Centre for Research on Ecology, Cognition and Behaviour of Birds

ECoBird @ecobird.bsky.social at the European Conference of Tropical Ecology in Passau #ECTE2026 🦜

Close up of a herring gull, with red around the yellow eye, and a red spot on the lower beak

🚨Not one, but two papers now out on response inhibition (also called motoric self-regulation or inhibitory control in the field of animal cognition). Many studies find no link between individual performance on different tasks supposedly measuring response inhibition.
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IMAGE SHOWS GRAPHIC OF CORNELL LAB OF ORNITHOLOGY PHYLOGENY EXPLORER TOOL.

MAJOR NEWS! We just launched an awesome new tool! The illustrated Birds of the World Phylogeny Explorer lets users trace any bird’s lineage, compare species relationships, and explore major evolutionary milestones with a click of a button. SHARE and EXPLORE! birdsoftheworld.org/bow/news/phy...

New paper out!

Early-life social instability increases aggression in chickens, but does not affect response inhibition 🐤
We discuss what this means for developmental links between social environments, cognition, and social behaviour, highlighting strong context dependence

Full text: rdcu.be/eYOzC

Very grateful to co-authors @vernouilleta.bsky.social @birgitszabo.bsky.social An Martel, Luc Lens & @fredverb.bsky.social, & other members of @ecobird.bsky.social for their support! Also pleased for this paper to be part of an exciting collection in acta ethologica link.springer.com/collections/...

Please repost: 🚨Field assistant position 🐧

We offer a 14-months field assistant position through the French Polar Institute to work on king penguin ecophysiology and behavioral ecology.

Requirements: EU citizen < 30yo having experience with harsh fieldwork & wild bird/mammal handling/sampling.

Doing some cool but challenging sciencing in the Gambia 🐦📡
Testing out the detection range for a #MotusWTS installation 🤞

So many cool species seen as well, lots of ideas for projects! @ecobird.bsky.social @fwovlaanderen.bsky.social

Adventure time! Off to Kartong Bird Observatory in the Gambia to test out #MotusWTS using a mobile #Sensorgnome and @lotektelemetry.bsky.social Nanotag!

Me and my load of tech and trusty duct tape will be repping @ecobird.bsky.social funded by @fwovlaanderen.bsky.social.

🐦📡

New study on the way 📣
I am currently raising cute quails 🐥 to study the effects of enrichment on the development of the brain, cognition, behaviour, and health! I am learning loads of new skills @ecobird.bsky.social

More broadly, this position lets you blend coordination, data integration, and hands-on behavioural work, while taking a central role in the new ManyBirds study.
#openscience #bigteamscience

You’ll also play a key role in our new EcoBird project on cognition, innovation, and invasiveness, with colleagues from @inbo.be, making this a fantastic opportunity for anyone excited about connecting cognitive research with real-world ecological and conservation challenges.

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...

It took almost a year to write this review on causes and consequences of ranging in chicken 🐔! This was a huge collaborative effort by @ecobird.bsky.social @pec-exeter.bsky.social and @vitorhbf.bsky.social ! I am very proud of the outcome. You can check out the preprint here: doi.org/10.32942/X22...

A huge thank you to Simeon Marin (Green Balkans; greenbalkans.org/en/) for being a fantastic host and guide throughout this inspiring trip. #VultureConservation #WildlifeReintroduction

We also visited several field sites to observe vultures in the wild, including two successful cinereous vulture nests, and were lucky to witness the opening of the local “vulture restaurant”. Over 60 griffon vultures, 10 cinereous vultures, a white-tailed eagle, and even a few golden jackals.

Just last week, one of the cinereous vultures born at Planckendael this spring was transferred to Bulgaria as part of the ongoing reintroduction programme. We visited the acclimatisation aviary to check in on our feathered friend — doing great and getting ready for release next spring.

Waiting at Sofia Airport for my flight back to Brussels after an amazing trip to Bulgaria 🇧🇬. The visit was part of our new vulture conservation project with KMDA/ZOO Planckendael, and also connected to the documentary by Lode Desmet (and produced by ASSOCIATE DIRECTORS) on our ECoBird research.

Multitaxon assessment reveals inconsistent biodiversity responses to forest structural complexity in temperate forests Increasing forest structural complexity is a key objective of future-proof forest management, with potential benefits for biodiversity. However, empirical evidence for consistent biodiversity-structur...

New preprint out on bioRxiv

🌳 doi.org/10.1101/2025... 🌳

Using data from 19 forest plots in Flanders, we found that forest structural complexity isn’t a consistent predictor of multidiversity and responses across taxa were mostly weak or inconsistent.

@ecobird.bsky.social | @fornalab.bsky.social

Wonderful to see this project published! We were glad to contribute a small part to this impressive collaborative effort through ECoBird.

@ecobird.bsky.social

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...

😀 ugent.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_...

🚨 Calling researchers, students, technicians in cognition 🚨

We’re running a 10-min anonymous survey on how animal cognition is defined and studied across disciplines (from ecology, ethology, psychology, neurology, etc). 🧠✨

Scan the QR code & share widely

#AnimalCognition #ResearchSurvey #Science

🚨 Calling researchers, students, technicians in cognition 🚨

We’re running a 10-min anonymous survey on how animal cognition is defined and studied across disciplines (from ecology, ethology, psychology, neurology, etc). 🧠✨

Scan the QR code & share widely

#AnimalCognition #ResearchSurvey #Science

Voortaan dr. Charlotte Van Driessche verdedigde vrijdag met succes haar doctoraat ‘Implementation of eDNA metabarcoding as an innovative tool for biomonitoring fish communities in lotic waters’, met @universiteitgent.bsky.social en @fwovlaanderen.bsky.social.
Beluister 📻 bit.ly/PhDCharlotte

Had an amazing week in Kolkata at #Behaviour2025! Very grateful for the opportunity to present my work 🐥 Also super glad I got to explore the city and see some of it's wildlife, and to chat cool science with so many nice people!

🔥Wildfire tragedy in Portugal

The Cinereous Vultures (𝐴𝑒𝑔𝑦𝑝𝑖𝑢𝑠 𝑚𝑜𝑛𝑎𝑐ℎ𝑢𝑠) need our help. A massive wildfire destroyed not only their nests, but also the breeding and acclimatisation centre in Douro International Nature Park in the North of Portugal.
#birds #wildfire

📸Yves Adams

We had 4 talks, and two posters so great representation of @ecobird.bsky.social from Ghent University.

Successful @ecobird.bsky.social #EOU2025 trip. Great presentations by @cesarepacioni.bsky.social, Jolien Van Malderen, Caoimhe Abdul-Wahab, Mélibée Morel and me! Well done team 👏 Loads of fun, and surprisingly good Welsh weather 😇