Meet #MisaShimizu from Japan, a 2º year PhD student at the Nature Research Centre in Lithuania studying avian haemosporidian parasites from The Gambia 🌍. She uses both microscopy 🔬& molecular 🧬 techniques to study parasite diversity and host–parasite relationships, focusing on Haemoproteus species 🦠
📆❗REMINDER!
You have until the 16th of April to apply for reimbursement for any of the three events of #WiMaNet:
1️⃣The pre-conference summer school: bsky.app/profile/wima...
2️⃣ The conference:
bsky.app/profile/wima...
3️⃣ The summer school:
bsky.app/profile/wima...
📰📢 We have now opened a call for funding for the following three events, taking place in Spain during August/September. Take notes! 📝
1️⃣ Phylogenomics summer school, 31st August - 1st September, Badajoz. 🌐 The training school will consist of three days of lectures and practical activities designed to introduce students to phylogenomics analysis 💻
3️⃣ 3rd WIMANET summer school, 7th - 11th September, Doñana, Spain. It will consist of five days of lectures and practical activities designed to introduce students to a broad range of research activities and skills related to vector capture and identification, and bioinformatics analysis 🦟🧬👩💻
Critically endangered hooded vultures are being driven to extinction in Benin. Recent research found 522 birds for sale across nine markets, fueled by belief-based demand. With populations down by up to 96%, experts are calling for urgent law enforcement to stop this illegal trade.
Learn more 👇️
📢 Announcement: We are delighted to announce the VII International Congress on Malaria and Other Blood Parasites of Wildlife, taking place in Badajoz, Spain, from September 2-5, 2026.
We invited you to ⏯, stay 3 minutes with us and know more about his work! 👇
youtu.be/YozYP_ZeeN0?...
In this interview, Vaidas highlights that his main motivation for joining WIMANET was to build connections ↔️ and to have a platform to share his experience with the new generation of researchers 🤝. Press ▶️ and know more about him: www.youtube.com/watch?v=kyQN...
I was supposed to be going to the meeting in Passau this week - probably just as well I didn’t plan to in the end!
I’ve definitely had worse views from the office! Long-tailed glossy starling, plantain eater and broad-billed roller (host to a new Leucocytoon lineage) added bonus/distractions 😁
After a thoroughly surreal day involving mild car peril, (temporary) police detention of samples, and a broken plane, I find myself still in the Gambia, still with a fabulous group of people looking forward to exploring the gardens in this 5-star resort tomorrow morning!
Absolutely magical on the Gambian beach at night, optimistically trying to catch storm petrels, enjoying the stars, and bioluminescent plankton in the waves
Absolutely magical on the Gambian beach at night, optimistically trying to catch storm petrels, enjoying the stars, and bioluminescent plankton in the waves
If you want to know more about what we do and hear about the ecology of wildlife malaria in a changing world, join us in the symposium at #ICOPA2026 in Montréal. See you in 6 months! :)
I’m still astounded by the diversity of birds in the Gambia - we have samples from well over 200 bird species as part of our blood parasite project, and we’re still catching new species daily! So far today, four new species, including two of these beautiful Abyssinian rollers. Photo by Richard Geary
We are seeking to appoint four full-time field assistants to work on the Wytham Tit Project for 4-8 weeks in spring 2026. Two 8-week field assistants will join the nest monitoring team; duties for these posts will include (i) collecting standardised data from nest-box breeding populations of blue and great tits, (ii) catching and ringing parent birds, (iii) ringing nestlings, and (iv) inputting data collected in the field. These positions with run from approximately Tuesday 7th April to Monday 1st June. Successful candidates for these positions must have (or be qualified to obtain) a BTO permit to ring adult great tits and blue tits. A further two field assistants will be hired to support a project collecting behavioural (foraging) data for great tits breeding in the Wytham population. These roles will involve a significant amount of nightwork. Duties will include (i) setting up and calibrating electronic tracking equipment and nest box cameras in the field, (ii) mapping tracking equipment locations using GPS, (iii) helping with catching and ringing parent birds and fitting tracking devices, (iv) assisting with mistnetting to re-trap tagged parents, and (v) inputting data collected in the field. These positions with be approximately 7 and 4 weeks in duration, starting from 13th April and 4th May, respectively. Possession of a BTO ringing permit with misnet endorsement and driving license are highly desirable for these roles. All fieldwork will take place in Wytham Woods, near Oxford. All Successful candidates must be able to demonstrate skill and enthusiasm for biological research as well as experience of fieldwork under arduous conditions, and both lone work and working as part of a team. Due to the short-term nature of these posts, successsful applicants must already have the right to work in the UK. Salary & Accommodation: Field assistants will be paid at grade 5.2 (£17.37/hour). Contact eleanor.cole@Biology.ox.ac.uk
We are hiring at the Wytham Woods for the upcoming field season. 4 roles available. Please share with anyone who might be interested. #UKbirds #birdringing
Bird flu outbreak blamed for death of Brayford Pool swans
https://www.europesays.com/uk/697165/
The Lincoln Swan Project is run jointly by Dr Laetitia Marechal from the University of Lincoln and Dr…
Happy New Year from the Lincoln Swan Project! Thank you to all our fantastic data collectors who submitted an astounding 918 sightings of individually ringed birds in 2025, giving us fascinating insights. Please carry on submitting your sightings or sign up (link in bio). Big plans for 2026!
Happy New Year from the Cheshire Swan Project! Thank you to everyone who has submitted their sightings through the App - we received an astounding 3,344 sightings of 155 individual swans during 2025! Please carry on submitting your sightings or sign up (link in bio). Big plans for 2026!
Excited to be part of our @wimanet.bsky.social symposium at ICOPA in August! icopa2026.org #ICOPA2026
Better in video format (it’s been a slow day…)
Pictures of starlings with the words describing them randomly distributed around the page
Well, that was different. Google search for starling, pressed a button looking like two birds in flight and the words took off and started flying around the page... well played, google, well played.
New paper! Congratulations to PhD student Misa Shimizu on her first PhD paper: "Review of Genetic Information of Morphologically Described Haemoproteus Parasites Recorded in GenBank and MalAvi Databases"
More data needed from non-passerine birds!!
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10....
New paper! Congratulations to PhD student Misa Shimizu on her first PhD paper: "Review of Genetic Information of Morphologically Described Haemoproteus Parasites Recorded in GenBank and MalAvi Databases"
More data needed from non-passerine birds!!
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10....
Apologies for the rant, but… 39 pages. And no permits.
And we wonder why research on endangered species is difficult. 39 pages. Reassurance this morning that they had all they need. Now they don’t. These are samples for conservation research on critically endangered species that will be useless if not imported on time 🤷♀️
Good grief. 39 pages of email correspondence, dated from March, about CITES import permits. Several assurances that I will have permits to take with me. Then that they will be with border force waiting for me. Now on a train to the airport and they need more information that I cannot get in time.
