Photo album from the Almeria Fieldcourse 2026: facebook.com/media/set/?set=…

Our second study tour with @BangorUni was an absolute masterclass in avian wonder, trading the classroom for the sky to dive deep into the electric world of migration strategies as soaring giants navigated The Straits. Beyond the large raptors, we marveled at the incredible stamina of weary travelers like Whinchats, European Pied Flycatchers, and Common Redstarts on their epic journeys. A visit to the Collared Pratincole colony left us mesmerized as these elegant birds hawked for insects directly above our heads, followed by insightful focal point analysis on the iconic Northern Bald Ibis—now with chicks—and a high-energy finale at a thriving Lesser Kestrel colony. This was science and conservation learning in action, proving that nature remains the best classroom! #IngloriousBustards #BangorUniversity #BirdMigration #WildlifeConservation #Ornithology #StudyTour #Flyway #NorthernBaldIbis #LesserKestrel #CollaredPratincole #BirdingSpain #MigrationMagic #FieldCourse #TheStraits #WildlifeBiology

This week we have had the great pleasure of hosting students from @BangorUni for an immersive week of field research. While the spectacle of soaring bird migration overhead has been truly impressive, our focus has also been on the Marismas de Barbate, where we have been conducting nearest neighbour analysis, predator avoidance studies, and more. The buzzing Collared Pratincole colony provided a central hub for our work, even as charismatic Western Black-eared Wheatears did their absolute best to distract us! Nearby, the local colony of Northern Bald Ibis proved to be the perfect subjects for our focal point analysis, rounding off a productive week of hands-on science in the field. #IngloriousBustards #BangorUniversity #FieldCourse #BirdMigration #WildlifeConservation #Ornithology #MarismasDeBarbate #NorthernBaldIbis

Sunrise on 1st day of Edinburgh Napier University Terrestrial Field Ecology field course 2026 (BSc Animal and Conservation Biology: Algarve, Portugal). Photos from the field to follow. #EdinburghNapier #FieldCourse #ecology #wildlife #conservation #BSc #EdinburghNapierUniversity

The foundations of field ecology course concluded with Participants presenting results of a set of interesting field ecology projects done in the last few days. Given the limited time, a rigorous but exciting & rewarding undertaking. Great fun! @NCBS_Bangalore #fieldcourse

Field director, Satpura Tiger Reserve, Rakhi Nanda engaged with participants and talked about various aspects of reserve’s management. #fieldcourse #ncbs #fieldecology @NCBS_Bangalore #Pachmarhi

From learnings to practice. Participants spent the day identifying a research question & formulating a clear hypothesis; the next three days will be walking through the steps to collect data & analyse to address the specific question. #fieldcourse #pachmarhi #ncbs #fieldecology

First half of the day was an introduction to R and data visualization by Dr Sachin Sridhara. Post lunch, it was a tour to burgondhi buffer. #fieldcourse #fieldecology #ncbs #datanalysis

Dr Shivani Krishna introduced participants to the principles of community ecology and methods to study it. In the field participants noted interaction between insects visiting Caesalpinia decapetala flowers. #fieldcourse #fundamentals #pachmarhi #communityecology

Day6 of fundamentals of field ecology began with field exploration of bird habitats. Dr Rajah Jayapal introduced participants to the bird identification, behaviour and taxonomy. #fieldcourse #ncbs #ncbsfieldstation #ornithology #SatpuraTigerReserve

Participants learning study design in ecological research. Dr Ghazala Shahabuddin also emphasised the importance and limitations of observational and controlled experiments. #fieldcourse @ncbs @fieldecology #fieldstation

Learning capture-recapture methods for estimating wildlife populations with Aditya Joshi @AdityajWildlife #WCT_India #fieldcourse #ncbs #satpuratigerreserve

Day 4 of Fundamentals of field ecology course began with learning about operation and application of GPS technology in wildlife research Participants got hands-on feel with GPS mediated treasure hunt game #fieldcourse #satpuratigerreserve #fieldecology @NCBS_Bangalore @NcbsMp

Day3 First half of the day, participants learnt to select appropriate sampling methods to effectively address an ecological research questions. #fieldecology #fieldcourse #ncbs #pachmarhi #satpuratigerreserve

Day2 morning continues with identification of trees. Key lessons: you won’t remember! So take notes- what, where & when. Enough repetitions to get familiar with ID features #fieldcourse #fundamentals #ncbs @NCBS_Bangalore #Pachmarhi #satpuratigerreserve

Day1 of fundamentals of field ecology course began with Satpura biodiversity orientation with Mr Pradip Krishen and introduction to grasses by Dr Sandeep Pulla, grassland features by Dr Jayshree Ratnam. @NCBS_Bangalore #fieldcourse #fieldecology #pachmarhi #satpuratigerreserve

A quick primer on diet analysis by Dr Y. S. Jhala. Wildlife research & conservation, heavily depends on techniques like Diet analysis that inform about feeding strategies, food webs & availability. #fieldcourse #WildlifeResearch #dietanalysis #ScienceTraining @NCBS_Bangalore

Happiness born out of passion is truly infectious😃. @uramakri sharing excitement of spotting tiger hair on it’s scratch marks on a tree trunk #fieldcourse #Pachmarhi #NCBSfieldstation #fieldsamplingmethods #fieldtechniquescourse

Participants are learning habitat ecology with Dr Ninad Mungi @ninad_mungi to use bird point count data to model species occupancy model #fieldcourse #habitamapping #speciesoccupancy #EcologicalModeling @NCBS_Bangalore #ncbs #satpuratigerreserve #Pachmarhi

From field to lab: Dr Uma Ramakrishna @uramakri teaching DNA extraction as part of field techniques in ecology course at NCBS field station, Pachmarhi, Madhyapradesh #fieldcourse @NCBS_Bangalore #ncbs #satpuratigerreserve