Postdoc @ Swiss Ornithological Institute • Launching global bird natal dispersal project 🌍 • Movement ecology (barn owls, seabirds & soaring migrants) • he/his
🌐 paolobecciu.com
Paolo Becciu
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2/3 Using high-resolution sensors, we followed male barn owls across 354 nights and >17,600 hunting attacks.
White morphs actively used bright moonlight: they faced the Moon in high illuminated nights, hunted in more exposed/illuminated places, and concentrated activity during brighter periods.
3/3 Reddish morphs were more likely to stay in the shade.
White owls did not strike more accurately, but in bright moonlight they caught more mice and voles in less time. Their conspicuous plumage may turn moonlight into an advantage by briefly freezing prey.
🚨Very happy to share our new paper out in @currentbiology.bsky.social! 🦉
We show that barn owl colour morphs do not simply experience moonlight differently — they hunt differently under it.
White morphs appear to turn bright moonlight into a hunting advantage.
1/3
#movementecology #barnowl #moon
"Barn owl color morphs hunt differently in moonlight"
Learn more in Current Biology: www.cell.com/current-biol...
Kim Schalcher, @pbecciu.bsky.social, @owlsforpeace.bsky.social & colleagues
@currentbiology.bsky.social
📰 News Recherche
Les chouettes effraies blanches visent la lune pour tétaniser et capturer leurs proies.
Explications dans une étude menée par des biologistes @owlsforpeace.bsky.social @pbecciu.bsky.social @dee-unil.bsky.social @unil.bsky.social @vogelwarte.bsky.social
👉 www.unil.ch/news/fr/1780...
#ISBE2026 Call for Abstracts is now open! Submit your abstract by 15 December 2025 on www.isbe2026.com
@behavecol.bsky.social
This week, we're hosting an international workshop focusing on decoding animal movement. We're happy to welcome 40 participants from all continents! #EUFLYNET @biologists.bsky.social
Great hard work by Kim Schalcher that I had the pleasure to work with closely in the past years and supervise together with @owlsforpeace.bsky.social and thanks to the whole team in @fbm-unil.bsky.social @dee-unil.bsky.social & @vogelwarte.bsky.social! Enjoy the reading: www.cell.com/current-biol...
An amazing online resource 🙏 I'll be following along!
Paolo Becciu
Winter means.. communal roosts! 🦅🐦🦜
But why do birds form such roosts? In red kites, young single males are the most frequent visitors. Once paired, birds roost more solitarily, often together as a pair.
📢 Now online: tinyurl.tools/98e9279e
@animalecology.bsky.social
@vogelwarte.bsky.social
Paolo Becciu
Paolo Becciu
Cell Press
Schalcher et al. find that moonlight changes how barn owls hunt: white males face
the Moon and select brighter conditions, whereas red males remain more cryptic. These
color-dependent strategies revea...
"Barn owl color morphs hunt differently in moonlight"
Learn more in Current Biology: www.cell.com/current-biol...
Kim Schalcher, @pbecciu.bsky.social, @owlsforpeace.bsky.social & colleagues
@currentbiology.bsky.social
Paolo Becciu
Swiss Ornithological Institute
ISBE2026
Les chouettes blanches tirent activement profit de la réflexion de la lune sur leur plumage pour tétaniser et capturer leurs proies: pour maximiser leur visibilité – et donc l'effet de surprise provoq...
