything you see here :) 
discord: aivsin
email: adivsin "at" protonmail "dot" com
Photo credit: Ashley H.
Reading Lists
Currently Reading
The Charterhouse of Parma, Stendhal. Reading with friends; good entertainment.
Don Quixote, Cervantes. Hilarious.
The Venture of Islam vol 1, Hodgson. Appropriate to historians in the 1970s, he cites little and makes plenty of poorly elaborted general claims about civilizational evolution that don't actually matter very much. Still seems foundational, well-resesarched, and well-written enough, to keep reading.
Stream Ecology, Allan et al. Re-reading this textbook from an old class in hopes that it can inform some aspects of natural area management at work.
Tools of the Trade, Sally. Working through some of these very elementary exercises in mathematical-logical thinking is very refreshing.
Levels of Organic Life and the Human, Plessner. Just started this.
In my youth, I felt I started too many books without finishing them. It took an embarassingly long time to realize I just needed to reflect, think, write, or talk about what I was reading to make the task worthwhile. I won't finish many of these, thankfully.
To-Read Lists
- Biology, Evolution, Ecology, and other Natural Sciences
- Wetland Ecology - Keddy
- Songbird Behavior and Conservation in the Anthropocene - Proppe et al
- Evolution - Zimmer
- On the Origin of Species - Darwin
- Annals of the Former World - McPhee
- Life Fantastic - Gould
- Tools of the Trade - Sally
- History and Politics
- The River, the Plain, and the State - Zhang
- Nature's Metropolis - Cronon
- Ecological Imperialism - Crosby
- Fanshen - Hinton
- Rice in the Time of Sugar - Perez
- Carbon Technocracy - Seow
- Capitalism in the Web of Life - Moore
- Sweetness and Power - Sidney Mintz
- Theory, Criticism, and Philospohy
- Capital - Marx
- Science of Logic - Hegel
- Clear Serenity, Quiet Insight - Zhiyi
- Literature and Film
- Wizard of the Crow - Ngugi wa Thiongo
- Petersberg - Andrei Bely
- Native Son - Richard Wright
- Paradiso - Jose Lezama Lima
- Collected Poetry - Derek Walcott
- The English Understand Wool - Helen DeWitt
- The Red and the Black - Stendhal
- The Carnival Trilogy - Wilson Harris
- Gargantua and Pantagruel - Rabelais
- Poems - Elizabeth Bishop
- Crab Ship Cannery - Takiji Kobayashi
- Water Margin - Shi Nai'an
These lists are meant to be suggestive of the topics, authors, and problems I find interesting. They aren't comprehensive, or organized as a plan or a syllabus.
Writing
- Four Original Poems
- The Venture of Islam, vol. 1 - some notes on Marshal Hodgson's description of the Ummayad-Abbasid transition, which I found perplexing.
- The Universal Army - Frederic Jameson. My review.
- The Triple Helix - Richard Lewontin. My review.
The review of Jameson's The Universal Army is currently undergoing re-review and is not available.
Picture, Painting, Artwork of the Month
January 2026: van Gogh: "The Ballroom at Arles"
Rolodex
- Olivia's neocities page: a friend studying the history of capitalism and the japanese railroad network.
- Alex's neocities page: a friend who hosts some interesting artwork and poetry.
- Advith's neocities page: a friend with an interesting blog.
- Iris' neocities page: a friend studying Chinese history and Tiantai buddhism.
- Richard's essays: an incarcerated penpal writing about capitalism, colonialism, and waste management.
- James' essays: a friend studying 19th century German philosophy.
- The Phenomenal World newsletter: some great writing on various topics in modern political economy.
A number of my friends have webpages of their own, which may be of interest to you.
Read/Watched Log 2025
- 29-Dec-2025: Fiction: Michael Kohlhaas, Heinrick von Kleist
trs. David Luke and Nigel Reeves. A fantastic, superb story, and now one of my favorite comedies. Recommend without reservations. - 25-Dec-2025: Film: The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004)
I was disappointed. Since the last book I read also was concerned with transformative encounters with fanastic life, this movie failed to live up to the theme. I feel like Anderson doesn't really respect his animals - most of the time, you're supposed to take them as just a joke. The fairy-tale, sentimental, happy ending just felt gross to me. I don't think anything in the movie amounted to a serious look at fatherhood. - 21-Dec-2025: Fiction: The Day Lasts More than a Hundred Years, Chingiz Aitmatov
tr. John French. An interesting, very sentimental novel about the unhappy and apparent failure of the socialist project in the USSR, which finds its expression as the refusal to aknowledge the presence of an intelligent, peaceful, and advanced alien species. This thread only touches the lives of the novels characters, Kazakhs living in a remote railroad junction, in the form of secretive an unnanouced rocket lauches. Spurned and humiliated by their government, alienated from their children, beaten down by the indignities of hard labor which earns them no recognition or admiration, battered by lifetimes of tragedy, the book is ultimately very conservative: as of yet, mankind is too small-minded to relinquish his God, his law, his family, his traditions, his earth. An animal among animals.
Birdwatching
Lifelist
-
Accipitriformes (dirunal birds of prey)
- Bald Eagle [1]
- Broad-winged Hawk
- Cooper's Hawk
- Northern Harrier
- Osprey
- Red-Shouldered Hawk
- Red-Tailed Hawk
Anseriformes (waterfowl) - American Black Duck
- Blue-Winged Teal
- Bufflehead
- Canada Goose
- Common Goldeneye
- Common Merganser
- Egyptian Goose
- Graylag Goose
- Greater White-Fronted Goose
- Green-Winged Teal
- Hooded Merganser
- Lesser Scaup
- Long-Tailed Duck
- Mallard
- Mute Swan
- Northern Pintail
- Northern Shoveler
- Red-Breasted Merganser
- Redhead
- Ring-Necked Duck
- Trumpeter Swan
- Wood Duck
Apodiformes (swifts) - Chimney Swift
- Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Caprimulgiformes (goatsuckers) - Common Nighthawk [2]
Cathartiformes (condors and vultures) - Turkey Vulture
Charadriiformes (shorebirds) - American Herring Gull
- American Woodcock
- Black Gull
- Caspian Tern
- Greater Yellowlegs
- Killdeer
- Least Sandpiper
- Lesser Yellowlegs
- Pectoral Sandpiper
- Piping Plover [3]
- Ring-Billed Gull
- Solitary Sandpiper
- Spotted Sandpiper
- Wilson's Snipe
Columbiformes (pigeons and doves) - Common Wood-Pigeon
- Eurasian Collared Dove
- Mourning Dove
- Rock Pigeon
Coraciiformes (kingfishers) - Belted Kingfisher
Falconiformes(Falcons) - American Kestrel
- Merlin
Galliformes (landfowl) - Ring-necked Pheasant
Gaviiformes (loons) - Common Loon
Gruiformes (rails) - American Coot
- Common Moorhen
- Great Egret
- Sandhill Crane
- Sora
Passeriformes (perching birds)
Alaudidade - Horned Lark
Bombycillidae - Cedar Waxwing
Calcariidae - Lapland Longspur
- Snow Bunting
Cardinalidae - Indigo Bunting
- Northern Cardinal
- Rose-breasted Grosbeak
- Scarlet Tanager
- Summer Tanager
Certhiidae - Brown Creeper
Corvidae - American Crow
- Blue Jay
- Carrion Crow/Hooded Crow
- Common Raven
- Eurasian Jackdaw [4]
- Eurasian Jay
- Eurasian Magpie
Fringillidae - American Goldfinch
- House Finch
- Purple Finch
Hirundinidae - Bank Swallow
- Barn Swallow
- Cliff Swallow
- Purple Martin
- Rough-winged Swallow
- Tree Swallow [5]
- Western House-Martin
Icteridae - Baltimore Oriole
- Brown-Headed Cowbird [6]
- Common Grackle
- Eastern Meadowlark
- Red-Winged Blackbird
Mimidae - Brown Thrasher
- Gray Catbird
Paridae - Carolina Chickadee
- Black-capped Chickadee
- Coal Tit
- Eurasian Blue Tit
- Great Tit
- Tufted Titmouse
Parulidae - American Redstart
- Black-and-white Warbler
- Blackburnian Warbler
- Black-throated Blue Warbler
- Black-throated Green Warbler
- Blue-winged Warbler
- Chestnut-sided Warbler
- Common Yellowthroat
- Hooded Warbler
- Louisiana Waterthrush
- Magnolia Warbler
- Mourning Warbler
- Nashville Warbler
- Northern Parula
- Northern Waterthrush
- Orange-crowned Warbler
- Ovenbird
- Palm Warbler
- Pine Warbler
- Tennessee Warbler
- Wilson's Warbler
- Yellow Warbler
- Yellow-Rumped Warbler
- Yellow-throated Warbler
Passerellidae - American Tree Sparrow
- Chipping Sparrow
- Dark-Eyed Junco
- Eastern Towhee
- Field Sparrow
- Fox Sparrow
- Savannah Sparrow
- Song Sparrow
- Swamp Sparrow
- White-crowned Sparrow
- White-Throated Sparrow
Passeridae - House Sparrow
Polioptilidae - Blue-Grey Gnatcatcher
Regulidae - Golden-crowned Kinglet
- Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Sittidae - Red-Breasted Nuthatch
- White-Breasted Nuthatch
Sturnidae - European Starling
Troglodytidae - Carolina Wren
- Northern House Wren
Turdidae - American Robin
- Eastern Bluebird
- Gray-cheeked Thrush
- Hermit Thrush
- Swainson's Thrush
- Veery
- Wood Thrush
Tyranidae - Acadian Flycatcher
- Alder/Willow Flycatcher
- Eastern Kingbird
- Eastern Phoebe
- Eastern Wood-Pewee
- Great Crested Flycatcher
Vireonidae - Blue-headed Vireo
- Red-eyed Vireo
- Warbling Vireo
- White-Eyed Vireo
Pelecaniformes (large waterbirds) - American White Pelican
- Black-crowned Night Heron
- Gray Heron
- Great Blue Heron
- Green Heron
Piciformes (woodpeckers) - Downy Woodpecker
- Greater Spotted Woodpecker
- Hairy Woodpecker
- Northern Flicker
- Pileated Woodpecker
- Red-Bellied Woodpecker
- Red-Headed Woodpecker
- Yellow-Bellied Sapsucker
Podicepediformes (grebes) - Pied-Billed Grebe
- Horned Grebe
- Red-necked Grebe [7]
Strigiformes (owls) - Barred Owl
- Northern Saw-Whet Owl [8]
Suliformes (cormorants) - Double-crested Cormorant
[1] I got to see the Bald Eagles in the nest in the middle of a field in Savoy, Illinois. You can take the 1 Yellow South bus there for a dollar, but you have to avoid getting yelled at by the next door neighbor.
[2] I adore the nighthawks. Really beautiful, alien little birds. I hope I get to meet some more of this esteemed group.
[3] The Charadriiformes are probably my favorite group. I was lucky enough to be introduced to the Montrose Beach piping plover population by a very old schoolmate and accomplished birder, Tarik Shahzad
[4] All off these European birds were seen on a short trip to Czechia, Munich, and Vienna in the summer of 2025. I didn't get to do any extensive birdwatching, but I was happy to see what I did see. I could spend all day hanging out with the jackdaws.
[5] There is a population of tree swallows that live under the lakehouse bridge in Crystal Lake Park in Urbana Illinois. You can rent a canoe during the warm months and peep into their nests.
[6] One of my former TA's did their research on the social life of the Brown Headed Cowbird, which is a very interesting topic.
[7] This Red-Necked Grebe was a very rare sighting, as this is supposedly the second or third time one has been spotted in the county. Thank you to my friend Mason for taking me to see the bird!
[8] The Northern Saw-Whet Owl is the very first bird on my life list. I got to hold one in my hands while participating in some research on them.
Arizona/California Winter 2026 Trip Checklist
incoming
I'm going to be visiting friends in Arizona and Southern California in January of 2026. This list