Centre for Research on Ecology, Cognition and Behaviour of Birds

@ecobird.bsky.social

Home range and activity budget in the Falkland Steamer Duck (Tachyeres brachypterus) The Falkland Islands support globally important populations of seabirds and coastal birds, underscoring their value for international conservation efforts. However, substantial knowledge gaps impede t...

Congratulations @alixkristiansen.bsky.social on your first paper from your PhD - it's out!

@ecobird.bsky.social

journals.plos.org/plosone/arti...

😀 ugent.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_...

🚨 Calling researchers, students, technicians in cognition 🚨

We’re running a 10-min anonymous survey on how animal cognition is defined and studied across disciplines (from ecology, ethology, psychology, neurology, etc). 🧠✨

Scan the QR code & share widely

#AnimalCognition #ResearchSurvey #Science

🚨 Calling researchers, students, technicians in cognition 🚨

We’re running a 10-min anonymous survey on how animal cognition is defined and studied across disciplines (from ecology, ethology, psychology, neurology, etc). 🧠✨

Scan the QR code & share widely

#AnimalCognition #ResearchSurvey #Science

Voortaan dr. Charlotte Van Driessche verdedigde vrijdag met succes haar doctoraat ‘Implementation of eDNA metabarcoding as an innovative tool for biomonitoring fish communities in lotic waters’, met @universiteitgent.bsky.social en @fwovlaanderen.bsky.social.
Beluister 📻 bit.ly/PhDCharlotte

Had an amazing week in Kolkata at #Behaviour2025! Very grateful for the opportunity to present my work 🐥 Also super glad I got to explore the city and see some of it's wildlife, and to chat cool science with so many nice people!

🔥Wildfire tragedy in Portugal

The Cinereous Vultures (𝐴𝑒𝑔𝑦𝑝𝑖𝑢𝑠 𝑚𝑜𝑛𝑎𝑐ℎ𝑢𝑠) need our help. A massive wildfire destroyed not only their nests, but also the breeding and acclimatisation centre in Douro International Nature Park in the North of Portugal.
#birds #wildfire

📸Yves Adams

We had 4 talks, and two posters so great representation of @ecobird.bsky.social from Ghent University.

Successful @ecobird.bsky.social #EOU2025 trip. Great presentations by @cesarepacioni.bsky.social, Jolien Van Malderen, Caoimhe Abdul-Wahab, Mélibée Morel and me! Well done team 👏 Loads of fun, and surprisingly good Welsh weather 😇

@ecobird.bsky.social at #EOU2025 🐦 Looking forward to sharing our work and connecting with the European ornithology community
Caoimhe Abdul-Wahab | Poster S1
@lucyjmitchell.bsky.social | Symp 11
Mélibée Morel | Oral 17
@cesarepacioni.bsky.social | Oral 8
Jolien Van Malderen | Symp 2 & Poster S1

Isotopic niche segregation during the non-breeding period in Black-faced Cormorants (Phalacrocorax fuscescens) Due to environmental changes, prey distribution and availability are predicted to change. This is expected to impact their predators, especially in the highly dynamic and fast-changing marine envir...

Happy to share my last PhD paper where we investigated the istopic niche of black-faced cormorants both for the breeding season and the non-breeding period. doi.org/10.1080/0158...
#seabirds #ornithology

already on the to-order list!

To peck or not to peck: the influence of early-life social environment on response inhibition and impulsive aggression in Japanese quails | Royal Society Open Science Deficits in response inhibition (RI; i.e. the ability to suppress inappropriate responses) may contribute to increased impulsive aggression (IA; i.e. unplanned behaviours that harm others). Since earl...

New paper out!
To Peck or Not To Peck: The influence of early-life social environment on response inhibition and impulsive aggression in Japanese quails royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...

Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences: Vol 380, No 1929 Can't sign in? Forgot your password?

It forms part of an exciting Special Issue of Phil Trans, "Selection shapes diverse animal minds", edited by @ellileadbeater.bsky.social & @cornishjackdaws.bsky.social

Co-authors include @ecobird.bsky.social @samellisq.bsky.social

royalsocietypublishing.org/toc/rstb/202...

The survival of the smartest? Assessing how cognition shapes fitness in animals. A really fun collaboration to be part of—thread below! 👇

Proud to share our newest gecko paper published @ecol-evol.bsky.social! We raised geckos either with or without their parents and found some effects on the development of behaviour and cognition! Read the rest here:
doi.org/10.1002/ece3...

New paper led by @anneleendewulf.bsky.social out now! 👇🎊

Nice to see more media attention for this paper 📰🥳

www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/ar...

This new #RSOS paper looks at neophobia across social contexts in juvenile herring #gulls. Read more: royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/... @ecobird.bsky.social‬

This work has also made it to the news 📰

📢 www.independent.co.uk/news/science...

📢 www.thetimes.com/uk/science/a...

🚨New Paper Out!🚨

We found that juvenile herring gulls in groups were less neophobic (quicker to eat & spent more time near novel objects) than individuals tested alone🤝

🎉 Read the preregistered report, led by Sophia Knoch & Reinoud Allaert, here:
doi.org/10.1098/rsos...

A great @ecobird.bsky.social team building day at the Zwin Natuur Park in Knokke-Heist 🐦

Nice day out with the @ecobird.bsky.social team! saw some birds, ate some snacks & embarrassed myself in some beach games 🥐🦆⛱️

Thanks to the @ecobird.bsky.social
team for the warm welcome these past two days! I really enjoyed sharing ideas, learning about their work on chickens and quail, and having great conversations. Hoping for fruitful collaborations in the future! @katywillcox.bsky.social @birgitszabo.bsky.social

Towards a better understanding of avian collision in wind energy facilities using automatic detection systems Data from automatic detection systems are a promising non-invasive approach that requires few human and logistical resources to develop a more comprehensive bird collision risk mitigation strategy. T....

Data from detection reaction systems on turbines provide a unique opportunity to study bird behavior in wind energy facilities. To learn more, check out our recent work in @jappliedecology.bsky.social 👇

I am very proud to share our new gecko research!

We wanted to know if experimenter identity influences gecko behaviour during experiments that increases error of behavioural measurements.

The answer is yes, identity matters but only in a familiar context!

OA paper:
doi.org/10.1038/s415...

Yesterday evening, I had the pleasure of sharing ECoBird’s research with filmmakers and producers at DOCVILLE’s Science Pitch. Regardless of the competition’s outcome, it was a genuinely enjoyable experience—and great to see how much interest there is in birds! 🐦🎬 @ecobird.bsky.social #DOCVILLE

New paper in press! 🐎🏁
"What We Can Learn from Horse Races: Response Inhibition Across Species" 📄 doi: doi.org/10.31219/osf...
In this paper, I argue for applying frameworks like the horse race model to study response inhibition in animals.

@AnneleenDewulf presents her talk discussing a two-stage model of #MotorInhibition in Herring Gulls where results showed that in most trials birds paused or slowed down in response to the stop signal which supports a two-stage model of stopping! #CO3_2025 🧪🥼🔬