Common Tern Project

UK Seabird Monitoring Programme

Sometimes work can feel like work, but not last week, when I had the pleasure to visit Wangerooge to give a tea-time-talk about terns for the 18th Migratory Bird Days, organised by the Lower Saxon Wadden Sea National Park. 💙

Common Tern Project reposted

@smp-seabirds.bsky.social

October 10th was World Migratory Bird Day. Here's a 26-year-old Common Tern, at its natal site where it was metal ringed as a chick. It was colour ringed in Senegal! An amazing show of its migration destinations/stop offs. #Seabirds @btobirds.bsky.social @jncc.bsky.social @rspb.bsky.social

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Wieland Heim

@wielandheim.bsky.social

We need your help - four of our satellite-tracked quail have gone missing in France! Any information would be interesting, e.g. if the signal comes from near a fox den, buzzard nest or hunting area 🦊🦅🔫 If you can recover the tag, we can re-use it - and you can name this quail 😉 Pls share widely 🇫🇷

I loved watching ‘Watching people watching birds’ for the second time on #WorldMigratoryBirdDay. Can only recommend it. There’s very impressive footage from the @ifv-whv.bsky.social island station on Helgoland, as well as moving stories on how people connect to birds. www.loekenfranke.de/en/?p=3104

The sentence that stuck with me most is the one uttered by Thomas, as he stares across an empty field that used to be visited by large numbers of birds: "wir haben Reichtum gegen Geld getauscht”.

Convention on Migratory Species (CMS)

A scene that stuck with me most, I would, however, not be able to choose. I found the atmosphere to be beautiful throughout, and the closeness to the protagonists convincing. A true joy to watch, even if the underlying message is a very serious one

Common Tern Project reposted

@cms.int

Happy #WorldMigratoryBirdDay! 🐦🌍 Step outside, look up and record the birds you see. Every observation helps conserve migratory birds - "#EveryBirdCounts – Your Observations Matter!". 🔗 www.worldmigratorybirdday.org #WMBD2026

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European Ornithologists' Union

@eounion.bsky.social

CALL FOR SYMPOSIA: EXTENDED DEADLINE! Still thinking about submitting a symposium proposal for #EOU2027? We have extended the deadline: Monday 19th October 2026, 23:59 European Ornithologists' Union, Brno, Czech Republic 23-27 August 2027 Instructions & more info: www.eou27.cz/call-for-sym...

Common Tern Project reposted

VogelbeschermingNL

@vogelbeschermingnl.bsky.social

Laatste oproep, onderteken alsjeblieft de internationale petitie #Handsoffnature. 925.000 mensen deden het al. De bescherming van vogels, natuur, milieu en dus onszelf dreigt afgezwakt te worden. Meer weten en link naar petitie: www.vogelbescherming.nl/actueel/beri...

vogelbescherming.nlHanden af van de Vogelrichtlijn en de HabitatrichtlijnVersterk de Vogel- en Habitatrichtlijn in plaats van af te zwakken.

Common Tern Project reposted

NL Institute of Ecology NIOO-KNAW

@niooknaw.bsky.social

17 Sept

New publication: Family life is critical for migration and survival in a long-lived social #bird, by @hanslinssen.bsky.social @bartnolet.bsky.social and others. #Bewicksswan #sociallearning #waterfowl #biodiversity doi.org/10.1007/s002...

Common Tern Project reposted

Graham Appleton

@wadertales.bsky.social

Migration of juvenile Sanderlings is not strategic - things just happen. wadertales.wordpress.com/2019/10/04/t... 🎂7️⃣ #ornithology

Such a joy today to watch the amazingly talented @co-la.bsky.social be celebrated as her art exhibition opened in advance of the Migratory Bird Days that will start next week.

@waddenacademie.bsky.social

If you'd like to see it, this is the place to be: www.wattenmeer-besucherzentrum.de

Common Tern Project reposted

Waddenacademie

WadWeten | Vogeleieren laten zien waar gif in de Waddenzee vandaan komt. Met behulp van veertig jaar aan metingen van vogeleieren is nu in kaart waar de grootste vervuiling in de Waddenzee zit: bij de Duitse riviermondingen. lees meer: www.waddenacademie.nl/wetenschap/w...

waddenacademie.nlVogeleieren laten zien waar gif in de Waddenzee vandaan komtOnze Waddenzee bevat kwik en andere giftige stoffen. Met behulp van veertig jaar aan metingen van vogeleieren is nu in kaart waar de grootste vervuiling zit: bij de Duitse riviermondingen.

The Edinburgh Birdwatcher

Science Slam is my favourite of all NWDUG events we organize. And Wilhelmshaven agrees. For the 4th year in a row the event, kindly supported by @sfb1372.bsky.social, was sold out. Slamming it for the @ifv-whv.bsky.social were @sonamkulkarni.bsky.social & Phillipp. They were amazing!

Common Tern Project reposted

@edinbirdwatcher.bsky.social

16 Sept

Congratulations to The @btobirds.bsky.social for creating their first podcast titled ‘Beyond The Bird Table’. The first episode was about Researching Seabirds with Tim Birkhead & @ninaohanlon.bsky.social You can listen via Spotify or wherever you listen to your podcasts.

Oh no, I jinxed it... Now all our GPS-tracked birds seem to have made it to Africa. It's almost spring, right?

We’re having a bit of an empty-nest-syndrome here. T98 is the last of @gullbilledterns-de.bsky.social gull-billed terns equipped with a GPS that’s still on the continent.

T98, photographed by @harrykuipers.bsky.social during its extended stop-over in Groningen, first traveled to Spain, but has been hanging out in Portugal since the 10th of September. Over the last few days it seems to have established quite a nice routine there.

How lovely it would be if T98 decided to spend its first winter in Portugal – with us knowing about it and able to visit! :-)

We’re having a bit of an empty-nest-syndrome here. T98 is the last of @gullbilledterns-de.bsky.social gull-billed terns equipped with a GPS that’s still on the continent.

European Ornithologists' Union

It’s the chick of mum L54, who is also carrying a GPS and left the continent on the 16th of August, and dad V05, who unfortunately escaped trapping and, therefore, tracking.

Common Tern Project reposted

@eounion.bsky.social

💡Plenary Spotlight Sandra Bouwhuis – Institute of Avian Research, Germany Sandra studies life-history strategies in common terns, focusing on migration, pollution, climate change and avian influenza. #EOU2027 | 23-27 August | Brno, CZ Submit symposia: www.eou27.cz/call-for-sym... #Ornithology

Thank you, @dornitholges.bsky.social, for putting together another lovely annual meeting, hosted in a very pretty place and with a lot of support from @ccrowther.bsky.social. The part of the tern team that could make it this year thoroughly enjoyed it.

Not pictured, but wonderful just the same: our Navisense PhD student Phillipp giving his first-ever conference talk about the gull-billed terns of @gullbilledterns-de.bsky.social, and talking all-things-tern with @alexthefinch.bsky.social during many-a-break.

I also thoroughly enjoyed watching ‘Watching people watching birds’, the quietude and message both speaking to me strongly. The trailer can be found here: www.loekenfranke.de/en/?p=3104

German Ornithological Society

Pictured, besides the lovely ambience: Bsc student Gina rocking the presentation of her first-ever conference poster, and me gratefully receiving the 2026 Hans-Löhrl-Award, but only as the face of the most wonderful team that turns the envisaged work into reality. Thank you! ❤️

Common Tern Project reposted

@dornitholges.bsky.social

18 Sept

The 159. Annual Meeting has officially begun in #mainz! Great to see so many ornithologists coming together for a few days of research, exchange and discussion. #DOGAnnualMeeting26 #ornithology #birdresearch #birdconservation

rarebirdalert.co.ukGPS-tagged Gull-billed Tern suspected shot dead in FranceA GPS-tagged Gull-billed Tern from Germany's last Central European breeding colony has been found dead in France, with preliminary evidence suggesting it was shot.

The story of @gullbilledterns-de.bsky.social's L49 on the Rare Bird Alert website: www.rarebirdalert.co.uk/v2/Content/G...

Coming up on the 25th: the NWDUG’s #scienceslam that will take place in #Wilhelmshaven. Kindly supported by Navisense and @sfb1372.bsky.social, there will be 6 youngsters presenting their science in the coolest of ways. Among them will be Phillipp & Sonam, two PhD students from @ifv-whv.bsky.social:

@asanchez-tojar.bsky.social

They’ll be talking about the movement behaviour of the gull-billed terns of @gullbilledterns-de.bsky.social, and partial migration in @genmig.bsky.social's robins. But there’ll be four non-bird talks too. For info on all participants, and tickets, please see: www.nwdug.de/aktuelles/sc...

Common Tern Project reposted

Alfredo Sánchez-Tójar

@gomezserrano-ma.bsky.social

We did our best but couldn't find this little fellow. Here are some pictures of what the habitat looked like. After an hour searching through the ferns, we saw no sign of it, or of any raptor nest for that matter. We are really sorry @commonternproject.bsky.social 🙏

Common Tern Project@commonternproject.bsky.social

I can’t believe I am writing this, but chick T99 chose another route than his dad L43, and whereas dad seems to safely be hanging out in Spanish Laguna de Gallocanta, the GPS track of T99 suggests predation in Portugal. Here’s the position: maps.app.goo.gl/qHsMCT8HUzWm...

Common Tern Project reposted

Miguel A Gómez Serrano

Don't miss @birdlifeglobal.bsky.social's wonderful report: "State of the World’s Birds. A focus on migratory species and their flyways" sowb.birdlife.org

Common Tern Project reposted

Replying to @commonternproject.bsky.social

Update: @asanchez-tojar.bsky.social has offered to go search. So we've got Portugal covered. :-) THANK YOU, Alfredo!

Thanks to @harrykuipers.bsky.social for the lovely picture of T99 in better shape!

Update: @asanchez-tojar.bsky.social has offered to go search. So we've got Portugal covered. :-) THANK YOU, Alfredo!

It seems more accessible than the location of H36, so here I go again: do we know anyone in the Fontes area who would be willing to try and find the bird and/or tag and send us pictures and the device? We can cover costs for postage and a few kilometers.

Finding out why birds do not make their way back to us, in addition to the when and where of mortality is one of the main aims of the project, so we would be very, very grateful!

Common Tern Project reposted

Graham Appleton

@wadertales.bsky.social

What happens on the first migration south will set the pattern for the rest of a juvenile wader's life. Blog from 12 Sep 2024. 🎂 wadertales.wordpress.com/2024/09/12/j... #ornithology Paper by @tomasgunnarsson.bsky.social et al

Common Tern Project reposted

SFB 1372

@sfb1372.bsky.social

On 25 Sep, science comes alive at the NWDUG #ScienceSlam in Wilhelmshaven! 🎤🧪Co-organised & moderated by our PostDoc Nathalie Kürten, the event puts researchers in the spotlight - with just 10 min to present their projects in creative & accessible ways. Tickets: www.nwdug.de/aktuelles/science-slam/

Dear Bluesky-friends, I am back to ask another favour. Gull-billed tern chick H36 has died close to Parque Nacional de Doñana. It seems to be on a small island in the Caño de Guadiamar: maps.app.goo.gl/Z195ha4z9zYY...

H36 was the chick of logger-parent L46. But they were not traveling together. L46 left the continent on the 30th of August after having taken a different route:

There are only 3 GPS tagged adults and 2 GPS tagged chicks left on the continent now: two in France and three in Spain. Fingers crossed for those to make it to their wintering areas safely!

I don’t know how easy it is to access the island with a canoe or so, but should anyone know anyone paddling in the area, would it be an option to check whether the bird and/or GPS device could be retrieved? We would be very grateful!