Alex Brighten
LightNews LightNews
banner
alexbrighten1.bsky.social
Alex Brighten
@alexbrighten1.bsky.social
160 followers 140 following 19 posts
PhD student interested in movement ecology, deserts, birds, tech. Runner, biker.
Posts Replies Media Videos
Pinned
alexbrighten1.bsky.social
Alex Brighten @alexbrighten1.bsky.social · Jan 3
Hello Bluesky! Overdue introduction:

I’m Alex; PhD student in 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 interested in movement ecology & ecophysiology.

Inspired by many seasons’ fieldwork with migratory birds, I currently use GPS loggers and light-level geolocators; stable isotope analysis; and DNA metabarcoding to study Alpine swift.
Top left: Alpine swift with GPS logger, and top right: Alpine swift nest with 3-day-old nestlings Middle left: Alpine swift prey bolus containing ants, and middle right: two adult Alpine swift equipped with GLS tags Lower left: Prey bolus of mostly wasps, and lower right: feather sample prepped to 0.7mg for C/N stable isotope analysis Top: fieldwork on Asian houbara in the Kyzylkum, Uzbekistan, Middle: monitoring Egyptian vulture nests in Madzharavo, Lower left: European nightjar nest monitoring in Humberhead peatlands NNR, Lower right: Nest finding and post release monitoring for Project godwit in the Fens, Lower middle: waiting for birds in a hide passing the time looking like a fool!
Reposted by Alex Brighten
jasonisotopes.bsky.social
ECOCHANGE Research Associate #foodwebs #offshorewind #stableisotopes For more info see www.jobs.gla.ac.uk/job/research...
ECOCHANGE RA Job description
November 17, 2025 at 3:14 PM
Reposted by Alex Brighten
giumasoero.bsky.social
📣 Hot off the press at #ProcB!

🔍 Our study checked #datasharing and #codesharing policies in 275 #ecology #evolution journals. Policies exist, but clarity and strictness vary, affecting #reproducibility.
#OpenScience
🔗 royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...
From policy to practice: progress towards data- and code-sharing in ecology and evolution | Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
Data and code are essential for ensuring the credibility of scientific results and facilitating reproducibility, areas in which journal sharing policies play a crucial role. However, in ecology and evolution, we still do not know how widespread data- and ...
royalsocietypublishing.org
September 17, 2025 at 3:12 PM
alexbrighten1.bsky.social
#InternationalVultureAwarenessDay! Thinking of all this year’s fledglings & the threats they’re going to face; mostly anthropogenic. Vultures just go about their lives keeping the natural world clean while humans set it on fire. Tough, but it’s important to hold on to hope & conservation successes.
Top left: vulture nest in a cliff face; middle left: vulture nest viewed through a telescope; lower: the nestling vulture in the nest getting close to fledging; top right: an adult and a fledgling Egyptian vulture
September 6, 2025 at 8:18 PM
alexbrighten1.bsky.social
Reflecting on #BESMove2025, nice couple days chatting all things #MovementEcology and meeting friends old & new. Thank you @besmovesig.bsky.social and the meeting organisers for your hard work to deliver a stacked and smooth running schedule and fun socials. Looking forward to the next one!
Top left; UEA broad just after sunrise; top right meeting welcome sign; lower left reflections of a bridge; lower right my poster and me.
September 5, 2025 at 8:42 PM
Reposted by Alex Brighten
ecoisilva.bsky.social
✨ New preprint! "Too few, too many, or just right?" 🌍🌎🌏 We explore how to evaluate study design in animal tracking studies by assessing sampling duration, interval, and, now, the number of individuals needed for reliable population-level estimates. #movementecology www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Graphical abstract for a manuscript titled "Too few, too many, or just right? Optimizing sample sizes for population-level inferences in animal tracking projects". The workflow presented in this manuscript evaluates sampling design by assessing sampling duration, sampling interval, and the number of sampled individuals needed to obtain reliable population-level estimates.
August 4, 2025 at 6:33 AM
alexbrighten1.bsky.social
It’s already been a week since #EOU2025! Fun week meeting and chatting cool bird science & geeking out at the cool tech! Presented another poster made from my tent in Bulgaria. 😅 Even got work done on the 14hr train journey, 🌱 but France took my Leatherman; rookie error not checking my field pack! 🥲
Collage of photos from the European Ornithological Union (EOU) conference 2025. Clockwise from top left: an amazing plenary about robust avian science by Antica Culina with a slide on FAIR data; a tiny solar GPS transmitter, the Menai bridge at sunrise; me and my poster; Welsh flag with bonus Welsh jackdaw; Vogelwarte research group; first Guinness after 2.5 months in Switzerland; cool hummingbird mural on a house; and in the centre: Vogelwarte research group - Team Alpine Swift-Barn Owl-Dipper et al!
August 30, 2025 at 4:13 PM
Reposted by Alex Brighten
megmurg.bsky.social
Join our team? We're hiring a field tech for the year to work on our Secretarybird project:
hawkwatch.org/opportunitie...
Please share this opportunity!
#conservationjob #raptorresearch
June 26, 2025 at 5:23 AM
Reposted by Alex Brighten
rowankuminski.bsky.social
After 2 years and ~1000 papers, I'm nearing the end of my broad-scale #synthesis thesis chapter! However there are still papers I can't access, if anyone has access to these journals (papers listed in link) and could send them to me, I would greatly appreciate it!! 🪶
docs.google.com/spreadsheets...
Light blue background, with a digital drawing of an albatross flying on the right side. The uppermost text is in grey and says "Do you have access to these journals?", with a list of journals underneath in black: Ibis, Emu, Ostrich, Journal of Zoology, Australian Wildlife Research, Wildlife Research, Biological Conservation, Vida Silvestre Neotropical, Prairie Naturalist, Pacific Conservation Biology, Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London, Ardea, Mammalia, Chinese Journal of Zoology". At the bottom in grey is the text "please help me find the papers in the attached spreadsheet for my thesis chapter! Thank you for your help!!!"
May 29, 2025 at 12:43 PM
Reposted by Alex Brighten
aldinafranco.bsky.social
The next BES Movement Ecology SIG annual meeting is taking place on the 2nd-3rd of September 2025 in Norwich. Come and discuss your results or data with movecologists! www.britishecologicalsociety.org/content/move...
@britishecolsoc.bsky.social @ueaceec.bsky.social @ueaenv.bsky.social
Movement Ecology Annual Meeting 2025 - British Ecological Society
Join the Movement SIG at the University of East Anglia for their yearly meeting, this year titled 'Understanding Migration'.
www.britishecologicalsociety.org
May 29, 2025 at 1:32 PM
Reposted by Alex Brighten
movebank.bsky.social
Do you use Earth Observation #data for #wildlife #ecology? Take this survey to share how you use remotesensing, climate and weather data. Part of SOS (www.dfg-sos.de), a project of @dlr-de.bsky.social, @mpi-animalbehav.bsky.social, ‪@uni-wuerzburg.de‬

survey.lamapoll.de/EarthObserva...
May 27, 2025 at 6:35 AM
Reposted by Alex Brighten
animove-course.bsky.social
Application countdown for the #Animove Workshop 2025 in Costa Rica.....Deadline is 31st of May. Sign up now ! animove.org/next-animove...
@mpi-animalbehav.bsky.social @movebank.bsky.social #biologging #animalmovement #rstats
May 26, 2025 at 11:40 AM
Reposted by Alex Brighten
arjundevamar.bsky.social
PhD opportunity #AfricanOrnithology

PhD in Spatial-temporal dynamics of Black-tailed Godwit habitat use and foraging ecology in Senegal

www.rug.nl/about-ug/wor...
Vacatures bij de RUG
www.rug.nl
May 22, 2025 at 12:25 PM
Reposted by Alex Brighten
thelabandfield.bsky.social
The 2025 Marie Curie Fellowships are now open! If you are interested in #PlasticPollution, #ornithology / #birds, #conservation & our work at @adriftlab.bsky.social and want to discuss an application, get in touch! #PhDjobs

marie-sklodowska-curie-actions.ec.europa.eu/calls/msca-p...
Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions 2-year Postdoctoral Fellowship Dr Alex Bond (Natural History Museum, Tring/London UK) [progress pride flag] Applicants with previous experience in CT/morphology, wildlife acoustics, or plastics particularly encouraged! Applicant eligibility Can’t have spent >12 of the last 36 months in the UK Previous post-doctoral experience & publication track record HIGHLY recommended Must relocate to the UK (London or Tring; remote working is not possible under this funding scheme) Defended PhD by Sept 2025; < 8 years postdoc experience Previous successful applications are available as guides! Applications shared between fellow & host with a deadline 10 Sept 2025 Email: a.bond@nhm.ac.uk / BlueSky: @TheLabAndField@bsky.social https://alexanderbond.org
May 20, 2025 at 8:44 AM
alexbrighten1.bsky.social
Happy #WorldMigratoryBirdDay! Alpine swift are back from sub-Saharan Africa & pre-breeding surveys in our Swiss study sites are complete. Looking forward to the last field season of my PhD with these epic birds! #WMBD 2025 theme: make space for urban spp; we must protect nesting sites for #swifts!
May 10, 2025 at 10:25 PM
Reposted by Alex Brighten
cms.int
Today is #WorldMigratoryBirdDay!

Let’s work together to bring nature back into our cities and neighbourhoods and protect our #SharedSpaces for the benefit of migratory birds and people. 🐦

Learn more how you can help create bird-friendly cities and communities ➡️ www.worldmigratorybirdday.org
May 10, 2025 at 6:41 AM
Reposted by Alex Brighten
chanyingchi.github.io
The Ecology of Animal Migration course will be held again in Lund University this November! A great opportunity to learn and network for PhDs working on migration.
cnilsson.science Cecilia Nilsson @cnilsson.science · May 6
Our PhD level course Ecology of Animal Migration at @biologylu.bsky.social is now open for applications! The course will run this November (3-14th) and cover various theoretical and practical aspects of migration ecology.

See: www.biology.lu.se/phd-studies/...
Ecology of Animal Migration
Lund University.
www.biology.lu.se
May 6, 2025 at 1:54 PM
alexbrighten1.bsky.social
Did I mention I'm so stoked that this is published? :)
Collect feather fragments🪶; chop 'em up✂️;
set 'em on fire🔥; measure the gases👩‍🔬!
Super excited to build on this research in coming months combining stable isotope analysis (made possible w huge help from @isotopesuk.bsky.social) & geolocators!
bou.org.uk BOU @bou.org.uk · Mar 24
In the LATEST ISSUE of IBIS

Stable isotope evidence for suspended moult and age-related differences in moult location in the trans-Saharan migratory Alpine Swift | onlinelibrary.wiley....

Alexandra L. Brighten et al | #ornithology 🪶
April 4, 2025 at 2:38 PM
alexbrighten1.bsky.social
Still totally buzzing from #BOU2025. Awesome few days. Meeting brilliant people, chatting cool science, surviving my first ever presentation as speaker (just!). Thanks @bou.org.uk for organising such a welcoming, inclusive, & real (so much honesty re: talk nerves) conference. Bring on the next one!
April 4, 2025 at 2:33 PM
Reposted by Alex Brighten
bou.org.uk
🧵1/6 That’s it for #BOU2025

We hope you’ve enjoyed following along!

We’d like to extend a huge thank you to everyone who’s engaged with and participated with the conference here on Bluesky

#ornithology
April 3, 2025 at 2:31 PM
Reposted by Alex Brighten
bou.org.uk
Did you follow #BOU2025 on Bluesky?

💬 If so, how did you find it? If not, why not?

Please take 5 minutes 🕰️ to complete our survey: forms.gle/dVNDYs8wg5...

Your views will inform the future of our Bluesky conferences!

#ornithology 🪶🧪 #conservationscience 🌎

Please repost!
April 3, 2025 at 3:00 PM
Reposted by Alex Brighten
bou.org.uk
1/ We are delighted to have @judyshamounb.bsky.social deliver the Alfred Newton Lecture at #BOU2025 Frontiers in Ornithology

Judy's research focuses on understanding movement ecology in birds 🧵

#ornithology #migrationresearch #movementecology 🪶🧪
April 1, 2025 at 7:41 PM
Reposted by Alex Brighten
vulturecat.bsky.social
🧵1/6 The Egyptian vulture (Neophron percnopterus) is an Endangered species that occurs across Europe, Africa and Asia.
✅Migration patterns are well-studied in Europe/Middle East
❓Little research across in Central Asia.
I'm at #BOU2025 today!
#ornithology #Raptors 🪶 #vultures #conservation
An adult Egyptian vulture flying over a Central Asian landscape. The bird has a cute pointy yellow face, mostly white feathers, and wide wings with long black flight feathers. The sky is blue and cloudless, and the ground is hilly yellow grass.
April 2, 2025 at 9:55 AM
Reposted by Alex Brighten
ukcehseabirds.bsky.social
1/6 Tidal stream environments are unique marine habitats characterised by fast tidal currents.

Knowledge of how #seabirds use these areas for foraging is scarce.

@tomgale98.bsky.social is at #BOU2025 presenting work on understanding drivers of habitat selection of Shags in these environments...
Image of study site Bluemull Sound, Shetland, and a foraging European Shag
April 2, 2025 at 12:41 PM
Reposted by Alex Brighten
bou.org.uk
1/🧵 #BOU2025 #CitizenScience #WildlifeHealth #OneHealth #Ornithology 🌏🧪

Hi, I’m Becki Lawson, a wildlife vet at @zslofficial.bsky.social, and today I will be exploring disease surveillance in wild birds in light of the overall health of people, animals, and the ecosystem – in short: One Health.
April 3, 2025 at 8:00 AM
Reposted by Alex Brighten
kazalews.bsky.social
Global warming is leading to more frequent periods of extremely high temperatures. Understanding individual behavioural responses across temperature gradients can help identify and design measures that enable species to cope with extremes temperatures, aiding their conservation.
1/5 #BOU2025
April 3, 2025 at 1:15 PM