We are looking for an enthusiastic bachelor's or master's student to be a part of our field project investigating the role of territory quality on aggression in Tawny owls in Southern Bohemian forests in the Czech Republic. As we have only a small amount of funds to support the student through the project grant, the student will be ideally someone who is studying at a European university and hence, will be able to avail the Erasmus+ traineeship programme. The project is supervised by S. Sangeeth Sailas, Ph.D. student, University of South Bohemia, and Dr. Martin ????lek, Institute of Vertebrate Biology, Czech Academy of Sciences. Through the project, we hope to understand how territory quality and resource availability can alter intra- and inter-specific interactions in a guild of avian predators. Field work will involve: i. Acoustic surveys to locate owl territories in Southern Bohemian forests in Czechia. ii. Behavioural experiments by presenting owl dummies (of Tawny and smaller forest owl sp.) to resident Tawny owls and recording their responses with a thermal camera and microphone. iii. Small mammal trapping in territories to measure prey abundance. The traineeship should be for 4-6 months starting in February 2025. During the traineeship, the student will work closely with the Ph.D. student (Sangeeth Sailas). We offer training in field methods, processing and analyses of audio and video data. Co-authorship will be provided in all publications that arise from the data collected, and (co-)supervision of your bachelor/master thesis if desired. We expect that the student will be ready for a lot of fieldwork, especially during nights. Additionally, we hope that you will be adjustable, honest and have a passion for birds and ecology ! :) Contact Sangeeth Sailas atssangeethspeaks@gmail.comby August 31st, 2024 if you are interested. Sangeeth Sailas (to subscribe/unsubscribe the EvolDir send mail to golding@mcmaster.ca)