A productive week collecting sound samples from passive audio loggers, for our ongoing project on soundscapes and on the evaluation of birdsong for the long term monitoring of avian abundance in Cabo Verde. Many thanks for the help of the NGO Project Biodiversity, especially Albert, Maldini, Dorivaldo and Bruno.

The landscape of Sal Island, challenging habitats for many avian breeding species.

Ana finished her Master in Toxicology and Environmental Contamination at the University of Porto after a successful viva, where James Harris conducted an excelent discussion.

Ana, her supervisors, Giulia Simbula, myself, and Miguel Carretero, all quite happy for being part of this journey.

With great pleasure, I accepted the invitation to talk in the 2nd National Rewilding Symposium about successful stories of reintroductions in the Iberian Peninsula, that also included talks about the Iberian Lynx (Lynx pardinus) and the Osprey (Pandion haliaetus). I talked about one of my earliest projects, the reintroduction of the Purple Swamphen (Porphyrio Porphyrio) at the center of Portugal. This initiative significantly increased the species’ chances of survival in Portugal.

Under the shoulder of a giant, a great day talking about biodiversity at the Biodiversity Hall of the Museum of Natural History and Science of the University of Porto.

A dialogue between the artists Andrea Paz, Francisco Lourenço, Pablo Quiroga Devia, Paula König and Tiago Rocha Costa and me and the Curator of Natural Sounds Collection, Paulo Marques, moderated by Sofia Marçal.

In the context of the exhibition [“Coro Verde”] (https://www.museus.ulisboa.pt/coro-verde) that showed their works on the relation between the city and the exotic species that live in this environment, with a strong emphasis on the rose-ringed parakeet Psittacula krameri.

At the MUHNAC, a nice talk about exotic species in Lisbon and how several artists showed that interaction through their works.

The 11th Frontiers in E3, CE3C’s Annual Meeting, was held at the University of the Azores, in the Campus of Ponta Delgada. A fantastic opportunity to share knowledge between members of CE3C and to discuss new ways to collaborate internally. We talked about our decades of work in Azores and Nadito talked about how he is going to profit from the budget that was awarded by the members of CE3C to his phd fieldwork.

Gathering CE3C members in one island, at the middle of the ocean. Fantastic talks and new ideas of partnerships.

It was hard to condense all the research that we have done since 2005 in the Azores Islands.

Nadito presented his plans for the next months of fieldwork.

The excursion was really lucky with the weather!

In an amazing atmosphere, MUHNAC hosted again another European Researchers’ Night. The museum staff and curators joined the many researchers that were present, wiling to share their knowledge and research with the public. For me, it was a joy to help, to interact with the public, and for co-touring the visit to the reserve for the lucky ones that registered soon enough.

“Carreiros towards Ancestral Futures” is a project located in the hamlet of Carreiros, in the parish of Ferreira, Paredes de Coura, in the Alto Minho region in the north of Portugal, which promotes democratic micro-actions through artistic and cultural practices. The project is supported by the “Art for Democracy” program, an initiative of the Commemorative Commission for the 50th anniversary of the 25th of April (“Carnation Revolution”, 1974, in Portugal) in partnership with the Directorate-General for the Arts. This initiative promotes artistic projects that contribute to reflection on the relevance of this event in the construction of democracy. Birds are omniscient in this region, therefore I was invited to participate by promoting a short walk across the woods and agricultural fields, talking about birds. It was a relaxing and rewarding experience, where we all learned a little bit more about birds and nature.

Some of the moments on the trip.

It was a joy to attend the 2026 WIMANET Workshop in Vilnius (Lithuania) and witness during four days how networking can provide so many opportunities for advancing our knowledge in Haemosporidians.

Also glad to co-organize with Luz García-Longoria (University of Extremadura, Badajoz, Spain) the WG1 (Genomics) session, where we discussed past and future training opportunities, the impact of short term missions and developments on genomics of haemosporidians.

So many happy researchers, at the Vilnius University. It was a great opportunity to network and discuss the future of heamosporidian research

Alexandra Corduneanu (University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine of Cluj-Napoca, Romania) talked about her Short Term Mission on Microbiomes of Bats

Irene Hernandéz-Caballero (University of Extremadura, Badajoz, Spain) talked about her Short Term Mission to Vilnius (Lithuania) to work on experimental procedures with canaries, and stressed the importance of STSMs for career development

The WIMANET core group look very pleased after its regular meeting, with fresh ideas for the months to come