Institute of Avian Research 'Vogelwarte Helgoland'
Updates about migration, life history, ringing, research & outreach from the Institute of Avian Research & bird ringing centre for North-West Germany.
- A richly rewarding two days reviewing @ifv-whv.bsky.social: thriving under the brilliant leadership of Sandra Bouwhuis & Miriam Liedvogel. An exciting programme of research into avian migration & life histories with many future stars. Outstanding @commonternproject.bsky.social museum by frozen sea!
- 🧬 Excited to present some of our recent research on 🐦⬛: (1/3) Contrary to expectations, migratory Eurasian blackbirds had longer telomeres than residents at a major stopover (Helgoland), despite similar mitochondrial DNA copy numbers 🔗 #OpenAccess nsojournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
- We're so happy to finally anounce that registration for #EOU26 is now OPEN! Thank you all for your patience — we can’t wait to meet you in Gdańsk 🐦 👉 Registration & info: eou-fledglings.github.io/2026/registr... #Ornithology
- Proud to present: Suitcase Science, a new outreach format containing 6 assignments to take on a journey to schools in the region, to teach kids about terns, how to study them, their fascinating behaviour and some of the things that threaten them. Wanna book us? Drop me a line. :-)
- How does pre- and post-natal environmental stress affect the seminal foam proteome of Japanese quail? Find out here, Chloe Mason’s second PhD thesis paper: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... @martingarlovsky.bsky.social @oscarvedder.bsky.social
- Out in @natcomms.nature.com, a collaborative paper showing that, across 73 species (including common terns), warmer years are associated with earlier phenology, and that populations in which such an association was observed have often been stable or increasing: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
- 🚨 Last call for abstracts! 🚨 Only 7 days left to submit your abstract for the EOU Fledglings Meeting 2026 🐣 🗓 Deadline: 16 January 2026 🎤 Oral & poster presentations welcome 🌍 Conference for early-career ornithologists 👉https://eounion.org/fledglings Don’t miss out — we’d love to see your work! ✨🦉
- Gull-billed terns for the win! Anna’s final PhD chapter published in Evol Applications doi.org/10.1111/eva.... Thanks to all lovely collaborators, especially @commonternproject.bsky.social @gullbilledterns-de.bsky.social @robertrollins1892.bsky.social & @dornitholges.bsky.social for funding
- Out now in ‘Evolutionary applications’, the last chapter of Anna’s PhD thesis, in which she used whole genome sequencing data of contemporary and historic European gull-billed terns to assess whether the population decline in part of their range has had genetic consequences: doi.org/10.1111/eva....
- ✈️ Great news! Travel grants for the 5th EOU Fledglings Meeting are available thanks to the German Ornithologists’ Society (DO-G, @dornitholges.bsky.social), supporting early-career researchers attending #EOU26 in Gdańsk. ℹ️ Details & eligibility: eou-fledglings.github.io/2026/travel/ #Ornithology
- quick outing to India. literally from cosy christmas cookies to T-Shirt vibes. this #EMBOneuroethology workshop did not disappoint - amazing talks, wonderful people, many who I never met before. meetings.embo.org/event/25-neu...
- Happy to share our latest publication out now in @funecology.bsky.social. 🥳 Here, we studied the effects of mate desertion on offspring survival, development and physiology in one of the most interesting bird species, the Rock sparrow! Check out the paper for more info👇 doi.org/10.1111/1365...
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- Egg Characteristics of Female Common Terns Are Repeatable, and Vary With Maternal Age and Laying Order | doi.org/10.1002/ece3... | Ecology and Evolution | #ornithology 🪶
- 🎤 We’re excited to introduce another plenary speaker for the 5th EOU Fledglings Meeting in Gdańsk (27–29 March 2026)! 🌿 Miriam Liedvogel (@genmig.bsky.social) will share her work on blackcap migration - a fascinating look into one of Europe’s most dynamic songbird species. #EOU26 #Ornithology
- There are still two more weeks to apply for the PhD position on nematodes, isotopes, metals and PFAS in the terns. Don't be shy to reach out when having questions about it either. :-)
- There’s one month left to apply for the PhD position on interactions between contaminants and parasites in common terns, co-supervised by @alicecarravieri.bsky.social, Bernd Sures from @unidue.bsky.social and myself. You can do so here: euraxess.ec.europa.eu/jobs/380142
- 🎉 Abstract submission is open for the EOU Fledglings Meeting 2026 in Gdańsk, Poland (27–29 March 2026)! 📝 Submit your oral/poster abstract: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F... 📅 Deadline: 16 Jan 2026 More info: eounion.org/fledglings #EOU26 #Ornithology
- A great seminar from @mmoiron.bsky.social walking us through how to disentangle the causes of similarity among partners & the estimation & implications of indirect effects in natural populations
- We’re so excited to launch the website for the EOU Fledglings Meeting 2026 and to share that pre-registration is officially open! 🎉 👉 Scan the QR code or visit our website (eou-fledglings.github.io/2026/registr...) to pre-register now! Photo: Tom Koerner / USFWS (CC BY 2.0)
- There’s such beauty in variety – and the eggs laid by our terns show it too. In our newest paper we try to find patterns in this variety and test how female identity and age, as well as laying order, affect the colour, spottiness, shape, and size of eggs: doi.org/10.1002/ece3...
- Are you interested in PFAS and OCPs contamination in birds? In our latest publication, we studied the levels of these contaminants in Great tit eggs from areas with different anthropogenic pressures. Read the paper here for more details👇 doi.org/10.1007/s113...
- This week's EGI seminar is being given by Dr Maria Moiron @mmoiron.bsky.social of the University of Bielefeld at 3.30pm on Friday 21 Nov in LT1 in the Life & Mind Building @biology.ox.ac.uk. See below for online joining details - all welcome!
- There’s one month left to apply for the PhD position on interactions between contaminants and parasites in common terns, co-supervised by @alicecarravieri.bsky.social, Bernd Sures from @unidue.bsky.social and myself. You can do so here: euraxess.ec.europa.eu/jobs/380142
- The date is set for the next EOU Fledglings Meeting 🐥 in Gdansk, Poland! Share the news with your peers! 🦆
- Attending #ISWSS16, themed “The Wadden Sea in Transition: Cumulative Pressures and Conservation” this week was really inspiring. I met so many wonderful people speaking up for an ecosystem they love and that needs protection, and came back with many new project ideas.
- Happy to present my work about egg patterns on common terns at #CEPA7 @commonternproject.bsky.social @cebc-chizelab.bsky.social @ecophycebc.bsky.social @univ-larochelle.fr
- coffee breaks inspire the coolest things, no? It certainly inspired this wonderful project – a kids book on a robin that takes you under its wing on its journey to their wintering grounds. gorgeously illustrated @co-la.bsky.social and beautifully written by a #dreamteam within @sfb1372.bsky.social
- 📢 PhD opportunity at @cebc-chizelab.bsky.social @ifv-whv.bsky.social @unidue.bsky.social 🎓 Interactions between contaminants and parasites in common terns 📅 Apply by 12/12/2025 at euraxess.ec.europa.eu/jobs/380142 #seabirds #ecotoxicology @univ-larochelle.fr @commonternproject.bsky.social
- What is the genetic basis of bird migration? Find out in our next keynote lecture by Miriam Liedvogel @genmig.bsky.social, Professor of Ornithology at the Uni Oldenburg and Director of the Institute of Avian Research! 📍October 21 at 11am in House 4 in Seewiesen Art by @somedonkey.bsky.social
- 🪶 New Research - Estimating epidemiological parameters of highly pathogenic avian influenza in common terns using exact Bayesian inference ➡️ buff.ly/dYGDjhN
- 🪶Diet diversity across northern hemisphere ecosystems affects seabird responses to climate change, with breeding productivity declining in the Arctic and North Atlantic but not in the Pacific from 1963 to 2020. 👉Read more here: www.nature.com/articles/s43...
- A nice thread highlighting key findings from our new paper estimating parameters of #HPAI in subsequent outbreaks in common terns. We developed a Bayesian inference approach to infer parameters from just carcass counts. #seabirds #statisticalecology #diseaseecology doi.org/10.1111/1365...
- Out @animalecology.bsky.social today - a paper with David Ewing in which we explore the #HPAI outbreak in the terns. We find bird-to-bird transmission to be the main driver of infection and estimate the probability of mortality to drop from 0.26 to 0.14 from 2022 to 2023: doi.org/10.1111/1365...
- Out @animalecology.bsky.social today - a paper with David Ewing in which we explore the #HPAI outbreak in the terns. We find bird-to-bird transmission to be the main driver of infection and estimate the probability of mortality to drop from 0.26 to 0.14 from 2022 to 2023: doi.org/10.1111/1365...
- We are happy to introduce you to another member of our society, María Jesús García Bianco!
- NEW PUBLICATION on stopover ecology of Songbirds during spring migration: After packmor et al. 2020 (Mov Ecol) found that trans-Saharan migrants react differently to weather for migratory departure, we aked ourselves, whether this is also valid for spring migration? 🐦 a thread 🧵 on 7 hypotheses:
- When we hypothesised female terns to have lower mercury levels than males due to egg laying, @matteobeccardi.bsky.social et al designed an elegant experiment to prove the effectiveness of this pathway. That proof just got published & the open access paper can be found here: doi.org/10.1016/j.en...
- Out now in Environmental Pollution: 'Experimental evidence for maternal offloading of mercury pollution via reproduction' By @matteobeccardi.bsky.social, @commonternproject.bsky.social, @pablosalmon.bsky.social, @icbm-uol.bsky.social & @oscarvedder.bsky.social doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2025.127121
- I'm happy to share with you our new paper out now in Environmental Pollution! Here, we experimentally studied the maternal offloading of mercury pollution via reproduction in an avian model species. Read the paper here for more details👇 doi.org/10.1016/j.en...
- 🚨 PhD alert 🚨 We are looking for a highly motivated student to use 🧬 genomics 🧬 and 🛰️ bio-logging 🛰️ approaches to disentangle cultural and genetic contributions to seabird migration 🐣 Think this is you, or someone you know? Then come to our Q&A session at on 29/09 and check out the ad below!
- Congratulations Anna!!!
- And to add some more beauty to the internet: here's a close-up of Dr Schnelle, with her gorgeous hat crafted skillfully by various members of the @ifv-whv.bsky.social, fired on by @robertrollins1892.bsky.social. 🥰
- Spread the word: we’re #hiring! We offer two short-term #fellowships for master’s degree holders and PhD candidates for 6-12 months to excellent researchers, who are interested in doing research within one dedicated project of our SFB/CRC 1372. Find more information on www.sfb1372.de/jobs
- So much cool avian vagrancy research presented and discussed at our #EOU2025 symposium today. Thanks to everyone who presented and attended @pauldufour80.bsky.social @joewynnbirds.bsky.social #Ornithology
- #EOU2025 Come and join us for the symposium on the importance of vagrancy in ecology and evolution. Lots of great results in the talks from the different speakers! LR4 - Friday 22 - 10:30 @alexanderlees.bsky.social @joewynnbirds.bsky.social #ornithology @vogelwarte.bsky.social
- 📌 I really enjoyed @pablosalmon.bsky.social’s talk at #EOU2025! 🐦 Exploring how #mitochondria may shape avian #migration — lessons from Eurasian #blackbirds with different strategies. Great insights into the energetic basis of life-history strategies!
- Out now in Environmental Research – Anna’s new paper in which she assesses the levels of 118 contaminants in unhatched eggs and dead chicks found in the last and endangered population of gull-billed terns in Central Europe, breeding at Neufelderkoog: doi.org/10.1016/j.en...
- Here we go again: field resesarch 🧪🌳✨️ First #LightTrapping session for our @sfb1372.bsky.social #arthropod #biodiversity project in collaboration with @robertrollins1892.bsky.social in @genmig.bsky.social lab from the @ifv-whv.bsky.social 💡🦋 🕷🪲🦟 I just love the trap that looks like a 👻! Or 🪼?
- Ooooh, one of our beautiful terns made it to the cover of the issue of Ethology that contains Melina's study on individual behavioral responses to novel stimuli: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
- thanks a lot to all who attended, and made it such a wonderful event - full of cool science, great talks & posters, thought provoking discussions, lovely chats with wonderful peope, beautiful and very hot venue ☀️ bonus content: artsy highlight by Lukas Weiss - his programme summary in snippets 🦄🧬🧪
- New publication by @commonternproject.bsky.social with @coralinebcht.bsky.social, @mmoiron.bsky.social, @matteobeccardi.bsky.social & @icbm-uol.bsky.social: 'Mercury levels in chicks of a long-lived seabird – parental effects and links with growth and survival'. doi.org/10.1016/j.en...
- Special thanks to this year's organizer of the Neuroethology GRC, Julie Simpson & @genmig.bsky.social. We had a fantastic week of great science, met colleagues or started collaborations. We are looking forward to the next GRC in 2 years. 2027 Co-Vice chairs: Jessica Fox & @scottjuntti.bsky.social
- And here it is - Justine's last thesis chapter got accepted too and can now be read as an open access paper in Environmental Research: doi.org/10.1016/j.en...
- Our neighbours at the Banter See are no fan of the terns. Luckily the terns don't give a shit. Oh, or maybe sometimes they do. :-)
- Hatching is hard work. ❤️
- Arrival was earlier, but it does not look like we are going to end up with many more birds this year than last. I guess the 'silent reservoir' was used up, such that we now wait for new recruits from last year's cohort to start making up for the severe losses HPAI induced in 2022 and 2023.
