The conclusion of the European Conference for Behavioural Biology. Great bioacoustics and animal behaviour! Congratulations to Natalie & Madison representing our lab, and to Jo, Liam, & Reese representing the ter Hofstede & Higgs labs @ibiouwindsor.bsky.social. Thanks to hosts @ecbb2026.bsky.social.

"Key practices for ethical research during scientific expeditions." Read our new paper, led by Nelsy Niño and collaborators, in Conservation Science and Practice: doi.org/10.1111/csp2... We advocate for a shift from “parachute science” towards collaborative approaches. @nelsyninor.bsky.social 🧵1

Fieldwork in Churchill, Manitoba! We've been watching and recording the belugas of the Churchill River for over a week now. Stay tuned for beluga facts and updates on our best observations! @raincoast.org @ibiouwindsor.bsky.social

#AOS26: Tuesday plenary by Lyra Brennan, director of Mass Audubon's Coastal Waterbird Program: "Enduring commitment and unprecedented success: the conservation of beach-nesting birds in Massachusetts" Campus Center Auditorium @ 8:30am https://meeting.americanornithology.org/program/plenary-speakers/

Our new paper on beluga spatial structure is now published in Animal Behaviour! Here is the story of what we found 🧵1/6 www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... @marine-valeria.bsky.social @dmennill.bsky.social @raincoast.org

"Canada-wide nocturnal bird sound migration tracker takes flight." There's an article about our Motus Audio project, and Natalie and Madison's cross-country research expedition, on CBC.ca! Read it here: www.cbc.ca/news/canada/... @ibiouwindsor.bsky.social @birdscanada.bsky.social

Okay, but is the dawn chorus getting quieter? On the latest episode of Okay, But... Birds I chat with Scott Taylor about bird song and the dawn chorus. Check it out: www.okaybutbirds.com/episodes/e30

"Young gulls’ drab plumage may help them avoid adult attacks". An article about our new gull plumage paper is out in ScienceNews. Read it here: www.sciencenews.org/article/youn... The research, led by Hill and Taylor @liamtaylor.bsky.social, was published in Anim Behav: doi.org/10.1016/j.an...

Fresh off their cross-Canada research trip, Madison and Natalie discussed Motus Audio migration monitoring with CBC Windsor Morning today. Listen to their birdy chat here: www.cbc.ca/listen/live-... @ibiouwindsor.bsky.social @birdscanada.bsky.social @lincolnsavi.bsky.social

Dutch pied flycatchers raised in Sweden wintered about halfway between the usual Dutch and Swedish sites in West Africa, pointing to both inheritance and natal environment. doi.org/hb8qb4

Why these birds meet again in Africa: Flycatcher study reveals how genes and environment guide 13,000‑km migrations

Migratory birds such as the pied flycatcher typically have wintering locations in Africa close to others from the same breeding population.

phys.org

What is it like to work on a small island with 5000 American Herring Gulls? It is a lot like this:

New funding opportunity! The Cornell Lab’s NestWatch program is offering small grants for research and community projects on nesting birds in Latin America & the Caribbean. Learn more & apply: nestwatch.org/explore-data... #Conservation #Research

NestWatch Grant Program: Nesting in the Neotropics - NestWatch

This grant program will fund research and conservation projects focused on nesting biology throughout Latin America and the Caribbean.

nestwatch.org

Motus Audio Day 56: Moncton, NB. Mission complete — our 100th Motus Audio recorder! Madison and Natalie deployed our 100th device in Moncton, hitting our target for 2026. A major milestone! 🇨🇦🎤🕊️💯 Explore our Canada-wide network: motus-audio.web.app @ibiouwindsor.bsky.social @birdscanada.bsky.social

Motus Audio Day 52: Stratford, PEI. A landmark moment: a Motus Audio recorder in every province! Madison and Natalie arrived in PEI, the 10th Canadian province in our coast-to-coast migration network! 🇨🇦 Our Motus Audio webpage: motus-audio.web.app @ibiouwindsor.bsky.social @birdscanada.bsky.social

Brown plumages are social signals that reduce aggression towards young seabirds! doi.org/10.1016/j.an... Out now in @asab.org Animal Behaviour, ft. real gulls, plastic gulls Led by amazing undergrad Molly Hill, Lily Fanburg, @sdobney.bsky.social, and @dmennill.bsky.social

I had a great time chatting with @dmennill.bsky.social and his students Madison Bygrove and Natalie Emerick, of whom I am not at all envious, thank you very much. www.audubon.org/magazine/mee...

Meet the Students Roadtripping Across Canada to Install a New Generation of Bird-Tracking Tech

Since April, Madison Bygrove and Natalie Emerick have been setting up a cutting-edge, continent-wide Motus Audio network to record migrating birds—and having a grand adventure.

audubon.org

Motus Audio in Audubon Magazine! Natalie and Madison recount their adventures driving across Canada in this Q&A in Audubon Magazine: www.audubon.org/magazine/mee... It's like Listers but with a Chrysler Pacifica. Thank you @amcglashen.bsky.social! @birdscanada.bsky.social @ibiouwindsor.bsky.social

American Oystercatchers are breeding on Kent Island! An unusual bird here, at the northern edge of the species' range. Last spring a small group of oystercatchers flirted with Kent Island. This spring they are breeding. My Honours student Maia, with Sarah and Jeff, found their cryptic nest.

Our Big Day Birdathon in Metro Van was a huge success and lots of fun to boot! We ended our day with 136 species, 1 more than our previous high total. You can support @birdscanada.bsky.social here: www.canadahelps.org/en/charities...

Sunshine or fog, you'll find Sarah, Maia, and Jeff recording Savannah Sparrows on Kent Island in the Bay of Fundy. This spring we're using field-portable sound level meters to study vocal amplitude in Savannah Sparrow song. @sdobney.bsky.social @biolumijeffence.bsky.social @ibiouwindsor.bsky.social

Motus Audio Day 18 BONUS: Kent Island, NB. Our Kent Island team launched a Motus Audio recorder at Bowdoin Scientific Station in the Bay of Fundy. It promptly recorded a Savannah Sparrow and a Leach's Storm-Petrel. @birdscanada.bsky.social @sdobney.bsky.social @jeff-dutter.bsky.social

Motus Audio Day 17: Saskatoon, SK. Telemetry and bioacoustics working together to study bird migration! At Beaver Creek Conservation Area in the Meewasin Valley, Madison & Natalie launched our 23rd Motus Audio recorder on a Motus radio tower. 📡🎤🕊️👍 @birdscanada.bsky.social @ibiouwindsor.bsky.social

The launch of our first Song Meter of the 2026 field season! For the next 4 months we'll record Savannah Sparrows and Leach's Storm-Petrels in our collaborative studies of the birds on Kent Island. 🎤🐦‍⬛👍 @wildlifeacoustics.com @ingridpollet.bsky.social @sdobney.bsky.social @jeff-dutter.bsky.social

Motus Audio Day 8: Vaseux Lake BC. We launched a recorder at Vaseux Lake Bird Observatory, a Canadian Migration Monitoring Network site. This is an offline Motus Audio recorder; we will upload data at the end of the season. Thanks to our host, bander Jason Jones, my old friend from grad school.

In a springtime expedition to Paris, I studied noise pollution and the songs of Great Tits. You can read about the research in a new article in The Conversation: doi.org/10.64628/AAM... And the full peer-reviewed study in Ornithological Applications: doi.org/10.1093/orni... @amornith.bsky.social

Motus Audio Day 5: Victoria BC. Having launched six Motus Audio recorders 🎤🕊️ on Vancouver Island — the most westerly of our cross-Canada recorders — Madison and Natalie head back to mainland. Friends made along the way include a feline mariner 🐈🚣‍♂️ and a starfish-munching Glaucous-winged Gull ⭐🐟.

Motus Audio Day 1: Vancouver BC. After a year of designing, planning, and building, today is a big day: Natalie and Madison are starting a cross-Canada trip to launch 100 Motus Audio recorders. Follow us as we build a continent-wide microphone network. motus-audio.web.app #bioacoustics #ornithology

Our new paper is out: "Acoustic differences persist in urban Parus major (Great Tit) over two decades of declining anthropogenic noise in Paris, France." A study of noise and bird song, by me and Hans Slabbekoorn, in Ornithological Applications @amornith.bsky.social: doi.org/10.1093/orni...

Our team launched a Motus Audio flight call recorder at Long Point Bird Observatory. Natalie & Madison added a recorder to the Old Cut Motus Tower, with help from Nelsy Sarah & Jeff, and in collaboration w/ Birds Canada. 🎤🎶🐦👍 #nocmig #bioacosutics @birdscanada.bsky.social @ibiouwindsor.bsky.social

Our new article appears in today's issue of Ethology: "In the Danger Zone: Wrens Respond More Strongly to Experimentally Simulated Predators Near Their Nest" onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... We presented 3D-printed owls near versus far from nests of tropical wrens. How did wrens respond? 🧵1