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Gregory Eckhartt

@gregoryeckhartt.bsky.social
66 followers 95 following 9 posts

PhD researcher investigating urban avian movement ecology in Birmingham. For posts older than 2025 please refer to x.com/gregoryeckhartt

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Gregory Eckhartt @gregoryeckhartt.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Thanks for your question! At the moment we are thinking broadly, so we have simulated movement for a range of hypothetical passerines birds, from small to large body sizes. Visual acuity, one of the main components of PR, generally positively correlates with avian body size.
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Gregory Eckhartt @gregoryeckhartt.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
5/🧵This work is currently in review. I will post updates here, so please follow to read more when the work has been published! Collaborators: Laura J. Graham, Jonathan P. Sadler, Thomas J. Matthews, S. James Reynolds. This work was supported by NERC CENTA2 grant NE/S007350/1.
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Gregory Eckhartt @gregoryeckhartt.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
4/🧵Although quieter traffic congestion marginally improved movement metrics such as dispersal range, PR significantly modulated movement responses. Our simulations show that birds with greater PR may take significantly greater risks to reach greater rewards such as high-value greenspace.
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Gregory Eckhartt @gregoryeckhartt.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
3/🧵We used high resolution (1 m) remote sensing data, including LIDAR-derived vegetation, to parameterise a cost map for Birmingham, UK. This enabled detailed individual-based movement simulations across the map, varying avian perceptual range (PR) and urban road traffic congestion by time of day.
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Gregory Eckhartt @gregoryeckhartt.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
2/🧵Understanding why, how, and where birds move is fundamental to predicting their occurrence and ensuring that human-centric spaces are also suitable for birds. We therefore sought to understand how road traffic congestion influences the movements of urban birds.
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Gregory Eckhartt @gregoryeckhartt.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
1/🧵 Today I’m at #BOUasm26, engaging with colleagues on predicting the future of #avian #biodiversity. Recently in my own work I asked, how do we predict the movements of #birds in the world’s ever-growing cities? #ornithology
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Gregory Eckhartt @gregoryeckhartt.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
It was a great pleasure to present my work on the effects of ALAN (see here: doi.org/10.1098/rsbl...) on the predation of ground-based insects at @ecbb2026.bsky.social. Thanks for having me!
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Gregory Eckhartt @gregoryeckhartt.bsky.social · 03/06/2026
What do we know about the movements of birds in cities? My latest research, published today in Royal Society Open Science (doi.org/10.1098/rsos...), highlights what we already know, and where we need urgent research effort, such as satellite tagging of smaller birds!
doi.org
Movement ecology of urban birds: a review of tracking studies
Abstract. The world is urbanizing rapidly, impacting the movements of wildlife living within ever fragmenting urban habitats. Movement tracking by biologge
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Reposted by Gregory Eckhartt
Kareemah Chopra @kareemahchopra.bsky.social · 04/04/2025
A male blackbird was ringed and deployed with a GPS tag in my own garden this morning for @gregoryeckhartt.bsky.social 's project monitoring their movements in urban landscapes! Happy to have been part of the process.
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Gregory Eckhartt @gregoryeckhartt.bsky.social · 28/01/2025
How can I express my like for your insightful commentary and my dislike for what it says? I suppose an emoji will do 🫨
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