William Jones

It's like a magic eye picture

Blackish-grey Antshrike (Thamnophilus nigrocinereus) a specialist negatively impacted by acai densification (Alex Lees)

açaí palm (Euterpe oleracea Mart.) density is being rapidly increased by removing other tree species (Alex Lees)

berries of the açaí palm (Euterpe oleracea Mart.) in situ (Alex Lees)

Our new paper led by Madson Freitas shows that global demand for Açaí, a dietary staple for Amazonian people, now marketed as a superfood, is driving widespread estuarine forest degradation leading to impoverishment of their bird communities
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... #ornithology 🌎🍴🪶🌴

Conservation Operations Officer - Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions, WA Closing 9 February Are you passionate about flora conservation? Do you want to live and work in one of Australia’s last remaining biodiversity strongholds? Then do we have the job for you! As the Conservation Operations Officer – Flora, you will work with a small, well-resourced team of like-minded people to implement monitoring and research projects across Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions (DBCA) managed protected areas in the Kimberley. $95,782 – $100,526 p.a. plus Superannuation

PHD opportunity in plant ecophysiology - Adelaide University, SA Closing 15 February We are looking for an PhD candidate to join an exciting research project focused on understanding heat and drought combined impacts on threatened plants’ mortality. This is a critical issue in Australia and worldwide as climate change is intensifying, leading to hotter droughts and increasing extinction risks for many species. The project will involve a substantial amount of fieldwork, glasshouse and laboratory work, as well as data analysis and writing throughout. $36,500 AUD p.a. SCHOLARSHIP + $3,000 AUD p.a. top up

Research Fellow Quantitative Ecologist - La Trobe University, VIC Closing 5 February Join a dedicated team of scientists within the Centre for Freshwater Ecosystems. We require a quantitative ecologist with skills/experience in statistical and quantitative modelling. The successful candidate will contribute to projects on flow-ecology relationships and habitat suitability modelling for freshwater organisms and will be comfortable working with large datasets, including spatial information, hydrologic data and survey records. $114,855 – $135,633 + 17% superannuation

Honours project on Mirnong restoration - RMIT, VIC Closing 31 January In collaboration with the Taungurung Land and Waters Council, we are looking for Honours students to explore factors influencing successful restoration of a favourite food plant, Mirnong (Micoseris walteri). We have capacity to develop one or more projects to analyse the soil physicochemical, microbial and environmental conditions that best support Mirnong establishment in culturally managed landscapes. The work will be a mix of lab work (microbial, soil), field work (sampling, measuring of plants and soils) and greenhouse experiments.

🦜 OPPORTUNITIES FOR ECOLOGISTS 🦜

Looking for a new role or research opportunity? Check out this round-up of exciting jobs and scholarships for ecologists and students.
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👉 Swipe for more and see details online now: www.ecolsoc.org.au/opportunities/
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#EcologyCareers #Hiring #ecology #EthicalJobs

Life cycle complexity shapes parasite sharing amongst migratory and resident hosts Migratory animals are potentially important parasite dispersers. However, understanding the impact of host migration on parasite distributions is challenging because variation in parasite life histori...

New preprint!

We explore how bird migration shapes parasite dispersal 🐤 🦠

Led by PhD student Sarah Nichols.

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

I'm also a fan of Reedling. But I'm not mad at Bearded Tit

Senior Lecturer/Associate Professor in Biodiversity The Department of Biology was established in 2010 through the merger of the Departments of Ecology, Cell and Organism Biology, Biological Undergraduate Education, and the Biological Museums. The depar

Come and join me and my colleagues at the Department of Biology, #LundUniversity in #sweden! We have am open position as Senior Lecturer/Associate Professor in Biodiversity.

Apply here no later than February 11 2026:

https://lu.varbi.com/en/what:job/jobID:848749/type:job/where:4/apply:1

Does disrupted gene expression cause hybrid sterility in Flycatchers? Taking a closer look at gene expression in the testis.

Your daily Avian Hybrids story!

Does disrupted gene expression cause hybrid sterility in Flycatchers?
avianhybrids.wordpress.com/2021/09/22/d...

#ornithology

Stockholm University's Department of Zoology seeks an Associate Professor in Animal Ecology and Evolution. Deadline: Feb 28, 2026. More info: https://su.varbi.com/en/what:job/jobID:883922/where:4/ #job

You should be able to respond to reviewer comments with memes to liven up the peer review process.

A Hoopoe perches on fallen tree trunk showing its orange crest, down-curved bill, and black, white and sandy brown plumage. Image credit bottom right reads Hoopoe by Edmund Fellowes / BTO.

1/🧵 Two bird species bred in the UK in 2023 for the first time since the 1990s!

The latest report by @ukrbbp.bsky.social published in @britishbirds.bsky.social confirmed a pair of Hoopoes raised three young from a nest in Leicestershire and Rutland. #Ornithology

Sweden has lost the Snowy Owl The Snowy Owl has been declared Regionally Extinct in Sweden. For the first time in 20 years, the country has officially lost a bird species.

The Snowy Owl has been declared Regionally Extinct in Sweden. For the first time in 20 years, the country has officially lost a bird species. - www.birdlife.org/news/2025/12...
#BirdingScotland #UKBirding
Attributed to a combination of climate change and disruption to the lemming cycle. A tragedy.

A colorful legacy of hybridization in wood-warblers includes frequent sharing of carotenoid genes among species and genera Introgression between species can shape evolutionary trajectories in important ways. This study of the entire family of the colorful wood-warblers (Parulidae) uses whole-genome sequencing to reveal fr...

New paper out. If you like colorful birds, hybridization, and phylogenetics, read on! 🧵https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3003501

MSc internship / Field Assistant position available in our group!
Impact of urbanisation on avian reproduction 🐦🏙️ 🌳
Deadline: 7 Nov 2025
All details 👉 www.uni-bielefeld.de/fakultaeten/...
Please share it around!

Capitalisation of vernacular names is a hill I'm also prepared to die on...

Yeah, it has a "down for unscheduled maintenance" flag now for me.

Is iNaturalist down for anyone else?

Postdoctoral researcher in molecular ecology - Uppsala University Postdoctoral researcher in molecular ecology, Department of Ecology and Genetics, Uppsala University

📢 We have an open position for a postdoc to join my lab. It's a great position @animecol-uu.bsky.social, fully salaried for 2.5 years with all benefits.

www.uu.se/en/about-uu/...

The project is about transmission patterns of bacteria and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in aquatic insects. 🧬🦠 (1/3)

A 1st winter male SIBERIAN RUBYTHROAT caught on North Ronaldsay!!!

#RareBirdsUK
#BirdingScotland
#OrkneyBirding

Black-winged Kite breeds in Denmark and Hungary for the first time Black-winged Kite has bred in Denmark and Hungary for the very first time this year, marking a significant northward advance for the striking raptor. Breeding was recorded in Hungary in the country's south-east region. Two chicks hatched and subsequently fledged from an initial clutch of four eggs. Meanwhile, the first Danish breeding record has occurred. A pair was recorded exhibiting nesting behaviour, including nest-building and mating, in central Jutland in September.

Black-winged Kite has bred in both Denmark and Hungary for the first time this year, continuing the species' range expansion into Central and Northern Europe:

Perspective Who gets the spotlight? Disparities in seabird research attention at scientific conferences Ingrid L. Pollet a b Alexander L. Bond b c Jennifer L. Lavers b c d Highlights • Decade-long review of >2,950 seabird conference abstracts. • Over 30% of seabird species are rarely or never featured at scientific conferences • Several seabirds listed as Critically Endangered have received little or no attention. • 16 seabird species are over-represented in conferences. • Southern Hemisphere seabirds require greater research attention.

Hey seabird folks - have you ever thought "*ANOTHER* talk about <species X>?!" So did we.

So we reviewed 3000 conference abstracts to see which species get the spotlight. Huge work from @ingridpollet.bsky.social with me and @seabirdsentinel.bsky.social

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

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

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...

Bermuda barchart data from eBird for tyrant flycatchers https://ebird.org/barchart?r=BM

Great Crested Flycatcher wasn't at the top of my list of potential Nearctic vagrants given that it is very rare in Atlantic Canada, the Caribbean and especially Bermuda (below) islands which are a good barometer for vagrancy. Hopefully Ash-throated Flycatcher has been ruled out #UKBirding 1/2

Climate‐Driven Increase in Transmission of a Wildlife Malaria Parasite Over the Last Quarter Century Climate warming is shaping ecosystems in several ways, and this includes changes in the dynamics of wildlife disease transmission. Over 26 years, avian malaria parasites have become much more common ...

Using historical samples from a long-term population of Bluetits we have shown that there has been an increase in malaria infected birds, from 45% in 1996 to around 90%in late 2020s. This increase in transmission is driven by warmer spring temp during the nestling phase.

dx.doi.org/10.1111/gcb....

Stable isotope data indicate origins of mislabelled historical bird specimens Natural history specimens provide valuable insights across diverse research fields, but those needing more accurate metadata have limited scientific value. We applied stable isotope analysis to inves...

Our new paper led by Rafael Lima used carbon, nitrogen and sulphur isotope analyses to interrogate the origin of some biogeographically controversial Brazilian bird specimens - an #ornithology 🧵 1/10
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

🎉We have announced a new professorship at the University of Gothenburg 🇸🇪 to celebrate our Crown Princess’s 50th birthday!
🌿Broad focus on biodiversity — from microbes to modelling
📢A fantastic opportunity for researchers working across scales and disciplines!

🔗 web103.reachmee.com/ext/I005/103...

Wow! That would make me feel very twitchy if I was still in Uppsala

My daughter, who doesn't have social media, is writing an article on the expansion of Neotropic Cormorants in Ontario, Canada & hybrids between Double-crested & Neotropic Cormorants. She's struggling w/ resources on the distribution of pure birds or hybrids. Can anyone help?

#Ornithology #Seabirds

Extremely accurate map of Brazil for Gringos

Reminds me of this

Well, it's official. After our paper last year (onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....), the Slender-billed Curlew is officially declared Extinct today.

Scientists dream of describing new species, not writing their obituary and epitaph, knowing that they are gone forever #ornithology