10th Hole-nesting Birds conference 2025
10–12 September 2025, Olomouc, Czech Republic
All researchers with an interest in the biology of cavity-nesting birds are warmly invited to attend the 10th Hole-nesting Birds Conference held in the historical city of Olomouc. We hope the ancient city of Olomouc, adorned with numerous historical monuments (see Olomouc Tour Video), will attract a diverse group of participants, ensuring a successful and scientifically enriching meeting. We are pleased to announce excellent keynote speakers Keith Bowers (The University of Memphis, USA), Marta Maziarz (Museum and Institute of Zoology, Poland), and Barbara Tomotani (UiT The Arctic University of Norway).
Follow us on BlueSky: @hnbirds2025.bsky.social.
Venue
Conference venue: Faculty of Science, Palacky University, 17. listopadu 1192/12, Olomouc.
Travelling
Olomouc city can be reached from several international airports, including Prague, Vienna, Bratislava, Katowice, and Krakow. You can use the IDOS system to check train and bus connections in Czechia.
Accommodation
Pre-reserved accommodation for conference participants is available in a student dormitory. Please note that while the dormitory is conveniently located next to the conference venue and offers lower prices, its facilities are more basic compared to a typical hotel. Two rooms share one bathroom, and breakfast is served in a nearby canteen. During registration, you may directly select and pay for accommodation in the dormitory. Each date on the registration page corresponds to the night that begins on that date and ends the following morning. For example, selecting September 9th means booking accommodation for the night of September 9th to 10th. If you choose a twin room, please email the organizers with your preferred roommate’s name. Check-in: 14:00 – 17:00 and 18:00 – 23:00. Check-out: till 10:00.
Olomouc offers a wide selection of hotels and guesthouses for those who prefer more comfortable accommodation. A quiet hotel in the city centre near the conference venue is Arigone. We arranged a 15% discount for conference participants booking a stay at this hotel. Please note that rooms are not pre-reserved, so availability depends on the time of booking. The promo code ORNI15 can be applied at https://www.orea.cz/en/hotel-arigone for accommodation between 8th and 14th September.
Food
Breakfast is provided for those staying in the student dormitory. Participants can also order lunches on the 10th and 11th of September, which will be served in the canteen. On the registration page, attendees can choose from three lunch options (ordinary, vegetarian, and gluten-free). For nearby restaurants, please see the map.
Registration and payments
Registration is open and will close on the 30th of June 2025. You will select the appropriate registration fee and other choices on the registration page and indicate your preferred payment method (credit card or bank transfer). Immediately after registration, you will receive a confirmation e-mail summarizing your registration details, including a link to download your invoice. Please note that the invoice will be finalized approximately five days after your payment has been processed.
Cancellations
Cancellations must be received no later than August 9, 2025. A €25 administrative fee applies to all refunds. No refunds will be issued from the 9th of August onwards, except for documented medical and family emergencies.
Abstract submission
Each registered participant may submit one Abstract for either a talk or a poster presentation. Abstracts should be submitted in an editable format, such as MS Word, with a maximum length of 200 words. Please format your abstract according to this template. Abstract submission is part of the registration process, where you will indicate whether your abstract is for a talk or a poster presentation. Talk session slots are assigned on a first-come, first-served basis. A poster presentation will be assigned if a talk slot is unavailable. If your Abstract was not ready when you registered, you may submit it later via e-mail to the organizers at milos.krist@upol.cz. All Abstracts have to be submitted by 30th June 2025.
Preliminary program
Tuesday 9th September
9:00 – 18:00 Pre-conference meeting of FAIRBiRDS initiative, organized by Joey Burant (J.Burant@nioo.knaw.nl)
18:00 – 20:00 Registration for the main conference opens
Wednesday 10th September
8:00 – 9:00 Registration closes
9:00 – 17:00 Talk sessions
17:00 – 18:00 Poster session
Thursday 11th September
9:00 – 18:00 Talk sessions
18:00 – 22:00 Conference banquet
Friday 12th September
Full-day excursion
Excursion
A full-day excursion (9:00 – 16:30) will take place on September 12th. We will visit three study sites in different habitats. Velký Kosíř study plots are located in warm oak forests on the slopes of the hill, where both natural tree holes and nest boxes equipped with RFID readers are monitored. Grygov is a wet floodplain forest, often referred to as a “Moravian jungle,” and a site for a common-garden nest box experiment hosting five different nest box designs (Czech, Oxford, Dutch, Gotland, and Finnish). After visiting these two sites, we will stop for lunch in a restaurant. The price for the lunch is included in the excursion fee. We will continue to Dlouhá Loučka in the afternoon, a mixed beech-oak forest monitored since 1973, where we will look for dormice roosting in nest boxes. Some study sites have no designated paths, so we will walk directly through the forest. Sturdy boots and raincoats are recommended in case of wet weather.
Organizers
Miloš Krist (milos.krist@upol.cz)
Peter Adamík (peter.adamik@upol.cz)
Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, Palacky University
