ANU Superb Fairywren Project

He also presented a co-authored poster with @franhckr.bsky.social on the effect of vegetation structure on superb fairywren survival.
#SFW_ANU

#CIO2025 (Italian Conference of Ornithology) is now finished! @sramellini.bsky.social organised a symposium on the overlooked non-breeding season and presented his results on the territorial stability of superb fairywrens. He won 'Highly Commended' for his presentation, congrats!

It is indeed!

Today's fieldwork assistant was very keen to check the temperature data we are collecting 🐦‍⬛☀️ #SFW_ANU #birds #ecology #ornithology

One of our project member's first PhD paper is now out!! Congratulations 🎉

Drive - ABC listen The lively debate and stories that have shaped Canberra today.

On Tuesday, @sramellini.bsky.social spoke to ABC Radio Canberra Drive about superb fairywrens and the #SFW_ANU project. If you missed it, you can listen to it here (from minute 07:50): www.abc.net.au/listen/progr...

In today's lab meeting we updated @damienfarine.bsky.social's website with a project overview and also added our finalised logo!
Check it out here: sites.google.com/site/drfarin...

Logo design by @franhckr.bsky.social

Christmas in the Northern hemisphere means snow and pine trees, here in Canberra we have king parrot baubles for #ChristmasinJuly 🎄

Already done 🫡 sBnr is her new name! Let's see what she does in the next breeding season

Female superb fairywren on a log

Earlier this season we said goodbye to GBB. Born in 2014, she was one of the oldest and most productive females in our population:
35 nests, 80 eggs, 47 chicks fledged, 35 reached independence, 24 grandkids. This female below has now taken over her territory. Big 🐾 to fill!
#SFW_ANU #birds #ecology

Greeted by a stunning sunrise this morning as @franhckr.bsky.social and @sramellini.bsky.social brave the cold at the gardens ❄️ Trying to catch the last few unbanded individuals in our population and helping colleagues with some thornbill research 🐦‍⬛
#SFW_ANU #ecology #ornithology #birds

Close encounters of the friendly kind: pacific between‐group interactions in primates While intergroup conflict features prominently in the behavioural ecology literature, its antonym, intergroup peace, has been a rather neglected phenomenon until recently. Neighbourly relations and a....

Just out in Biological Reviews!
My new paper highlights intergroup peace in primates: tolerance, affiliation, group mergers etc. We propose a new framework for understanding these interactions, with insights into the roots of human cooperation.

📖 onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Global patterns of colouration complexity in the Paridae: Effects of climate and species characteristics across body regions Variation in colour complexity in the Paridae is linked to climate, climate variability and several biotic factors. The strength of the associations is patch specific. Variables related to resource c...

Happy to share our last work just published in @animalecology.bsky.social. With @claire-doutrelant.bsky.social and Peter Pearman. besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... @cnrs.fr @biology.ox.ac.uk

One of the (many) aims of our project is to understand what animals do outside the breeding season. In a new editorial in ALULA, @sramellini.bsky.social highlights some examples of how local, field-based research can help bridge this major knowledge gap.
Read it here: doi.org/10.60990/alu...

Field team in Wytham Woods May 2025

Image of the new Biology Building, completed, and opening from August 2025

Lunch with the field team to celebrate another successful season - May 2025

Interested in Postdoc Research here in Oxford? Many projects possible using long-term population studies of birds, field & lab experiments with insect consumers, phenology of trees all in Wytham woods & based in new Biology building
marie-sklodowska-curie-actions.ec.europa.eu/calls/msca-p...

#ASSAB2025 finished this afternoon with an announcement that we will meet in Adelaide next year, how exciting! Even more exciting, @sramellini.bsky.social won 'Highly Commended' for his presentation on the multilevel society of superb fairywrens, congrats! 🎉 #SFW_ANU @animbehav.bsky.social

Male superb fairy wren

Female superb fairy wren

🌟CONGRATULATIONS🌟 to You Zhou of @scienceanu.bsky.social on the publishing of her 2nd #PhD chapter in @asab.org Animal Behaviour. All about temporal #masking in the beautiful superb fairywrens.
#noise #fieldwork #playbacks
With Rob Magrath.
@bristolbiosci.bsky.social
doi.org/10.1016/j.an...

Day 2 of the #ASSAB2025 conference has just begun! Don't forget to attend our two talks today for #SFW_ANU project updates:
11:15 @sramellini.bsky.social on the fairywrens' multilevel society
15:45 @franhckr.bsky.social on fairywren foraging behaviour
@animbehav.bsky.social

Day 1 of the #ASSAB2025 conference opened with an incredible plenary! Join us tomorrow for #SFW_ANU project updates. At 11:15 @sramellini.bsky.social will talk about their multilevel society, and
@franhckr.bsky.social will talk about their foraging behaviour at 15:45!
@animbehav.bsky.social

An unfortunate yet fascinating encounter during yesterday's fieldwork: a sparrowhawk catches one of our fairywrens as we're following a group to collect social data 😦🦅
#birds #ecology #predation #ornithology #SFW_ANU @franhckr.bsky.social @sramellini.bsky.social

With the cold weather and brown males the non-breeding season is officially upon us! 🐦 Our fieldwork now focuses on their sociality and foraging 🍿 #ecology #birds #ornithology #SFW_ANU @sramellini.bsky.social @franhckr.bsky.social

Fairywren standing on data sheet

When you go to collect data but the data doesn't let you write it down ✍🏻🐦😆
#bird #ecology #ornithology #SFW_ANU
@sramellini.bsky.social @franhckr.bsky.social
@scienceanu.bsky.social

Happy Valentine's Day to everyone from us here at the #SFW_ANU project, including our birds 🐦 Even though the breeding season is over, it's the perfect day for some allopreening to strengthen our social bonds 😉

#ornithology #birds

Aaaand that's the official end of this year's breeding season! Yesterday, we banded the last chick - that's 68 in total! About to fledge any day now, let's wish him/her well ✨🕊️

#ornithology #ecology #birds @scienceanu.bsky.social
@sramellini.bsky.social @franhckr.bsky.social

Adult male superb fairy-wren in blue breeding plumage

With the 2024 breeding season coming to an end, we have started to band the few remaining unbanded adults to prepare for the collection of social data this winter. This guy is our first banded adult! 🐦
#ornithology #birds #superbfairywren #SFW_ANU @sramellini.bsky.social @franhckr.bsky.social

Happy New Year! 🎆 We're starting the year off with monitoring cNb, who was born on January 1st 2022. Wishing everyone all the best for 2025, and a happy birthday to cNb 🎂
#birds #ornithology #superbfairywren #SFW_ANU
@sramellini.bsky.social @franhckr.bsky.social @damienfarine.bsky.social

Holiday season is upon us, and so is this year's breeding season! With the season still in full swing, we're banding a few times a week. Today, we banded this male's chicks and his helper 🐦 Happy holidays from cOnr! 🎄
@sramellini.bsky.social @franhckr.bsky.social #ornithology #birds #superbfairywren

@scienceanu.bsky.social @damienfarine.bsky.social @sramellini.bsky.social @franhckr.bsky.social #superbfairywren #longtermstudy #ornithology #birds

Male superb fairy-wren in breeding plumage

*Egg-citing news* The Superb Fairy-Wren Project is now on Bluesky! Our 37th breeding season is well underway, with the first fledgies out and the second nests being built.

Picture by @franhckr.bsky.social