Jørgen Søraker

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

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 ⬇️

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 ⬇️

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

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)

Congratulations Abby!🥳🎉

Still present! Incredibly cooperative bird showing excellent for about 100 birders today.

This week's seminar - last of this term - is our annual Christmas Seminar. We're welcoming Prof Tim Birkhead back to where he studied as a DPhil student ~50 years ago (can you can spot him in this 1978 photo?) Tim will be talking about "Sperm to Egg: Making a Biologist" - 3pm LT1 in the LaMB

This week’s EGI seminar will be given by @peterkorsten.bsky.social from Aberystwyth on the ecology of behavioural variation in the wild at 3.30pm Friday 5 Dec - LT1 in @biology.ox.ac.uk. All welcome & live-streamed: see joining details below.

Fig. 1 from the article: introduced house sparrows had more sites with significant change in DNA methylation and a larger magnitude of change in DNA methylation between 0- and 8-h after lipopolysaccharide injection.

NEW PAPER: Introduced house sparrows showed more numerous, larger, and more variable DNA-methylation changes after simulated infection than native birds, suggesting distinct epigenetic responses that may aid introduction success.

➡️ vist.ly/4eq4a

#ornithology #birds #plasticity #stress 🪶

Just a reminder of today’s @egioxford.bsky.social seminar - all welcome

This week’s seminar will be given by Prof Daniel Field of @zoologymuseum.bsky.social & @cambridge-earthsci.bsky.social on the origins of modern birds. 3.30pm Friday 28 Nov in LT1 in the Life & Mind Building @biology.ox.ac.uk - all welcome & see below for live streaming joining information

Remember this talk tomorrow! Contact us for link

This week's EGI seminar is being given by Dr Maria Moiron @mmoiron.bsky.social of the University of Bielefeld at 3.30pm on Friday 21 Nov in LT1 in the Life & Mind Building @biology.ox.ac.uk. See below for online joining details - all welcome!

🎄🎄🎄 Delighted to announce that this year's EGI Christmas Seminar will be given by Prof Tim Birkhead at 3pm on Friday 12 December - in LT1 in the Life & Mind Building in @biology.ox.ac.uk 🎄🎄🎄

Welcome to this week's EGI seminar in @biology.ox.ac.uk when Prof Craig White @craig-white.bsky.social from @monashbiol.bsky.social will talk on The Evolution of Metabolic Rate and Life History: 3.30pm Fri 14 Nov in Lecture Theatre 2 in the Life & Mind Building. Also live-streamed: instructions ⬇️

YouTube video by EGI Oxford Alex Thornton- Building Social Worlds: how minds shape societies and societies shape minds

Did you miss the EGI-seminar by Alex Thornton a couple of weeks ago? Don’t worry, we got you covered!

m.youtube.com/watch?v=GXEa...

We're all looking forward to this week's seminar, being given by Kristen Ruegg from Colorado State University on the power of avian landscape genomics in the Genoscape Project. Seminar at 3.30pm on Friday 7 Nov in Lecture Theatre 1 in LaMB. Welcome in person or to join online - details ⬇️

Reminder of today’s seminar at 1530 - actually will be in Lecture Theatre 1 - come along!!

Now that we're properly moved in & set up in the new Life & Mind Building, we're pleased to restart our tradition of Friday afternoon seminar speakers, kicking off with Alex Thornton of @cornishjackdaws.bsky.social at 3.30pm on 31 Oct. Also live streamed: see below for details. Corvid-themed for 🎃

Examples of some recent papers from graduate students in my group - a full list of recent papers and preprints can be found here (https://scholar.google.co.uk/citations?hl=en&user=pTdxVdIAAAAJ) and profile of the group here: https://egioxford.web.ox.ac.uk/members

The annual Wytham Field Team Photo!

Celebrating a successful field season with great food & good company - May 2025

Front view of the Life & Mind Building, which opened in Oct 2025: The new home of Biology at Oxford

Interested in a PhD in ornithology? Funding available for projects at the interface of ecology, behaviour & evolution from Oct '26 working on long-term population studies of tits at Wytham, based in @biology.ox.ac.uk in the new Life & Mind Building in Oxford
www.findaphd.com/phds/project...

I think this is what hybrids of mallards and domesticated ducks often look like

Agreed! Creds to the organizers for a wonderful conference!

During house sparrow fieldwork this week at Helgeland, Northern Norway, we also managed to read the ring number of this common tern. Ringed as juvenile bird at Seal Sands, Teesmouth in August 2016, 1509 km away. Busy carrying fish back to the local colony.

Fledgling distributors
Great tit 323
Blue tit 134
Pied flycatcher 96
Coal tit 40
Nuthatch 11
Marsh tit 2

Mean fledgling number for great tits this year was 4.6, which is a bit lower than last year (~5)

Pied flycatchers produced about the same number of fledglings as last year, on average (4.4)

Last fledge check of the season home in Norway today. Very low production this year, with most of the early broods failing. However, rather high density, with eggs in 137/186 boxes. Distribution:
Great tit 76
Blue tit 24
Pied flycatcher 27 (record high)
Coal tit 7
Nuthatch 2
Marsh tit 1

Fledgling distributors
Great tit 323
Blue tit 134
Pied flycatcher 96
Coal tit 40
Nuthatch 11
Marsh tit 2

Mean fledgling number for great tits this year was 4.6, which is a bit lower than last year (~5)

Pied flycatchers produced about the same number of fledglings as last year, on average (4.4)

Well done @roriwijnhorst.bsky.social and congratulations to both of you!🥳

Congratulations Denise!