Motus Audio Day 8: Vaseux Lake BC.
We launched a recorder at Vaseux Lake Bird Observatory, a Canadian Migration Monitoring Network site. This is an offline Motus Audio recorder; we will upload data at the end of the season. Thanks to our host, bander Jason Jones, my old friend from grad school.
A photograph of the Eiffel Tower and a microphone used to record birds in the park near the Eiffel Tower.
Photograph of a Great Tit, from Wikimedia Commons c/o The Conversation.
A Wildlife Acoustics Song Meter digital recorder deployed on a busy street of Paris at dawn.
Dan Mennill recording birds at dawn in a park in Paris with a directional microphone.
In a springtime expedition to Paris, I studied noise pollution and the songs of Great Tits. You can read about the research in a new article in The Conversation:
doi.org/10.64628/AAM...
And the full peer-reviewed study in Ornithological Applications:
doi.org/10.1093/orni...
@amornith.bsky.social
Motus Audio Day 5: Victoria BC.
Having launched six Motus Audio recorders 🎤🕊️ on Vancouver Island — the most westerly of our cross-Canada recorders — Madison and Natalie head back to mainland. Friends made along the way include a feline mariner 🐈🚣♂️ and a starfish-munching Glaucous-winged Gull ⭐🐟.
Motus Audio Day 1: Vancouver BC.
After a year of designing, planning, and building, today is a big day: Natalie and Madison are starting a cross-Canada trip to launch 100 Motus Audio recorders. Follow us as we build a continent-wide microphone network.
motus-audio.web.app #bioacoustics #ornithology
An infographic summarizing the key findings of the new paper "Acoustic differences persist in urban Parus major (Great Tit) over two decades of declining anthropogenic noise in Paris, France" by Dan Mennill and Hans Slabbekoorn. A cartoon image shows a sound recordist recording a Great Tit on a street in Paris. One inset graph shows that noise levels in Paris have declined from 2008 to 2023. A second inset graph shows that Great Tits sing at higher song frequencies when the ambient environment is louder. A third inset graph shows that Great Tits continue to sing higher-freuqency songs in 2023 versus 2003; even though Paris is growing quieter, Great Tits in Paris sing higher frequency songs than quiet forests outside of Paris.
Our new paper is out: "Acoustic differences persist in urban Parus major (Great Tit) over two decades of declining anthropogenic noise in Paris, France."
A study of noise and bird song, by me and Hans Slabbekoorn, in Ornithological Applications @amornith.bsky.social:
doi.org/10.1093/orni...
Our team launched a Motus Audio flight call recorder at Long Point Bird Observatory. Natalie & Madison added a recorder to the Old Cut Motus Tower, with help from Nelsy Sarah & Jeff, and in collaboration w/ Birds Canada. 🎤🎶🐦👍
#nocmig #bioacosutics @birdscanada.bsky.social @ibiouwindsor.bsky.social
Our new article appears in today's issue of Ethology:
"In the Danger Zone: Wrens Respond More Strongly to Experimentally Simulated Predators Near Their Nest"
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
We presented 3D-printed owls near versus far from nests of tropical wrens. How did wrens respond?
🧵1
22 boxes of tubes, each holding extracted DNA of an individual Savannah Sparrow from our field site at Kent Island, New Brunswick.
A tube holding extracted DNA of one of the male Savannah Sparrows breeding on Kent Island in 2021. How many nestlings did he sire?!
Me loading DNA into a gel to test the quality of our DNA for ddRAD analysis.
I just returned from Cornell's Lab of O where I processed 1170 Savannah Sparrows for paternity analysis! I had so much fun learning new techniques and meeting the outstanding people at the Lab of O. Now I can't wait to see who the fathers are! @dmennill.bsky.social @ryannorrissci.bsky.social
Our paper looking at vocal & display differences of Escudo manakins is online.
Vocalizations show that island manakins are derived from a hybrid population of golden- x white-collared manakins.
Interestingly, island living doesn't indicate relaxed sexual selection.
Fun project & amazing team 🏝️
We're testing out our latest prototypes of Motus Audio recorders in a campus recording studio. Led by visiting research student Jeff Dutter, with support from Natalie, Nelsy, and Madison. What effects do different plastic wraps have on our #nocmig recordings? Stay tuned to find out.
Sarah's visiting the Lab of Ornithology this month, conducting genetic analyses of parentage of Savannah Sparrows. Thanks to everyone at the Lab of O for their hospitality and mentorship. Great work @sdobney.bsky.social!
New research from #BiologyLetters: Why do birds construct nest tails? A test of disruptive camouflage in the blue manakin royalsocietypublishing.org/rsbl/article... | #Behaviour #Evolution
Accepted! "Experimental study of social signaling through delayed plumage maturation in a colony-nesting seabird." A playback-and-model experiment coming to Animal Behaviour. Led by Molly Hill & @liamtaylor.bsky.social w/ Lily Fanburg @sdobney.bsky.social & me.
Now that's what I call #GullOfTheDay!
In the foreground, a young American Herring Gull with a drab, worn, brown, "predefinitive" plumage. This bird is probably ~12 months old. Behind, an older, breeding adult in a "definitive" gray and white plumage, which is probably 4 or more years old. We have little information about the ecology and evolution of delayed plumage maturation in seabirds.
A breeding gull attacks a plastic model as part of behavioral experiments at the breeding colony on Kent Island, New Brunswick, Canada.
Coco and Tracey Faber start painting raw plastic models for stimulus experiments, using photo references and museum specimens at the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History.
Excited that our paper is headed for publication at Animal Behaviour! - "Experimental study of social signaling through delayed plumage maturation in a colony-nesting seabird."
Our experiments show how the unusual, brown plumages of young seabirds can help reduce aggression at the breeding colony.
A white beluga surfacing in greenish-brown waters. Overlaid is the title of a new review published in Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology: Beluga Societies: the social and cultural lives of an enigmatic odontocete.
Our new review of beluga sociality and culture just dropped at Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology! Some of our key conclusions summarized 🧵
doi.org/10.1007/s002...
@marine-valeria.bsky.social @dmennill.bsky.social @raincoast.org
"Bioacoustic Monitoring Reveals Patterns of Landscape Use by Migrating Birds at a Great Lakes Barrier Crossing." Using acoustic recorders along Lake Superior’s south shore, we recorded nearly 3 million songbird flight calls, uncovering a major migratory pathway. doi.org/10.1002/ece3...
#ornithology
Do birds have feelings? 🦉🦚🦅🦜
I'm a guest on The Warblers today, the podcast of Birds Canada. I answer a question about chickadee song. Nelsy Niño @nelsyninor.bsky.social answers a question about mimicry. Thanks for having us @birdscanada.bsky.social!
Listen here: www.birdscanada.org/warblerspodc...
Inter-brood interval affects offspring survival and fitness, and reflects timing of breeding and female quality. Our new paper on inter-brood interval appears in the new issue of Ibis, led by Hayley Spina and our collaborative Savannah Sparrow research team. @bou.org.uk @ryannorrissci.bsky.social
Looking for some inspiration? Stu Mackenzie is celebrating 20 yrs at Birds Canada. Truly one of a kind. Absolute legend @birdscanada.bsky.social #birds 🌿
"Grad student takes flight to map invasive plant." Sarika Sharma, an alum of our lab, is profiled in our campus newspaper for her research to map Phragmites in the Healthy Headwaters Lab. Congratulations Sarika!
www.uwindsor.ca/news/2025-11...
@ecofebria.bsky.social @ibiouwindsor.bsky.social
BIRDS & BEERS V is one week from tonight, Thurs Nov 20, in Windsor! 🐦🍺🐦🍺 An evening of fun with UWindsor researchers including bird trivia, ornithology talks, student posters, and a short film screening. All are welcome! @ibiouwindsor.bsky.social
Tickets: tinyurl.com/BirdsBeers5
I launched our latest Motus Audio recorder just outside Algonquin Park, with a generous assist from Motus collaborator @ryannorrissci.bsky.social. Let's see how many sparrows and thrushes are still on-the-move in mid-October.
Double brooding improves lifetime fitness. Our paper "Multigenerational fitness outcomes of double-brooding: a 30-year study of a migratory songbird" appears in the latest Behavioral Ecology: tinyurl.com/3hsyd42m. By @hayleyspina.bsky.social @ryannorrissci.bsky.social and our collaborative team.
A small all yellow-green slings to an Oak tree branch
Tomorrow is #OctoberBigDay! The simple act of volunteer scientists birding and submitting their lists to eBird all at the same time, produces a powerful dataset that helps us learn about bird migration timing and more! Here's a late migrating Oct #NorthernYellowWarbler that is heading to C. America.
Dr. Natalie Sánchez at a bird banding station in Costa Rica, holding a migratory thrush.
Dr. Natalie Sánchez has just been appointed as an Adjunct Assistant Professor in our Department of Integrative Biology at University of Windsor. Congratulations @natingui.bsky.social! I am so excited about the collaborations and research projects that lie ahead. @ibiouwindsor.bsky.social
Motus Audio recorders are now set up at Birds Canada headquarters in Port Rowan and at Old Cut Research Station at Longpoint Bird Observatory. Which bird species will we record flying southwards this fall? @birdscanada.bsky.social @ibiouwindsor.bsky.social [📷 N. Emerick & M. Bygrove]
It's "Birds and Reptiles Week" in the International Master's of Bioacoustics program. This week we're on campus at Université Jean Monnet Saint-Etienne. Today we had great lectures and workshops from Profs. Nicolas Mathevon, Ole Larsen, and Magnus Wahlberg. @nicolasmathevon.bsky.social
Our week of field-based learning has finished with a beautiful sunset, a campfire lecture, and a starry night. And a shockingly hard acoustic quiz. Can you differentiate a screaming deer, a creaking door, and a shrieking Nazgul? Next week: bird & reptile week on campus. @nicolasmathevon.bsky.social
Please share!🙏
🚨 PhD Oportunity in Avian Behavioural Ecology in Spain
The BirdBond Project (MNCN & IREC) studies how pair bonds form, change & affect reproduction/survival in the spotless starling 🐦
Sarah Dobney presented her doctoral studies at the International Bioacoustics Congress #ibac2025 in Kerteminde, Denmark. Way to go @sdobney.bsky.social!