iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Wouter Vansteelant

sandrahodic.bsky.social @sandrahodic.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

1. post! What a nice start here with a celebration - our work is now published! 😊 In short: The annual survival of the collared pratincole, a migratory bird species that breeds around the Mediterranean, depends on flooding conditions in the Sahel. Sincere thank you to all contributors! Read more!👇

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Wouter Vansteelant @wmgvs.bsky.social · 13/04/2026

Het verdient een mooie naam, zo'n kleurrijke troep #kemphanen en -hennen. Een menigte kemphanen? Een gala? Een karavaan? Verschillende aspecten van de soort roepen verschillende connotaties en woorden op. Wie kan wat moois bedenken?

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Global Flyway Network @globalflyway.bsky.social · 05/04/2026

Dutch Spoonbills are in the air and on their way to Netherlands. These are the days to visit www.globalflywaynetwork.org/tracks/speci... and enjoy the antics of spoonbill #migration. Cool story by @wmgvs.bsky.social about these tagged birds, including joint flights www.linkedin.com/feed/update/...

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Tohar Tal @tohar-tal.bsky.social · 16/03/2026

NEW PUBLICATION! Long time coming — now out: the results of our pilot spring raptor counts in Batumi! Read about seasonal contrasts in raptor migration, the eastern Black Sea coast as a principal spring flyway, and much more. 🦅 Paper: doi.org/10.5253/arde... #ornithology @batumiraptorcount.org

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Global Flyway Network @globalflyway.bsky.social · 23/01/2026

Classic agricultural methods boosting biodiversity! Soils of surface-drained grasslands retained more moisture than soils of deeply drained grasslands. Moisture caused earthworms to contribute to soil processes and being available as food for meadow birds. Open Access: doi.org/10.1016/j.ag...

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British Ornithologists’ Union (BOU) @bou.org.uk · 22/01/2026

EARLY VIEW in IBIS Free-living Black-tailed Godwits maintain constant intake rates across varying grassland habitat conditions by adjusting their foraging behaviour | doi.org/10.1111/ibi.... Renée Veenstra et al | #ornithology 🪶

Bird with a long bill surrounded by tall grass.

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Wouter Vansteelant @wmgvs.bsky.social · 20/01/2026

Just noticed these upside down spikes in the corners of my hotel room in Spain. What a shitty way to keep the swallows and martins from nesting here. 😪

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Wouter Vansteelant @wmgvs.bsky.social · 19/01/2026

YOUNG GODWITS, GRAND FLIGHTS - Last autumn two young godwits that we feared to have died suddenly sent amazing data from Senegal. They had flown to West Africa in a non-stop flight. Among them W1WCCG, who achieved an AVERAGE speed >90km/h. 😳🤯 Read the story at: www.birdeyes.org/young-godwit...

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Global Flyway Network @globalflyway.bsky.social · 17/01/2026

It is so sad that we lost a major player in our field, actively interested involved until his last days, Gerard Boere. Many thanks, Gerard, for so many years of great support to migratory waterbirds around the world and to people who care. RIP. eur01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com?url=https%3A...

eur01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com

In Memoriam: Gerard C. Boere (1942–2026) | AEWA

The AEWA Secretariat is deeply saddened by the passing of Dr. Gerard C. Boere, Honorary Patron and Founder of the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA). Gerard ...

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Aldina Franco @aldinafranco.bsky.social · 06/01/2026

Looking for a PhD project in Movement Ecology or animal migration? This is an exciting project with an experienced team. #migration #Ornithology #GPStracking

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British Ornithologists’ Union (BOU) @bou.org.uk · 02/01/2026

Ecological barrier crossing strategies in small migratory birds depend on wing morphology and plumage color | iScience | doi.org/10.1016/j.is... | #migration #ecology #ornithology 🌏🪶

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c0nc0rdance @c0nc0rdance.bsky.social · 23/12/2025

We know that birds can sense magnetic fields for navigation. But how does that work? Do they have little magnets wired up to their brains? The most likely answer is 1000X times weirder than that, and involves quantum spin. Let's talk about 'cryptochromes' & magnetic sensing.🧪

A blue and red feathered parakeet? with a simple bar magnet illustration overlayed on it, and yellow lines of force radiating out from the head. It also has the word "yes*" underneath it.

I stole this from a cover photo for a video on the topic from YouTuber "Learn with Kay" with title "Birds navigte with Magnets in their heads ??" [sic]

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Batumi Raptor Count @batumiraptorcount.org · 24/12/2025

Recommended read: our 2025 Autumn Report is out! As part of our tradition and commitment, we’ve compiled a comprehensive overview of the season’s highlights and phenological peculiarities — complemented by many beautiful photos of both birds and people! 👉 batumiraptorcount.org/autumn-report-2025

Short-toed Eagle. Photo by Nikolina Bukovac.

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Global Flyway Network @globalflyway.bsky.social · 25/12/2025

"Gewapend met verschillende netten togen we op 21 december, de kortste dag van het jaar, naar de geul waar Nala de laatste weken foerageerde. Een standaard garnalennetje bleek het perfecte net te zijn om lepelaar prooien te bemonsteren." werkgroeplepelaar.org/nieuws/2025/...

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Johan van de Gronden @johanvandegronden.bsky.social · 18/12/2025

Mooie (interim) job bij de Waddenvereniging voor een ervaren fondsenwerver. Om zuinig te zijn op dit kwetsbare UNESCO werelderfgoed vind jij gulle gevers om de natuur te beschermen én te herstellen. waddenvereniging.nl/organisatie/...

waddenvereniging.nl

Vacature: Interim Hoofd Fondsenwerving (16-24 uur)

Stuur je korte motivatiebrief en CV naar Hesje van der Meer.

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Wouter Vansteelant @wmgvs.bsky.social · 20/11/2025

On the train back home, still buzzing from some great days at @vogelwarte.bsky.social where Hans Schmid wrote "Getrennte Wege" - a classic synthesis of Honey Buzzard migration. A quarter century later the species has revealed a few more, but still not all of its migratory "Geheimnisse". #ornithology

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Wouter Vansteelant @wmgvs.bsky.social · 16/11/2025

Great day exploring the hills around Sempach ahead of a work visit to @vogelwarte.bsky.social. Good practice wt woodland birds of which I've seen very little since moving to Fryslan few yrs ago. Lovely soundscape wt whistling Red Kite, croaking Ravens, ticking Hawfinch, rattling of Mistle Thrush...

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British Ornithologists’ Union (BOU) @bou.org.uk · 28/10/2025

Dispersal, maturation and recruitment in a long-lived, intercontinental migrant bird | www.sciencedirect.co... | Animal Behaviour | #ornithology 🪶

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Wouter Vansteelant @wmgvs.bsky.social · 21/10/2025

The meadows still have to flood, but the winter bird community at Blaugerzen is starting to form. The first Barnacle and White-fronted Geese are back, and mixed flocks of Lapwing, Starling and Golden Plover are on the fields again. They'll define the birding scene for next five months. #birding

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Batumi Raptor Count @batumiraptorcount.org · 20/10/2025

1.5 MILLION RAPTORS! 🦅🤯 For the first time in BRC history, we have recorded a staggering 1.5 million raptors in a single autumn season — a true milestone after 17 years of counting! Read more here: www.batumiraptorcount.org/brc17/2025/10/15-million-raptors #ornithology #RaptorResearch

Steppe Buzzards moving through the cloudy Batumi bottleneck. Photo by Tohar Tal.

The team of coordinators at station 3 — for a change.

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Ana Lucía González @anlugonz.bsky.social · 16/10/2025

New visual story: Bird migration is one of nature’s greatest spectacles — and scientists are uncovering extraordinary insights into how new threats are reshaping these epic journeys. Follow the remarkable travels of three birds as they fly across the planet. www.theguardian.com/environment/...

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British Ornithologists’ Union (BOU) @bou.org.uk · 16/10/2025

The structure of the annual migratory flight activity in a songbird | royalsocietypublishi... | Proceedings of the Royal Society B | #ornithology 🪶

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British Ornithologists’ Union (BOU) @bou.org.uk · 14/10/2025

EARLY VIEW in IBIS Challenges in population monitoring: Bar-tailed Godwits (Limosa lapponica) on the East Atlantic Flyway defy assumed population structure | onlinelibrary.wiley.... Jesse R. Conklin, Roeland A. Bom, Åke Lindström, Pierrick Bocher, Theunis Piersma | #ornithology 🪶

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Wouter Vansteelant @wmgvs.bsky.social · 12/10/2025

Over the past 2 weeks, no less than 10 Dutch GPS-#Spoonbills made the crossing from Iberia to Africa. They did so in classic Spoonbill fashion by starting the ocean-crossing near Cadiz, rather than taking the Strait of Gibraltar. 1/2 #ornithology www.globalflywaynetwork.org/tracks/speci...

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Miguel Clavero @chikichanka.bsky.social · 03/10/2025

GREAT DAY FOR EEL CONSERVATION The Basque Country is the craddle of glass eel consumption Today, the Basque Government has announced a ban on glass eel fishing due to eel's critical situation Similar movements needed in Spanish @miteco.gob.es and EU @ec.europa.eu www.eldiario.es/euskadi/gobi...

eldiario.es

El Gobierno vasco suspende la campaña de la angula ante la crítica situación de la especie

El departamento se basa en dos informes y en la resolución del Ararteko en la que se emplazaba al Ejecutivo a modificar la normativa, pero los anguleros critican las "formas" seguidas para trasladarle...

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Batumi Raptor Count @batumiraptorcount.org · 01/10/2025

170.000 RAPTORS IN ONE DAY! After yesterday’s heavy rain and a quiet morning, today the sky exploded with Steppe Buzzards and large eagles! Continuing from 10 am until almost the end of the count. At some point, we counted over 14.000 raptors in less than 20 minutes. THAT'S BATUMI! #ornithology

Today's totals! See our website for more details!

Steppe Buzzards. Photo by Filiep T'jollyn

After-count team photo - with perhaps the most beautiful rainbow ever seen in the background

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Wouter Vansteelant @wmgvs.bsky.social · 30/09/2025

After a super intense week with a back-to-back Spoonbill and Wader Study conference, its time to shift to lower gear for a bit. Starting the day with a slow stroll through the fog at Griene Dyk. Hoping for a Yellow-browed Warbler among the plentiful Gold- and Firecrests. #birding

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Batumi Raptor Count @batumiraptorcount.org · 29/09/2025

After the thrill of reaching the million, we went straight to the peak of diversity. The challenge of counting high numbers of birds slowly shifted into identifying the (relatively) fewer but more difficult ones: the large eagle species! But they also brought a special guest along...👇 1/2

Lesser Spotted Eagle - Photo by Eduardo Campos Wals

Lesser Spotted Eagle - Photo by Matthew Sprangers

Black Kite (left) and Steppe Eagle (right) - Photo by Matthew Sprangers

Lesser Spotted Eagle - Photo by Filiep T'jollyn

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International Wader Study Group @waderstudy.bsky.social · 27/09/2025

Thank you to all of today's speakers for a really interesting array of talks! So much great research, and more on the way tomorrow! #IWSG2025 #waders #shorebirds #ornithology

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Wouter Vansteelant @wmgvs.bsky.social · 27/09/2025

What an honour to open the 50th @waderstudy.bsky.social conference with a plenary on Spoonbill migration culture on the beautiful stage of DOT in Groningen. The Spoonbill-inspired concerto 'Solanum' by Tjibbe Stelwagen and Caspar Kootstra made for a perfect tandem wt the arts. #ornithology

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International Wader Study Group @waderstudy.bsky.social · 27/09/2025

We're got a variety of great talks at our conference today, with topics including... 👥️ Population development 💧 Resource use ☀️ Responses to environmental change 🪱 Foraging ecology and diet #IWSG2025 #waders #shorebirds #Ornithology

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International Wader Study Group @waderstudy.bsky.social · 26/09/2025

Here we go then! Our 50th annual conference is officially open 🥳 #IWSG2025

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Jeroen Reneerkens @jeroen-reneerkens.bsky.social · 25/09/2025

A vagrant juvenile Sanderling turned up in Israel—likely after a single non-stop flight from the Dutch Wadden Sea. Here’s thread explaining why that’s remarkable and interesting. @wadertales.bsky.social @globalflyway.bsky.social #Birds #Migration

The colour-marked Sanderling photographed in Israel, still carrying its radiotransmitter

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Wouter Vansteelant @wmgvs.bsky.social · 25/09/2025

A dramatic end for an ambitious Spoonbill. Yday morning LAYLA crashed into the ocean just offshore Madeira, 56h after departing from the Wadden Sea. She rested barely 7h even though she found nice Spoonbill hotspots on the way. Poor choices... #ornithology www.globalflywaynetwork.org/tracks/speci...

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Batumi Raptor Count @batumiraptorcount.org · 22/09/2025

A true Bluesky — filled with raptors! After days of rain, we were greeted by a bright, blue, cloudless sky this morning! The result? Thousands of birds and a high species diversity. With the main message: the eagles are coming! Stay tuned for more! For daily totals: www.batumiraptorcount.org/data

Marsh Harrier. Photo by Nikolina Bukovac

Short-toed Eagle and Black Kite. Photo by Nikolina Bukovac.

Greater Spotted Eagle. Photo by Nikolina Bukovac.

Where are the birds? Somewhere up there in the blue sky!

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Wouter Vansteelant @wmgvs.bsky.social · 22/09/2025

The www.BirdEyes.org team is thrilled to announce a new paper by Mohamed Henriques showing how Spoonbills change space use over the course of their summer stay in the eastern Dutch Wadden Sea. After breeding, many adults converge in the Lutjewad area. #ornithology www.birdeyes.org/lutjewad-amo...

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Wouter Vansteelant @wmgvs.bsky.social · 20/09/2025

Yday >1900 #Spoonbills left 🇳🇱 via the watch-site at Cadzand! Among them were 4 GPS-birds that departed from the Delta, including LUNA who met PLUK in flight over Ostend (🇧🇪). Meanwhile, TAAS and HIDDE jointly flew from Balgzand to the Delta. #ornithology www.globalflywaynetwork.org/tracks/speci...

Five of our GPS-tracked Spoonbills left the Netherlands, four of which flew past Cadzand-Bad after departing from staging sites in the Dutch Delta region. The birds used a narrow migration corridor to cross Belgium, mostly flying within a few 100m offshore, before ultimately dispersing a bit more in northern France.

Spoonbills PLUK and LUNA met each other in flight near Ostend, Belgium, after departing from staging sites in the Dutch Delta and the port of Antwerp, respectively. They flew together for roughly 3.5 hours before splitting up again in northern France.

Spoonbills HIDDE and TAAS departed from Balgzand in the southern Wadden Sea together for a relatively short flight to the south of the Netherlands.

Spectacular number of Spoonbills recorded flying past Cadzand-Bad near the Dutch-Belgian border. 2nd highest count ever in the Netherlands.

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Wouter Vansteelant @wmgvs.bsky.social · 17/09/2025

Astounding for the @batumiraptorcount.org crew to reach the 1 million milestone so early in the season. 😳 Congrats to all volunteers and flyway trainees, expertly led by the first ever all-women coordinating team: Eva Drukker, Elien Hoekstra and Mitra Daneshvar. Celebrations are in order! 🤩

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Batumi Raptor Count @batumiraptorcount.org · 17/09/2025

This achievement was only possible thanks to our amazing and hard-working team – counters, trainees, coordinators – and our wonderful host families for their endless hospitality. Check out our daily counts and news flashes here: www.batumiraptorcount.org/data 2/2

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Wouter Vansteelant @wmgvs.bsky.social · 16/09/2025

A Goshawk managed to catch a Snipe at Blaugerzen the other day. Then got the attention of one, two, three Marsh Harriers. In the squabble, a juvenile harrier was eventually able to claim the prey for itself. #birding

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Tom Hengl @tomhengl.bsky.social · 15/09/2025

Had a privilege and pleasure to teach terra pkg (created by @roberthijmans.bsky.social et al.) and spatial sampling with R together with Alexandre Wadoux at the #EOSummerSchool2025 at WICC. You can follow the terra tutorial from here: differ.blog/p/processing... 📹: youtu.be/q9sQkg7BeAc?...

differ.blog

Processing large rasters using terra package for R: combining tiling and time-series modeling

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Batumi Raptor Count @batumiraptorcount.org · 10/09/2025

The Honey Buzzards keep on coming! With another 50K+ counted today, we’ve now passed half a million HBs this season! Rising numbers of Black Kites — as their peak is still ahead — pushed our overall total past 700K! And it’s not just the bulk species 👇 #ornithology 📸Eduardo C. Wals 1/2

A single Honey Buzzard flying low through the bottleneck

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Centre for Research on Ecology, Cognition and Behaviour of Birds @ecobird.bsky.social · 10/09/2025

🚨 Calling researchers, students, technicians in cognition 🚨 We’re running a 10-min anonymous survey on how animal cognition is defined and studied across disciplines (from ecology, ethology, psychology, neurology, etc). 🧠✨ Scan the QR code & share widely #AnimalCognition #ResearchSurvey #Science

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Batumi Raptor Count @batumiraptorcount.org · 09/09/2025

Foremost, we found it an exciting experience to publish our scientific debate in such a public manner, and thank @moveandconserve.bsky.social and co-authors for the constructive and cordial discussion! Exciting times ahead — only together can we connect birds, people & places across the flyway!

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Batumi Raptor Count @batumiraptorcount.org · 09/09/2025

A new study led by @moveandconserve.bsky.social used GPS tracking to test the monitoring potential of Eilat and Batumi. An invaluable step toward linking counted birds to their origins, but we found it needed some elaboration from a migration count perspective! Our commentary: tinyurl.com/nnbzu7kc

tinyurl.com

One million raptors: But where do they come from? — Batumi Raptor Count

As a migration counter, you can’t help but wonder: “Where did the bird I just tallied come from, and where is it going?” In light of BRC’s main aim — monitoring raptor population trends — this very ...

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Wouter Vansteelant @wmgvs.bsky.social · 09/09/2025

The first week of September is barely behind us and already the impressive volunteer crew of @batumiraptorcount.org has tallied over half a million raptors making their way south along the eastern Black Sea coast. #ornithology

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Batumi Raptor Count @batumiraptorcount.org · 06/09/2025

We are experiencing a particularly exciting season so far! For example, we've counted exceptionally high numbers of Short-toed Eagles, Marsh Harriers, and Black Kites! Meanwhile, we're not even halfway through the season yet, with still so much to come. 2/3 Photos by Eduardo C. Wals & Paul Buntfuß

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Batumi Raptor Count @batumiraptorcount.org · 06/09/2025

Luckily, we have a great team of counters, trainees, and coordinators to count and identify the many thousands of raptors heading their way! Make sure to check out our daily count updates and season totals here: www.batumiraptorcount.org/data Stay tuned for more news from #BRC17! 3/3

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Ron Efrat @moveandconserve.bsky.social · 08/09/2025

Science as a conversation: In January, we published a paper about migratory bird counts www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... For different reasons, we did not include the managers of the bird counts. But the @batumiraptorcount.org people had some important comments #conservation #ornithology 🧪🐾🌎

sciencedirect.com

Using GPS tracking data to validate the conservation value of bird migration counts

Effective conservation of migratory birds requires gathering of information about their population trends, often acquired using migratory bird counts.…

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