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

Conspecific brood parasitism in the barn swallow (Hirundo rustica) and other Hirundinidae - Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology Conspecific brood parasitism (CBP) has been reported in more than 100 altricial avian species, yet its frequency and underlying behavioural processes remain poorly understood. We studied CBP in the ba...

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...

Great tit perched on a branch, with beak slightly open. Photo credit: Alizée Vernouillet

📢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

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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!

Knock knock, no one’s there. Study finds scientists’ jokes mostly fall flat Survey examines how often academics attempt jokes during conference talks — and how these attempts at comedy land.

#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

A map shows the locations of BTO satellite tagged Cuckoos in Africa. The headshots of four Cuckoos appear in circular frames around the map, alongside the wording: First Cuckoo Update for 2026.

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 We are seeking a motivated PhD candidate to investigate the ecological and evolutionary significance of major energy metabolites (glucose and fatty acids) circulating in avian blood.

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

We actually tried our best and modelled visual system of birds when preparing mimetic model eggs and calculating how the artificial eggs differed from real barn swallow eggs.

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 learn: breeding experience improves nest care — Ústav biologie obratlovců 21st January 2026, Brno Swallows can remove foreign eggs from their nests even without a “template” of what their own eggs should look like. A new study by researchers from the Institute of Vertebrate...

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...

Recent breeding experience improves egg ejection behaviour Abstract. Recognizing one’s own eggs is crucial for birds, especially for hosts of brood parasites that must identify and reject different-looking parasiti

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

Bioacoustics as a tool for the detection and monitoring of a scarce woodland bird – the Lesser Spotted Woodpecker

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!

Avian-origin influenza A viruses tolerate elevated pyrexic temperatures in mammals Host body temperature can define a virus’s replicative profile—influenza A viruses (IAVs) adapted to 40° to 42°C in birds are less temperature sensitive in vitro compared with human isolates adapted t...

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/...

Duration of nest-building in passerine birds: the roles of latitude, nest size, and nest type Why do birds build nests at different speeds? Nest building is crucial for reproductive success, but the drivers of its varying duration across species wer

academic.oup.com/beheco/advan...

10 attractions in Brno - the Czech Republic's second largest city In the south-east of the Czech Republic lies the country's second largest city, Brno. Here you will find a youthful and exuberant university town, full of innovative ideas that at the same time preser...

Brno will bring you more than great science! Get ready for rich history, beautiful architecture, vibrant streets and amazing gastronomy! Explore a first glimpse of Brno here, for example: www.rucksack.se/en/sevardhet...

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 🪶

The structure of the annual migratory flight activity in a songbird | Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences Migratory songbirds have an internal circannual genetic programme that controls the timing and extent of migratory flight activity, as demonstrated by experiments with birds held in cages. We used mul...

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

Wild jackdaws recognise the contact calls of their mate - Animal Cognition Animal Cognition - In stable social environments, the ability to recognise other group members and integrate individual cues with previous experience is likely to be beneficial in mediating social...

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”

Many thanks to all authors, namely to @scienceanna.bsky.social, @lisandrinamari.bsky.social, @jtroscianko.bsky.social, V. Jelínek and T. Albrecht, to all participants that played the egg game, to our research institute @ivb-cas.bsky.social of @czechacademy.bsky.social. And of course, to all BIRDS!

🧵5/5
AI model outperformed participants, including experienced ornithologists! We suggest using our model ideally with information about egg-laying sequence to identify eggs laid by CBP. The complete pipeline is freely available in the suppl. material.

📸 Barn swallow © Vladimír Pokorný

🧵4/5
We used photographs of non-parasitized barn swallow clutches and shuffled eggs to create thousands of parasitized clutches. Then we tested the accuracy of human participants at identification of parasitic eggs and compared it with results of our AI model.

📸 Which one is the parasitic egg?