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Shetland day 4 pt 2: Beautiful day on Fair Isle with the wind dropping away. A few new Yellow-browed Warblers arriving this afternoon & also enjoyed more excellent views of Little Bunting, blythi Lesser Whitethroat and finding a Black Redstart down one of the geos

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Shetland Day 4 pt 1: A good day on Fair Isle with the highlight exceptional views of this Olive-backed Pipit striding around in the garden at Upper Stonybreck - such long pink legs at times

Olive-backed Pipit, Fair Isle, 7 Oct 2026

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A couple of close crops of the head of yesterday's Little Bunting - feeding quite unconcernedly within 3m and beautifully lit: couldn't ask for better views!

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Ben Sheldon @sheldonbirds.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Shetland Day 3: arrived Fair Isle mid morning. Good day round island with highlights of superbly confiding Little Bunting, funky 'North-western' Redpoll, Short-toed Lark, 3 Yellow-browed Warblers, Hen Harrier and plenty of migrating geese and Whooper Swans

'North-western' Redpoll - presumably rostrata from Greenland, Fair Isle, 6 Oct 2026

Short-toed Lark, North Light, Fair Isle, 6 Oct 2026

Yellow-browed Warbler, Fair Isle, 6 Oct 2026

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Very good to arrive back at @fairislebirdobs.bsky.social today - smooth flight from Shetland & spectacular skies

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Ben Sheldon @sheldonbirds.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Shetland day 2: howling westerly gale made day difficult, though a few migrants still to be found including brief Yellow-browed W in Quendale, Pied Fly at Hoswick, scattering of thrushes & another look at Buff-breasted Sand. Joined many failing to see elusive Arctic W in wind-tossed plantation.

Large group of birders mostly not seeing an elusive Arctic Warbler

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Ben Sheldon @sheldonbirds.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Arrived on Shetland this afternoon for a week's birding (Fair Isle on Tues if weather permits). Difficult conditions, with wind & rain, but happy to see 3 Buff-breasted Sandpipers, King Eider & after some searching, the Siberian Stonechat at Levenwick at dusk & a lone Pale-bellied Brent at Virkie.

Crop of female King Eider on choppy sea at Lerwick, Shetland

Siberian Stonechat on wire fence, Levenwick, 4 Oct 2026

Distant record shot of Buff-breasted Sandpiper at Fleck, Shetland, 4 Oct 2026

Pale-bellied Brent Goose on sea, Pool of Virkie, Shetland, 4 Oct 2026

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Ben Sheldon @sheldonbirds.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

A Queen in hiding... Watching the female King Eider in Lerwick harbour today when a Bonxie came in for a close pass, causing the Eider flock to bunch together tightly in defence

A group of Common Eiders - with one female King Eider - are watchful as a Bonxie (Great Skua) approaches from the left

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That side of the lake - bordering the 17th green no less - is strictly out of bounds to birders!

We were discussing exactly that! Water level much lower than normal because of drought but there must have been many hundreds visible embedded in the mud

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I had to upgrade recently because I was spending silly amounts of time managing storage, constantly deleting & reinstalling apps. The operating software updates just take up more and more space… probably with lots of functions I’d really rather not have.

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Does that mean you've just bought it, or that you've had it for 7 years, or that, among a series of phones over the past seven years, this is the newest?

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João Menezes @jocateme.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Little bit of video of the juvenile Pectoral Sandpiper at the Oxfordshire Golf Course this morning, foraging among lost golf balls... The same small lake hosted the juv Red-necked Phalarope only a month ago, an excellent double

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Reposted by Ben Sheldon

Our new paper on bird vocal amplitude is out in @sse-evolution.bsky.social ! Across 123 species, we found two new contenders for world’s loudest bird: bare-throated bellbird and seriema Along with the white bellbird, both can reach jackhammer-level amplitudes! doi.org/10.1093/evolut/qpag153

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Reposted by Ben Sheldon

Biological Recording Company @biologicalrecording.co.uk · 29/09/2026

Tiny parasites, big questions. What can the UK's flat flies tell us about bird health? Join Dr @denisewawman.bsky.social on 21 Oct to explore UK species, how their ranges have changed since the 1960s, and their potential role in disease transmission 🌎 🧪 🎟️ www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/1981718540...

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Ben Sheldon @sheldonbirds.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Numbers of Arctic Skuas seem very good this autumn - must be >100 this month?

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For comparison, annual counts for the whole autumn for Falsterbo going back to 1973. So far this autumn 66 counted - most since 2008, and plenty of time for more...

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48(!) Spotted Nutcrackers (macrorhynchos) migrating, Nabben, Falsterbo, 2026-09-27

Swedish birders seeing very good numbers actually migrating SW: this video from Falsterbo today www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ol-I...

youtube.com

YouTube video by Måns Karlsson

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A map of records of migrating Nutcracker - seemingly all Slender-billed (machrorhynchos) - from Southern Sweden in the last week. Also this great video of 48 migrating SW at Falsterbo today. Definitely something afoot with this species this autumn... www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ol-I...

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Superb photos Steve - love the in flight ones

And to think it would have been a regular sound around here once upon a time. We used to have the odd pair in the nest boxes on Gotland when I worked on flycatchers there

Richard K Broughton @richardkbroughton.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Reposted by Ben Sheldon

I thought it was one of those verification things: "Click the squares containing a Wryneck"

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Thanks Geoff - bit of a county bogey bird for me! Had a Hobby straight through N at c 2.30

It was a necker cube Wryneck - sometimes there sometimes not!

Even better. (And apologies to Margaret for misspelling Atwood!)

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Finally managed to catch up with an Oxfordshire Wryneck with this bird at Day's Lock found by @geoffbirdy.bsky.social. At times incredibly cryptic, sitting motionless in the base of a hedge, only given away by occasional neck-stretches to lick ants from nearby branches

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‘Birdwatching is close to rapture’: Margaret Atwood on why she has given C$1m to avian research

I remember seeing Margaret Attwood at the IOC in Vancouver in 2018 - the closest thing to Canadian royalty?! Excellent to see a chair in Ornithology being endowed - see quoted tweet for direct details & more background in this @theguardian.com article www.theguardian.com/books/ng-int...

theguardian.com

Award-winning novelist celebrates late partner’s love of birds with gift to establish the Graeme Gibson chair in avian biology

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Reposted by Ben Sheldon

Chris Lintott @chrislintott.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Oh for goodness sake. What are we doing?

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Reposted by Ben Sheldon

Erik Postma @erikpostma.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Delighted to see this mammoth effort led by @sevans.bsky.social, together with @mevisser.bsky.social, Arie van Noordwijk and Henri Bouwmeester out in @plosbiology.org.

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Reposted by Ben Sheldon

Devi Satarkar @devisatarkar.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

We use the covariance reaction norm method (by @jsmartin.bsky.social) on 40 years of great tit data from Wytham Woods. The natal-to-adult body mass correlation in this population is high on average (r ≈ 0.7) but appears to vary with temperature, rainfall, and density, particularly during breeding.

(A,B) Illustrative plots of strong versus weak among-individual correlation between nestling mass and adult mass; each point represents an individual and the grey line is a linear fit shown for visual reference. (C) A schematic correlation reaction norm translating these two scenarios (A,B) onto a correlation-versus-environment axis; the y-axis
tracks how consistently natal body mass predicts adult mass. Curve shape is illustrative, and does not represent real data.

Among-individual correlations between nestling mass and adult body mass of great tits from Wytham Woods, UK as functions of (A) adult population density (number of pairs of great tits and blue tits in the breeding year), (B) natal population density (number of pairs of great and blue tits in the hatch year), (C) adult temperature (average daily temperature in ºC during breeding), (D) natal temperature (average daily temperature in ºC during development i.e. 0–15 days post hatching), (E) adult rainfall (average daily rainfall in mm during breeding), (F) natal rainfall (average daily rainfall in mm during development i.e. 0–15 days post hatching); Lines show the posterior median effect sizes; shaded bands show 25–75%, 10–90%, and 5–95% credible intervals. Insets show the posterior distribution of the corresponding slope (point = posterior median; thick bar = 50% CI; thin bar = 90% CI; dashed line = zero).

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Ben Sheldon @sheldonbirds.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Latest work from @devisatarkar.bsky.social DPhil thesis exploring the ecological effects that modulate the link between offspring and adult body mass in great tits. The correlation is really quite plastic! Fun collaboration with @lbliard.bsky.social @iremsepil.bsky.social @davididiaquez.bsky.social

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Reposted by Ben Sheldon

Krish Sanghvi @krishsanghvi11.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Simulate extensive range of selective [dis]appearance & ageing scenarios, life histories; explore published datasets; or analyze + diagnose your own data with sophisticated & comprehensive features, approaches, & models, which explain the mechanism & biology! Check out our shiny app, disappR!

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Ben Sheldon @sheldonbirds.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

I thought this was astonishing

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Reposted by Ben Sheldon

Denise Wawman @denisewawman.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Just published in Ibis. A 15.5 year study of avian pox in Dunnocks (Prunella modularis). Quick summary: Dull brown bird doesn't die of disease & haematophagous Hippoboscidae from healthy heterotrophs help hypothesis. (Can anyone think of a better word than heterotrophs?) More details below. 1/n

doi.org

A longitudinal study of avian pox in a small passerine, the Dunnock (<fi>Prunella modularis</fi>)

Long-term, longitudinal studies of disease in wild bird populations are rare. Diseases are important determinants of bird survival and may spill-over into other species including livestock and, in so...

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Ben Sheldon @sheldonbirds.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

An excellent read - much appreciated. What a vintage year!

Ben Sheldon @sheldonbirds.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

Have there been any other adults in the current influx?

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Ben Sheldon @sheldonbirds.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

The good birds keep coming in Oxfordshire in 2026: Today's highlight was a county first Baird's Sandpiper - this superb juvenile found on the lagoon at Ardley this morning by Gareth Casburn

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Ben Sheldon @sheldonbirds.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

I use this as an example of just how dynamic range expansion can be in my first year Biologists field trip to Wytham. Also set them a challenge: find a horse chestnut that *isn’t* hosting them. Even an isolated tree in miles of Swedish spruce forest had them!

Ben Sheldon @sheldonbirds.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Oxfordshire's excellent run of good birds in 2026 continuing with a 1st winter Grey Phalarope found by Steve Sansom along the north shore of Dix Pit this morning. Mostly rather distant while I was there - watched it walking around on floating weed picking insects

First winter Grey Phalarope at Dix Pit, Oxfordshire, 19 Sept 2026. Grey and white bird, with black mask, crown and nape, and blackish wing coverts and tertials, bobbing over a small wavelet

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Ben Sheldon @sheldonbirds.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

alternatives, which are not mutually exclusive of course.