Grace Blackburn
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gblackburn.bsky.social
Grace Blackburn
@gblackburn.bsky.social
51 followers 53 following 6 posts
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Reposted by Grace Blackburn
behavecol.bsky.social
Response to intruder number is related to spontaneous quantity discrimination performance in a wild bird
#bird #Cognition #NumberSense

doi.org/10.1093/behe...
a black and white bird standing in the grass with the words photo and animation by dunken k bliths below it
ALT: a black and white bird standing in the grass with the words photo and animation by dunken k bliths below it
media.tenor.com
September 30, 2025 at 3:01 PM
gblackburn.bsky.social
The media release for our recent article on magpie quantity discrimination is out now! Check it out below 🐦⬇️ www.uwa.edu.au/news/article...
Magpies can identify quantities of food and intruder calls
New research has shown for the first time that magpies can distinguish between the number of callers when played recordings of intruder magpies.
www.uwa.edu.au
September 23, 2025 at 9:13 AM
Reposted by Grace Blackburn
dutourmylene.bsky.social
Thrilled to see our magpie research featured in "Why Do Birds Sing?" now out and recently highlighted in The Canberra Times!
Amazing to see how our work on female song and social complexity in magpies is resonating ❤️
@mandyridley.bsky.social @gblackburn.bsky.social
September 16, 2025 at 7:19 AM
Reposted by Grace Blackburn
euanritchie.bsky.social
Protecting darkness and minimising light pollution is important for human and wildlife health. Please consider signing and sharing this petition.

Petition EN7346 - National Legislation for Light Pollution Regulation and Dark Sky Preservation www.aph.gov.au/e-petitions/...

Closes 19 September.
e-petitions
e-petitions
www.aph.gov.au
September 5, 2025 at 4:04 AM
Reposted by Grace Blackburn
mandyridley.bsky.social
Our new cognition paper is out, headed by @gblackburn.bsky.social, and one of the last chapters from her exceptional PhD thesis!
gblackburn.bsky.social Grace Blackburn @gblackburn.bsky.social · Aug 20
New paper alert 🚨 We test quantity discrimination in #magpies using both a cognitive task and playback experiment and find that birds can discriminate between quantities in both! Interestingly, performance in the two task was negatively correlated! 🐦
@mandyridley.bsky.social
doi.org/10.1093/behe...
Response to intruder number is related to spontaneous quantity discrimination performance in a wild bird
The ability to discriminate between quantities is important for animal species. We show that wild magpies can discriminate both between different quantitie
doi.org
August 21, 2025 at 9:53 AM
gblackburn.bsky.social
New paper alert 🚨 We test quantity discrimination in #magpies using both a cognitive task and playback experiment and find that birds can discriminate between quantities in both! Interestingly, performance in the two task was negatively correlated! 🐦
@mandyridley.bsky.social
doi.org/10.1093/behe...
Response to intruder number is related to spontaneous quantity discrimination performance in a wild bird
The ability to discriminate between quantities is important for animal species. We show that wild magpies can discriminate both between different quantitie
doi.org
August 20, 2025 at 10:22 PM
Reposted by Grace Blackburn
pfgblue.bsky.social
Researchers across the major universities in Western Australia working in partnership with government epitomise the multi-faceted approaches required to deal with shot-hole borer.

www.abc.net.au/news/2025-08...
Worms eat tree-killing beetle in research trial as scientists team up
Researchers say a chemical trial and a biological trial using worms have shown early success in the fight against the shot-hole borer, which has led to the destruction of thousands of Perth's trees.
www.abc.net.au
August 3, 2025 at 4:47 AM
Reposted by Grace Blackburn
hollykirk.bsky.social
Interesting research, suggesting poorly designed or excessive private lighting is contributing as much to ALAN pollution as street lights.
🌏🧪
This seems to be one of the few areas where our own actions can make a significant positive contribution!

Turn it off!
💡
theconversation.com/street-lamps...
Street lamps aren’t the only form of artificial light pollution – here’s how to create darker nights
Light Pollution is a significant environmental issue and is spreading rapidly. The good news is that it is easy to fix - find out how here…
theconversation.com
July 29, 2025 at 11:34 PM
Reposted by Grace Blackburn
ceb-uwa.bsky.social
Check out new #CEB paper by @gblackburn.bsky.social et al. that found that Western Australia magpies sing less when exposed to anthropogenic noise, but not necessarily louder. 🐦🚧
This may save energy, yet could cost social & territorial signals.
doi.org/10.1111/ibi....
#Bioacoustics #UrbanEcology
June 9, 2025 at 2:53 AM
gblackburn.bsky.social
Another #PhD chapter out in the world! We investigate the impact of anthropogenic #noise on the territorial song of WA magpies 🔊🐦🔊
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
@mandyridley.bsky.social @cornishjackdaws.bsky.social @dutourmylene.bsky.social
Western Australian Magpies alter the rate, but not the amplitude, of their territorial song in anthropogenic noise
Anthropogenic noise is considered one of the most serious forms of pollution globally and has been shown to have negative effects on the distribution, behaviour, cognition and reproductive success of...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
June 9, 2025 at 2:22 AM
Reposted by Grace Blackburn
mandyridley.bsky.social
Our new paper, led by @gblackburn.bsky.social, finds a very sharp decline in the rate of carol calls (the main territorial call) given by magpies during anthropogenic noise, but no change in the amplitude. @dutourmylene.bsky.social

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Western Australian Magpies alter the rate, but not the amplitude, of their territorial song in anthropogenic noise
Anthropogenic noise is considered one of the most serious forms of pollution globally and has been shown to have negative effects on the distribution, behaviour, cognition and reproductive success of...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
June 9, 2025 at 1:43 AM
gblackburn.bsky.social
Our new #cognition paper, led by Masters student Holly Hunter, has just been published in Animal Cognition! doi.org/10.1007/s100...
@ceb-uwa.bsky.social
@mandyridley.bsky.social
Group size affects spontaneous quantity discrimination performance in wild Western Australian magpies (Gymnorhina tibicen dorsalis) - Animal Cognition
Animals may benefit from the ability to discriminate between quantities in their environment; for example, when choosing between foraging patches differing in food availability or assessing the size o...
doi.org
May 27, 2025 at 12:41 AM
Reposted by Grace Blackburn
mandyridley.bsky.social
@gblackburn.bsky.social & I recently wrote this piece in Nature Climate Change about the potential conservation implications of climate-induced divergence of song. This may occur more often under a rapidly changing climate & cause greater isolation between popns.

www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Climate-induced divergence of song - Nature Climate Change
Vocal communication is essential for information transmission in many species, such as that related to mating opportunities or predator presence. Recent research revealing how phenotypic changes broug...
www.nature.com
February 28, 2025 at 5:05 AM
Reposted by Grace Blackburn
pezoporus.bsky.social
Great piece on our new research highlighting the severe impact of using second generation anticoagulant rodenticides. We are killing quolls snd Tasmanian devils when we poison rats. www.watoday.com.au/national/wes...
Australia-first study finds rat poison in rare Perth Hills chuditch
New evidence shows the first confirmed cases of rat poisoning in native Australian marsupial carnivores.
www.watoday.com.au
February 17, 2025 at 10:58 PM
Reposted by Grace Blackburn
1jonevans.bsky.social
Lethal second-generation rat poisons are killing endangered quolls and Tasmanian devils
theconversation.com/lethal-secon...
Lethal second-generation rat poisons are killing endangered quolls and Tasmanian devils
Second generation rat poisons are so potent that they’re banned for home use in Europe and North America. But here, you can pick them up at Bunnings or Coles.
theconversation.com
February 18, 2025 at 1:13 AM
gblackburn.bsky.social
Happy to share that today I started a #Postdoctoral #research fellow position at Central Queensland University working with Capricorn yellow #chats! 🐦 Very excited for this new adventure!
February 3, 2025 at 7:36 AM