Cornish Jackdaw Project
@cornishjackdaws.bsky.social
Research team led by Alex Thornton at the University of Exeter's Centre for Ecology and Conservation, studying cognition in wild jackdaws and other creatures.
wildcognitionresearch.com
wildcognitionresearch.com
Pinned
Exciting PhD opportunity to develop tech and software to record and understand wild animal behaviour. Fully funded by EPSRC DLA. Based at @uniexecec.bsky.social; co-supervised by Alex Thornton (@cornishjackdaws.bsky.social), @kjhockings.bsky.social and collaborators. Apply: tinyurl.com/5fr73snt
New paper, led by our former PhD student Victoria Lee. Wild jackdaws recognise the contact calls of their mate: link.springer.com/article/10.1...
@uniexecec.bsky.social @guillmcivor.bsky.social
@uniexecec.bsky.social @guillmcivor.bsky.social
Wild jackdaws recognise the contact calls of their mate - Animal Cognition
Animal Cognition - In stable social environments, the ability to recognise other group members and integrate individual cues with previous experience is likely to be beneficial in mediating social...
link.springer.com
November 27, 2025 at 8:45 AM
New paper, led by our former PhD student Victoria Lee. Wild jackdaws recognise the contact calls of their mate: link.springer.com/article/10.1...
@uniexecec.bsky.social @guillmcivor.bsky.social
@uniexecec.bsky.social @guillmcivor.bsky.social
Reposted by Cornish Jackdaw Project
This Perspective discusses how the field of behavioural ecology has contributed to fundamental science and global challenges, ranging from understanding how natural selection leads to adaptation to optimizing biocontrol of pest species www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Free to read: rdcu.be/eRKbv
Free to read: rdcu.be/eRKbv
Behavioural ecology in the twenty-first century - Nature Ecology & Evolution
This Perspective discusses how the field of behavioural ecology has contributed to fundamental science and tackling global challenges, ranging from understanding how natural selection leads to adaptat...
www.nature.com
November 25, 2025 at 4:03 PM
This Perspective discusses how the field of behavioural ecology has contributed to fundamental science and global challenges, ranging from understanding how natural selection leads to adaptation to optimizing biocontrol of pest species www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Free to read: rdcu.be/eRKbv
Free to read: rdcu.be/eRKbv
Reposted by Cornish Jackdaw Project
After many years of trying to combine my 2 passions, art 🎨 and science 👩🔬, into something meaningful, i have created an educational #ChildrensBook! 📚
✨ Meet The Rimba🦧, a gentle, lyrical tale about a wise orangutan guardian spirit who protects her rainforest home and the creatures who depend on it.
✨ Meet The Rimba🦧, a gentle, lyrical tale about a wise orangutan guardian spirit who protects her rainforest home and the creatures who depend on it.
November 26, 2025 at 8:25 AM
After many years of trying to combine my 2 passions, art 🎨 and science 👩🔬, into something meaningful, i have created an educational #ChildrensBook! 📚
✨ Meet The Rimba🦧, a gentle, lyrical tale about a wise orangutan guardian spirit who protects her rainforest home and the creatures who depend on it.
✨ Meet The Rimba🦧, a gentle, lyrical tale about a wise orangutan guardian spirit who protects her rainforest home and the creatures who depend on it.
Reposted by Cornish Jackdaw Project
Are you looking for a wild PhD opportunity? 🦠🧵
There are several opportunities to join the Wild Microbiome Lab in 2026! Scroll for more information, or visit the link below for full project descriptions and application information👇
xavharrison.github.io
There are several opportunities to join the Wild Microbiome Lab in 2026! Scroll for more information, or visit the link below for full project descriptions and application information👇
xavharrison.github.io
November 24, 2025 at 9:09 AM
Are you looking for a wild PhD opportunity? 🦠🧵
There are several opportunities to join the Wild Microbiome Lab in 2026! Scroll for more information, or visit the link below for full project descriptions and application information👇
xavharrison.github.io
There are several opportunities to join the Wild Microbiome Lab in 2026! Scroll for more information, or visit the link below for full project descriptions and application information👇
xavharrison.github.io
PhD opportunity in NZ - Fabulous supervisor, exciting questions, great system! Get your applications in!
PhD scholarship alert! Are you interested in cognitive evolution? Do you want to know how development influences cognitive traits? Do you love hanging out with birds in the forest? If the answer to these questions is yes, please apply to work with us! 1/2 🧪
www.wgtn.ac.nz/scholarships...
www.wgtn.ac.nz/scholarships...
November 18, 2025 at 8:39 AM
PhD opportunity in NZ - Fabulous supervisor, exciting questions, great system! Get your applications in!
Reposted by Cornish Jackdaw Project
The final chapter of my thesis has just been published in Ecology and Evolution! @ecol-evol.bsky.social
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
Here we find that the social environment, notably vocal and aggressive interactions, are linked to cognitive development in magpie fledglings.
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
Here we find that the social environment, notably vocal and aggressive interactions, are linked to cognitive development in magpie fledglings.
November 14, 2025 at 11:22 AM
The final chapter of my thesis has just been published in Ecology and Evolution! @ecol-evol.bsky.social
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
Here we find that the social environment, notably vocal and aggressive interactions, are linked to cognitive development in magpie fledglings.
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
Here we find that the social environment, notably vocal and aggressive interactions, are linked to cognitive development in magpie fledglings.
Exciting PhD opportunity to develop tech and software to record and understand wild animal behaviour. Fully funded by EPSRC DLA. Based at @uniexecec.bsky.social; co-supervised by Alex Thornton (@cornishjackdaws.bsky.social), @kjhockings.bsky.social and collaborators. Apply: tinyurl.com/5fr73snt
November 14, 2025 at 12:53 PM
Exciting PhD opportunity to develop tech and software to record and understand wild animal behaviour. Fully funded by EPSRC DLA. Based at @uniexecec.bsky.social; co-supervised by Alex Thornton (@cornishjackdaws.bsky.social), @kjhockings.bsky.social and collaborators. Apply: tinyurl.com/5fr73snt
Reposted by Cornish Jackdaw Project
Vocal convergence during formation of social relationships in vampire bats royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...
Vocal convergence during formation of social relationships in vampire bats | Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
In many group-living birds and mammals, the formation of affiliative relationships is hypothesized to cause vocal convergence (an increase in call similarity between individuals). However, testing this causal effect can be difficult, because it requires ...
royalsocietypublishing.org
November 13, 2025 at 6:40 PM
Vocal convergence during formation of social relationships in vampire bats royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...
Reposted by Cornish Jackdaw Project
Turns out gulls don't like being shouted at (or stared at!) New paper led by excellent masters students @uniexecec.bsky.social with @neeltjeboogert.bsky.social royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...
November 12, 2025 at 8:50 AM
Turns out gulls don't like being shouted at (or stared at!) New paper led by excellent masters students @uniexecec.bsky.social with @neeltjeboogert.bsky.social royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...
Huge congrats Andoni!
Congratulations to Andoni Sergiou for defending his PhD thesis today! And special thanks to @psmaldino.bsky.social and @cornishjackdaws.bsky.social for examining his thesis
November 12, 2025 at 8:42 AM
Huge congrats Andoni!
Reposted by Cornish Jackdaw Project
🚨Who wants to work with Kalahari meerkats? A MSc project with @mathildemartin.bsky.social at the University of Zurich.
#bioacoustics 🧪
#bioacoustics 🧪
November 10, 2025 at 3:41 PM
🚨Who wants to work with Kalahari meerkats? A MSc project with @mathildemartin.bsky.social at the University of Zurich.
#bioacoustics 🧪
#bioacoustics 🧪
Reposted by Cornish Jackdaw Project
📢JOB alert
Excellent opportunity with fantastic team and study system. 🐬
What are you waiting for???
Excellent opportunity with fantastic team and study system. 🐬
What are you waiting for???
3 year postdoc funded by @ukri.org NERC on between-group cooperation in the Shark Bay dolphins is now live - please share widely 🙏 www.bristol.ac.uk/jobs/find/de...
Details | Working at Bristol | University of Bristol
University of Bristol Beacon House Queens Road Bristol, BS8 1QU, UK Tel: +44 (0)117 928 9000 Contact us
www.bristol.ac.uk
November 10, 2025 at 10:55 AM
📢JOB alert
Excellent opportunity with fantastic team and study system. 🐬
What are you waiting for???
Excellent opportunity with fantastic team and study system. 🐬
What are you waiting for???
Reposted by Cornish Jackdaw Project
#PhD position!
Comparing #foraging and #cognition in #hummingbirds and #bumblebees
Fieldwork in the Canadian Rockies, lab experiments at @newcastleuni.bsky.social, and ecological modelling at @uniofstandrews.bsky.social
Details (including my email) here: iapetus.ac.uk/studentships...
Comparing #foraging and #cognition in #hummingbirds and #bumblebees
Fieldwork in the Canadian Rockies, lab experiments at @newcastleuni.bsky.social, and ecological modelling at @uniofstandrews.bsky.social
Details (including my email) here: iapetus.ac.uk/studentships...
From preferences to pollination: do hummingbirds and bees differ in how they choose flowers?
iapetus.ac.uk
November 9, 2025 at 2:14 PM
#PhD position!
Comparing #foraging and #cognition in #hummingbirds and #bumblebees
Fieldwork in the Canadian Rockies, lab experiments at @newcastleuni.bsky.social, and ecological modelling at @uniofstandrews.bsky.social
Details (including my email) here: iapetus.ac.uk/studentships...
Comparing #foraging and #cognition in #hummingbirds and #bumblebees
Fieldwork in the Canadian Rockies, lab experiments at @newcastleuni.bsky.social, and ecological modelling at @uniofstandrews.bsky.social
Details (including my email) here: iapetus.ac.uk/studentships...
Reposted by Cornish Jackdaw Project
New paper from @joewoodman.bsky.social et al in @asn-amnat.bsky.social uses the long-term study of Great Tits in Wytham Woods to ask how differently aged birds are distributed in space & what consequences this has for spatial variation in reproductive output
www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/...
www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/...
November 9, 2025 at 7:23 PM
New paper from @joewoodman.bsky.social et al in @asn-amnat.bsky.social uses the long-term study of Great Tits in Wytham Woods to ask how differently aged birds are distributed in space & what consequences this has for spatial variation in reproductive output
www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/...
www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/...
Reposted by Cornish Jackdaw Project
PhD project on the evolution of animal memory now available in my research group, through the TREES DLA: www.trees-dla.ac.uk/projects/evo.... Come and join us if you're interested in the evolution of animal minds and you want to do some cool experimental evolution!
Evolutionary ecology of animal memory | TREES DLA
This project seeks to explore how memory evolves in response to the ecological tasks that animals face in their natural environment. Associative memory exists in some form in almost all animal species...
www.trees-dla.ac.uk
November 6, 2025 at 3:23 PM
PhD project on the evolution of animal memory now available in my research group, through the TREES DLA: www.trees-dla.ac.uk/projects/evo.... Come and join us if you're interested in the evolution of animal minds and you want to do some cool experimental evolution!
Reposted by Cornish Jackdaw Project
BehaveAI is live!
Our biologically inspired video analysis tool sees motion as colour. Track animals or objects, classify their behaviour, and handle complex natural scenes with ease.
Semi-supervised annotation, no GPUs required, user-friendly, free & open source.
Pre-print tinyurl.com/BehaveAI
Our biologically inspired video analysis tool sees motion as colour. Track animals or objects, classify their behaviour, and handle complex natural scenes with ease.
Semi-supervised annotation, no GPUs required, user-friendly, free & open source.
Pre-print tinyurl.com/BehaveAI
November 6, 2025 at 10:09 AM
BehaveAI is live!
Our biologically inspired video analysis tool sees motion as colour. Track animals or objects, classify their behaviour, and handle complex natural scenes with ease.
Semi-supervised annotation, no GPUs required, user-friendly, free & open source.
Pre-print tinyurl.com/BehaveAI
Our biologically inspired video analysis tool sees motion as colour. Track animals or objects, classify their behaviour, and handle complex natural scenes with ease.
Semi-supervised annotation, no GPUs required, user-friendly, free & open source.
Pre-print tinyurl.com/BehaveAI
Reposted by Cornish Jackdaw Project
Last night, Peers voted against Swift bricks: rejecting a simple, proven way to help one of our fastest declining birds recover. ❌
We share @hannahbournetaylor.bsky.social's disappointment & frustration.
The vote came late, but with government refusing to back it, its fate was already sealed.
We share @hannahbournetaylor.bsky.social's disappointment & frustration.
The vote came late, but with government refusing to back it, its fate was already sealed.
November 4, 2025 at 1:11 PM
Last night, Peers voted against Swift bricks: rejecting a simple, proven way to help one of our fastest declining birds recover. ❌
We share @hannahbournetaylor.bsky.social's disappointment & frustration.
The vote came late, but with government refusing to back it, its fate was already sealed.
We share @hannahbournetaylor.bsky.social's disappointment & frustration.
The vote came late, but with government refusing to back it, its fate was already sealed.
Reposted by Cornish Jackdaw Project
This is an exciting project as part of an exciting larger grant - excellent opportunity
I am recruting a #postdoc for a project investigating the evolution of avian heat tolerance in @erc.europa.eu project #HotLife. Fieldwork over broad latitudinal gradients, common-garden experiments, and more. Read more and apply👇
shorturl.at/WA1Qa
Would appreciate a re-post!
@evoldir.bsky.social
shorturl.at/WA1Qa
Would appreciate a re-post!
@evoldir.bsky.social
November 5, 2025 at 8:52 AM
This is an exciting project as part of an exciting larger grant - excellent opportunity
Reposted by Cornish Jackdaw Project
PhD studentship on antimicrobial resistance in wild baboons! Fully-funded by @swbiodtp.bsky.social Application deadline: Wed 3 Dec 2025. More details: bpb-eu-w2.wpmucdn.com/blogs.bristo.... Apply here: www.swbio.ac.uk/programme/ho...
@inesfuertbauer.bsky.social @xavh.bsky.social
@inesfuertbauer.bsky.social @xavh.bsky.social
November 4, 2025 at 9:18 AM
PhD studentship on antimicrobial resistance in wild baboons! Fully-funded by @swbiodtp.bsky.social Application deadline: Wed 3 Dec 2025. More details: bpb-eu-w2.wpmucdn.com/blogs.bristo.... Apply here: www.swbio.ac.uk/programme/ho...
@inesfuertbauer.bsky.social @xavh.bsky.social
@inesfuertbauer.bsky.social @xavh.bsky.social
Reposted by Cornish Jackdaw Project
Several opportunities to join the Wild Microbiome Lab in 2026 to do a PhD! Details below
#phd #ecology @uniexecec.bsky.social
#phd #ecology @uniexecec.bsky.social
November 4, 2025 at 9:34 AM
Several opportunities to join the Wild Microbiome Lab in 2026 to do a PhD! Details below
#phd #ecology @uniexecec.bsky.social
#phd #ecology @uniexecec.bsky.social
Reposted by Cornish Jackdaw Project
I have published a childrens book! 📚🦧
'The Rimba' is a lyrical tale about the rainforest’s guardian spirit, a wise orangutan named Rimba, who rises to protect her home and the creatures within it, from the impacts of deforestation for palm oil. 🌴
#NewBook #ChildrensBook #orangutan #conservation
'The Rimba' is a lyrical tale about the rainforest’s guardian spirit, a wise orangutan named Rimba, who rises to protect her home and the creatures within it, from the impacts of deforestation for palm oil. 🌴
#NewBook #ChildrensBook #orangutan #conservation
November 3, 2025 at 2:43 PM
I have published a childrens book! 📚🦧
'The Rimba' is a lyrical tale about the rainforest’s guardian spirit, a wise orangutan named Rimba, who rises to protect her home and the creatures within it, from the impacts of deforestation for palm oil. 🌴
#NewBook #ChildrensBook #orangutan #conservation
'The Rimba' is a lyrical tale about the rainforest’s guardian spirit, a wise orangutan named Rimba, who rises to protect her home and the creatures within it, from the impacts of deforestation for palm oil. 🌴
#NewBook #ChildrensBook #orangutan #conservation
Thanks for the invitation and the kind hospitality! It was great to catch up with folk and chat to the @egioxford.bsky.social crew.
An excellent turn out for @cornishjackdaws.bsky.social seminar this afternoon - dealing with the question of feedbacks between social life and cognition
November 3, 2025 at 9:58 AM
Thanks for the invitation and the kind hospitality! It was great to catch up with folk and chat to the @egioxford.bsky.social crew.
Reposted by Cornish Jackdaw Project
Coming up soon (9 am today) an opportunity to hear this classic episode of In Our Time on Bird Migration featuring Tim Guilford of @biology.ox.ac.uk
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b...
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b...
BBC Radio 4 - In Our Time, Bird Migration
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss how birds navigate and the risks and benefits of migration
www.bbc.co.uk
October 30, 2025 at 8:58 AM
Coming up soon (9 am today) an opportunity to hear this classic episode of In Our Time on Bird Migration featuring Tim Guilford of @biology.ox.ac.uk
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b...
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b...
I'm very excited to go back to Oxford, where I did my undergrad, to talk about the group's recent work on jackdaws and what it tells us about the evolution of sociality and cognition!
Now that we're properly moved in & set up in the new Life & Mind Building, we're pleased to restart our tradition of Friday afternoon seminar speakers, kicking off with Alex Thornton of @cornishjackdaws.bsky.social at 3.30pm on 31 Oct. Also live streamed: see below for details. Corvid-themed for 🎃
October 28, 2025 at 2:16 PM
I'm very excited to go back to Oxford, where I did my undergrad, to talk about the group's recent work on jackdaws and what it tells us about the evolution of sociality and cognition!
Reposted by Cornish Jackdaw Project
"Unsung Songbirds: Advances in the Study of Corvid Communication" - a new review paper (preprint) https://ecoevorxiv.org/repository/view/10600/ Corvids are amazing, so I'm v pleased to be a small part of this review led by Claudia Wascher and Valerie Dufour. #corvids #bioacoustics
Unsung Songbirds: Advances in the Study of Corvid Communication
ecoevorxiv.org
October 24, 2025 at 8:38 AM
"Unsung Songbirds: Advances in the Study of Corvid Communication" - a new review paper (preprint) https://ecoevorxiv.org/repository/view/10600/ Corvids are amazing, so I'm v pleased to be a small part of this review led by Claudia Wascher and Valerie Dufour. #corvids #bioacoustics