In one of those days where purpose seems hard to find, nice to read: "why does the world still need behavioural ecologists?" A reminder of how exciting it is to see the world from the eyes of a behavioural ecologist. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Always nice to get to visit Edinburgh and see one of Britain's coolest castles. Thank you everyone at @asab.org for another fantastic conference! #ASABWinter2025

First science conference I ever did was an ASAB Winter meet, & now my last pre-PhD corrections is the same! Ah nostalgia. Been loving it so far! If you have a postdoc post on bird vision or anything to do with urbanisation please come find me or my (very orange) poster 😁 😁 😁 #ASABWinter2025 🐦

"Commuting in crosswinds and foraging in fast winds: the foraging ecology of a flying fish specialist" 💨🐦🐟 New @iomarinescience.bsky.social research out now in @royalsocietypublishing.org: doi.org/10.1098/rspb... 📸 @robinfreeman.bsky.social 🧪🌍🪶

Very excited to announce my first paper! With @sjportugal.bsky.social, published in @ecol-evol.bsky.social 🧪🌍 We studied how flocks of homing pigeons change their flight in response to different ground cover, with some surprising results... doi.org/10.1002/ece3... #movementecology #ornithology

Attending the @royalholloway.bsky.social open day today to give a talk - Couldn't have asked for better weather for it

Among the planned developments for one of Cae Hafan's two fields has always been the establishment of a small but species-rich pond. Last month, the digging, lining, and filling was completed! Here's to the amphibs 🐸, inverts 🪲, and even hedgehogs 🦔this is designed to encourage to visit!

So I've managed to go from BSc all the way up to the last year of my #PhD 🧪 without ever having submitted an article for review... The time has finally come and it's one of the scariest things I've ever done!

Butterflies are happening at Cae Hafan! 🦋 A top priority for the reserve is establishing healthy and varied bee 🐝 & butterfly populations. This week: Small tortoiseshells moulting (pic 1), Ringlets pupating (2), & Cinnabars emerging (3)!

Since 2023 I've been involved in a budding #conservation site in Wales. This year @caehafan.bsky.social was granted charity status! It's now stepping into social media. Early days, but been a lot of development - Taking two fields from farmland to educational and ecologically valuable sites. 🌱🌍🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🦋🦤

Crazy that this is the last year James McEvoy is opening the @rhulbiology.bsky.social postgraduate symposium. Glad I was here to see it!

I know you’re all sad #ASABSpring2025 is over, but you can put the #ASABWinter2025 dates in your diary: Dec 15-16 in Edinburgh 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Theme is “How sensory information affects behaviour”

We had SUCH a great time and the food was extraordinary, great choice for the social! #ASABSpring2025

Such a honour to be awarded #ASABSpring2025 student plenary talk, esp after seeing the amazing work everyone presented. I really enjoyed the opportunity to share my research in detail & the interesting questions I got! Don’t hesitate to reach out if you want to chat more about baboon communication✨🐒

Summary of today’s #ASABSpring2025 talks: 🪲🐘🐦🦐🦍🐠👯‍♀️🪳🐝🦌💻🦍🐝🐦🐄🐟🐸🐗🐦‍⬛ Great job all! 👏🏻🙌👏🏻🙌👏🏻🙌👏🏻🙌

Had to head off a bit early to catch a train from Liverpool, but had a great time at #ASABSpring2025! As always thanks to all the organisers, and to ASAB for funding my attendance. Shout-out to all who dropped by my poster to hear my inane ramblings about pigeons 🐦🕊🐦

Our first ever student plenary, and it was excellent! Great work by @elisaffueyo.bsky.social #ASABSpring2025

Nothing quite like watching a presentation by the guy that did half of the science your entire PhD is founded on. Appreciate it, @ceabcsic.bsky.social #ASABSpring2025

NEVER MIND. Highlight of #ASABSpring2025 was clearly coming back to the hotel to drop my stuff off and receiving a very curious visitor. 🐦

Great talk by Babette Fourie! Non-kin will associate given the opportunity to do so - interesting to see if this is still the case outside a foraging context @sociableweaver.bsky.social #ASABSpring2025

Did you know that ASAB has it own conference feed for the #ASABSpring2025 hashtag? Check it out and pin! bsky.app/profile/did:...

Animating your data can be really insightful! After a few minutes flying with the rogue pigeon 39 (called him Dandy, he loved chilling in Windsor), no.46 returned to the flightpath of the flock, despite lagging behind the others. #ornithology #animalbehavior #animalmovement #biologging #datavis

1/🧵 #BOU2025 #CitizenScience #WildlifeHealth #OneHealth #Ornithology 🌏🧪 Hi, I’m Becki Lawson, a wildlife vet at @zslofficial.bsky.social, and today I will be exploring disease surveillance in wild birds in light of the overall health of people, animals, and the ecosystem – in short: One Health.

1/7 Variation between individuals is important as it determines how adaptable to change a population might be. Even generalist spp are often comprised of specialist individuals, but specialisation is often only studied across single traits which is limiting. #BOU2025 #ornithology #seabirds #ecology

Had an amazing time at #BOU2025! One of the best conferences I've been to, and not just because I got to see goslings every time I walked to the building...

1/6 #BOU2025 Despite the prevalence of bird flock research, many questions remain as to what drives changes in the flight behaviour of cluster flocks. @sjportugal.bsky.social and I addressed some of these using flights of homing pigeons. #ornithology #animalbehavior #animalmovement #biologging

Been finding out that sometimes it helps to visualise your model outputs the old-fashioned way 🤣

Tool scratching. Looking at the phylogenetic relationships of pet parrot species that scratch with tools, this study predicts that 11 to 17 percent of parrot species could potentially use tools. (paper) www.cell.com/iscience/ful...

To my fellow behaviouralists: Anyone else get the mildest ick when citing studies on wolf packs for some reason? It just feels like I shouldn't be using the Teenager's Favourite Animal as a serious point of reference...

You know you've made it in your PhD about pigeons when THIS is your bday cake: His name is Hubert, he is delicious.

Sometimes a pigeon isn't actually a pigeon:

The crossovers that you discover when reading up on pigeon flight behaviour is absolutely wild sometimes... ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/doc...

It happened again I did not get away with it this time

2023 already opened some eyes to our predicament. 2024 showed that 2023 wasn't some crazy anomaly. 2025 might be the year that even the more hardened sceptics realize that we're leaving the stable Holocene climate faster than most thought possible. bsky.app/profile/leon...

And thus the noose of decades of shambollic economic abuse grows ever tighter around the neck of the UK's HE www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

The deadline to apply for the ASAB conference grant is fast approaching! Make sure to apply for your grant of up to £500 ▶️ 🔗 www.asab.org/conference-g...

Why is it only when you're deep in the write-up you realise there's a potential paper-redefining thing you forgot to try in the analysis? (It's fine I got away with it this time)

Monitoring American woodcock abundance in Tennessee using automated recording units | doi.org/10.1002/wsb.... | Wildlife Society Bulletin | #ornithology 🪶

Can somebody please fix ChatGPT? I can't be expected to write all my code myself

I've always thought that if academia falls through, I'd be very happy working at an animal rescue shelter - Work done by places like BBR is a constant inspiration: Belize Bird Rescue Year in Review 2024 youtu.be/3u7xMHZCaM8?...

The program for #ASABWinter2024 is online at asabwinter2024.github.io ! ❄️4 plenaries, 22 talks, 66 posters, 15 virtual posters, a panel discussion, LGBTQIA+ networking, a mentor meet & greet and the ASAB AGM. We could not be more excited! ❄️ 1/3