New paper: How does age influence migration timing? In great reed warblers, the oldest males depart earlier and arrived earlier than younger males, suggesting experience or age-related changes may shape spring migration schedules. ➡️ vist.ly/5dqbk #MigrationEcology #Ornithology #birds

🐦 A cuckoo's first challenge. A rare moment from the field in the Mutěnice ponds: a newly hatched Common Cuckoo chick ejects its foster host's egg from the nest. 🎥 Watch the remarkable beginning of one of Europe’s most extraordinary birds. Video recorded by @biosulc.bsky.social

Are protected areas able to safeguard island-endemic charadriiforms? A new study found that species in protected areas were more likely to be declining. Do protected areas target the most threatened species, or are protected areas alone not enough? 👉 doi.org/10.25225/jvb... #JVertBiol #ornithology

Birds on the € notes!? You can make it happen! 🐦✨ Vote now for your favourite design! www.ecb.europa.eu/euro/banknot... The European Central Bank is redesigning the euro banknotes and is asking the public for feedback. And one of the themes is birds and rivers...😈

🐦 A new paper out! GPS tracking of 85 Common Redshanks revealed how breeding phenology and habitat use vary across the species' breeding range, highlighting the value of protected grasslands, AES and tailored conservation. 👉 doi.org/10.1016/j.ge... #ornithology #waders #shorebirds #HABITRACK

Most scientists learn peer review by trial and error. Check out this practical guide for both first-time and experienced reviewers. It covers the entire review process, with useful tips and common pitfalls. 👉 doi.org/10.25225/jvb... #JVertBiol #PeerReview #PhDChat @fishecoevo.bsky.social

An important and beautiful paper on the central role of natural history in ecology and evolutionary biology.

American Naturalist / ASN 🐌@asn-amnat.bsky.social · 3w ago

Historical Perspective: Sridhar et al. use the backstories of famous scientific papers in Ecology and Evolution to uncover the background roles of natural history that are written out of papers. Available now ahead of print! www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/...

📢 New paper alert! 📢 We found that sex-specific loss, rather than independent evolution, drive plumage pattern dimorphism in Estrildidae, with João Pacheco, Gonçalo Cardoso @mostlywaxbills.bsky.social , and Michael Sorenson, at Evolution academic.oup.com/evolut/artic... (1/7)

Evolution of sexually dimorphic plumage patterns in estrildid finches

Abstract. Pigmentation patterns aid in camouflage and may also serve for communication. To understand the evolution of different types of within-feather pi

academic.oup.com

Part 2: Common cuckoo fieldwork in the Czech Republic is always rewarding. Most species were sampled for their gut microbiome project for @suviruuskanen.bsky.social With @rytikerttunen.bsky.social , @lisandrinamari.bsky.social and @ivb-cas.bsky.social

Cuckoos are go! BTO satellite tagged Cuckoos are well on their way to the forests of Central Africa. Two have already crossed the Sahara while our most northerly bird is Bean, who's in Germany. Follow their progress: www.bto.org/get-involved/volunteer/projects/cuckoo-tracking getbird.ing

Part 1: Common cuckoo fieldwork in the Czech Republic is always rewording. All the species were sampled for their gut microbiome for @suviruuskanen.bsky.social With @rytikerttunen.bsky.social , @lisandrinamari.bsky.social and @ivb-cas.bsky.social

🚨We're hiring again, this time for a research assistant position 🚨 The position is to help with a project looking at learning and social behaviour in birds along an urban gradient Position at @ceec-research.bsky.social 📆28th June deadline More info: shorturl.at/vBxiW #ringing #fieldwork

Antonson et al. show that cowbirds’ neck muscles are unusually fatigue-resistant, suggesting muscular innovation for exaggerated begging as a key driver for how brood parasites outcompete hosts. Available now ahead of print! www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/...

Well this is a big one the largest paper from my PhD is finally out! We show how direct lighting influences optimal camouflage! With shadows promoting the evolution of darker, striped patterns and countershading!! journals.plos.org/plosone/arti...

Shining a light on camouflage evolution: Using genetic algorithms to determine the effects of geometry and lighting on optimal camouflage

Visual camouflage evolution in animals depends on both light’s interaction with its surroundings and the limits of what the natural observers of the camouflage can see. Changes in lighting – such as t...

journals.plos.org

Research from the lab on the evolution of size and plumage dimorphism in birds! Grad student Catherine Alverson examined how species move between size and plumage dimorphism categories. While those results largely recapitulated previous work, there was an intriguing new finding [1/3]

Fantastic PhD opportunity linking cognition and conservation in an iconic corvid species! Get your applications in!

Dr Rachael Miller (Harrison)@drrmiller.bsky.social · 3mo ago

PhD Opportunity! 4-year funded PhD @uniexecec.bsky.social: “From cognition to conservation: using cognitive and behavioural research to enhance animal reintroductions”. Closes: 5 June 2026. Funding: @royalsociety.org (UK/Home students only). More info & to apply: www.exeter.ac.uk/study/fundin... 1/

If you would like some productive procrastination, please feel free to help us out with some research on individual recognition of great spotted woodpeckers (NB: needs to be done on a laptop/computer): mzmmcerny.github.io/GSW_game/ #academicsky #ecology #ornithology

Great Reed Warbler caught & released in Sykes Field at 8am BoC 📸 Harry Appleyard

New paper in Animal Behaviour: After centuries of debate, we finally have direct evidence that common cuckoos use different egg-laying tactics 🥚 doi.org/10.1016/j.an... Check the appendix videos! #ornithology #broodparasitism #cuckoo @animbehsociety.bsky.social @ivb-cas.bsky.social

Our new study shows that CONSPECIFIC BROOD PARASITISM is extremely rare in BARN SWALLOWS. We revealed mixed maternity in only six of almost 2000 broods. This strikingly contradicts previous studies that demonstrated parasitism based on unusual egg-laying patterns. link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Conspecific brood parasitism in the barn swallow (Hirundo rustica) and other Hirundinidae - Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology

Conspecific brood parasitism (CBP) has been reported in more than 100 altricial avian species, yet its frequency and underlying behavioural processes remain poorly understood. We studied CBP in the ba...

link.springer.com

📢Fully-funded #PhD opportunity with us: 🐦 Quantifying (social) learning and social behaviour in an urbanised world 🐦 Position at @ceec-research.bsky.social 📆29th May deadline More info: tinyurl.com/yz28s96x Apply: tinyurl.com/2wpkb64y #cognition #socialbehaviour #fieldwork #birds 🙏Please Share

For anyone working on #lightpollution #ALAN and #animalbehaviour - just 2 weeks left to submit an abstract for our symposium on light pollution and invertebrate behaviour at ECBB this September, with @ecbb2026.bsky.social, @jimamclgalloway.bsky.social . Would be great to see you there!

#ProcB in @nature.com | Statistically significant chuckles: who is using humour at scientific conferences? doi.org/10.1098/rspb...

Knock knock, no one’s there. Study finds scientists’ jokes mostly fall flat

Survey examines how often academics attempt jokes during conference talks — and how these attempts at comedy land.

nature.com

New paper on common cuckoo behaviour is out! When cuckoo females parasitize a nest, they always take an egg out. And we found that they strongly prefer red over green experimental eggs. Check what we think about it: doi.org/10.1016/j.be... @lisandrinamari.bsky.social

1/ And they’re off! 📢 Our BTO satellite-tagged Cuckoos are on the move! 🌍 Follow their migrations via our interactive map ➡️ www.bto.org/cuckoos #Ornithology 🪶

PhD position: Evolutionary Physiology of Avian Energetics Review of the applications begins on March 16, 2026, and continues until the position is filled. euraxess.ec.europa.eu/jobs/413707

PhD position: Evolutionary Physiology of Avian Energetics

We are seeking a motivated PhD candidate to investigate the ecological and evolutionary significance of major energy metabolites (glucose and fatty acids) circulating in avian blood.

euraxess.ec.europa.eu

Check out the new bowerbird special issue in Emu - Austral Ornithology! Lots of interesting new #bowerbird research, featuring a fancy flame bowerbird on the cover! Check out our review on the origins and functions of bower construction behaviour here: doi.org/10.1080/0158...

Simply incredible work. Among other findings- about half of all migration stopover hot spots are in urban areas! 🤯

Mikko Jimenez@mikkojimenez.bsky.social · 6mo ago

A study I led came out in Nature Cities yesterday! We used radar to study the role that urban landscapes play in migratory bird stopover. Spoiler: birds use cities a lot, and the patterns of their use reflect social processes and the inequities embedded in them. www.nature.com/articles/s44...

Study in English at the Faculty of Science, @charlesuni.cuni.cz – submit your application by the end of February! Bachelor’s degree programme "Science": 1url.cz/verD4 Follow-up Master’s degree programmes: 1url.cz/3erDd

Our BehaveAI paper has just come out! Easy & effective tracking & behavioural classification, even with tiny (2px), fast moving, camouflaged objects. Paper: doi.org/10.1371/jour... Download: github.com/troscianko/B... @uniexecec.bsky.social @kevinjgaston.bsky.social @jimamclgalloway.bsky.social