I started my bird song journey studying song phylogeny of the genus Oenanthe as a master’s thesis research topic at Ferdowsi University, Iran in 2012. I was intensively searching for recording equipment, as there was no scientific expertise in bird song research in my country. I finally found a shotgun microphone and set it up on heavy metal plate, which was connected to a video camera and finally started song recording. When I finished my master’s study, I started looking for a PhD position in bird research, and an excellent opportunity came up for me at Massey University, New Zealand. I have been studying the behavioural variation of an urban blackbird population at Massey University since 2017. My study is focused on personality, behavioural plasticity, singing behaviour, breeding biology and foraging behaviour in blackbirds. My long- term goal is to explore the variation and diversity of bird’s behaviour, specifically in relation to the animal personality concept. The key objective is to elucidate how personality traits contribute to survival and reproductive success in this species. In addition, I want to know how behavioural variation in individuals of a population leads to adaptation to human-induced challenges.