Correlation bw HPAI anitbodies + iris changes in gannets. Here, uveitis in 77% of affected birds - melanin deposition and disorganisation, including loss of a distinct anterior layer of melanocytic cells and hypertrophy of melanocytes within the iris stroma
👉 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
New research gives insight into European Storm-petrel movements and behaviour at sea.
Read on for a summary
Full paper: doi.org/10.3354/meps...
@one-cardiffuni.bsky.social
@robthomasbirds.bsky.social
@meps-ir.bsky.social
🧪 🌎️ 🪶
#seabirds
Colony managers know it
The literature ignores it! Many seabirds are young - juvenile, immature, subadult, prebreeder - and we know v little about them!
Here's our paper on why you should care about young seabirds for conservation!
W/ @ejgnam2.bsky.social
doi.org/10.1002/fee....
Michelle Wille
Liam U. Taylor
RSPB Science
Non-breeding birds form a large proportion of #seabird populations, yet they are often overlooked in research & difficult to account for in environmental assessments.
A new #OWSMRF report highlights why this matters & how we can close evidence gaps 👇
jncc.gov.uk/news/new-rep... 🧵
JNCC
Worrying news from Mousa in #Shetland with sightings of rat on the island. #Mousa is home to the largest population of European Storm Petrel in the UK, a sparrow sized ground nesting #seabird particularly vulnerable to invasive predators.
@rspbscotland.bsky.social
www.shetnews.co.uk/2026/04/30/w...
www.shetnews.co.uk
The uninhabited island hosts the UK’s largest breeding population of storm petrels
"Flying crosswinds slowed them down, but helped facilitate navigation and prey detection through smell.”
#seabirds
Storm petrels are among the smallest and most mysterious seabirds. Until recently, the use of biologgers to track their movements was impossible. A new study published in Biology Letters reveals that ...
🥳 New paper alert 🥳
The first of the data chapters from my DPhil, and the works from my first few field seasons on Skomer, is out!
"Shearwaters make efficient navigational decisions, even at very fine scales" - doi.org/10.1242/jeb....
A huge thank you to everyone involved 🩵
Some rare but very welcome good news about the UK’s breeding #seabirds.
RSPB buys Bass Rock in the outer Firth of Forth, home to about 10,000 Puffins and 100,000 Gannets, after 300 years in private hands.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Biosecurity for LIFE
Newest paper just out, led by PhD student Nick James: Foraging under changing winds: behavioural responses of the black noddy Anous minutus. As you might expect, small tropical #seabirds are highly sensitive to wind speed and direction when undertaking #foraging trips. doi.org/10.3354/meps...
The charity says the purchase is an important step in halting declining seabird numbers in the Firth of Forth.
www.bbc.co.uk
Summary: A fine-scale displacement of Manx shearwaters, a wide-ranging pelagic seabird, reveals that they preferentially adopt shorter homing routes following release at proximal sites, demonstrating ...
Our new research shows that HPAI increased Northern Gannet mortality by a factor of ~6 and ~4 at two of the world’s largest colonies.
We predict this impact will take almost two decades to recover from.
#biologicalconservation #seabirds #hpai
Full paper: doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2026.111887
