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Ben Sheldon

@sheldonbirds.bsky.social

3.4K followers 400 following 4.1K posts

Ornithologist and Evolutionary Ecologist at the University of Oxford - natural history, science, cycling

Ben C. Sheldon is the Luc Hoffmann Chair in Field Ornithology and Director of the Edward Grey Institute of Field Ornithology of the University of Oxford's Department of Zoology. He was Head of the Department of Zoology between 2016 and 2021. .. more

Biology 32%

Environmental science 30%

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Ben Sheldon @sheldonbirds.bsky.social · 5h

Outstanding - looking for opportunities to make this trip this winter...

Ben Sheldon @sheldonbirds.bsky.social · 1d

Honouring the life of Sir John Gurdon, who died earlier this week: awarded the Nobel Laureate in Physiology or Medicine for seminal work carried out in Oxford Zoology (now @biology.ox.ac.uk) showing that mature cells could be reprogrammed to become pluripotent.

www.nobelprize.org/prizes/medic...

Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2012

The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2012 was awarded jointly to Sir John B. Gurdon and Shinya Yamanaka "for the discovery that mature cells can be reprogrammed to become pluripotent"

www.nobelprize.org

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Ben Sheldon @sheldonbirds.bsky.social · 1d

Bloody enormous!

Ben Sheldon @sheldonbirds.bsky.social · 1d

What are they?!!

Reposted by Ben C. Sheldon, Jesse M. Shapiro, Elena Litchman , and 1 more Ben C. Sheldon, Jesse M. Shapiro, Elena Litchman, Alan McNally

Michael Brockhurst @brockhurstlab.bsky.social · 1d

Three Bicentenary research fellowships on offer at @officialuom.bsky.social @fbmh-uom.bsky.social for exceptional ECRs with <3y postdoc experience

3yrs salary + £30k pa research expenses

Do you have a great idea & want to join @mermanchester.bsky.social?

www.bmh.manchester.ac.uk/research/sup...

Bicentenary Early Career Research Fellowships | Biology, Medicine and Health | University of Manchester

Find out about and apply for a Bicentenary Early Career Research Fellowship.

www.bmh.manchester.ac.uk

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Ben Sheldon @sheldonbirds.bsky.social · 1d

Don’t we? How do you know?

Reposted by Marco Festa‐Bianchet

Ben Sheldon @sheldonbirds.bsky.social · 1d

Fascinating, while at the same time somewhat nightmarish:

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Greater noctule bats prey on and consume passerines in flight

Despite billions of passerines seasonally migrating during the night at high altitudes, only three bat species have been found to consistently tap into this rich prey resource. However, it remains unk...

www.science.org

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Ben Sheldon @sheldonbirds.bsky.social · 1d

Topical! www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Greater noctule bats prey on and consume passerines in flight

www.science.org

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Ben Sheldon @sheldonbirds.bsky.social · 1d

Hi Sonja - very interested to read, but the link to the paper just seems to come back to BlueSky - can you share a link?

Reposted by Ben C. Sheldon

Common Tern Project @commonternproject.bsky.social · 2d

Out @animalecology.bsky.social today - a paper with David Ewing in which we explore the #HPAI outbreak in the terns. We find bird-to-bird transmission to be the main driver of infection and estimate the probability of mortality to drop from 0.26 to 0.14 from 2022 to 2023: doi.org/10.1111/1365...

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Ben Sheldon @sheldonbirds.bsky.social · 3d

Of course the tables are turned sometimes - this classic paper on Greater Noctules feeding on migrating birds:
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11493689/

Bat predation on nocturnally migrating birds - PubMed

Bat predation on birds is a very rare phenomenon in nature. Most documented reports of bird-eating bats refer to tropical bats that occasionally capture resting birds. Millions of small birds concentr...

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

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Ben Sheldon @sheldonbirds.bsky.social · 3d

Fabulous tale! A great face to watch in that video for the tremendous range of expressions conveyed by those eyebrows..

Ben Sheldon @sheldonbirds.bsky.social · 4d

Pushing the limits of record shots, but good to see this Black-necked Grebe that had appeared at Farmoor this morning still there at sunset today - one of those only just annual species I thought I'd missed locally this year. Interesting to see it sticking close to the gull roost - natal memories?

A winter plumaged Black-necked Grebe (centre, foreground) swimming on Farmoor Reservoir in front of mixed gull roost (Herring, Lesser Black-backed and Black-headed Gulls)

Reposted by Ben C. Sheldon

Per Alström @peralstrom.bsky.social · 4d

I was honoured to be invited to give a talk on AviList, the new unified global checklist of birds, at the Delta Birding Festival 2+ weeks ago, and the organizers just sent me a link to a YouTube video of my talk: www.youtube.com/watch?v=QO5x... #birds #ornithology #taxonomy

AviList: a unified global bird checklist - Per Alström

YouTube video by Delta Birding Festival

www.youtube.com

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Ben Sheldon @sheldonbirds.bsky.social · 5d

Relieved that the Bluethroat at Otmoor - effectively the first in the county since the others were unobservable - has hung on since first being found on 30 Sept. Always distant but feeding actively along the reed edge of the scrapes

Ben Sheldon @sheldonbirds.bsky.social · 6d

Last three pages of @peralstrom.bsky.social article about birding and ornithological discovery in China in the 1980s - excellent stuff! (includes first Western Sandpiper found very far inland 🤯)

Ben Sheldon @sheldonbirds.bsky.social · 6d

Had the pleasure of seeing Great Grey Owls with @peralstrom.bsky.social this summer (pic: @tmbirding.bsky.social) - and heard some superb tales of birding & ornithological discovery in China in the 1980s. He's written this splendid article about this - screenshots as I don't have link. Pp 1-3 here

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Ben Sheldon @sheldonbirds.bsky.social · 6d

Yes - couldn’t have planned the narrative arc better 😉

Ben Sheldon @sheldonbirds.bsky.social · 6d

Leaving Shetland after 8 super days birding Fair Isle & Shetland with @tombedford.bsky.social. A superb mix of rarities, scarcities, common migrants, seabirds & spectacular scenery based at the brilliant @fairislebirdobs.bsky.social - thanks to all. eBird trip report ⬇️
ebird.org/tripreport/4...

A male Siberian Thrush emerges from cover at Asta Loch, Shetland, Oct 2025

Red-breasted Flycatcher peeping out from cover in South Raeva Geo on Fair Isle, Sept 2025

A migrant Common Redstart finding shelter in the derelict buildings near the summit of Ward Hill on Fair Isle

Landscape looking south along the West Side of Fair Isle

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Reposted by Ben C. Sheldon

Andrew @andrew-ecoathome.bsky.social · 7d

Introducing BIRDBASE, which aims to be the world's most comprehensive avian trait ecology database. Article links to open access paper, & data in Excel spreadsheet. phys.org/news/2025-09... #science #environment #ecology #eco #biology #bird #birds #birding #birdwatching #openaccess #datascience

BIRDBASE dataset tracks ecological traits for 11,589 species of birds

Çağan Şekercioğlu was an ambitious, but perhaps naive graduate student when, 26 years ago, he embarked on a simple data-compilation project that would soon evolve into a massive career-defining achiev...

phys.org

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Ben Sheldon @sheldonbirds.bsky.social · 7d

I think could make case for all of wing contrasting with blue/grey of mantle

Ben Sheldon @sheldonbirds.bsky.social · 7d

Thanks

Ben Sheldon @sheldonbirds.bsky.social · 7d

Any idea about age ratios in other vagrant thrushes?

Ben Sheldon @sheldonbirds.bsky.social · 7d

If I remember correctly the first British record (Oct 1954, Isle of May) was an adult male with the full adult plumage. Haven’t found an online pic

Ben Sheldon @sheldonbirds.bsky.social · 7d

Very interesting! How do you interpret the photos labelled as adult male from Oct which show birds with uniform dark slaty blue except for brilliant white super:
macaulaylibrary.org/asset/498199...
macaulaylibrary.org/asset/56129241

ML498199971 - Siberian Thrush - Macaulay Library

macaulaylibrary.org

Ben Sheldon @sheldonbirds.bsky.social · 7d

HI Max - don't know much about ageing them, so interested to hear any views. Some of the better photos here (rather grainy as light poor due to incoming storm, will surely be better ones from some of the other people there with better gear) ebird.org/checklist/S2...

eBird Checklist - 3 Oct 2025 - Asta - 9 species

Submitted by Ben Sheldon.

ebird.org

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Ben Sheldon @sheldonbirds.bsky.social · 7d

A bit of relief to get flight off Fair Isle this morning ahead of impending arrival of Storm Amy, otherwise we'd have been stranded till Monday! A great first visit, capped off by @tombedford.bsky.social and I finding an Olive-backed Pipit (first seen yesterday evening, not confirmed till today)

Plane on the runway at Fair Isle Airport

View of Sheep Head, Fair Isle, from the air

Very poor record shot of Olive-backed Pipit, Fair Isle, 3 Oct 2025. Unstreaked and olive-toned mantle and coverts visible here

Very poor record shot of Olive-backed Pipit, Fair Isle, 3 Oct 2025. Unstreaked and olive-toned mantle visible here, also a hint of the strong white supercilium on the left hand side of the bird's head

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Ben Sheldon @sheldonbirds.bsky.social · 8d

Handy stop near Tingwall Airport on way off Fair Isle - after a bit of a wait the superb first winter male Siberian Thrush showed quite nicely

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Reposted by Ben C. Sheldon

Paul Dufour @pauldufour80.bsky.social · 8d

🚨 Master’s project!
Curious how birds find their way? 🧭🐦
Analyze decades of ringing data to study abnormal migratory routes and uncover what these deviations can reveal about the mechanisms guiding birds on their journeys. Drop me an email for details! #ornithology

www.vogelwarte.ch/de/wir/mitar...

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Reposted by Ben C. Sheldon, Garry Peterson

Robert G. Björk @robertgbjork.bsky.social · 8d

🎉We have announced a new professorship at the University of Gothenburg 🇸🇪 to celebrate our Crown Princess’s 50th birthday!
🌿Broad focus on biodiversity — from microbes to modelling
📢A fantastic opportunity for researchers working across scales and disciplines!

🔗 web103.reachmee.com/ext/I005/103...

The Crown Princess Victoria Professorship in Biodiversity

Professorship in Biodiversity. The University of Gothenburg hereby announces a unique and prestigious position – the

web103.reachmee.com

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