David López-Idiáquez

This is gearing up to be such a fantastic conference. Filling a void in the meeting landscape that’s been ever more conspicuous. So much so that moves are already afoot to organise a sequel.

So if Future You wants to boast that you’ve been to them all, you will need to register ASAP.

Coffee and improved cognition, reduced dementia
>130,000 people followed 37 years
Benefit seen only with caffeinated coffee or tea and most pronounced ~2 cups/day
@jama.com ☕️☕️https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2844764

This week's seminar will be given by Dr Paul Acker from NTNU, Norway on "Processes of life-history adaptation to spatio-seasonal environmental changes" - seminar at 3.30 on Friday in Life & Mind Building @biology.ox.ac.uk All welcome & will also be streamed - see details below

Differences in (A) blood telomere length and (B) mitochondrial copy number between migrant and resident blackbirds Turdus merula sampled on Helgoland Island during autumn migration

🧬 Excited to present some of our recent research on 🐦‍⬛:
(1/3) Contrary to expectations, migratory Eurasian blackbirds had longer telomeres than residents at a major stopover (Helgoland), despite similar mitochondrial DNA copy numbers

🔗 #OpenAccess
nsojournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

A selection of part of a flock of 500,000 starlings at Ham Wall Nature Reserve in Somerset arriving at reedbeds to roost this evening @mybirdcards.com

This week's EGI seminar in @biology.ox.ac.uk will be given by Dr Kirsty MacPhie from @edinburgh-uni.bsky.social on the contrasting insights to be drawn from studies of phenology in @phenoweb.bsky.social and @rumdeerresearch.bsky.social. Usual time and place - details below with streaming info ⬇️

Book cover for https://oliviergimenez.github.io/banana-book/

📘 New book out soon !

I’m excited to share that 𝐁𝐚𝐲𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐚𝐧 𝐀𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐲𝐬𝐢𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐂𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞-𝐑𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐃𝐚𝐭𝐚 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐇𝐢𝐝𝐝𝐞𝐧 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐨𝐯 𝐌𝐨𝐝𝐞𝐥𝐬: 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐂𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐒𝐭𝐮𝐝𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐑 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐍𝐈𝐌𝐁𝐋𝐄 is being published by Chapman & Hall / CRC Press

Hope it’s useful to students, researchers, and practitioners

#StatisticalEcology #NIMBLE

A reminder about @jon-slate.bsky.social seminar in 58 minutes this afternoon... Will be live-streamed - see poster ⬇️ for details of how to get link.

Mmm, good question. I think that mine is the view of Port Meadow from the top of Botley Hill (point between Singing way and Marley) at sunrise. When is foggy the view is stunning. I also like a lot the view of the city from the top of South Park.

The perks of ringing in Wytham!

Port Meadow from Wolvercote

Port Meadow (from Wolvercote) at its best this morning.

This week's EGI seminar will be given by Prof Jon Slate @jon-slate.bsky.social of @sheffielduni.bsky.social at 3.30 on Fri 30 Jan in LT1 in LaMB @biology.ox.ac.uk. OK, it's not quite birds, but our colleagues' work on @soaysheep.bsky.social has much in common with what we do. All welcome: details ⬇️

Opi - Omi down under version.

Kangaroo chaos

Native trees are related to advanced bird breeding phenology and increased reproductive success along an urban gradient Urban areas are altered from natural landscapes in several ways that can impact wildlife. Birds are widespread in urban areas, and it is well documented that there are phenotypic differences between ...

I’m excited to share our new paper in Ecology!
Our 9‑year study across an urban–rural gradient shows native trees, especially oaks, boost blue tit breeding success. More native foliage supports more of the birds preferred prey and improves reproductive success.
📃 doi.org/10.1002/ecy.... #ornithology

@hoyporhoy.bsky.social de @cadenaser.com habla de angulas y su pesca en el País Vasco sin mencionar que la anguila es una especie al mismo borde de la extinción
Sigue un hilo explicando 1) lo Euskadi y 2) por qué hay que dejar de pescar, vender y comer anguila
cadenaser.com/podcast/cade...

I am very happy to announce that my first PhD paper has been published today at the Journal of Animal Ecology!!!

It is on how three penguin species have been shifting their breeding times in Antarctica and the sub-Antarctic in response to climate change. They are the fastest birds in doing so!

Published today in PNAS:
www-pnas-org.ezproxy.lib.uconn.edu/doi/10.1073/...
Mark Urban, Chris Elphick, and I argue that conservation programs should pay more attention to heritable within population variation, enabling rapid evolutionary response to environmental changes.

😮

Hoy, #PenguinAwarenessDay, es un día perfecto para recordar a Andrés Barbosa, el señor de los pingüinos. 🐧

For those of us who involved in running long-term studies, our work's value can be increased by synthetic studies like this one, which included Wytham Great Tit data, and suggests that plasticity in timing in response to temperatures buffers against population change
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

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

🚨 PhD offer (please share)
Fascinated by bird migration and movement ecology? 🦜🌍 Join us at @vogelwarte.bsky.social to study annual cycle energetics with multi-sensor loggers in multiple species

Deadline: 20 Feb 2026
Starting: June 2026
Supervision: Martins Briedis & me

Info: tinyurl.com/2dbv9nzh

Just a quick reminder of tomorrow's EGI seminar: please see joining etc details below

Delighted to begin this term's seminars with Malcolm Burgess @piedflynet.bsky.social from @rspb.bsky.social @uniexecec.bsky.social on Migration behaviour, demography & phenology of declining migratory birds. Seminar at 3.30 on 16 Jan in LT1 in the LaMB @biology.ox.ac.uk: all welcome - see details ⬇️

Looking forward to an excellent series of seminars for the forthcoming term - programme now full till late March & will share programme very soon when we have a few last details. All seminars will be at 3.30 on Fridays in the Life & Mind Building (and usually streamed live)

Matching climate to biological scales Recent advances in climate modeling and remote sensing have increased the expectation that finer-grained climate data will improve biological relevance. However, the appropriate scale for biology depe...

New paper in TREE: we propose a framework to think more clearly about the scale of climate exposure of organisms—and why mismatches between climate data and biology can mislead ecological inference.
www.cell.com/trends/ecolo...

@ilyamaclean.bsky.social @ecophys.bsky.social @marthamunoz.bsky.social

I may be a bit early

A forlorn landscape of layered rocks in the foreground, with hills fading into the background haze. At upper top right, a small crescent moon, and a bright star.

Open up this picture fully.

Then look at the surface of Mars.

Then look up to the top right.

Spot Mars' moon Phobos high in the sky.

Then notice the bright spot beside Phobos.

That's Earth.

Recycling this little map I made with my rounds in the Woods this Spring