Thomas Cansse

There are still two more weeks to apply for the PhD position on nematodes, isotopes, metals and PFAS in the terns. Don't be shy to reach out when having questions about it either. :-)

Egg Characteristics of Female Common Terns Are Repeatable, and Vary With Maternal Age and Laying Order We investigated sources of variation in eight egg characteristics capturing the colour, spottiness, shape, and size of 1589 eggs from 687 clutches produced by 330 female common terns (Sterna hirundo)...

Do you never ask if a female #bird always lays #eggs of a certain appearance? We tried do answer this question in the common terns. Follow the link for more:
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
@commonternproject.bsky.social
@ifv-whv.bsky.social
@ecophycebc.bsky.social
@univ-larochelle.fr

Postdoctoral fellow

🐦 EcoBird is hiring a Postdoc in animal cognition!

Join us + @themanybirds.bsky.social to investigate innovation & problem-solving in birds.

📅 Start: as early as Jan 2026
🌍 Funded through UGent’s international mobility scheme

More info & how to apply ↓
www.ugent.be/en/work/scie...

There’s one month left to apply for the PhD position on interactions between contaminants and parasites in common terns, co-supervised by @alicecarravieri.bsky.social, Bernd Sures from @unidue.bsky.social and myself. You can do so here: euraxess.ec.europa.eu/jobs/380142

a couple of individually marked godwits. Photo by J. Seenstra

Want your modelling to save birds? PhD with me at UvA (Amsterdam): build spatial integrated population model for black-tailed godwits with world-class dataset and strong team here & @birdeyes-gfn.bsky.social/RUG). werkenbij.uva.nl/en/vacancies... Apply by 1 Dec 2025: #Ecology #Bayesian #Conservation

📢 PhD opportunity at @cebc-chizelab.bsky.social @ifv-whv.bsky.social @unidue.bsky.social

🎓 Interactions between contaminants and parasites in common terns

📅 Apply by 12/12/2025 at euraxess.ec.europa.eu/jobs/380142

#seabirds #ecotoxicology

@univ-larochelle.fr @commonternproject.bsky.social

We’re hiring a doctoral researcher in the area of migration ecology.
The work will focus on the question of how and when migratory songbirds learn where their home is using #Motus.
Part of the Cluster of Excellence NaviSense and linked with @sfb1372.bsky.social

uol.de/job788en

#ornithology

Trophic and environmental influences on trace element concentrations in Australian fur seals Trace elements (TE) in living organisms can have detrimental health impacts depending on their concentration. As many TEs are obtained through diet, t…

You are what you eat! 🍣

Concentrations of #traceelements in seals were linked to #diet which were influenced by #environmental and #climate indices.

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

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...

Out @animalecology.bsky.social today - a paper with David Ewing in which we explore the #HPAI outbreak in the terns. We find bird-to-bird transmission to be the main driver of infection and estimate the probability of mortality to drop from 0.26 to 0.14 from 2022 to 2023: doi.org/10.1111/1365...

When we hypothesised female terns to have lower mercury levels than males due to egg laying, @matteobeccardi.bsky.social et al designed an elegant experiment to prove the effectiveness of this pathway. That proof just got published & the open access paper can be found here: doi.org/10.1016/j.en...

Spread the word: we’re #hiring! We offer two short-term #fellowships for master’s degree holders and PhD candidates for 6-12 months to excellent researchers, who are interested in doing research within one dedicated project of our SFB/CRC 1372. Find more information on www.sfb1372.de/jobs

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

Out now in Environmental Research – Anna’s new paper in which she assesses the levels of 118 contaminants in unhatched eggs and dead chicks found in the last and endangered population of gull-billed terns in Central Europe, breeding at Neufelderkoog: doi.org/10.1016/j.en...

NEW on the #BOUdiversityBlog from Jamie Dunning

Why I don’t want to talk about my neurodivergence

bou.org.uk/blog-dunn...

#ornithology 🪶

Alpine ibex (Capra ibex) captured in Stelvio National Park, Italy

Hey Camera Trappers 📸🐺🐗🦌🦅Snapshot Europe is back for 2025!
Join us in deploying cameras this Sept-Oct. Help build a crucial snapshot of European biodiversity. Learn more & express interest here ▶️ app.wildlifeinsights.org/initiatives/...
Spread the word and help expand our community across Europe🙏

And here it is - Justine's last thesis chapter got accepted too and can now be read as an open access paper in Environmental Research: doi.org/10.1016/j.en...

Happy to share our newest paper in which we investigated the non-breeding distribution of Australasian gannets #seabirds #ornithology @aurore-counilh.bsky.social
www.int-res.com/abstracts/me...

Fresh siblings and lots of chick ringing during today’s check of the colony. Even the rain held off to let us do our job. 🐣

Live from the field: the first 4 chicks of 2025 have hatched. ❤️ #babyboom

The Banter See season in numbers so far: we have registered 372 birds, 189 nests have been initiated, 42 blood samples have been collected and 28 birds have been caught to attach or remove a geolocator. Next up: chick ringing. Hatching should start any day now. ❤️

Let us introduce you to the Banter See common tern team 2025. :-)

We use blood-sucking bugs to collect blood samples from the terns without them realising we do so. This 'bugging' process started today, and thanks to Justine & María Jesús the first 3 samples of 2025 are in the pocket.

Whereas first arrival has advanced over the long-term study, first laying hasn't (and the same holds true when we look at the averages). Still, 2025 is a fairly early year, as there are only 8 years with an earlier first egg versus 23 with a later first egg. #phenology #seabirds

204 birds have now been registered by the automated registration system. Yesterday, one of our favourites returned too: 11-yr old Dextro, to us better known as our ‘bouncer boy’, because he’s the one that nests just behind the spot where we tie our boat and tries to keep us out of the colony. ♥️

Freshly out in Environmental Pollution – Anna’s new paper in which she assesses mercury pollution in the last and endangered population of gull-billed terns in Central Europe, breeding at Neufelderkoog, a heavily mercury-polluted area: doi.org/10.1016/j.en...

Sweet news: 24-yr old Roy & Sören both returned to the colony. After avian influenza killed mostly the older terns in 2022 and 2023, these two males have become the ‘oldies’. We’re hoping they’ll stick around for many more years, maybe even taking the age record, which currently is 27.

They're back! The first three terns arrived yesterday morning. The very first one was 18-year old Calimero. He was followed by 7-year old Severina and 13-year old Fabrice. All arived between 10:29 and 10:54. ♥️ #phenology #seabirds

Poor developmental conditions decrease adult body size and egg size, but not egg laying rate and survival throughout adulthood: A long‐term experiment in a precocial bird This research experimentally manipulated the quality of early-life conditions in Japanese quail, and monitored individual performance over the complete adult lifespan under standardized conditions. I...

New publication in @animalecology.bsky.social by @oscarvedder.bsky.social & @matteobeccardi.bsky.social 'Poor developmental conditions decrease adult body size and egg size, but not egg laying rate and survival throughout adulthood: A long-term experiment in a precocial bird'
doi.org/10.1111/1365...