Migration Ecology Group

9/9 The next question is: how do birds reset their schedules. Which conditions allow them to get back on schedule? And does catching up carry costs for survival or reproduction? Paper: www.nature.com/articles/s41... Blog: bit.ly/temporal_links @natecoevo.nature.com #Ornithology #BirdMigration

8/9 This study was possible because researchers around the world shared years of tracking data, often collected by recapturing the same bird a year later. More than 85% of researchers we contacted contributed data and joined! Thank you @ryannorrissci.bsky.social & @rytikerttunen.bsky.social

1/9 Are you one of those people who is always late? 🌐🐦 If a migratory bird starts late, does that delay follow it through the year, or can it get back on schedule? We asked this using tracking data from 2,324 birds of 83 species across six continents.🧵 Paper: doi.org/10.1038/s415...

“This social, chonky creature 'sees' magnetic fields with its near-blind eyes to navigate its hand-dug, kilometers-long subterranean tunnels; the longest built by any mammal, save ourselves.” #scicomm #sensoryecology #neuroskyence #magnetosensation www.sciencealert.com/mole-rats-ge... 🧪 🦊 🧲

And yet another paper from out group. In short, Eurasian reed warblers need to actually migrate to develop a magnetic map. Just getting older won't do. Sometimes age comes alone, as Oscar Wilde put it. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

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 🇫🇷

The autumn arrival of yellow-browed warblers is pure magic every year. This season we’ve been on Shetland taking genomic samples from these enigmatic birds, in the hope we can link ’reverse’ migration to underlying genomic factors 🧬🗺️ excited to see what we find!

Great project 💪 with @joewynnbirds.bsky.social @pauldufour80.bsky.social @genmig.bsky.social & many others! We study yellow-browed warblers in Europe: where from, where to, what happens in winter & spring – could a new migration route evolve? 2 birds sampled on Helgoland so far. #birdmigration

Today we say bye to Bouquet, who is heading back to Thailand after six months with us! It was amazing to have you here! Safe travel back, and hopefully see you again soon!🦅

A new paper is out! We revisited a 25-year-old hypothesis that magnetic cues trigger increased fuelling in young migratory birds before crossing the Sahara. In thrush nightingales, we found no robust effect, suggesting that this response may be context-dependent rather than universal.

Tracking Whimbrels across the globe. Amazing insights that can help to target conservation action. BLOG wadertales.wordpress.com/2026/09/22/w... PAPER onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... #Conservation

Spread the word! Behaviour 2027 will be taking place in Vienna, Austria, from August 23-27.

New #ornithology paper! Knowledge gaps and research directions in migration ecology for advancing the #conservation of migratory songbirds onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/... Aims to stimulate research advancing #migration #ecology and conserving threatened migratory #songbirds.

Opportunity! We have an #internship offer through the RISE program. This applies to undergraduate students studying at North American, British or Irish Universities. If you are interested in doing fieldwork with us next spring/summer, have a look at the RISE website: www.daad.de/rise/en/rise...

Our dear @mguidotti29.bsky.social presenting his fab work on how to infer bird orientation behaviour from videos using DeepLabCut at #ECBB2026 💪

In our new study, we investigated correlates of reproductive timing in Northern Wheatears on Norderney. Our results highlight the importance of conserving natural dune habitats, maintaining rabbit populations, and avoiding further expansion of anthropogenic areas. doi.org/10.1007/s103...

🗓️ SAVE THE DATE! Join us for our 16th meeting in Brno, Czech Republic! #EOU2027 | 23 - 27 August 2027 | www.eou27.cz Stay tuned for more updates! #ornithology 🦅

🚨 Exciting news! The Swiss Ornithological Institute is starting a collaborative program that offers multi-sensor geolocators and analytical support for bird migration research, focusing on underrepresented species & regions. Interested? geopressure.org/GeoCollabForm/ Please share!

6 year anniversary of the first Long-tailed duck (clangula hyemalis)🦆 light-level-geolocator tracking paper "Year-round spatiotemporal distribution pattern of a threatened sea duck species breeding on Kolguev Island, south-eastern Barents Sea" doi.org/10.1186/s128... some results in the threat🧵⤵️

🚨 New #ornithology paper 🚨 Maize fields as post-breeding habitat for songbirds doi.org/10.1016/j.ag... What affects bird abundance and diversity in #maize fields? ➕Weed cover 🌿 ➕Surrounding woody structures 🌳 ➖Distance to field margin ➖Surrounding maize cover Led by Mirjam Rieger

Register now: 159th DOG Annual Meeting 2026 in Mainz The 159th Annual Meeting of the German Ornithologists' Society will take place from 16th to 20th September 2026 at the University of Mainz. Registration for participation in the conference is possible until 14 August. www.do-g.de/veranstalten...

The DOG is awarding five travel grants of €2,000 each to members who will give a presentation at the 29th International Ornithological Congress (IOC) in Mérida, Yucatán, Mexico (November 30 – December 5, 2026). For more information visit www.do-g.de/foerdern/rei... Photo: Johannes Lohmöller

🚨 New #ornithology paper 🚨 Evaluating the effectiveness of lasers for deterring birds doi.org/10.1111/1365... Our meta-analysis led by Cheng Huang revelead that #lasers are effective tools -to non-lethally deter🪿 & 🐦‍⬛ -when green 3B lasers are used -both handheld / automatic #WildlifeManagement

Free PhD positions!!! Cluster of Excellence NaviSense -> Sensory Basis, Mechanisms, and Impacts of Animal Navigation -> is looking for curious and motivated individuals from resource constrained countries to join NaviSense as Doctoral Researchers. #NaviSense #ornithology uol.de/en/job/docto...

Back from fieldwork in Kazakhstan: in cooperation with the Institute of Zoology in Almaty & @vogelwarte.bsky.social we tagged songbirds with geolocators to uncover their unknown #birdmigration Main target species: Himalayan Rubythroat 😍

Very happy to be part of this collaborative #ornithology paper on the extent of nocturnal bird migration led by @pauldufour80.bsky.social

New paper #ornithology #ortolanbunting #conservation Ortolan buntings consistently select breeding territories with structurally diverse crops on well-drained soils doi.org/10.1111/csp2.70324 Great outcome from Annika Jensen’s Master’s thesis, based on Jörg Grützmann’s >12-yr data.

The paper that turned out from the master´s thesis of our research group member @thiemokarwinkel.bsky.social

Very happy to work together with PhD candidate Pattraporn Simla from Thailand for the coming months! Watch this video to learn about their work on studying & protecting the critically endangered Yellow-breasted Bunting on its wintering grounds: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4j0... #EastAsianFlyway

New #ornithology paper 🚨 Migration patterns and hybridization within the Asian stonechat complex in response to a major geographical barrier doi.org/10.1093/evle... Led by PhD candidate Tianhao Zhao, we studied #birdmigration routes & #genetics of individuals migrating E, W & across Qinghai-Tibet

A warm welcome to Pattraporn Simla (Bouquet) from King Mongkut´s University of Technology Thonburi, Thailand, who joined our group for the next six months to work on her data regarding threats for the critically endangered Yellow-breasted Bunting #EastAsianFlyway

Last week we @thiemokarwinkel.bsky.social @annikapeter.bsky.social @mguidotti29.bsky.social presented at the 12th RIN Conference on Animal Navigation at Royal Holloway College in the UK It was a fantastic setting, with plenty of engaging discussions and valuable exchanges throughout the event

1 year anniversary of our paper about long-tailed duck tracking! It just so happen, that I saw a lot of wintering Long-tailed ducks during the @eoufledglings.bsky.social conference in Gdansk!

Last weekend, we joined #EOU26 in Gdańsk, sharing insights and results from @thiemokarwinkel.bsky.social and @giovannasandretti.bsky.social, with travel support from the @dornitholges.bsky.social Great atmosphere with lots of discussions and exchanges!

It’s cool to see one of the first German articles I wrote out in print. If you told me at 14 when I started learning German that one day I would write about my science in that language I don’t know if I would have believed you 😅🙈

Today is the 1 year anniversary of our perspectives paper on the #Motus wildlife tracking System for Europe! read here: doi.org/10.1111/cobi...

🚨 Hiring a postdoc (2 years)! We’re looking for someone with skills in data science, remote sensing, or computer science: 🛰️ Build next-gen nighttime light products 🦅 Link light spectra to migration & collision risk Apply or reach out! aeroecolab.com/opportunities

🦇We're Hiring! 🦢 Research Assistant position at ATU to determine the feasibility of establishing a radio receiver (Motus) network in Ireland for migrating bats and birds March 26th deadline! www.atu.ie/connect/jobs... @atu-ie.bsky.social @birdwatchireland.bsky.social @shrewgod.bsky.social

Huge thanks to the SFB team for a fantastic spring meeting at Thülsfelder Talsperre! 🌿 Inspiring exchanges, poster sessions, walk & talks, and working groups on DEI and gender equity for #InternationalWomensStrike made it a true boost for collaboration and team spirit. 🌱

Meet Alice! + joined us as PhD candidate on pre-migratory flights & impacts of #pesticides on #birdmigration + has volunteered for multiple bird associations & participated in mig counts, passerine ringing & breeding bird surveys + has worked on climate change impact on bird phenology & behaviour

New Paper alert 📄 Rüppel et al. 2026 - "movetrack: An R package to model flight paths from radio-telemetry networks" -> this makes it possible to transform station-based radiotelemetry data into actual flight path, validated with a plane flight. besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

A warm welcome to Alice who joined our research group as a new PhD-Student today. We are happy having you with us for the next 3 years as part of the Cluster of Excellence "Navisense".

A warm welcome to @mguidotti29.bsky.social who joined our lab now as an @sfb1372.bsky.social fellow In the next 10 months he will work on orientation 🧭 in Northern Wheatears together with @annikapeter.bsky.social

We have a new group logo - honouring one of our key study species, the northern wheatear 😍 And of cause, this bird is also tagged with a transmitter - but the tracking devices we use for our studies are so tiny, that you can´t see them on the bird 😉

Congrats to @annikapeter.bsky.social and team for successfully organising this great young researcher symposium on #magnetoreception and #animalnavigation in connection with @sfb1372.bsky.social 🥳