Paul Dufour
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pauldufour80.bsky.social
Paul Dufour
@pauldufour80.bsky.social
Birder | Research Associate at Swiss Ornithological Institute @vogelwarte.bsky.social 🇨🇭

Interested in the evolution of bird movements and how they can influence evolutionary processes
https://pauldufour80.wordpress.com/
Pinned
For my first post here, I’m happy to share our new paper just published in @ibisjournal.bsky.social Thanks to a great team effort, we made a small step forward in the study of Siberian vagrants in Europe and clarified the status of two (pseudo) vagrants: the YBW & the Sib Chiffchaff. Some results 🧵
Reposted by Paul Dufour
GREAT NEWS in #conservation: the government of New Zealand has announced that they will include feral cats in their PredatorFree 2050 strategy, aiming to benefit #seabirds and landbirds across NZ by removing feral cats:
Feral cats to be added to Predator Free 2050
The Government is delivering on its campaign promise to add feral cats to the Predator Free 2050 target species list to protect our precious native wildlife, Conservation Minister Tama Potaka says.
buff.ly
November 25, 2025 at 7:24 AM
Reposted by Paul Dufour
Even consummate migrants like Corncrakes can end up being ship-assisted, although presumably being adopted by a family and fed prawns is a rarer occurrence.... #UKBirding #Ornithology
www.dorsetecho.co.uk/news/2563328...
November 22, 2025 at 7:27 AM
Reposted by Paul Dufour
Just out in Systematic Biology, we explore the role of gene flow in island phylogeography of the Solomons Black-and-white Monarch complex. doi.org/10.1093/sysb...

Up first, strong genetic structure between islands groups and weak (but present!) structure between Pleistocene-connected islands (🧵)
November 21, 2025 at 6:29 PM
Reposted by Paul Dufour
Earlier today, I was notified that someone was at my door.

This is who it was:
November 21, 2025 at 12:59 AM
We visited plaine de Crau (S France) to catch Richard’s pipits last week and sample feathers for isotope tests. Numbers were low (~10), though more birds usually stop here at this time of year (up to 30/40) before they move south. Unclear if birds left early or had a poor breeding year.. #birds
November 20, 2025 at 2:02 PM
Reposted by Paul Dufour
On the train back home, still buzzing from some great days at @vogelwarte.bsky.social where Hans Schmid wrote "Getrennte Wege" - a classic synthesis of Honey Buzzard migration. A quarter century later the species has revealed a few more, but still not all of its migratory "Geheimnisse". #ornithology
November 20, 2025 at 12:36 PM
Reposted by Paul Dufour
I’ve released a tool to sketch and edit phylogenetic trees!
yawak.jp/PhyloWeaver/

Load a Newick file and intuitively add/remove/resize branches.
Useful for quick conceptual trees, extracting subtrees, or turning ideas into Newick.
PhyloWeaver – Interactive phylogenetic tree editor
Edit and visualize phylogenetic trees directly in your browser. PhyloWeaver lets you interactively rearrange tree topologies and export high-quality figures for publications and presentations.
yawak.jp
November 18, 2025 at 1:59 AM
Reposted by Paul Dufour
This Swallow at Balranald, N Uist this afternoon appears to be the American subspecies: erythrogaster due to the lack of a dark band across the lower throat.
November 17, 2025 at 7:10 PM
Reposted by Paul Dufour
This is such a cool study. A parasitic ant queen tricks worker ants into murdering their own queen, so the parasite can take over the colony.
This parasitic ant tricks workers into committing matricide
Newly mated parasitic queen ants invade colonies and spray their victims with a chemical irritant that provokes the workers to kill their mother.
www.sciencenews.org
November 17, 2025 at 5:43 PM
Reposted by Paul Dufour
Going to be a big month for warbler science! First out of the gates is @lannhiphung.bsky.social, with song & genomics of Nashville warblers. Eastern and western subspecies: non-overlapping and super distinct. Keep an eye on your life list 😉
🦉🧪@journal-evo.bsky.social
academic.oup.com/evolut/advan...
November 17, 2025 at 3:01 PM
Reposted by Paul Dufour
After a month of research in #Porcupinebank on board #VizcondedeEza in the wild waters west of #Ireland, we're finally at home! The most amazing #seabird sighting was a South Polar skua! @rspb.bsky.social @irishbirds.bsky.social @ieo-cadiz.bsky.social Ireland waters are always a box of surprises!
October 31, 2025 at 8:27 PM
Our last paper describes the spring-accelerated loop-migration of the Woodchat Shrike, tracked with light- and multi-sensor geolocators link.springer.com/article/10.1... #ornithology
November 13, 2025 at 2:34 PM
🐣 Excited to share our new paper in @globalchangebio.bsky.social !
Using @euring.bsky.social ringing data, we investigated “Phenological plasticity and its temperature-related drivers in common songbirds across Europe.” #Ornithology
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
November 13, 2025 at 2:22 PM
Reposted by Paul Dufour
The date is set for the next EOU Fledglings Meeting 🐥 in Gdansk, Poland! Share the news with your peers! 🦆
November 9, 2025 at 6:56 PM
Reposted by Paul Dufour
Male Varied Thrush in a southern Vancouver Island forest today. I’ve ringed 10 first-years over the last two weeks here, but this was my first adult! 🪶
November 9, 2025 at 6:12 AM
Reposted by Paul Dufour
Our paper on tinamou evolution is finally out in @systbiol.bsky.social. academic.oup.com/sysbio/advan...
November 9, 2025 at 4:26 AM
Reposted by Paul Dufour
Granger et al. Multispecies sensory networks and social foraging strategies: Implications for population decline in procellariiform seabirds www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/... #ornithology #seabirds
Multispecies sensory networks and social foraging strategies: Implications for population decline in procellariiform seabirds | PNAS
Multispecies sensory networks, where different species prioritize different sensory modalities and then use heterospecific information in a likely ...
www.pnas.org
November 7, 2025 at 7:46 AM
Reposted by Paul Dufour
New paper out about elevational shifts in European birds lead by @josephinecouet.bsky.social: "Solar Radiation Affects Bird Distributions but Not Elevational Shifts in European Mountains"

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
@emmamarjakangas.bsky.social @andreasantangeli.bsky.social @ebcc.info
November 4, 2025 at 8:37 AM
Reposted by Paul Dufour
I am recruting a #postdoc for a project investigating the evolution of avian heat tolerance in @erc.europa.eu project #HotLife. Fieldwork over broad latitudinal gradients, common-garden experiments, and more. Read more and apply👇
shorturl.at/WA1Qa

Would appreciate a re-post!

@evoldir.bsky.social
November 5, 2025 at 8:38 AM
Reposted by Paul Dufour
Our latest issue is out!
www.cell.com/current-biol...

On the cover, a male Victoria's riflebird doing his best to dazzle a female (or screaming at the white blob?)

Paper & dispatch here👇
www.cell.com/current-biol...
www.cell.com/current-biol...
November 4, 2025 at 11:46 AM
Reposted by Paul Dufour
Our new @science.org paper is out! Cuckoos and hosts are locked in a coevolutionary arms race over egg mimicry.

But how are these egg types inherited, and could this drive speciation? We sequenced hundreds of genomes to find out!

doi.org/10.1126/scie...

🧵1/6
Genomic architecture of egg mimicry and its consequences for speciation in parasitic cuckoos
Host-parasite arms races facilitate rapid evolution and can fuel speciation. Cuculus cuckoos are deceptive egg mimics that exhibit a broad diversity of counterfeit egg phenotypes, representing host-ad...
doi.org
October 30, 2025 at 7:15 PM
Reposted by Paul Dufour
Why are Procellariiform seabirds most diverse in the Southern Hemisphere?

Our study found that wind patterns and time since evolutionary origin best explain the extratropical peak in breeding species richness of these remarkable seabirds. 🐦💨

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
October 30, 2025 at 11:17 PM
Reposted by Paul Dufour
A 1st winter male SIBERIAN RUBYTHROAT caught on North Ronaldsay!!!

#RareBirdsUK
#BirdingScotland
#OrkneyBirding
October 28, 2025 at 8:35 AM
ebird.org/tripreport/4...
A short stay on Corvo finally turned into a long one due to a plane issue for almost a week.. While extra days were slow, first days were exciting: best was finding the 2nd Ruby-crowned Kinglet (8th WP), plus some nice extra species (Cape May, Protho & Magnolia Warblers) 🪶
October 27, 2025 at 9:04 AM
Reposted by Paul Dufour
Also check out the great summary perspectives in @science.org by Lindsay Zanno featuring @nataliajagielska.bsky.social’s incredible illustration of the end-Cretaceous asteroid impact: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
October 24, 2025 at 12:39 AM