🪶 Today, more than 1/3 of the federal grant $$ we were relying on to finance our science & conservation work in 2025 is paused w/ no indication of when, or if, we will be able to access it again. Your tax-deductible donation helps us weather this period of uncertainty. birdpop.org/pages/do... 1/2

For the past 3 days I've been hosting Georgia's 2nd ever Hooded Oriole in my yard - it showed up right after last weekend's storms from the west. Since then almost 80 people have showed up to admire it. Amidst all the turmoil & bad news it's been nice to share a slice of joy with Georgia birders!

Some much needed bird therapy - the huge blackbird/ cowbird/ grackle/ starling roost in a bamboo patch in west Athens. The wheeling flocks were occasionally thrown into disarray by a marauding Cooper's Hawk.

Rare in winter this far north, a Lincoln's Sparrow is overwintering along the N Oconee River Greenway in Athens, highlighting the value of this urban corridor. The video includes comparison with lookalike Song Sparrow in foreground (note fine streaks, slender body & bill, & buffy malar of Lincoln's)

It's the year of the Great Northern Diver! It's always to joy to see these birds staging in Athens in late March on their northbound migration. Overnight rains can sometimes result in 50+ birds in breeding attire, giving their haunting yodelling calls.

cool paper alert! flower mites use hummingbirds as taxis to move from flower to flower ok, super cool, but how do they quickly jump onto this taxi? turns out they sense the hummingbird's electric field and use electrostatic attraction to hop on! www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Some local birding cheer - a female Rufous Hummingbird has showed up at a friend's feeder following the recent cold snap. As more Neotropical birds attempt to overwinter in temperate regions, cold snaps may well lead to more mid-winter displacements of migrants.

The frigid for Georgia 18F/-8C temperatures brought a sprinkling of ducks to Lake Herrick on the UGA campus, most notably a pair of American Wigeon. Supporting cast included 5 Redheads, 3 Hooded Mergansers and a Ruddy Duck.

Added to the top of my reading list: analysis of nocturnal flight calls of migrants suggests interspecies communication! Social associations across species during nocturnal bird migration: Current Biology www.cell.com/current-biol...

Asst. Prof Quantitative Insect Ecologist in University of Georgia's Entomology Dept! Great folks at UGA working on insects in this and other units. www.ugajobsearch.com/postings/406...

Birds connect places! Using movements of >10K inds of a migratory shorebird, quantified site<->site connectivity across a flyway. Identified 49 highly connected sites 🐦 But, many are unprotected. Considering connectivity improves conservation for migratory species 🌎 🧪 🔗 doi.org/10.1111/1365...

20 years on from the start of a novel avian disease epidemic that has led to catastrophic population declines in several UK species we are finally getting some significant movement on advice regarding bird feeding www.theguardian.com/environment/... 1/2 #Ornithology #UKbirding

New paper out in @rsocpublishing.bsky.social! Research from our group shows that males of the polygynous ruff visit many potential breeding sites within a breeding season, travelling up to 9000 km and visiting up to 23 different sites! royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/... 1/7

One of the last birds I saw in the UK before moving to Athens, GA. Now I have a flock of them wintering in my yard!

A mugshot of a Nelson's Sparrow sitting on the boat dock during a very high tide on the St Catherines Island Christmas Bird Count.

Athens super-birder Patrick Maurice found an incredible first Clarke County record of Lapland Longspur today. Luckily I was able to re-find it this morning as my 250th bird species in Georgia's smallest county.

Another slice of migratory bird joy - more video footage of migrants that stopped by my backyard pond in Athens, GA in fall 2024. Part 2 of 2. #birds #backyardbirds

A little slice of migratory bird joy - a short montage of some of the migrants that stopped by my backyard pond in Athens, GA in fall 2024. Part 1 of 2. #birds #backyardbirds

Love birds & coffee? Want to support bird conservation, local businesses & artists? Birds Georgia, in partnership with Georgia-based coffee roaster Cafe Campesino, has launched a certified bird-friendly coffee that supports shade-grown coffee farmers & overwintering habitat for Neotropical migrants.

Just lovely views of a gorgeous Snow Bunting on Long Rock Beach, Cornwall, on Sunday plus a Brucey Bonus Bonaparte's Gull found just up the beach from us that we were able to relocate after patiently scanning through the Black-headed Gulls at the inlet. #cornwallbirds

Wonderful paper uses high-resolution tracking data to show barn swallows & house martins infected with blood parasites have smaller foraging ranges in lower-quality habitat than uninfected birds. Hopefully more such papers on movement-parasitism associations to come! www.nature.com/articles/s42...

RIP Slender-billed Curlew - wish I could have seen one. Let's hope we can do better by our remaining cherished curlew species.

Northern Gannet I photographed at Noss Head, Shetland this past summer. The dark iris likely indicates that the bird survived infection by highly pathogenic avian influenza that hammered breeding colonies here in 2022. Encouraging that it's still surviving 2 years later. #seabirds

A cool new paper delves into possible mechanisms of migratory culling (where infected individuals have lower migration success). The % malaria-infected birds blown off course and predated by falcons in the Canaries was higher than in birds departing Spain for Africa. www.cell.com/iscience/ful...

This past weekend we found 5 Black Redstarts in Lizard village, Cornwall, including this striking male fanning its rufous tail as it predated insects from the side of a building in hovering flight.

Glorious weather in Cornwall this morning for a trip down to the Lizard peninsula, where 5 Cornish Choughs put on a show for us. These charismatic corvids were a symbol of Cornwall, but went locally extinct. Birds recolonized from Ireland and the Cornish population is growing once again.

A wild morning in Swanvale (Falmouth) this morning with a minimum of 3 Yellow-browed Warblers and 5 Firecrests! A great birdy start to my visit to the Uni of Exeter Cornwall to learn all about insect migrations.

we're hiring for an assistant professor position in infectious disease dynamics at the University of Oklahoma, with lots of opportunities to collaborate and expand our One Health focus. our updated deadline is 11/20, spread the word! apply.interfolio.com/156424

Hello! First post trying out bsky. Will post lab research updates, cool ecology research and plenty of bird pictures, because frankly we could all benefit from some bird joy in these dark times. Below is a Yellow-throated Vireo at my pond bathing in the splashes of a Brown Thrasher.