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...

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!

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...

📢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...

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

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! 🤯

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

Our latest article on extra-pair paternity of blue tits & great tits nesting in tree holes in Poland’s #Białowieża Forest, published #OpenAccess. 1/2 tinyurl.com/3tsbfnjd #ornithology @mszulkin.bsky.social @funecology.bsky.social @mizpas.bsky.social

NEW in Journal of Vertebrate Biology: We video recorded 284 common cuckoo parasitism events and showed that cuckoo females do not use their "bubbling" call as a counter-defence strategy in two warbler hosts in Europe and Asia doi.org/10.25225/jvb... @czechacademy.bsky.social @ivb-cas.bsky.social

Swallows can remove foreign eggs from their nests even without an innate “template” of their own eggs. A new study by researchers from the Institute of Vertebrate Biology, published in Biology Letters, sheds new light on nest hygiene and defence against brood parasitism. www.ivb.cz/en/news/swal...

Hot off the press 🐣 Do birds have any idea of what their eggs look like? Contrary to our expectations, we show that barn swallows don't, nor do they learn it over time. Yet that doesn't stop them from successfully ejecting foreign eggs! 🔗 Read more here: doi.org/10.1098/rsbl... #OpenAccess

Excellent @britishbirds.bsky.social paper from @lesserspotnet.bsky.social et al. using passive acoustic monitoring. LS detected at >60% of sites in southern England, most of which had no recent records. Drums/calls very few over thousands of hours. Birders' chances of an encounter clearly very low!

Cool paper suggesting that naturally higher body T˚ in birds leads to flu viruses originating in birds being pre-adapted to resist mammalian fever as a defence mechanism... Avian-origin influenza A viruses tolerate elevated pyrexic temperatures in mammals | Science www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

We are happy to announce that the next EOU Conference will be in Brno, Czech Republic in 2027! Check our website eounion.org and follow us on social media for regular updates! #ornithology #EOU2027

When nocturnally migrating birds encounter low-level light pollution patches: a case study from the Croatian coast | www.sciencedirect.co... | Biological Conservation | #ornithology 🪶

A new tracking study reveals migration is more rigid than the long held view that it is a flexible process. In Red-backed Shrikes at least. #OpenAccess paper in @royalsocietypublishing.org Proc B #ornithology 🪶 #OA

New paper, led by our former PhD student Victoria Lee. Wild jackdaws recognise the contact calls of their mate: link.springer.com/article/10.1... @uniexecec.bsky.social @guillmcivor.bsky.social

Brings back happy memories of ISBE 2024 where the conversation about this paper began.. great to see it out in @natecoevo.nature.com. Thanks to co-authors and to the organisers of that brilliant conference 🙏🏽. @bbmwong.bsky.social @stuwest.bsky.social, Suzanne Alonzo🫶, Sasha Dall, “Dr Cunningham”

🧵1/5 Excited about our new paper in PRSB! @royalsocietypublishing.org Can AI make research on avian brood parasitism easier? YES! We show that AI model can identify conspecific parasitic eggs better than an average ornithologist. doi.org/10.1098/rspb... 📸 Barn swallow – our study species.

Our new @science.org paper is out! Cuckoos and hosts are locked in a coevolutionary arms race over egg mimicry. But how are these egg types inherited, and could this drive speciation? We sequenced hundreds of genomes to find out! doi.org/10.1126/scie... 🧵1/6

We should not only avoid predatory journals but it's: Time to publish responsibly: DAFNEE, a database of academia-friendly eco-evo journals ecoevorxiv.org/repository/v... database dafnee.isem-evolution.fr Proud that our institute @ivb-cas.bsky.social publishes 💎open-access J. of Vertebrate Biology

super cool study found human artifacts in Bearded vulture nests, incl. "weaponry like a crossbow bolt and wooden lance, decorated sheep leather, and parts of a slingshot....a shoe made from twigs and grass is ~675-years-old." link to paper: doi.org/10.1002/ecy..... www.popsci.com/environment/... 🧪🌍🦉

The Local Organizing Commitee welcomes behavioral ecologists from across the world and of all career stages to enjoy a five-day meeting rich in top-notch science and ample networking opportunities in Turin (Italy), 20-24 July 2026.

NEW PAPER: Red-breasted mergansers do not move parasitic eggs to cooler nest edges, suggesting limited use of discriminatory incubation against conspecific brood parasitism, though some eggs may be selectively removed. ➡️ vist.ly/3n59e4x #ornithology #birds #broodparasitism #eggrejection 🪶

Our fieldwork on brood parasitism of common cuckoos started well, with so far 11 caught individuals! When catching these charismatic birds, there are usually also interesting bycatches :) @ivb-cas.bsky.social @rytikerttunen.bsky.social @lisandrinamari.bsky.social

It’s all about eggs at BTO right now, but not the chocolate kind! 🐣 We’re busy during the nest monitoring season! 🐦 You can get involved too by watching birds in your garden and submitting records to our Nesting Neighbours scheme. 👉 www.bto.org/nest-mon... So whose eggs are these? ⬇️ #Birds

The race is on! 📢 Six BTO Cuckoos have touched down in Europe! 🌍 So where are our frontrunners and who will be the first to reach the UK? 👇 www.bto.org/cuckoos #Ornithology #Birds

Birds are just very inventive creatures! 😀😉

We also tracked down a birder, Mr Otis from Reading, who was sitting on the dock of the bay in Southampton and caught a glimpse of a Cuckoo with a tag flying overhead! It must have been Tom cruising along to his Norfolk breeding grounds. What a journey! 🛥️🌍😀

I am excited to announce that @neeltjeboogert.bsky.social and I are co-editing a special collection in the journal Animal Cognition on "Cognition in the Wild". Submissions are due by June 15. We are excited to see the amazing work you have been doing! link.springer.com/collections/...