How does highly pathogenic avian influenza affect wild seabirds? This #ProcB study found the 2023 outbreak caused near-total chick mortality and earlier migration in Baltic black-headed gulls, while survivors developed lasting immunity.https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2026.0128 | #Ecology #Evolution

The WISDOM OF CROWDS emerges in flocks of thousands of migrating songbirds! Excited to share our work published by @aaas.org in Science Advances! doi.org/10.1126/scia...

Great to see this one published! Worth a read if you’re into the role of collective behaviour in migration 🦅🌍 Very pleased how it came out, glad to be a (very) small part of it.

The big news is our next International Conference will be held in Gdańsk, Poland in Sept 2027! With the lovely @kasiawojczulanis.bsky.social and team as the local hosts. It's going to be amazing! Watch for further news after the (northern) field season... #seabirds #ornithology #Seabirds2027

Earlier this year @n-t-s.bsky.social hosted a "Focus on Fulmars" workshop, looking at how to improve monitoring & research efforts to understand Northern fulmar population change. A short report is now available for those interested! ⬇️ www.researchgate.net/publication/... #seabirds #ornithology

Northern Fulmar is continuing to highlight the extent of marine plastic pollution, with a new study revealing that more than four in five birds examined across the North Atlantic had plastic in their stomachs:

Great bird science starts with great methods 🐦🔬 We are pleased to announce the launch of a new article type: Methods and Tools Read more here: vist.ly/58ckm To help launch our new article type, we have put together a Virtual Issue: vist.ly/58cki #ornithology #methods #tools

Mistimed surveys lead to underestimated migratory bird impacts from wind farms🐦‍⬛ 🌬️ 🔎 Read more: besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

🐣📊Inferring breeding phenology and reproductive success from the emergence of juveniles in population monitoring vist.ly/57eiu #PhenologicalShift #Breeding #Fledging #EmergenceTime #Sampling #CitizenScience

New article out on #plastics in #fulmars. Thanks to my wonderful Master student & great colleagues in Norway & Iceland, as well as fishers in both countries, we now sit with a lot more knowledge about plastics in #seabirds in the North Atlantic. www.nina.no/english/Abou...

🪶 Even small levels of seabird bycatch can have big impacts. A JNCC-supported study shows bycatch could reverse positive trends for species like Cory’s Shearwater & Common Guillemots. We're helping deliver the @ospar.bsky.social B5 Indicator to track & reduce impacts. 📘 bit.ly/4uJ6s0u

New in #BirdStudy When surveying birds, older people detect fewer birds and species than younger people. Middle-aged observers have least bias in long-term recording: Age-dependent observer effects in Austrian long-term monitoring data of common breeding birds doi.org/10.1080/0006... #ornithology

The 2026 SMP Newsletter is here! Read it (and sign up to receive future editions) here: www.bto.org/our-work/sci... to find out about the SMP's 40th anniversary, latest developments, the science of seabird poo, and more! #birds #seabirds @btobirds.bsky.social @jncc.bsky.social @rspb.bsky.social

The SMP is lacking breeding success data. In 2025, colony count data were submitted for 861 sites, but breeding success data were submitted for just 133 sites. If you can monitor seabird breeding success, email us at [email protected]! #seabirds @btobirds.bsky.social @jncc.bsky.social @rspb.bsky.social

Some migration info from 7 Whinchats (Saxicola rubetra) tagged with multi-sensor loggers: kind of loop migration, spring Sahara crossing up to ~5,000 m despite their tiny size (~16g), and unusually prolonged flights both at autumn and spring. 🪶🏔️ Full paper here: doi.org/10.1007/s10336-026-02409-1

New in #BirdStudy Using trail cameras to monitor Corncrakes: Use of passive infrared-triggered trail cameras to study timing of breeding and habitat use of Corncrakes Crex crex in Scotland doi.org/10.1080/0006... #ornithology @rspbscience.bsky.social @rspbscotland.bsky.social

Little auks are small Arctic #seabirds that need to find enough food to raise their chicks in a rapidly changing ocean. This #RSOS paper studied their feeding behaviour over seven breeding seasons in Svalbard using GPS tracking, ocean data, and diet samples: doi.org/10.1098/rsos...

📢 New IMR study on movement patterns of #BaskingSharks shows that sharks tagged above the #ArcticCircle in #Norway perform repeated large-scale movements to subtropical waters and actively use the water column across habitats.🧵 1/5 👉 doi.org/10.3354/meps... @whoi.edu @thembauk.bsky.social

An excellent opportunity to join in with research on hedgerows in general, and hawthorn in particular: www.forestresearch.gov.uk/news/volunte...

Amazing photos by @northronbirdobs.bsky.social of one of our tracked knots, Arenicola with Tellina also skulking around on the island somewhere. So cool to see the knots a lot fatter now than when we deployed the loggers in February and photos like this help so much with the tagging efforts!

Colony managers know it The literature ignores it! Many seabirds are young - juvenile, immature, subadult, prebreeder - and we know v little about them! Here's our paper on why you should care about young seabirds for conservation! W/ @ejgnam2.bsky.social doi.org/10.1002/fee....

Please don’t put out hair for bird nests. Chicks get entangled in hair balls. Just had to cut hair strands that were tying 3 blue tit chicks together, and wrapped round the throat of one skinny chick that couldn’t swallow food. Hopefully saved in time 🤞

Non-breeding birds form a large proportion of #seabird populations, yet they are often overlooked in research & difficult to account for in environmental assessments. A new #OWSMRF report highlights why this matters & how we can close evidence gaps 👇 jncc.gov.uk/news/new-rep... 🧵

Our new research shows that HPAI increased Northern Gannet mortality by a factor of ~6 and ~4 at two of the world’s largest colonies. We predict this impact will take almost two decades to recover from. #biologicalconservation #seabirds #hpai Full paper: doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2026.111887

Concerning news from Mousa, Shetland! 🐀 Follow @biosecuritylife.bsky.social for tips on keeping our seabird islands safe from invasive species 🏝️

Another new Seabird #38 paper❓ Yes, indeed! 🙌 Kwant-Heida et al. (2026) explore corridor use by seabirds in an offshore wind farm. Read the full article here 👇 doi.org/10.61350/sbj...

Almost a third of UK Hawfinches used artificial birdfood when available, with implications for disease transmission. Investigating supplementary food use of UK Hawfinch Coccothraustes coccothraustes populations using DNA metabarcoding doi.org/10.1080/0006... #BirdStudy #ornithology

Whilst on holiday in Fuerteventura, @jezierskimt.bsky.social and I noticed that many visiting birders report 'African Collared Doves'. But we saw only Eurasian birds, or probable hybrids. With Hein van Grouw, we did a mini study exploring this 🕊️: doi.org/10.1111/ibi.... #Ornithology @bou.org.uk

New research gives insight into European Storm-petrel movements and behaviour at sea. Read on for a summary Full paper: doi.org/10.3354/meps... @one-cardiffuni.bsky.social @robthomasbirds.bsky.social @meps-ir.bsky.social 🧪 🌎️ 🪶 #seabirds

🥳 New paper alert 🥳 The first of the data chapters from my DPhil, and the works from my first few field seasons on Skomer, is out! "Shearwaters make efficient navigational decisions, even at very fine scales" - doi.org/10.1242/jeb.... A huge thank you to everyone involved 🩵

The colony count period for Cormorants starts soon! Apparently Occupied Nests (AON) can be recorded at coastal and inland colonies for SMP. Please also submit tree nesting Cormorant records to the Heronries Census: www.bto.org/get-involved... @btobirds.bsky.social @jncc.bsky.social @rspb.bsky.social

An important study showing that drones detect more murres than boat-based surveys, especially in upper cliff areas 🛥 🔎 Drones could greatly improve counts of cliff-nesting seabirds! But we need to work out how to integrate historical estimates with those made using new tech 📈 #ornithology #seabirds

Always exciting when colour ring re-sightings come through! We colour ringed a coot on 5/01/26 in Liverpool & it was re-sighted on 19/04/26 in Ainsdale (~27km movement). Keep an eye out for coots with a white leg ring & 3 black characters, as part of @waterbirdcm.bsky.social 🧐 #ornithology

🎺 Roll-up, roll-up! Another new paper has just been published in Seabird #38! 🎺 Hunter et al. (2026) explore the wintering-site fidelity of Brünnich's guillemots in Greenland. 👇 Read all about it here 👇 seabirdgroup.org.uk/seabird-38-2

Mohring @bertillemohring.bsky.social et al. Environmental Variability Shapes Life‐History Trade‐Offs Within and Between Populations of a Long‐Lived Seabird onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.... #ornithology #seabirds

Beyond protected areas: where Juan Fernández Petrels meet global fisheries 🎣 Our latest blog post by @tommyclay.bsky.social and Michael Brooke ➡️ www.seabirdtracking.org/beyond-prote... full paper ➡️ doi.org/10.1080/0158...

Some ominous footage gathered a few days ago from one of the Willow Tit nests we are monitoring. GSW are the most common predator of WT nests in Britain, and having increased by ~400% since the late 60s, it's not a threat that's going away. Let's hope this one has amnesia... #UKBirding #Yikes

Many Fulmars are now back on territory, including FP96412, ringed in 2011 and still happily residing along Head Dyke. Fulmars are among our longest lived seabirds, with some reaching over 50 years, so this one may be in the prime of its life. #NTSseabirds @scottishbirding.bsky.social

NEW PAPER in #ornithology shows that some #seabirds have increased tremendously over the past decades - and that #UAV monitoring can reveal the full extent of these colonies: buff.ly/ocefm59

‼️🚨New Paper Alert! 🚨‼️ Using a decades-long dataset on puffins in the Faroe Islands, we show a change in population age structure and relate the increase in older birds/decrease in cohort sizes to (pre-)hatch year food availability. doi.org/10.1002/wlb3... @kasiawojczulanis.bsky.social

New research suggests gannet numbers on Bass Rock may be stabilising after a sharp avian flu-related decline. Emily Burton of the Scottish Seabird Centre notes breeding success remains low, so continued conservation is needed. bit.ly/47XFvgf

To reduce disease, we all need to make some urgent but simple changes to how we feed our garden birds. See our website for the latest guidance: brnw.ch/21x1t4w

New review paper on bird #microbiome methods out! Bridging the gap: improving methodologies for future avian microbiome research 🐦🦠🧬 #OA @avianbiology.bsky.social @charlisdavies.bsky.social @kbodawatta.bsky.social nsojournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

🧵1/6 #BOU2026 #ornithology #bioacoustics #AI Investigating the impact of UAV noise on bird activity: A playback experiment How does UAV noise influence bird behaviour and vocal activity? We aim to address this using controlled, field-based playback experiments.

We would be grateful if you could take part in our 2026 Diversity and Inclusion survey 💙 Within The Seabird Group, we're tracking our progress and working to build a more diverse, inclusive community 👥 It takes just 5-10 minutes to complete ⏲️ Take the survey here: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

For folks using #GitHub - quick instructions here to turn off allowing it to use your CoPilot use in its AI training. I've never used it but still, might as well turn it off!

Duckling season has begun, and DucklingWatch is back for another year! Please submit your mallard brood sightings in GB to citsci.org/projects/ducklingwatch and share this post to spread the word 🦆

You're invited to complete a short anonymous survey about device failures in bird biologger deployments! 📡 🦆 Responses accepted within the next 8 weeks. 📆 Survey link is in our bio 🔗 If you have questions please email [email protected] 📧

🚨New paper & dataset - Assessment of land-based threats to #Atlantic pelagic #seabirds 🌊 🪶 , led by @ioannis-kalaitz.bsky.social Highlights the most impactful threats & regions. Supports the #conservation of 49 #migratory species & implementation of mitigation measures doi.org/10.1111/csp2...

🚨New Open Access Paper🚨 Using the marine flyways concept to accelerate ocean conservation published in @jappliedecology.bsky.social OA paper➡️ doi.org/10.1111/1365... #BLScience #seabirds 1/4