Alex Brighten

🚨 PhD offer (please share)
Fascinated by bird migration and movement ecology? 🦜🌍 Join us at @vogelwarte.bsky.social to study annual cycle energetics with multi-sensor loggers in multiple species

Deadline: 20 Feb 2026
Starting: June 2026
Supervision: Martins Briedis & me

Info: tinyurl.com/2dbv9nzh

(PDF) Phenology of migrating game birds in Italy based on citizen science data PDF | Studying the timing of the seasonal movements of migratory birds, known as migration phenology, is crucial for managing and conserving migratory... | Find, read and cite all the research you nee...

Based on thousands of citizen-science observations across Italy, our study shows that many hunted game bird species 🐦 start their pre-breeding migration earlier than reported in the European Commission’s “Key Concepts Document” (KCD) 🇪🇺

www.researchgate.net/publication/...

NEW JOB in #ornithology with @vogelwarte.bsky.social to unravel the demographic drivers of population change in Alpine #swifts in #Switzerland: buff.ly/crV1rT8

We're hiring!

Seasonal Research Assistant and Senior Research Assistant positions for 2026 🪶

Deadline: 11th Jan 26

Apply here: app.vacancy-filler.co.uk/salescrm/Car...

Calendar Sales Promotions! There's a picture of the November page, which has a magnificent cinereous vulture in flight. A big star saying "Free UK shipping!" All profits go towards vulture conservation in Central Asia! Shop at https://forms.gle/pimXihA6jX2ohaZW7

Calendar Sales Promotions! A photo of the April page, with a pair of Egyptian vultures. A big star with "2 for £25, saving £5" All profits go towards vulture conservation in Central Asia! Shop at https://forms.gle/pimXihA6jX2ohaZW7

Calendar Sales Promotions! A photo of the May page, with a pair of Himalayan vultures on the high-altitude meadows of Kyrgyzstan. A big star with "календарь на русском языке £14" All profits go towards vulture conservation in Central Asia! Shop at https://forms.gle/pimXihA6jX2ohaZW7

Hey, remember those exciting vulture calendars I've been pushing? There are now discounts! Tell all your friends!
All proceeds go to the research and conservation of #vultures in Central Asia. They are understudied, threatened, and very awesome creatures.

forms.gle/pimXihA6jX2o...

🪶 🦤 🦅

Book cover for Reproducible Code guide. The cover has a red background with a large yellow-bodied black-headed stag beetle.

Excited to launch the new improved Reproducible Code guide from @britishecologicalsociety.org @methodsinecoevol.bsky.social FREE online here! www.britishecologicalsociety.org//wp-content/... Amazing work by some very talented ECRs. We hope it’s useful!

ECOCHANGE RA Job description

ECOCHANGE Research Associate #foodwebs #offshorewind #stableisotopes For more info see www.jobs.gla.ac.uk/job/research...

From policy to practice: progress towards data- and code-sharing in ecology and evolution | Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences Data and code are essential for ensuring the credibility of scientific results and facilitating reproducibility, areas in which journal sharing policies play a crucial role. However, in ecology and evolution, we still do not know how widespread data- and ...

📣 Hot off the press at #ProcB!

🔍 Our study checked #datasharing and #codesharing policies in 275 #ecology #evolution journals. Policies exist, but clarity and strictness vary, affecting #reproducibility.
#OpenScience
🔗 royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...

Top left: vulture nest in a cliff face; middle left: vulture nest viewed through a telescope; lower: the nestling vulture in the nest getting close to fledging; top right: an adult and a fledgling Egyptian vulture

#InternationalVultureAwarenessDay! Thinking of all this year’s fledglings & the threats they’re going to face; mostly anthropogenic. Vultures just go about their lives keeping the natural world clean while humans set it on fire. Tough, but it’s important to hold on to hope & conservation successes.

Top left; UEA broad just after sunrise; top right meeting welcome sign; lower left reflections of a bridge; lower right my poster and me.

Reflecting on #BESMove2025, nice couple days chatting all things #MovementEcology and meeting friends old & new. Thank you @besmovesig.bsky.social and the meeting organisers for your hard work to deliver a stacked and smooth running schedule and fun socials. Looking forward to the next one!

Graphical abstract for a manuscript titled "Too few, too many, or just right? Optimizing sample sizes for population-level inferences in animal tracking projects". The workflow presented in this manuscript evaluates sampling design by assessing sampling duration, sampling interval, and the number of sampled individuals needed to obtain reliable population-level estimates.

✨ New preprint! "Too few, too many, or just right?" 🌍🌎🌏 We explore how to evaluate study design in animal tracking studies by assessing sampling duration, interval, and, now, the number of individuals needed for reliable population-level estimates. #movementecology www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Collage of photos from the European Ornithological Union (EOU) conference 2025. Clockwise from top left: an amazing plenary about robust avian science by Antica Culina with a slide on FAIR data; a tiny solar GPS transmitter, the Menai bridge at sunrise; me and my poster; Welsh flag with bonus Welsh jackdaw; Vogelwarte research group; first Guinness after 2.5 months in Switzerland; cool hummingbird mural on a house; and in the centre: Vogelwarte research group - Team Alpine Swift-Barn Owl-Dipper et al!

It’s already been a week since #EOU2025! Fun week meeting and chatting cool bird science & geeking out at the cool tech! Presented another poster made from my tent in Bulgaria. 😅 Even got work done on the 14hr train journey, 🌱 but France took my Leatherman; rookie error not checking my field pack! 🥲

Hey Holly, did you manage to get a copy? Otherwise i can send you it

Join our team? We're hiring a field tech for the year to work on our Secretarybird project:
hawkwatch.org/opportunitie...
Please share this opportunity!
#conservationjob #raptorresearch

Light blue background, with a digital drawing of an albatross flying on the right side. The uppermost text is in grey and says "Do you have access to these journals?", with a list of journals underneath in black: Ibis, Emu, Ostrich, Journal of Zoology, Australian Wildlife Research, Wildlife Research, Biological Conservation, Vida Silvestre Neotropical, Prairie Naturalist, Pacific Conservation Biology, Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London, Ardea, Mammalia, Chinese Journal of Zoology". At the bottom in grey is the text "please help me find the papers in the attached spreadsheet for my thesis chapter! Thank you for your help!!!"

After 2 years and ~1000 papers, I'm nearing the end of my broad-scale #synthesis thesis chapter! However there are still papers I can't access, if anyone has access to these journals (papers listed in link) and could send them to me, I would greatly appreciate it!! 🪶
docs.google.com/spreadsheets...

Movement Ecology Annual Meeting 2025 - British Ecological Society Join the Movement SIG at the University of East Anglia for their yearly meeting, this year titled 'Understanding Migration'.

The next BES Movement Ecology SIG annual meeting is taking place on the 2nd-3rd of September 2025 in Norwich. Come and discuss your results or data with movecologists! www.britishecologicalsociety.org/content/move...
@britishecolsoc.bsky.social @ueaceec.bsky.social @ueaenv.bsky.social

Do you use Earth Observation #data for #wildlife #ecology? Take this survey to share how you use remotesensing, climate and weather data. Part of SOS (www.dfg-sos.de), a project of @dlr-de.bsky.social, @mpi-animalbehav.bsky.social, ‪@uni-wuerzburg.de‬

survey.lamapoll.de/EarthObserva...

Application countdown for the #Animove Workshop 2025 in Costa Rica.....Deadline is 31st of May. Sign up now ! animove.org/next-animove...
@mpi-animalbehav.bsky.social @movebank.bsky.social #biologging #animalmovement #rstats

PhD opportunity #AfricanOrnithology

PhD in Spatial-temporal dynamics of Black-tailed Godwit habitat use and foraging ecology in Senegal

www.rug.nl/about-ug/wor...

Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions2-year Postdoctoral Fellowship Dr Alex Bond (Natural History Museum, Tring/London UK) [progress pride flag] Applicants with previous experience in CT/morphology, wildlife acoustics, or plastics particularly encouraged! Applicant eligibility Can’t have spent >12 of the last 36 months in the UK Previous post-doctoral experience & publication track record HIGHLY recommended Must relocate to the UK (London or Tring; remote working is not possible under this funding scheme) Defended PhD by Sept 2025; < 8 years postdoc experience Previous successful applications are available as guides! Applications shared between fellow & host with a deadline 10 Sept 2025 Email: a.bond@nhm.ac.uk / BlueSky: @TheLabAndField@bsky.social https://alexanderbond.org

The 2025 Marie Curie Fellowships are now open! If you are interested in #PlasticPollution, #ornithology / #birds, #conservation & our work at @adriftlab.bsky.social and want to discuss an application, get in touch! #PhDjobs

marie-sklodowska-curie-actions.ec.europa.eu/calls/msca-p...

Happy #WorldMigratoryBirdDay! Alpine swift are back from sub-Saharan Africa & pre-breeding surveys in our Swiss study sites are complete. Looking forward to the last field season of my PhD with these epic birds! #WMBD 2025 theme: make space for urban spp; we must protect nesting sites for #swifts!

Today is #WorldMigratoryBirdDay!

Let’s work together to bring nature back into our cities and neighbourhoods and protect our #SharedSpaces for the benefit of migratory birds and people. 🐦

Learn more how you can help create bird-friendly cities and communities ➡️ www.worldmigratorybirdday.org

The Ecology of Animal Migration course will be held again in Lund University this November! A great opportunity to learn and network for PhDs working on migration.

Did I mention I'm so stoked that this is published? :)
Collect feather fragments🪶; chop 'em up✂️;
set 'em on fire🔥; measure the gases👩‍🔬!
Super excited to build on this research in coming months combining stable isotope analysis (made possible w huge help from @isotopesuk.bsky.social) & geolocators!

Still totally buzzing from #BOU2025. Awesome few days. Meeting brilliant people, chatting cool science, surviving my first ever presentation as speaker (just!). Thanks @bou.org.uk for organising such a welcoming, inclusive, & real (so much honesty re: talk nerves) conference. Bring on the next one!

🧵1/6 That’s it for #BOU2025

We hope you’ve enjoyed following along!

We’d like to extend a huge thank you to everyone who’s engaged with and participated with the conference here on Bluesky

#ornithology

Did you follow #BOU2025 on Bluesky?

💬 If so, how did you find it? If not, why not?

Please take 5 minutes 🕰️ to complete our survey: forms.gle/dVNDYs8wg5...

Your views will inform the future of our Bluesky conferences!

#ornithology 🪶🧪 #conservationscience 🌎

Please repost!

1/ We are delighted to have @judyshamounb.bsky.social deliver the Alfred Newton Lecture at #BOU2025 Frontiers in Ornithology

Judy's research focuses on understanding movement ecology in birds 🧵

#ornithology #migrationresearch #movementecology 🪶🧪

An adult Egyptian vulture flying over a Central Asian landscape. The bird has a cute pointy yellow face, mostly white feathers, and wide wings with long black flight feathers. The sky is blue and cloudless, and the ground is hilly yellow grass.

🧵1/6 The Egyptian vulture (Neophron percnopterus) is an Endangered species that occurs across Europe, Africa and Asia.
✅Migration patterns are well-studied in Europe/Middle East
❓Little research across in Central Asia.
I'm at #BOU2025 today!
#ornithology #Raptors 🪶 #vultures #conservation

Image of study site Bluemull Sound, Shetland, and a foraging European Shag

1/6 Tidal stream environments are unique marine habitats characterised by fast tidal currents.

Knowledge of how #seabirds use these areas for foraging is scarce.

@tomgale98.bsky.social is at #BOU2025 presenting work on understanding drivers of habitat selection of Shags in these environments...