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Michal Šulc

@biosulc.bsky.social

286 followers 159 following 22 posts

Ornithologist at the Institute of Vertebrate Biology, Czech Academy of Sciences, Brno www.ivb.cz/en/person/michal-sulc

Posts Replies Media

Michal Šulc @biosulc.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

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

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Michal Šulc @biosulc.bsky.social · 18/07/2026

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

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Michal Šulc @biosulc.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

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

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Michal Šulc @biosulc.bsky.social · 21/03/2026

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

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Michal Šulc @biosulc.bsky.social · 16/02/2026

NEW in Journal of Vertebrate Biology: We video recorded 284 common cuckoo parasitism events and showed that cuckoo females do not use their "bubbling" call as a counter-defence strategy in two warbler hosts in Europe and Asia doi.org/10.25225/jvb... @czechacademy.bsky.social @ivb-cas.bsky.social

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Michal Šulc @biosulc.bsky.social · 26/11/2025

🧵5/5 AI model outperformed participants, including experienced ornithologists! We suggest using our model ideally with information about egg-laying sequence to identify eggs laid by CBP. The complete pipeline is freely available in the suppl. material. 📸 Barn swallow © Vladimír Pokorný

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Michal Šulc @biosulc.bsky.social · 26/11/2025

🧵4/5 We used photographs of non-parasitized barn swallow clutches and shuffled eggs to create thousands of parasitized clutches. Then we tested the accuracy of human participants at identification of parasitic eggs and compared it with results of our AI model. 📸 Which one is the parasitic egg?

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Michal Šulc @biosulc.bsky.social · 26/11/2025

🧵3/5 CBP is still quite a mystery, partially because it is hard to reveal it. Eggs laid by parasitic and host females look often very similar and therefore genetic markers has been recommended to reveal this reproductive strategy. 📸 Barn swallow eggs with numbers showing the egg-laying sequence

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Michal Šulc @biosulc.bsky.social · 26/11/2025

🧵2/5 Conspecific brood parasitism (CBP), where females lay eggs in nests of other females of the same species, is in birds relatively common. It has been observed especially in waterfowl (pochards, goldeneyes, coots) but also in songbirds (swallows, sparrows, starlings). 📸 Common goldeneye female

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Michal Šulc @biosulc.bsky.social · 26/11/2025

🧵1/5 Excited about our new paper in PRSB! @royalsocietypublishing.org Can AI make research on avian brood parasitism easier? YES! We show that AI model can identify conspecific parasitic eggs better than an average ornithologist. doi.org/10.1098/rspb... 📸 Barn swallow – our study species.

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Michal Šulc @biosulc.bsky.social · 15/05/2025

Our fieldwork on brood parasitism of common cuckoos started well, with so far 11 caught individuals! When catching these charismatic birds, there are usually also interesting bycatches :) @ivb-cas.bsky.social @rytikerttunen.bsky.social @lisandrinamari.bsky.social

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