Announcing The Bird Guide: North America! This landmark field guide, published in association with @cornellbirds.bsky.social, will set a new standard for North American bird identification. Publishing in early 2027, the guide is now available for pre-order from booksellers everywhere. 🐦‍⬛ 📙

Short article I wrote about some goose hybrids and their parents maavianrecords.com/a-returning-...

This may be of interest in relation to increasing winter records from Cornwall and elsewhere. Some exchange between Cornwall and western France during winter wouldn't be too surprising. #UKBirding marcduquet.com/wp-content/u...

More shocking results on UK Butterfly decline. an amazing dataset covering 50 years gives us a unique insight to the fate of these invaluable indicators

This infographic summarizes the key elements of our paper "Acoustic differences persist in urban Parus major (Great Tit) over two decades of declining anthropogenic noise in Paris, France" in Ornithological Applications. #bioacoustics #ornithology @amornith.bsky.social @ibiouwindsor.bsky.social 🧵8/8

This is craziness on a mega scale. A 5C increase in spring temperatures in the arctic alpine zone in just c 30 years. The result is that forest is spreading north at 1km a year. It’s driving several endemic butterflies extinct. www.bc-europe.eu/webpage.php?...

Hen Harriers and other raptors still being persecuted in the Yorkshire Dales (from current Craven Herald). You can sign a petition against this persecution at friendsofthedales.org.uk #UKBirding

British Columbia’s first-ever Taiga Bean Geese (middendorffii) gave fabalis views in Port Renfrew yesterday. Hot on the heels of Canada’s first Taiga Flycatcher, they continue this winter’s run of Taiga vagrants in the province. #CanadianBirding

Nice summary of long distance insect migration in the Guardian today with fancy graphics www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Check our Open Access paper on the Tokara Leaf Warbler – a previously undescribed, threatened Japanese bird: doi.org/10.1093/pnas... Thx to all coauthors: Takema Saitoh, @dariashipilina.bsky.social. Shin-Ichi Seki, Canwei Xia, Lijun Zhang & Urban Olsson. @animecol-uu.bsky.social #birds #biodiversity

A new analysis of long-term data from the Breeding Bird Survey shows that bird population declines in North America are accelerating and may be linked with agricultural intensification. #ornithology

Some reference material on Jackdaws before they disperse, from my paper in Birding World 13: 290-295. Differences between taxa are clinal; it was noted as long ago as The Handbook that some nominate are indistinguishable from British birds. #BirdingScotland

There's a new guest post on the WOS blog! WJO author Kevin Bennett describes the work that went into definitively identifying an "Uncommon Mourningthroat," a Mourning Warbler x Common Yellowthroat hybrid. #ornithology

Despite sometimes being described as silent, Spoonbills have a variety of vocalisations including the 'ook' call which I recorded yesterday at Abberton Reservoir (sonogram below). A discussion about the use of this call can be found at www.globalflywaynetwork.org/gfn/wp-conte... #UKBirding

Following the record on St Kilda last September, it seems likely that we are missing some Lesser Kestrels. Pale claws aren't necessarily diagnostic (below), but the wing formula (long p10 in LK) is reliable and should be visible in the field. #BirdingScotland www.researchgate.net/publication/...

t.co/GbHeEX3ck9?s... #BirdingScotland

#ornithology www.cambridge.org/core/blog/20...

Highlights from Unst y’day included this elusive Bonaparte’s G (left bird both images), WB Diver, hearing and recording the deep grunts of Tundra Bean Goose, 400+ vocal LT Ducks, and Glaucous G (just my third this year). #BirdingScotland

Aesthetically at least, the stars of the show in recent days have been Russian White-fronts. The majority have been in south and central Mainland Shetland, but I’ve also seen them north to Aith and west to Walls. #BirdingScotland

Apply for our Young Bird Observatory Visitors Programme grant ➡️ www.bto.org/ybov Each year the BTO provide a number of grants of up to £250, to support young people looking to visit one of the accredited British and Irish Bird Observatories. Closing date: Sunday 1 March. #UKBirding

Study 👇 showing ubiquity of microplastics in Scottish Dippers from three rivers; Dighty Water (Dundee), South Esk (Midlothian) and Kelvin (Glasgow) #birdingscotland 🪶

An interesting discussion of Pacific Diver identification (in English): marcduquet.com/wp-content/u... #BirdingScotland

Another Tundra Bean Goose, this time in the snow at Tingwall. For problems in distinguishing between Tundra Bean Goose subspecies from photographs, see Solovyeva et al. 2022 in Wildfowl (72: 152-163) which is accessible online. #BirdingScotland

This shy and elusive Tundra Bean Goose has been around Dunrossness for five weeks, though I’ve only seen it three times. Sometimes it looks quite long-billed, but here the comparison with Greylag is reasonably true. #BirdingScotland

blogbirder.blogspot.com/2026/02/fiel... Eliminating field recording errors in the field is something I constantly work on. Here, I share my thoughts on this, running through a myriad of common errors.

This Canada Goose which I first saw on Out Skerries on 16 Jan may have come from the Norwegian feral population, which has proven exchanges with Shetland. Yesterday I discovered its corpse, which showed signs of predation by Otter. #BirdingScotland

New story on the Avian Hybrids blog! One gene to rule them all: Reshuffling of genetic variants explains plumage patterns in wheatears avianhybrids.wordpress.com/2026/02/04/o... Based on the Science paper by Dave Lutgen and his colleagues | #ornithology

The persistent easterlies and bitter cold of early February have brought a few new arrivals, including Mistle Thrush and a flurry of White-fronts. It’s always encouraging to see family groups, like this one at Exnaboe. #BirdingScotland

stonefactionbirding2014.blogspot.com/2026/01/1492... A wee bonus blog, about the pitfalls of using AI/enhanced/smart editing within photo software when editing bird photos. #BirdingScotland #UKwildlife #Birds #Naturewriting

#ornithology academic.oup.com/condor/artic...

Tens of wintering Jackdaws currently in Shetland are likely to be northeastern birds. Note how the pale ‘half collar’ varies from prominent to absent. The underparts of many of these birds look quite dark. #BirdingScotland

Paul Bloomer’s exhibition at Shetland Museum has been extended to 28 February - well worth a look if you’re passing through for Up Helly Aa. #BirdingScotland

Well worth reading Carney's speech in full: www.cbc.ca/news/politic...

#ornithology orionmagazine.org/article/lord...

Another beautiful day on Out Skerries, but the birds including Canada G and this Gadwall weren’t exactly what we traditionally associate with Shetland winters. #BirdingScotland

A library of nocturnal flight calls from Beijing, including many eastern species that could be recorded in Europe. See wildbeijing.org/beijing-noct... #nocmig #china #beijing #migration #birds

Gulls are in serious trouble in Scotland. These remarkable birds are facing significant pressures. A recent report revealed licensed control could have contributed to declines ➡️ rspb.org.uk/scotland/news/licensed-gull-control-in-scotland We must balance the needs of protected species and people.

These are the relevant morphometrics to measure on a flycatcher. Although absolute measurements are very helpful, relative metrics, essentially proportions, are just as useful. These are the features that can be measured from photos or what you see, with some training, in the field.

White-wingers have been few and far between here for the past 3 winters, in fact I only saw 1 Glaucous Gull in 2025. Pleasing therefore to find a big adult Glauc on West Beach, Vatersay this afternoon. #birdingscotland

This blog post about the Short-billed Gull on Faroe may be of interest to some: birdingfaroes.wordpress.com #BirdingScotland

Finding a confiding first-winter Twite on Reydon Marshes yesterday, just 2 km from home, was pleasing and at an area where large numbers used to winter in Suffolk - I have old video of a flock of over 80. Nowadays, birders twitch them in Suffolk... #ukbirding #suffolkbirding

Some nice sounds from displaying Goosanders in calm conditions at Water of Leith, Edinburgh this morning (quieter male followed by louder female): xeno-canto.org/1069432 #BirdingScotland

Probably my favourite ‘Times’ cartoon of the year.

Check out this write-up on sound producing Grasshoppers in Europe, and their availability on XC www.researchgate.net/publication/... . #bioacoustics #grasshoppers #orthoptera

Ooh, poop sample from the grackle from Calshot, Hampshire, Nov 25, shows it was Great-tailed, not Boat-tailed as thought. Analysis by @tessaroo.bsky.social poop by @wjrpb.bsky.social @birdguides.bsky.social

Ferruginous x Pochard in the rain at Welney yesterday. Note how this hybrid retains Ferruginous traits of white in secondaries and even white spot on chin. #BirdHybrid #UKBirding

Confused by crossbills? The ‘most strongly supported splits’ from Benkman’s extraordinary ‘Crossbills & Conifers’ (2025) which merits close reading and gives due acknowledgement to Nethersole and Alan Knox. #BirdingScotland #UKBirding

The Snowy Owl has been declared Regionally Extinct in Sweden. For the first time in 20 years, the country has officially lost a bird species. - www.birdlife.org/news/2025/12... #BirdingScotland #UKBirding Attributed to a combination of climate change and disruption to the lemming cycle. A tragedy.

Picked up an unwelcome passenger today. A #tick while outdoors in the suburbs. Even in December. There doesn't seem to be any 'safe' time of the year any more. With so much more #LymeDisease around, a constant need for vigilance. @scottishbirding.bsky.social @btoscotland.bsky.social #birdingscotland

In March 1991 I discovered this Parrot Crossbill at Wakerley Woods following a major influx (photo Keith Stone). Regular visits in recent years have recorded Crossbills of four call types (mainly N4, N6) but no more Parrots. #UKBirding