Peak bird migration is nearly upon us. May your mornings be full of warblers, orioles, grosbeaks and tanagers!

🚨 Hiring a postdoc (2 years)! We’re looking for someone with skills in data science, remote sensing, or computer science: 🛰️ Build next-gen nighttime light products 🦅 Link light spectra to migration & collision risk Apply or reach out! aeroecolab.com/opportunities

Purdue AeroEco Lab Opportunities

aeroecolab.com

BIG day for warbler genomes, with work led by @kevinfpbennett.bsky.social! Whole genomes nearly *every species* of warbler. Warblers the most "Pokémon" of the bird world? Well, they're also trading their coloration genes like valuable collectors cards ... www.psu.edu/news/eberly-... 🦉🧪

Warblers borrow color-related genes from evolutionary neighbors, study finds | Penn State University

A new study has uncovered several instances of wood warblers — some of the most colorful birds in North America — passing color-related genes to other wood warbler species, including those that are no...

psu.edu

Check out the video below ⬇️ and then read the #OpenAccess study in our journal "Ecology"! doi.org/10.1002/ecy....

Kyle Horton@kyle-horton.bsky.social · 9mo ago

Take three minutes to look at pretty birds, explore radar data, and see how we connect the structure of skies to MacArthur's ideas of niche partitioning. 📡🐦☁️🎧

Take three minutes to look at pretty birds, explore radar data, and see how we connect the structure of skies to MacArthur's ideas of niche partitioning. 📡🐦☁️🎧

Structuring the skies: Diel dynamics of migratory animalmovement in the lower atmosphere

YouTube video by Kyle Horton

youtu.be

Kyle Horton@kyle-horton.bsky.social · 9mo ago

We churned through over 100 million radar samples to quantify the structure of migration through the airspaces across the United States: Just out in Ecology esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10....

We churned through over 100 million radar samples to quantify the structure of migration through the airspaces across the United States: Just out in Ecology esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10....

Pairing weather radars with eBird data for large-scale monitoring of swallow and martin communal roosts | doi.org/10.1093/orni... | Ornithological Applications | #ornithology 🪶

Using automated acoustic monitoring, citizen science, and centuries of ornithological research and understanding to quantify ecological integrity at scale. The BirdsPlus Index, a novel method for assessing site-level conservation values. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Interested in how animals use the sky? 🌌 I’m recruiting a PhD student (Fall 2026, Purdue University) to study Purple Martin flight behavior and airspace use using barometric transmitters. Details ➡️ jobs.rwfm.tamu.edu/view-job/?id... #Aeroecology #AvianEcology

Another massive movement of migratory birds underway tonight — nearly 1 Billion Birds! With the full moon, you might be able to see some silhouettes zipping by. You can make your own flow maps here (just hit record): aeroecolab.com/uslights

Truly impressive number of birds migrating tonight. More than 800 MILLION birds up in the air right now❗ #BirdMigration

7-Day Bird Migration Forecast We’re entering the peak of fall migration across most of the U.S. Hundreds of millions of birds are on the move, with Thursday and Friday forecast to be the biggest nights of the season so far — over 400 million birds predicted to be taking flight.

Lots and lots and lots of birds taking off tonight. Here's what things look like detected by the Milwaukee radar (KMKX): Night of September 3, 2025.

Kyle Horton@kyle-horton.bsky.social · 11mo ago

Migration is roaring across the Midwest tonight! Check out the real-time flow visualization to watch it unfold: aeroecolab.com/uslights

Migration is roaring across the Midwest tonight! Check out the real-time flow visualization to watch it unfold: aeroecolab.com/uslights

Kyle Horton@kyle-horton.bsky.social · 11mo ago

Tonight’s forecast: 304 million birds expected to migrate across the U.S. 🕊️📡 The Upper Midwest is especially active – keep an eye on the skies and consider going “Lights Out” to help reduce risks for nocturnal migrants. #BirdMigration #LightsOut #Midwest

Tonight’s forecast: 304 million birds expected to migrate across the U.S. 🕊️📡 The Upper Midwest is especially active – keep an eye on the skies and consider going “Lights Out” to help reduce risks for nocturnal migrants. #BirdMigration #LightsOut #Midwest

aeroecolab.com/illinois turn off non-essential outdoor lighting from 11 pm–6 am & close shades to reduce skyglow for migrating birds

Combining weather radar data with environmental data, @birgenhaest.bsky.social and co-authors found that peak roosting phenology of migrating martins and swallows in the Great Lakes region is paced by both local and distant conditions. Read more on doi.org/10.1111/geb....

📡 Why do Martins and Swallows pass by the Great Lakes when they do - Great collaboration with Yuting Deng and @kyle-horton.bsky.social. @biodiversa.eu 📡

Swiss Ornithological Institute@vogelwarte.bsky.social · last yr.

Combining weather radar data with environmental data, @birgenhaest.bsky.social and co-authors found that peak roosting phenology of migrating martins and swallows in the Great Lakes region is paced by both local and distant conditions. Read more on doi.org/10.1111/geb....

Just over two weeks left to apply

Judy Shamoun-Baranes@judyshamounb.bsky.social · last yr.

We are hiring a new PhD candidate 🎉as part of the No-REGRETS (NOrth Sea Renewable Energy: Gaining the Required Ecological Knowledge for the TranSition) consortium. If you are excited too, have what we are looking for and interested in joining us please apply. #ornithology #animalmovement

1. Did you know that the Corn Belt in the Midwest USA is so vast you can see it from space? 🌽 How would this affect billions of migrating songbirds passing through each year? 🐦 Check out our new study in @conbiology.bsky.social to find out! 🧵1/8 conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

What to learn more? #BirdMigration #Conservation Check out our full study in @conbiology.bsky.social conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/share/RCKH33... Or read this great article by Kathi Borgmann summarizing these findings: news.cornell.edu/stories/2025.... @cornellbirds.bsky.social

Grateful to collaborate with an amazing team on this work. @jbuler.bsky.social, Adriaan Dokter, @kyle-horton.bsky.social, @emlbcohen.bsky.social, Dan Sheldon, Jaclyn Smolinsky, and David Wilcove.

Lots of Lights Out alerts tonight as we come into the mad rush that is Maygration. #birds #spring #migration #LightsOutForBirds

Spring is for the grouse and chickens! Colorado leks have been 🔥🔥🔥 (w/@carburt.bsky.social). Greater Sage-Grouse and Greater Prairie-Chickens 📷

Birds will be arriving soon! This map shows peak migration dates across the US modeled using radar data. Keep in mind, the dates represent peaks, but migration usually plays out across a couple of weeks, so estimate ± 1 week on either side of the dates on the map for max migration activity.

Ornithology: Night flight communication across species boundaries | www.cell.com/current... | @currentbiology.bsky.social | #ornithology 🪶

New article out today in @nature.com by Gonçalves-Souza, @nickhaddad.bsky.social, @jon-chase03.bsky.social et al. on forest fragmentation and biodiversity: www.nature.com/articles/s41... A must read for anyone interested in this topic. See my summary here: www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Biodiversity declines across fragmented forests

Assessing the effect of forest fragmentation on biodiversity.

nature.com

Weather radars continuously register the movements of billions of animals in the air! We have now published datasets covering large parts of Europe, providing an overview of the aerial habitat in a way no other method can. Data is available on Alofdata.eu , see our blogpost: go.nature.com/3F0wQ0L

European data on animals aloft now publicly available

Weather radars detect more than weather, they also continuously register the movements of billions of animals (birds, bats, insects) in the air. Those data are now publicly available for large parts o...

go.nature.com

Happy to co-organise a symposium on migratory birds and artificial light at night: from research to policy. #ornithology #aeroecology submit 👆🏽your abstract before March 15 😀 #eou2025

Abstracts for #AOS25 Oral Presentations & Posters are due by 3/16/25. Share your research. The submission form includes a set of questions for those who want to be considered for the Student Presentation Award competition! meeting.americanornithology.org/call-for-abs...