Michal Šulc

Conference website for #EOU2027 is on! www.eou27.cz

Exciting EPSRC-funded PhD opportunity to develop tech and software to record and understand wild animal behaviour. Based @uniexecec.bsky.social in beautiful Cornwall. Supervisors: Alex Thornton (@cornishjackdaws.bsky.social), @kjhockings.bsky.social & Monica Craciun Apply: tinyurl.com/v79p8en8

Fantastic video from the Nature covering our butterfly paper. George is the star of the show with butterfly catching skills & 🦋 socks: m.youtube.com/watch?v=BELy... @grahancock.bsky.social @lauraakelley.bsky.social @esbriolat.bsky.social @scienceanna.bsky.social @uniexecec.bsky.social

Wow - moving journal cover! Like from Harry Potter 😍 Pure witchcraft at its best by Jolyon’s research house 👌

Postdoc Alert! New Postdoc Position for 3 years (max 3 more)- offers the freedom to develop your own research projects in close interaction with my group. Research on invertebrates preferred. Apply by October 31. Please RP. zoologie.uni-greifswald.de/en/organizat... 🧪

CALL FOR SYMPOSIA: EXTENDED DEADLINE! Still thinking about submitting a symposium proposal for #EOU2027? We have extended the deadline: Monday 19th October 2026, 23:59 European Ornithologists' Union, Brno, Czech Republic 23-27 August 2027 Instructions & more info: www.eou27.cz/call-for-sym...

🦋 Butterfly wing patterns create motion illusions that protect them from predators! Our new study (8 years in the making) is out in Nature today doi.org/10.1038/s415... @grahancock.bsky.social @esbriolat.bsky.social @scienceanna.bsky.social @lauraakelley.bsky.social @uniexecec.bsky.social

💡Plenary Spotlight Bart Kempenaers – Max Planck Institute, Germany Bart is an expert in avian mating systems, currently exploring how sexual selection affects the activity and movement of shorebirds. #EOU2027 | 23-27 August | Brno, CZ Submit symposia: www.eou27.cz/call-for-sym... #Ornithology

🐦🌊 Tracking 65 birds from 11 species found that most sea crossings happened at night and at low altitudes - overlapping with offshore wind turbine rotors 👉 doi.org/10.1111/con4... #ornithology #birdmigration @pdvsky.bsky.social @pauldufour80.bsky.social @piedflynet.bsky.social @rafnuss.bsky.social

💡Plenary Spotlight Ben Hatchwell – University of Sheffield, UK Ben's long-term study of long-tailed tits investigates the causes and consequences of sociality, and the rules governing social decisions #EOU2027 | 23-27 August | Brno, CZ Submit symposia: www.eou27.cz/call-for-sym... #Ornithology

💡Plenary Spotlight Sandra Bouwhuis – Institute of Avian Research, Germany Sandra studies life-history strategies in common terns, focusing on migration, pollution, climate change and avian influenza. #EOU2027 | 23-27 August | Brno, CZ Submit symposia: www.eou27.cz/call-for-sym... #Ornithology

Dear Bluesky-friends, I am back to ask another favour. Gull-billed tern chick H36 has died close to Parque Nacional de Doñana. It seems to be on a small island in the Caño de Guadiamar: maps.app.goo.gl/Z195ha4z9zYY...

The Oldest University In Every Country In The World brilliantmaps.com/oldest-un...

🪶 CALL FOR PROPOSALS 🪶 16th European Ornithologists' Union Congress Brno, Czech Republic 23-27 August 2027 Do you have a research theme you’d like to bring to EOU? The call for symposia, round table discussions and pre-congress meetings is now open! Apply: www.eou27.cz/call-for-sym... #EOU2027

What can 20+ years of GPS tracking teach us about saving Eurasian Curlews? A lot! Tracking data from 626 curlews across Europe revealed remarkably strong fidelity to breeding & wintering sites, critical life stages, and key places & pressures affecting survival. 👉 doi.org/10.1016/j.bi... 1/3

New paper: How can we advance avian microbiome research? This perspective identifies key methodological challenges and offers practical recommendations to advance studies of bird–microbe interactions. ➡️ vist.ly/5e36n #microbiome #ornithology #birds #methods

📝 How to Write a Good Peer Review? Carl Smith and Martin Reichard have published "How to review a manuscript" in the Journal of Vertebrate Biology. A practical guide to writing clear and high-quality manuscript reviews. 👉 doi.org/10.25225/jvb... #PeerReview #JVertBiol www.ivb.cz/en/news/how-...

🐦 Why do Common Cuckoos lay their eggs in the late afternoon? Our new study shows they exploit the time when Great Reed Warblers spend less time at their nests, reducing the risk of detection. Congrats to our PhD student Gabriela Večeřová! 👏 doi.org/10.1111/ibi....

New paper: How does age influence migration timing? In great reed warblers, the oldest males depart earlier and arrived earlier than younger males, suggesting experience or age-related changes may shape spring migration schedules. ➡️ vist.ly/5dqbk #MigrationEcology #Ornithology #birds

🐦 A cuckoo's first challenge. A rare moment from the field in the Mutěnice ponds: a newly hatched Common Cuckoo chick ejects its foster host's egg from the nest. 🎥 Watch the remarkable beginning of one of Europe’s most extraordinary birds. Video recorded by @biosulc.bsky.social

Are protected areas able to safeguard island-endemic charadriiforms? A new study found that species in protected areas were more likely to be declining. Do protected areas target the most threatened species, or are protected areas alone not enough? 👉 doi.org/10.25225/jvb... #JVertBiol #ornithology

Birds on the € notes!? You can make it happen! 🐦✨ Vote now for your favourite design! www.ecb.europa.eu/euro/banknot... The European Central Bank is redesigning the euro banknotes and is asking the public for feedback. And one of the themes is birds and rivers...😈

🐦 A new paper out! GPS tracking of 85 Common Redshanks revealed how breeding phenology and habitat use vary across the species' breeding range, highlighting the value of protected grasslands, AES and tailored conservation. 👉 doi.org/10.1016/j.ge... #ornithology #waders #shorebirds #HABITRACK

Most scientists learn peer review by trial and error. Check out this practical guide for both first-time and experienced reviewers. It covers the entire review process, with useful tips and common pitfalls. 👉 doi.org/10.25225/jvb... #JVertBiol #PeerReview #PhDChat @fishecoevo.bsky.social

An important and beautiful paper on the central role of natural history in ecology and evolutionary biology.

Part 2: Common cuckoo fieldwork in the Czech Republic is always rewarding. Most species were sampled for their gut microbiome project for @suviruuskanen.bsky.social With @rytikerttunen.bsky.social , @lisandrinamari.bsky.social and @ivb-cas.bsky.social

Cuckoos are go! BTO satellite tagged Cuckoos are well on their way to the forests of Central Africa. Two have already crossed the Sahara while our most northerly bird is Bean, who's in Germany. Follow their progress: www.bto.org/get-involved/volunteer/projects/cuckoo-tracking getbird.ing

Part 1: Common cuckoo fieldwork in the Czech Republic is always rewording. All the species were sampled for their gut microbiome for @suviruuskanen.bsky.social With @rytikerttunen.bsky.social , @lisandrinamari.bsky.social and @ivb-cas.bsky.social

🚨We're hiring again, this time for a research assistant position 🚨 The position is to help with a project looking at learning and social behaviour in birds along an urban gradient Position at @ceec-research.bsky.social 📆28th June deadline More info: shorturl.at/vBxiW #ringing #fieldwork

Antonson et al. show that cowbirds’ neck muscles are unusually fatigue-resistant, suggesting muscular innovation for exaggerated begging as a key driver for how brood parasites outcompete hosts. Available now ahead of print! www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/...

Well this is a big one the largest paper from my PhD is finally out! We show how direct lighting influences optimal camouflage! With shadows promoting the evolution of darker, striped patterns and countershading!! journals.plos.org/plosone/arti...

Research from the lab on the evolution of size and plumage dimorphism in birds! Grad student Catherine Alverson examined how species move between size and plumage dimorphism categories. While those results largely recapitulated previous work, there was an intriguing new finding [1/3]

Fantastic PhD opportunity linking cognition and conservation in an iconic corvid species! Get your applications in!

If you would like some productive procrastination, please feel free to help us out with some research on individual recognition of great spotted woodpeckers (NB: needs to be done on a laptop/computer): mzmmcerny.github.io/GSW_game/ #academicsky #ecology #ornithology

Great Reed Warbler caught & released in Sykes Field at 8am BoC 📸 Harry Appleyard

New paper in Animal Behaviour: After centuries of debate, we finally have direct evidence that common cuckoos use different egg-laying tactics 🥚 doi.org/10.1016/j.an... Check the appendix videos! #ornithology #broodparasitism #cuckoo @animbehsociety.bsky.social @ivb-cas.bsky.social

Our new study shows that CONSPECIFIC BROOD PARASITISM is extremely rare in BARN SWALLOWS. We revealed mixed maternity in only six of almost 2000 broods. This strikingly contradicts previous studies that demonstrated parasitism based on unusual egg-laying patterns. link.springer.com/article/10.1...

📢Fully-funded #PhD opportunity with us: 🐦 Quantifying (social) learning and social behaviour in an urbanised world 🐦 Position at @ceec-research.bsky.social 📆29th May deadline More info: tinyurl.com/yz28s96x Apply: tinyurl.com/2wpkb64y #cognition #socialbehaviour #fieldwork #birds 🙏Please Share

For anyone working on #lightpollution #ALAN and #animalbehaviour - just 2 weeks left to submit an abstract for our symposium on light pollution and invertebrate behaviour at ECBB this September, with @ecbb2026.bsky.social, @jimamclgalloway.bsky.social . Would be great to see you there!

#ProcB in @nature.com | Statistically significant chuckles: who is using humour at scientific conferences? doi.org/10.1098/rspb...

New paper on common cuckoo behaviour is out! When cuckoo females parasitize a nest, they always take an egg out. And we found that they strongly prefer red over green experimental eggs. Check what we think about it: doi.org/10.1016/j.be... @lisandrinamari.bsky.social

1/ And they’re off! 📢 Our BTO satellite-tagged Cuckoos are on the move! 🌍 Follow their migrations via our interactive map ➡️ www.bto.org/cuckoos #Ornithology 🪶

PhD position: Evolutionary Physiology of Avian Energetics Review of the applications begins on March 16, 2026, and continues until the position is filled. euraxess.ec.europa.eu/jobs/413707

Check out the new bowerbird special issue in Emu - Austral Ornithology! Lots of interesting new #bowerbird research, featuring a fancy flame bowerbird on the cover! Check out our review on the origins and functions of bower construction behaviour here: doi.org/10.1080/0158...

Simply incredible work. Among other findings- about half of all migration stopover hot spots are in urban areas! 🤯

Study in English at the Faculty of Science, @charlesuni.cuni.cz – submit your application by the end of February! Bachelor’s degree programme "Science": 1url.cz/verD4 Follow-up Master’s degree programmes: 1url.cz/3erDd

Our BehaveAI paper has just come out! Easy & effective tracking & behavioural classification, even with tiny (2px), fast moving, camouflaged objects. Paper: doi.org/10.1371/jour... Download: github.com/troscianko/B... @uniexecec.bsky.social @kevinjgaston.bsky.social @jimamclgalloway.bsky.social