Dear All, This Wednesday (4pm) we have a seminar led by Robert Aitchison (University of Stirling) about his PhD project entitled "Seasonal Variation of Carrion Crow (Corvus corone) Vocalisations" - abstract below. The meeting will be held in person/hybrid in the Psychology Common Room. To those joining online: please find a link to the meeting below. Abstract Seasonal changes can influence avian vocal behaviour, yet the seasonality of carrion crow (Corvus corone) vocalisations remains unstudied. Often linked to breeding cycles and environmental factors, vocalisations are important for mate attraction, territory defence, and social cohesion. This study investigates whether carrion crow vocal behaviour varies across calendar (spring, summer, autumn, winter) and biological (breeding: March–June; non-breeding: July–February) seasons. Acoustic data collected from focal and scan sampling at two sites in Stirling will be used to quantify acoustic features: temporal, frequency, and structural. Environmental predictors including location, time of day, weather conditions, season, and human activity will be recorded concomitantly. Currently 1,745 audio recordings over 11 months have been collated. Generalised linear mixed models will be used to assess seasonal factors on vocal behaviour whilst accounting for repeated observations of crows and sampling sessions as random effects. Likelihood ratio tests will evaluate the significance of predictors, and post-hoc comparisons will identify differences between seasonal groups. This study will provide the first assessment of seasonal vocal variation in carrion crow and to improve our understanding of which environmental factors influence corvid communication and behavioural ecology. Link to the meeting: BERG research seminars | Meeting-Join | Microsoft Teams<https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fteams.microsoft.com%2Fmeet%2F3816460052135%3Fp%3DxsEIefROgXSXlZHxc0&data=05%7C02%7Cpawel.fedurek%40stir.ac.uk%7Cc5af488d315a43b39e2d08de83358e34%7C4e8d09f7cc794ccb9149a4238dd17422%7C0%7C0%7C639092463212179018%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=kmYNJta6BHr9jYZanwe8MQxO5Rt3unfP6OlACegt%2FfQ%3D&reserved=0<https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fteams.microsoft.com%2Fmeet%2F3816460052135%3Fp%3DxsEIefROgXSXlZHxc0&data=05%7C02%7Cpawel.fedurek%40stir.ac.uk%7Cc5af488d315a43b39e2d08de83358e34%7C4e8d09f7cc794ccb9149a4238dd17422%7C0%7C0%7C639092463212221033%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=uTNvPVJV%2BwIdswWuJUKdh4sGiGO0UtNAZ5Eb8MrbQ5w%3D&reserved=0<https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fteams.microsoft.com%2Fmeet%2F3816460052135%3Fp%3DxsEIefROgXSXlZHxc0&data=05%7C02%7Cpawel.fedurek%40stir.ac.uk%7Cc5af488d315a43b39e2d08de83358e34%7C4e8d09f7cc794ccb9149a4238dd17422%7C0%7C0%7C639092463212257873%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=y0s52IpXIm6E9fxBhLzT5cEBnc%2FTJj1uV%2Bzs6zaDufo%3D&reserved=0<https://teams.microsoft.com/meet/3816460052135?p=xsEIefROgXSXlZHxc0>>>> Best wishes, Pawel ------------------------------- Dr Pawel Fedurek (he/his) Lecturer in Psychology Behaviour and Evolution Research Group (BERG) School of Psychology, Faculty of Natural Sciences University of Stirling Stirling, FK9 4LA Scotland, UK @pawel-fedurek<https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fbsky.app%2Fprofile%2Fpawel-fedurek.bsky.social&data=05%7C02%7Cpawel.fedurek%40stir.ac.uk%7Cc5af488d315a43b39e2d08de83358e34%7C4e8d09f7cc794ccb9149a4238dd17422%7C0%7C0%7C639092463212292132%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=9efSbpDsrfmuEmA7TM2jR%2FzN4kA%2BULAc5DNOsxsnX%2BQ%3D&reserved=0<https://bsky.app/profile/pawel-fedurek.bsky.social>> @berg-stirling<https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fbsky.app%2Fprofile%2Fberg-stirling.bsky.social&data=05%7C02%7Cpawel.fedurek%40stir.ac.uk%7Cc5af488d315a43b39e2d08de83358e34%7C4e8d09f7cc794ccb9149a4238dd17422%7C0%7C0%7C639092463212324826%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=KI9Zjbdy0hgiVf1uXYeMwk4Sb0tGsOU32rV2ves5TKQ%3D&reserved=0<https://bsky.app/profile/berg-stirling.bsky.social>> Staff webpage<https://www.stir.ac.uk/people/1080868> | BERG webpage<https://www.stir.ac.uk/about/faculties/natural-sciences/our-research/research-groups/behaviour-and-evolution-research-group/> I aim to reply within 3 working days (my working days are between Monday and Friday). ________________________________ Scotland's University for Sporting Excellence The University of Stirling is a charity registered in Scotland, number SC 011159 ________________________________ Scotland’s University for Sporting Excellence The University of Stirling is a charity registered in Scotland, number SC 011159