iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Mandy Ridley @mandyridley.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

I just saw the LinkedIn post Rob: in answer to your question, nope I have not seen or heard of magpies doing this before!

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Mandy Ridley @mandyridley.bsky.social · 31/07/2026

The latest pied babbler paper, headed by the amazing Shannon Conradie, looks at how the accuracy of biophysical models, increasingly used to predict climate change response, can be improved with even a modest amount of behavioural observations besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com

Targeted behavioural and microclimate data collection substantially improves biophysical model predictions of energy expenditure in wild birds

Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

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Mandy Ridley @mandyridley.bsky.social · 31/07/2026

Haha I know this feeling toooo well! You have my sympathies.

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Mandy Ridley @mandyridley.bsky.social · 04/06/2026

Congrats to Ed for completing the final part of his excellent PhD: his exit seminar! Well done Ed for all your hard work and achievements over the last four years of research! 🥳🎉🎓

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Mandy Ridley @mandyridley.bsky.social · 26/05/2026

Congrats to @gblackburn.bsky.social for this study showing that’s it’s not just anthropogenic noise, but the level (amplitude) of anthropogenic noise that is important, in terms of impact on behaviour.

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Mandy Ridley @mandyridley.bsky.social · 18/05/2026

Congrats to Ed Galluccio on the first paper from his PhD, showing that associative learning score is related to the antipredator response and associative learning score declines under heat stress. However, heat stress does not impact the cognition-antipredator relationship.

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Mandy Ridley @mandyridley.bsky.social · 07/05/2026

Congrats to @alexalaman.bsky.social for leading this paper using 38 years of data to investigate climate impacts on survival & reprod success of Arabian babblers in natural vs modified habitat. We found modified habitats buffered climate impacts: besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com

Coping with change: Interactive effects of anthropogenic change influence the breeding success and survival of a desert‐dwelling cooperative breeder

Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

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Mandy Ridley @mandyridley.bsky.social · 28/03/2026

My garden is very happy too! 😊

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Grace Blackburn @gblackburn.bsky.social · 20/03/2026

🚨New paper alert 🚨 High temperatures lead to an impaired anti-predator mobbing response to five callers in wild great tits! Loved working on this paper with an all star team of scientists! @dutourmylene.bsky.social @camillasoravia.bsky.social @mandyridley.bsky.social doi.org/10.1093/behe...

doi.org

High temperatures inhibit quantity discrimination of conspecifics in a wild bird

Many species benefit from the ability to discern the number of individuals calling in an anti-predator mobbing event, as more individuals likely reduces th

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Mandy Ridley @mandyridley.bsky.social · 11/03/2026

Congrats to @stephaniellaura.bsky.social, who headed our latest research showing that social interactions have a major influence on the development of the complex call sequences that young magpies learn! As well as the below paper link, here is the media release: www.uwa.edu.au/news/article...

uwa.edu.au

Young magpies learn complex sentences just like humans

Young magpies learn how to create complex calls in much the same way human children learn to turn sounds into words and words into sentences.

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Mandy Ridley @mandyridley.bsky.social · 18/02/2026

Our review of the impact of multiple anthropogenic stressors on avian behaviour and cognition was the most downloaded paper in the Journal of Avian Biology 2025! @camillasoravia.bsky.social @gblackburn.bsky.social

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Mandy Ridley @mandyridley.bsky.social · 16/12/2025

Many thanks to @gblackburn.bsky.social for taking this on so that it could come to fruition!

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Mandy Ridley @mandyridley.bsky.social · 16/12/2025

So happy to see this come to print after life took over & there was a delay btw data collection and writing up! We conduct an experimental test of central place foraging theory & ask how provisioning/distance trade-offs might differ in a cooperative breeder. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

An Experimental Test of Central Place Foraging Theory in a Cooperatively Breeding Bird

This study experimentally investigated central place foraging theory in a cooperatively breeding bird, the Southern Pied Babbler. We found that while birds were more likely to provision when given fo...

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Mandy Ridley @mandyridley.bsky.social · 14/11/2025

An important ontogenetic perspective into the relationship between cognition and social interactions! Congrats @lizziespeechley.bsky.social! With collaborators @stephanielking.bsky.social @ceb-uwa.bsky.social Ben Ashton, Alex Thornton and Leigh Simmons

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Mandy Ridley @mandyridley.bsky.social · 14/11/2025

New paper alert! By tracking fledglings through development we found evidence that cognitive development is related to social interactions: this extends our research on adult magpie cognition. See below for an overview of all papers from @lizziespeechley.bsky.social’s excellent research thesis 👇🏻👇🏻

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ManyBirds Project @themanybirds.bsky.social · 14/11/2025

New amazing open Postdoc position, w/t opportunities to 1) get closely involved in our next @themanybirds.bsky.social study on innovation and problem-solving; 2) work with @ecobird.bsky.social on avian innovation, cognition & invasiveness. Advert: www.ugent.be/en/work/scie...

ugent.be

Postdoctoral fellow

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Mandy Ridley @mandyridley.bsky.social · 15/10/2025

New paper out in PLoS Biology! A large international collaboration from the ManyBirds project, looking at variation in neophobia across a wide range of avian species globally. Delighted that the magpies were part of this large and diverse dataset!

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Mandy Ridley @mandyridley.bsky.social · 01/10/2025

Congrats to @avantikadeep.bsky.social on presenting her research plans for studying the causes and consequences of intrasexual selection in magpies at #AES2025!

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Renée Claire Firman @pebblemouse.bsky.social · 01/10/2025

Avantika Sharma showcasing her plans for her PhD on intrasexual selection in magpies at #AES2025. Great work Avantika! @mandyridley.bsky.social @ceb-uwa.bsky.social

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Centre for Evolutionary Biology at UWA @ceb-uwa.bsky.social · 01/10/2025

#AES2025 started with a blast with @brainiants.bsky.social talking about the effect of inbreeding on survivorship and fecundity in European royal families! Keep them coming @pebblemouse.bsky.social

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Mandy Ridley @mandyridley.bsky.social · 01/10/2025

Congrats to Kim @brainiants.bsky.social on her talk at #AES2025! Kim’s research into inbreeding in European royals looked at the effect on reproductive success, offspring survival and fertility. Manuscript to be submitted soon: watch this space!

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Mandy Ridley @mandyridley.bsky.social · 24/09/2025

@dutourmylene.bsky.social ‘s talk was wonderful, so great to see her back in Perth again!

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Mandy Ridley @mandyridley.bsky.social · 24/09/2025

Congrats to @avantikadeep.bsky.social for presenting her PhD research plans on intrasexual competition in group-living magpies!

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Mandy Ridley @mandyridley.bsky.social · 24/09/2025

Congrats to Lakshani for presenting her research plan on coalitions in toque macaques for her PhD!

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Mandy Ridley @mandyridley.bsky.social · 24/09/2025

Congrats to @stephaniellaura.bsky.social for winning an award for her excellent poster on her PhD research!

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Mandy Ridley @mandyridley.bsky.social · 22/09/2025

Super proud of PhD student @stephaniellaura.bsky.social at her exit seminar: she took us through a comprehensive journey of investigation and unveiled some truly fascinating results, only achievable through her exceptional hard work and attention to detail. Congrats Steph!

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Mandy Ridley @mandyridley.bsky.social · 08/09/2025

Congrats @stephaniellaura.bsky.social for doing amazing PhD research on the ontogeny of magpie communication!

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Mandy Ridley @mandyridley.bsky.social · 21/08/2025

Our new cognition paper is out, headed by @gblackburn.bsky.social, and one of the last chapters from her exceptional PhD thesis!

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British Ornithologists’ Union (BOU) @bou.org.uk · 10/06/2025

EARLY VIEW in IBIS Western Australian Magpies alter the rate, but not the amplitude, of their territorial song in anthropogenic noise | onlinelibrary.wiley.... Grace Blackburn, Mylene Dutour, Benjamin J. Ashton, Alex Thornton, Amanda R. Ridley | #ornithology 🪶

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Mandy Ridley @mandyridley.bsky.social · 27/05/2025

Our new paper, led by Masters student Holly, finds that magpies are capable of quantity discrimination, and this ability is affected by group size.

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Centre for Evolutionary Biology at UWA @ceb-uwa.bsky.social · 21/05/2025

@brainiants.bsky.social discussed her PhD proposal this afternoon where she plans to study variation in intraspecific cognition & its relation to complex behaviors, specifically combat and group foraging in Western Australian ants. 🐜 @mandyridley.bsky.social @notthebestsam.bsky.social #LeighSimmons

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Pauline Grierson @pfgblue.bsky.social · 22/04/2025

Job opportunity for #Fire #scientists in Western Australia closing soon - 25 April! Permanent fire-science research position Research Scientist /Senior Research Scientist (Fire Science) position. search.jobs.wa.gov.au/page.php?pag...

search.jobs.wa.gov.au

WA Government Jobs | Research Scientist or Senior Research Scientist (Fire Science)

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Mandy Ridley @mandyridley.bsky.social · 28/02/2025

@gblackburn.bsky.social & I recently wrote this piece in Nature Climate Change about the potential conservation implications of climate-induced divergence of song. This may occur more often under a rapidly changing climate & cause greater isolation between popns. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

nature.com

Climate-induced divergence of song - Nature Climate Change

Vocal communication is essential for information transmission in many species, such as that related to mating opportunities or predator presence. Recent research revealing how phenotypic changes broug...

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Mandy Ridley @mandyridley.bsky.social · 21/02/2025

Gorgeous night skies to accompany us last night on a woylie capture-tag-release trip. Wonderful to see so many woylies hopping out in the predator-proofed reserve so close to Perth!

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