Matt Wood

Have you signed up for the World Seabird Conference yet? 7-11 Sept 2026, Hobart, Australia 🐦🦘

Registration is open now, with abstracts accepted until 15 Jan 👩‍🏫🌊

A fantastic opportunity for #seabirders! Runs every 5 years. Accessible, inclusive, global 🌍 #WSC4

worldseabirdunion.org/world-seabir...

Thermal imaging opens multiple windows into wild animal physiology!

Our new systematic review surveys links between body surface temperatures and four key physiological processes to identify approaches likely to push the technique to it's full potential.

buff.ly/p4s37I5

#biology #physiology

Manx Shearwater Breeding Confirmed on Rathlin Island After decades of absence, the nocturnal calls of shearwaters once more echo from burrows on Northern Ireland’s seabird island.

After decades of absence, the nocturnal calls of shearwaters once more echo from burrows on Northern Ireland's seabird island. www.rarebirdalert.co.uk/v2/Content/M...

EARLY VIEW in IBIS

Effect of a previous high pathogenicity avian influenza (HPAIV) infection on the breeding success of Northern Gannets (Morus bassanus) | onlinelibrary.wiley....

Sue Lewis et al | #ornithology 🪶

A breeding pair of Gannets on the Bass Rock with their chick. One of the adults clearly has a black eye, an indicator of past exposure to highly pathogenic avian influenza, while the other is normal/healthy.

Very cool new #seabird paper showing no difference in breeding success between healthy and black-eyed gannets, but a worrying overall decline in productivity following the #avianflu outbreak. 🦠🐣

Read the paper here 👉 onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... #seabirds #ornithology

📢Abstract call for the 15th MASTS Annual Science Meeting - NOW OPEN.
Abstracts for talks and e-posters are now invited for our general science sessions or one of our five special sessions, and are open to everyone.
Deadline for all abstracts: 29th August.
🌊All the info: masts.ac.uk/annual-scien...

Really pleased to have contributed to this epic survey of >59,000 pairs of gannets! The St Kilda colony was less impacted by HPAI than other colonies, perhaps because steep cliffs reduced disease transmission. Flatter areas of the colony suffered greater losses.

#ornithology #seabirds #NTSseabirds

PhULMaR continues! Peer support and networking, collaboration and data sharing group for PhD and MRes #seabirds and marine #ornithology students in the British and Irish Isles 📢🐣 Please share with students and colleagues 🙏🏻

Some of the many hundreds of Kittiwakes raising families in the heart of Scarborough at present. Red listed in the UK, with an increasingly vulnerable population internationally too, Black-legged Kittiwakes are a familiar sight in a small number of coastal towns. #SuperSeabirdSunday #ReMeMaRe 1/..

Comic. [block quote] “Far better an approximate answer to the *right* question, which is often vague, than an *exact* answer to the wrong question, which can always be made precise.” -John W. Tukey, The Future of Data Analysis (1962) [caption] Happy Approximate Birthday to John Tukey, author of my favorite statistics quote, who was born 110.000 years ago sometime this week.

Tukey

xkcd.com/3104/

🚨 Behold a second impressive paper from @kerrys189.bsky.social to celebrate her just-finished PhD. A rising 🌟!

This study examines AVONET data to show how even threat abatement leaves large areas of avian functional diversity at risk, and in need of targeted management.

🧪🌐🪶

🔈 NOMINATIONS OPEN

Know someone in #ornithology deserving of recognition? Nominate them for a BOU award now! 🪶

🥇 Godman Salvin Prize
🥇 Alfred Newton Lecture
🥇 Janet Kear Union Medal
🥇 Early Professional Award

Deadline: 15 September 2025

Nominate: bou.org.uk/about-the...

🦠 SAVE THE DATE! 🦜

I'm excited to announce that the theme of the 2027 BOU conference is Avian Disease Ecology!

📍 Nottingham, UK
📅 6–8 April 2027

🔗 Full details: lnkd.in/gPvFFDJe

Please share widely!

#BOU2027 #Ornithology #WildlifeDisease #AvianDisease #EcoHealth

Job alert: We are looking for an enthusiastic and adaptable marine ornithologist to join the JNCC Marine Species Team. More info here: www.civilservicejobs.service.gov.uk/csr/index.cg...

Scientists Can’t Get Enough of Watching Seagulls Steal Your Food Birds’ ability to seamlessly swap marine food for a Big Mac—and outwit humans to get it—is a source of fascination

A nice article on urban gulls' eating habits that doesn't paint them in a negative light. With some commentary from me, @alice-risely.bsky.social and others.
www.wsj.com/articles/sci...

Image shows the cover of the latest Seabird Monitoring Programme newsletter - SMPnews. Issue 3 | Spring 2025. Cover photo by Edmund Fellowes/BTO

📖SMPnews is out now - Issue 3 | Spring 2025🌱

This newsletter is for anyone interested in #seabirds, #wildlife, #CitizenScience or simply enjoys a good read! Thank you to everyone who contributed.👏

🔭 Check it out at www.bto.org/smp-news 👀

@btobirds.bsky.social @jncc.bsky.social @rspb.bsky.social

Pre-laying sex differences in reproductive roles can constrain foraging behaviour in a monomorphic seabird - Marine Biology Sex differences in foraging behaviour can arise in monomorphic species when reproductive roles differ. How these differences shape foraging behaviour during the pre-laying period—an understudied repro...

Am super excited that our new paper is out, it looks at how reproductive role can constrain foraging and restrict evening diving opportunities for males during the pre-laying period in Manx shearwaters🥚

link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Single whimbrel calling high over Woodchester just now #glosbirds

Continuous stream of thousands of Manx shearwaters heading west past St Govans Head this afternoon, headed back to the 450,000ish breeding burrows on @skokholmisland.bsky.social & @skomerisland.bsky.social Bonus points for spotting the kittiwake! #seabirds #ornithology

We are pleased to announce the we will be running another Student week for 18-24 year olds from 9th to 16th August this year.

The week is funded by West Midland Bird Club, British Birds and West Midlands Bird Club.

See tinyurl.com/Bardsey-stud...

A juvenile kittiwake in the hand, wearing a 3-digit coded yellow colour ring, a red plastic ring and a metal ring.

Listen up anyone working in the Irish Sea this summer! We tagged a bunch of kitts in Liverpool Bay and want to gather as many resightings as we can. If you spot these yellow colour rings please give me a shout (dla205@exeter.ac.uk) 🐦💍💛

(Modelled by our very own VIP 😌👑)

#Seabirds #IrishSea

Title: Bioacoustics as a tool to monitor european storm petrels. A hand holds an AudioMoth against a background of the Mousa broch and a cartoon storm petrel. The BTO and RSPB logos are on the slide and the author list headed by the presenter: Sophie Bennett

1/6 Monitoring some #seabird species using observer-based methods is difficult, this can lead to infrequent data collection, or none at all

Little data on populations= limited ability to understand how threats may impact these species

#BOU2025

Look out #seabird world… here’s the awesome Dr Edney!!! Superb thesis, been a privilege to play a small part as supervisor

This was a while ago, offspring’s hands are much larger now! Agree quail, prob pinched by a cheeky jackdaw or some discarded picnic leftovers

Octopus? Ice cream? Is there anything gulls don’t eat? – in pictures Gulls are known for being ravenous – check out a selection of things they like

There is also a nice accompanying gallery article in the @theguardian.com highlighting the photos submitted to project - unfortunately not credited to the Gulls Eating Stuff project though!
www.theguardian.com/environment/...

PhD opportunity with me (RSPB) at Sheffield Hallam combining ecology (building-nesting birds esp. Swift) + building design & planning (Net Zero goals & retrofit). We need a strong student interested in both! Is that you? url.uk.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/cNyjCR636C... Please repost.

I am somehow for the first time ever reviewing for PNAS and their reviewer instructions include this BANGER of a line:

"The purpose of peer review is not to demonstrate proficiency in identifying flaws"

Print it in eleventy point font and hang it from the hillside. Scream it from the rooftops.

The second paper from #Seabird 37, from our own @katrina-siddiqi.bsky.social et al.! ✍️

"First description of Manx shearwater Puffinus puffinus diet using DNA metabarcoding" 🐦🌊

Click on the link here to have a read ➡️ doi.org/10.61350/sbj...

As seen in the latest issue of our newsletter - if you've got any good photos of Gulls Eating Stuff, then send them along! (details in the post below ⬇️)

Our paper was nominated for the Best ECR Ibis paper 2024!

If you like #seabirds & #citizenscience, then this could be for you ⬇️ 🐣

You can view all nominations & vote for your favourite here: bou.org.uk/ibis/ibis-be...

#ornithology @theseabirdgroup.bsky.social